For our first anniversary, we decided to go to Philadelphia. I made arrangements to stay at a 4 diamond hotel in Center City (downtown) Philadelphia. I also made arrangements with the hotel before we left to have a bouquet of flowers waiting in the room to surprise Andrea. The bouquet included Calla Lilly’s which were in Andrea’s wedding bouquet.

The weekend was a great getaway for both of us. We had leisurely Friday evening and I surprised Andrea with several James Bond movies. The cabin we rented in Minnesota for our honeymoon had all of the Sean Connery Bond films and we watched them on our honeymoon. We called it ‘Bonding’ when we would sit down to watch one in the evening.

We spent Saturday visiting different sites around the city. We saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Franklin Institute. We also had Philly Steak sandwiches for lunch. For dinner, we went to an upscale Mexican restaurant.

We left Philly on Sunday morning to drive down to the National Cathedral in Washington, which is a shrine dedicated to Mary. We thought it was fitting that on our first anniversary we honor Mary by going to mass in her shrine. It was a wonderful High Mass with a full choir. After Mass we drove down to the National Mall and saw a few sites there before heading over to the Maryland shore for dinner. We arrived back in Philly in the evening.

We drove home Monday, but not until we stopped at the Delaware and New Jersey state high points. We’ve been trying to visit the state high points and we visited the Iowa state high point on our honeymoon. We also drove on the Lincoln Highway (another pet project of mine) on our honeymoon new Philadelphia and so on our first anniversary we drove a section of the Lincoln highway west from Philadelphia connecting our first anniversary with our honeymoon!

With the purchase of our first home behind us, the itch to travel started to creep up on us. We have already started our Fall vacation in September, so it can’t be anything too big. We decided to do a four day round trip driving vacation to Kentucky. However, the movers had a different idea. We need to stay close to home and so we decided to do day trips.

Day 1

Andrea has never been to the top of New England (Mt Washington), so I decided that we would go there. I looked at the forecast and today seems like it will have the best weather up there. We drive up through the most celebrated mountain pass in the east, Franconia Notch. We then took the Cog Railway all the way to the top. We worked our way home through Vermont. I had wanted to take Andrea to this wonderful restaurant that is on a mountainside over looking a beautiful lake near where I went to college. However, the restaurant was closed, so we ate at a Chinese restaurant in St Johnsbury, VT before heading home.

Day 2

We decided to head back to the mountains today. We drove to the Norman Rockwell museum where we were disappointed to only find about 20-25 of his paintings. After a visit there, we drove north into Vermont, passing the highest point in Massachusetts. Once in Vermont, I sought out some Vermont Cheese Curds because Andrea is always talking about how good the Wisconsin ones are. After finding some, and stopping for lunch at what has to be the furthest east Tastee Freeze, we headed towards Mt Equinox.

Thomas Merton once said that there are no coincidences, only connections and I think he must be right. The road to the top of Mt Equinox (the highest point in southeastern VT) is a toll road and so we stopped at the gift shop, at the base, where you pay your fare. I noticed flags from many different states and countries and so I enquired about them. I had also noticed some decidedly Catholic books on display in the gift shop as well. I learned that property on which the mountain lies is owned by the only Carthusian monastery in North America. What a treat! Of course we didn’t go to the monastery (though we could see it at one point), but just being there was such a treat.

We worked our way home in the late evening. Even though we were staying at home, it was beginning to feel like a vacation!

Day 3

We headed towards the ocean this time. The goal was to visit the highest point in Rhode Island and then go to the Touro Synagogue in Newport. However, our plans changed when I discovered that I forgot my NPS Passport, which was the reason that I wanted to visit them. I collect passport cancellation stamps as a record of my visit to all the NPS sites (there are 390 of them and I have been to 250+). The visit to Rhode Islands high point was kind of neat, though no real climbing was required. Every time we visit a high point, I always say “it’s all downhill from here!”.

After the high point, we drove along the Rhode Island coast and worked our way back to Connecticut where we had some great seafood on the coast. Then, we headed home to prepare for the movers arrival the next day.

This weekend Dave and I walked a few miles (or so it felt) through Lowe’s looking at cabinetry, countertops, sinks, faucets, and lots of other stuff. We were trying to make some final decisions about items we want to install in especially the kitchen at the house. We also moved a few thousand maps over to Dave’s parent’s basement for storage. I am very glad it was no hotter or humid than it was because that was a chore!

On a spur of the moment we also took a scenic drive to northeastern Connecticut and drove briefly into Rhode Island also. We ate dinner at a splendid little 53 year old dinner car in Dayville with a huge sign overhead that said EAT in neon lights. Ya can’t get any more simple. And it was great food, we even had pie for dessert.