East Coast Trip -- Mystic and Stonington, CT

Our day from Philadelphia to Providence was technically a travel day, but it ended up being one of our most cherished days of the trip!  We left Philly right after breakfast and drove until lunch time.  When Mario planned our trip, he had found this little "village" in Connecticut called Mystic.  It's this tiny little seaport town but the streets are lined with little boutique shops and restaurants.  He knew I'd love it...which I did!!!

We parked on the side of the street, and this port was the first one that greeted us!  

Hello, New England!!!

welcome to mystic!

We were starving, so the first thing we wanted to do was get some yummy seafood.

Just about every seat in this little restaurant looked out over the Mystic River.

The S&P Oyster Co...

They are famous for their lobster rolls.

We didn't even know what a lobster roll was!!!

Well, it definitely was not what we were expecting, but it sure tasted delicious!

Living in TX, you tend to forget what extraordinarily fresh seafood tastes like--YUM!

It was just so refreshing to see the water every time we walked out of a building!  We took the opportunity to walk around and relax for a few hours.

Mar had to run to the Bank of America inside this old bank building...love the architecture.

MUCH more fun than running to an ATM!!!  Haha!

This is the Bascule Bridge that crosses the river in the center of the village.  It is definitely in great shape because they use it all the time to let the big ships pass under!

We wandered in and out of shops, took in the views, and enjoyed an ice cream treat.

All the docks and harbors make everything look so quaint.

Mario got tired of shopping with me, so he sat down on a bench to chill while I continued on!

We drove on further to the little town of Stonington to take in some beach views.

Yep, that's me on shore line looking for pretty rocks.  Am I the only strange one who likes to take home "earthy" souvenirs???  (If you recall, I brought home a ton of rocks from our trip to Oregon last year too!  Haha!)

While I was rock hunting and wading, Mario was soaking in the sun and sitting alone with his thoughts.

It's so easy to be inspired in this place!!!

We could stay in this town for hours, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the peacefulness.

We didn't want to  leave, but we had to get to our B&B for the night.

So, we hopped back in the car (after brushing all the sand off our feet) and drove just a few miles east of Providence, Rhode Island to Gilbert's Tree Farm B&B, an 1830's farmhouse, actually located in Rehoboth, MA. Our hosts were the sweetest older couple you'll ever meet.  I'll share more about their hospitality in the next post.  But for now, I'll end with a funny story...

We had worked up quite an appetite at the beach, so when we finally rolled in to the b&b, the two things on our minds were dinner and chilling out watching the olympics (gymnastics was on again!).  Sooooo, this b&b was way more "grandma and grandpa's house" than we were expecting--which can be good in so many ways, but as far as having a tv in our room, we were out of luck.  So, we asked our hosts for dinner recommendations, and they just knew we would adore this restaurant called the "Venus de Milo".  Well, we drive over there, and it's this HUGE banquet facility that must mostly be used for weddings and other events.  We park and walk in, and there is literally nobody there in the entrance...almost to the point where we wanted to yell, "hello?"  And it kindof smells like a nursing home.  Then we see some lights down the end of a hallway, so we make our way down to the lit room, and it's this bar off to the side which was completely empty except for the bartender.  We ask, "Is this where you are supposed to eat?"  (I mean, really, it shouldn't be this difficult to figure out!)  He points us down the hall further.  We walk into the main dining room where there is some horrid elevator music playing  in the ears of some 15 or so (elderly) guests who are almost silently eating their dinner--definitely not what we had in mind for our evening!!!  I think it was THE place to have dinner in town, THE place to have your wedding, THE place to have your reception or anniversary celebration, THE place to have your office holiday party, THE place to have prom, etc.  I soooo would've taken pictures, but I didn't bring my camera since we thought we were going to have an uneventful quick dinner!  Ha! So, we made a u-turn and headed back to the bar room to ask that guy where we might find a little sports pub in town where we could watch the olympics while we ate.  He directed us to this little hole in the wall pub, and that is exactly where we ate and watched the some of the men's gymnastics competition.  Haha!  What an ordeal!  But we ended up having a fun night anyway!

Our next day was our best day of the entire trip...Plymouth!!!

