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Old 15 Sep 18, 10:47 AM  
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CrispyA
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Expedition East Coast Day 7: Road trip to Nazareth & Martin Guitar Factory

25 July

Today was an exciting day - the road trip part of our holiday was beginning. It had been quite strange starting off in the cities without a car - no first morning trip to Walmart for snacks, no holiday playlist etc. There would have been no point in having a car in the cities and we were fine with public transport (NY subway excepted, obvs) but we were looking forward to getting out on the road.

We made an early start and we were soon packed and ready in the lobby for the shuttle to Ronald Reagan Airport where we were collecting our car. The weather was still quite wet but we were being hopeful about it clearing up later.

We picked up the car without too much hassle, having chosen a full size rather than an SUV as the boot space was bigger. Then we were off!

It was quite a long drive and we wanted to make it to the Martin Guitar Factory in time for the last tour of the day, so we wanted to get a few miles in before our first stop.

On our trip to Tennessee last year, we had discovered Cracker Barrel and were glad to see that there was one on our route, just in the right place for breakfast. Hurrah! We all had an excellent breakfast, including hash brown casserole and biscuits, and reminded ourselves that grits are, in fact, still disgusting.

Fully fuelled, we got back on the road. We drove through Virginia, into Maryland and then across the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. It was nice to be on the road, taking in all the sights of the American roadside on the way. It was quite wet and not the most picturesque of routes but we were sure that the future drives would be more scenic.

After a Dunkin Donuts pitstop, we arrived in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The reason for this was that Paul is a Martin guitar fan and wanted to visit the factory. (I think he was also hoping for a souvenir . . ). We had gone on a tour of the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis but Paul was more excited about this one.



We arrived just in time to join a tour and put our headsets on ready to look around the factory. Our guide was great, with a dry sense of humour and he reminded us of Rich Hall. Martin guitars are all hand made and the tour was really interesting, even if you are not a huge guitar nerd.



The robotics were pretty cool as well.




The care that goes into the making of the instruments is obvious and it is easy to see why musicians like Jason Isbell and Seth Lakeman love them. Johnny Cash played a specially made black
Dreadnought Martin guitar and it was quite exciting to learn all about the guitars and the players.

They also have a Process Improvement wall which pleased the process nerd in me.

There is a museum that we enjoyed looking around, before letting the boys loose in the playing area.



We weren't prepared to let Paul come home with a £2500 guitar just yet and I think he took it quite well! He did get a really nice t-shirt, as did Evan, and he was really excited to have visited.



Suitably musically satisfied, we left the charming town of Nazareth to drive a short distance to Bethlehem. On the way, we called at Aldi for snacks and water but it was so badly organised with no staff on the tills that we left without buying anything. Our local Aldi is much better!

We got a friendly welcome at the Holiday Inn in Bethlehem, and they seemed quite understanding that our reason for visiting was the Martin Factory. Unfortunately, the shuttle to the town centre wasn't running which was going to make visiting the brewpub I'd found for tea quite difficult.

Having spent a lot of time in the car, we headed for the gym and a swim which was nice. Unfortunately, it was raining quite heavily and the nearest place to eat was a Waffle House which none of us fancied. A cursory glance showed that nobody else fancied it either as it was pretty darned empty. This is never a good sign.

We were hoping to give the driver a break this evening but with the shuttle not running and the Waffle House being less than enticing, we had no real option but to drive into Bethlehem itself. However, this turned out to be a good plan as the town is really nice and we found a lovely Lebanese restaurant called the Olive Branch.

The food was really good and the owner was very friendly. We all had different kebabs and Evan managed a huge slice of chocolate cake as well, which we helped a little bit with. The owner was impressed and offered him another slice but even a teenage boy has limits!

Suitably refreshed and replenished, we headed back to the hotel for baseball on the TV and then bed.
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Old 15 Sep 18, 02:10 PM  
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Melbatb
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Sounds like a great day - and great that Paul got to visit the guitar factory! I can understand why there wasn’t an extra item of baggage on the way home

Dinner seems to have been a hit - can’t beat some chocolate cake!
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Old 15 Sep 18, 05:19 PM  
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katiebaz
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The guitar factory sounds somewhere my DH and DS would like to visit -like you I don’t think I would let them get a souvenir!
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Old 15 Sep 18, 05:33 PM  
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CrispyA
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
Sounds like a great day - and great that Paul got to visit the guitar factory! I can understand why there wasn’t an extra item of baggage on the way home

Dinner seems to have been a hit - can’t beat some chocolate cake!
He was so excited to go there - he almost smiled on occasion!

The dinner was one of the nicest places we had eaten so far - really good food and great value.

Originally Posted by katiebaz View Post
The guitar factory sounds somewhere my DH and DS would like to visit -like you I don’t think I would let them get a souvenir!
I know. Apparently guitars are like bicycles - the ideal number to have is one more than you already own!
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Old 23 Sep 18, 03:34 PM  
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disney owl
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a great day for your guitar fans
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Old 30 Sep 18, 05:25 PM  
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i love jack
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Love Cracker Barrel
Love that the waiter tried to give Evan more cake
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Old 30 Sep 18, 06:35 PM  
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CrispyA
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Originally Posted by disney owl View Post
a great day for your guitar fans
They love d it so much - it was so sweet to see their little happy faces!

Originally Posted by i love jack View Post
Love Cracker Barrel
Love that the waiter tried to give Evan more cake
Cracker Barrel is brilliant and Evan clearly looked like he needed feeding!
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Old 6 Oct 18, 04:36 PM  
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Fuellady
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Nice day. Glad you made it in time for the factory tour, the boys look very happy playing the guitars. £2500 is a tad expensive for a souvenir, just as well they settled for the t-shirts!
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Old 6 Oct 18, 07:14 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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Great day apart from this pesky rain! looks like a good factory tour and dinner sounds nice. Still contemplating Nazareth and Bethlehem being in North America though ... is there a global shortage of town names ?
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Old 7 Oct 18, 05:11 PM  
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john w
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Sounds like a great day. I would love to do the tour someday. I did manage to bring a Martin back from Nashville on our second trip there. A beautiful D-Mahogany Birthday present to my self.
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