May 8 - May 17, 2008
A retrospective
The impetus for this vacation was Alayne's cousin, Robbie's, graduation from Duke University. It is a long drive from Boston to Durham, so we broke up the drive down into two days, with a stop in Philadelphia, PA. After Robbie's graduation, we began our journey northward with stops in Washington DC, Berkeley Springs WV, Green Ridge State Forest MD, Cumberland MD, Gettysburg PA, and lastly New York.
 | This building housed Alayne's college apartment, just next to the University of Pennsylvania.
 | Alayne sits with Ben Franklin on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
 | Alayne's favorite Chinese food place in Philadelphia.
 | After two long days of driving, we made it to North Carolina.
 | Lara has fun during the barbeque on the front porch of Robbie's house.
 | All of the cousins (except for Terry, who hadn't yet arrived): Alayne, Craigie, Lara, Robbie, Kelton, Jeffie.
 | Robbie, the graduate, bravely faces the "real world" without an umbrella.
 | The cold and rainy Duke University graduation.
 | After the graduation on Sunday, we drive north to Washington, DC. In this photo, we are about to leave North Carolina and enter the Commonwealth of Virginia.
 | One of the cool things about Virginia is that the speed limit is 70 MPH.
Unfortunately, any time that we gained by legally driving 5 MPH faster than other states, we lost in the wicked bad traffic between Richmond, VA and Washington, DC.
 | This was a funny sign that we saw in Virginia.
 | Cooper greets us in the rain with a peace sign when we finally arrive in Washington, DC.
 | Rachel bakes desserts for us after we arrive.
 | Alayne stands atop the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.
Our tour guide, a mason himself, thinks that "The Simpsons" stonecutters episode is a very good parody of what the mason's are all about. We know that because we specifically asked what his thoughts were regarding that specific episode.
 | Cooper stands atop the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.
 | Jason and Alayne stand atop the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.
 | The view from the top of the George Washington Masonic Memorial.
 | Rachel stands atop the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.
 | Alayne, Cooper, and Rachel, walking along the streets of Washington, DC.
 | Jason stops at a lock in the canal parallel to M Street in Washington, DC.
 | Jason, near the National Archives.
 | The Washington Monument.
 | The view of the White House, from the Washington Monument.
 | The Lincoln Memorial.
 | A helicopter flys low past the Washington Monument, lands on the lawn of the White House, and then passes low overhead a few minutes later.
Who do you think was in the helicopter?
 | Jason and Alayne, without sunglasses.
 | Jason and Alayne, with sunglasses.
 | The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. We have a policy with them to protect our bank accounts up to $200,000. At this time, we don't have more than $200,000 in any bank accounts, so all of our bank money is insured.
 | After visiting the country's oldest spas in Berkely Springs, WV, we traveled on to the Green Ridge State Park in western Maryland. This was our campsite for the night.
 | While we were "roughing" it in the woods, we decided that a nice dinner would hit the spot. We found a lovely Italian restaurant in nearby Cumberland, MD.
 | Jason, during the morning walk in the Green Ridge State Park.
 | This little salamander visited our campsite while we were packing things up in the morning.
 | We stopped at a farmer's market near Gettysburg, PA. This market was on a farm, so we said "hello" to the goats and donkeys.
 | Alayne gets near the donkey.
 | Alayne stands next to a cannon on the battlefields of Gettysburg.
 | Jason stands next to the same cannon.
 | The view of the Gettysburg fields from Little Round Top.
 | Alayne stands near the crest of Little Round Top.
 | Jason, standing on Little Round Top.
 | After leaving Gettysburg, and making a couple brief stops in the Poconos, we decided to keep on going and spend the night near NYC, in Nyack. To get there, we drove through New Jersey.
A few miles into New Jersey, we were welcomed by the town of Buttzville.
 | Our final day of the trip was another rainy day. We spent the day in New York, visiting the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, and then visiting the Ellis Island Immigration Museum on Ellis Island.
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