East Coast Trip -- Philadelphia

On the morning of July 29, we made our way up to Philadelphia.  Our one goal (besides absorbing lots of US history) was to get the best Philly cheesesteak in town!  We interrogated asked our valet the moment we pulled up to the hotel where the best place was, and without hesitation, he recommended Jim's.  It was still early, but we decided to head on over since we were told it gets very busy very quickly around lunchtime.  We also knew parking was a nightmare in the city, so our best bet would be to take the bus to get close and then just walk the rest of the way.

Soooooo, here's what the place looked like when we got there...

mario is taking this picture, and you can't even see me--

i'm way back in the line around the corner!!!

getting closer, but we're still not in there!

we still haven't made it around the corner yet, but at least we can peek in

yes, it's definitely a little "hole in the wall"

this guy was the main cook of the meat...it was smelling pretty amazing

so, this is insane--some people actually get cheez-wiz on their philly cheesesteaks--

supposedly it's extremely popular!  blek!

we opted for provolone and sauteed onions on ours, which is the completely traditional way.

once we got inside there was a huge serpentine line (like while you're waiting in line for a ride at a theme park) winding all the way up to the counter!  we are so close!

finally, we get to order!!!  yay!

i must say, it was very, very good--delicious, even, but nothing spectacular.  i don't know what we were expecting, but it just tasted like a really good philly cheesesteak.  i thought my sandwich looked HUGE, then of course, i was able to polish off the whole thing!  we were completely satisfied with Jim's--just not blown away!

we decided to take the "Franklin Footsteps Walking Tour"--

somehow there was no one else in our tour group, so we got a private tour with our guide.

he was dressed in period clothing, very funny, very knowledgeable, and on a mission!

first sight on our tour--Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell used to hang in the steeple of this building.

This was also where the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the US Constitution was drafted.

Benjamin Franklin's grave--

people toss pennies on his grave for luck

the old cliche "a penny saved is a penny earned" is attributed to him

 a chronology of franklin's life--

hope you can read it...it's fascinating all that he accomplished

one of the oldest original streets in the city

some families who lived here in  the early 1700s still have ancestors who live here

As Benjamin Franklin organized the first Philadelphia Fire Company, he was also the developer of the first fire insurance.  Those insured had copper plaques placed on the fronts of their buildings.  They were used as a guide to the fire brigade.

of course, i had to get a picture with our guide before our tour was over!!!

we loved having him--he was so passionate!

we finished up our tour at the liberty bell, so we decided to go on in and see it

We love how it was cast with the words of Leviticus 25:10, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."  Another reminder that God's Word was a foundation for our nation's beginnings.

and then, we needed a sweet treat, so we stopped by a local ice cream shop--

look at the menu...it took me forever to decided what to get!

this was their sign in the doorway...

and, yes, the ice cream was very yummy!

mario stood in the middle of the street outside the ice cream shop to get this picture of some of the city's buildings

our view from the balcony of our embassy suites hotel room...

and, no, we didn't get a 7am wake up with the fire alarms, praise the Lord!

we had a beautiful suite--we picked up dinner to go, and we ate snuggled in our bed so we could finally watch some olympic gymnastics--our favorite!!!

one final pic of the city as we were driving out the next morning--

city hall with william penn, the city's founder, perched on top

bye, philly...we'll miss you!  we wish we had had more time in your city!

it was fun!!!

East Coast Trip -- Washington DC

Here are some highlights of our time in Washington DC--it sure was hot, but we still had a ton of  fun!

 about to board the dc metro to get into the city

 

 

here we are preparing for our segway tour.  if you are unfamiliar, these are the little devices that you mostly see mall cops riding around on--yes, we were "those tourists" riding around town on our segways!!!  haha!  i think there were 8 in our group, and we toured the major sites of the city in 3 hours with our guide.

 

here i am practicing--hehe

these babies aren't motorized--they have "high-tech gyroscopes" that are basically really sensitive sensors that respond to your body's movements.  you just keep your feet still and put your weight in your toes to speed up and in your heels to slow down.

 

 

mario is getting a few instructions from our guide

 

 

he's a pro already!

 

 

the white house was our first stop!

 

we took a little break here at the capitol building

 

 

the one downside is that although you see every major site during the tour, if you want to spend time in any of the buildings, you have to come back.  we got to go into the monuments, but other than that, we had to stay with our segways.

 

 

our guide was awesome!!!  he was very informative, funny, and interesting.  he told us tons of little side-stories that were hilarious.  and he answered all our questions.

 

 

mario in front of the washinton monument

 

let me just tell you, we are SOOO glad we did the segway tour.  DC is so big, that we would never have seen all we needed to within our short timeframe had we tried to do it all on foot.  and on top of that, our trip fell during the time that 3/4 of the country was in that huge heat wave this summer, so it was so hot--and i'm talking hot like dallas, tx hot--not regular dc hot.  we were so thankful to be getting that little breeze as we sped around on the segways...everyone walking just looked so miserable!  :(

 

i loved this tidbit of info from our guide--

can you see in the pic how the monument changes color about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom?  well, construction began on it in 1854, but the project came to a halt when private funds ran low.  the monument remained partially built during the civil war as well.  the government took over the project in 1884 and finished it with marble from a different quarry.  the two sections matched at first, but over time they have worn differently in the wind and rain.  our guide told us that the color difference will continue to get more and more obvious over the years. 

i found this fascinating because i visited dc in 1997 or 1998, and i didn't think the color difference was very noticeable! 

our guide also told us that it's been said that abraham lincoln wrote a personal check to the tune of $8 as a donation to help the building project...don't know if that's true, but it was funny to think about!

 

 

the stately lincoln memorial

 

we loved how psalm 19:9 is etched into the memorial...

"..the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether"

what an affirmation that these noble men that served our country during its early years depended on God for their wisdom, strength, and ability to guide our nation

 

 

well, our tour finally had to come to a close...

goodbye segways...hope to see you again someday

:)

 

 

of course we had to go to arlington national cemetary to see the changing of the guard in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier

such a beautful way to honor some of the men who've given their lives for our freedom

 

 

love this pic--it just stretches on and on

 

 

 

our dear friend matt hooked us up with reservations to see the evening military parade held at the marine barracks in dc.  it was such a great experience!  it consisted of the US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, the Marine Corps Color Guard, the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, and Ceremonial Marchers

 

what a beautiful ceremony!!! 

the music was unbeliveable, the marching and formations were perfectly syncronized, and the demonstration of the drill team with their rifles was magnificent.  these men have bayonets on the end of their rifles, and they spin them and throw them with such precision--all without any audible cues--it was truly breath-taking.

had to get a picture of this--

in our hotel room (courtyard marriot), both nights we stayed here the fire alarm went off each morning at 7am!  the first morning the recordings over the loudspeakers were warning everyone to get out, so we woke up from a dead sleep to the blaring alarms, and incoherently we were trying to throw some stuff together and make ourselves presentable.  just as we were heading down the stairs with a few personal belongings, we heard an announcement that stated it was a false alarm--they were having trouble with the elevators!!!  the next morning the exact same thing happened, except we knew this time that we didn't have to leave!  of course, it was way too loud to sleep though!  what a bummer!!!  we went on vacation to get away from 7am wake up calls!!!

 

 

We went to breakfast the next morning at this little place called the Waffle Shop.  There aren't too many breakfast places period here, but this one is supposed to be really popular.  Doesn't look like much, and the breakfast was good (nothing amazing or anything), but the staff was really friendly.  You can't tell from the pic, but this place was PACKED--so packed you could barely walk in and out of the place.  We got seated at the counter area, so our view during the meal was of the wait staff scrambling!  haha!

 

 

this guy with the coffee pot was hilarious!!!

 





Then we walked right down the street to Ford's Theatre

where President Lincoln was shot in 1865

 

 

 



at the entrance to the museum and theatre

 

 

 

Then we walked across the street to the Peterson House where the president was carried after the shooting.  He never regained consciousness and died here the next morning.

 

 

 

a little later we headed over to the US Navy Memorial

depicting a beautiful granite map of the world

 

 

 

that night we went to the hamilton for dinner and a concert!  it was one of the most fun nights of our trip!!!  mario had bought the tickets in advance--we got to see toad the wet sprocket live!!!  it was just a really cool, intimate venue.

let me just say that the food and drinks weren't that great, but the music definitely more than made up for it!

 

the singers interacted with the crowd a ton--it was hilarious!!!

my absolute favorite part was the opener, jonathan kingham (who also plays with the toad the wet sprocket band).  he was amazing--so gifted!  he plays mostly in the secular market, but his lyrics reflect a love of God.  We were so captivated by his performance that we bought not one, but two of his cds on the spot!!!

 

anyway, mario and i  loved being there together...

it's day three of our trip, and we're already getting spoiled with being able to do things on our own time schedule and enjoying each other's company with no interruptions!!!  :)

 

 

next up...philly!!!