On November 1st we left Cary, North Carolina quite early as Reni had an online class at 8AM. It was easier to load up in the car and hot-spot him with a cell phone than to try to leave our hosts midway through his class, even though leaving earlier meant we would arrive at our next destination quite a bit earlier than needed.
VIRGINIA and MARYLAND
As it turned out, the route to Salem, Virginia would have us winding up and over mountains on narrow back roads. At one point, we turned onto a quiet lane marked with a large yellow road sign reading, "Do Not Rely on GPS Navigation Beyond This Point!" I so wish I had taken a picture! I have never seen such a sign before or since! It probably could have also read, "No Cell Phone Service On This Road!" We had to write Reni's teacher to explain why he was absent for several minutes in the middle of his class!
Nevertheless, we made it to Salem, Virginia where we enjoyed a lovely lunch out with Asbury friends, Dr. Sam and Liz Williams, followed by pumpkin pie in their home where we learned about Liz's avid bird watching hobby. It would not be the last time bird watching would cross our path!
From Salem, we traveled to the suburbs of DC and enjoyed dinner with our friends, the Harris family. We became friends during our early years in Albania, where Philip was the assistant director of World Vision Albania. It had been four years since our last visit but we were able to pick right up!
We are so grateful for my college friend, Jan, who hosted us during our days in D.C. Ellie and Reni requested to visit the White House this time, and through our congressional office (and undoubtedly the time of year) we were able to procure tickets. I love the photo Jan snapped of us on our way out!
Below, Reni, poses in the State Dining Room below a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. On this tour I saw one new room I had never seen before, which was the theater room! Otherwise, it hadn't changed much since my last visit about twenty-five years ago! (Other than the security and entry point -- which had changed substantially!)
Jan then took us to the Hillwood Estate, the former home-turned-museum of the Post Cereal Company heiress. Her home and personal collection of art, jewelry, and furniture was quite impressive! Below, Reni runs through her Japanese garden.
In August, our family watched the mini-series "
A Small Light", featuring the story of Jan and Miep Gies, the couple who hid Anne Frank's family. It was excellent and spurred us to listen to the
audio version of Miep's biography on our first trip to Kentucky. When booking tickets for the White House, we chose to also take the kids to the Holocaust Museum. Of course, this was planned prior to the events of October 7, which only served to underscore the significance of this museum. By the way, the word in Albanian for "burnt offering" is
holokausten.
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| Posing in the entrance to the Holocaust Museum. |
It was a special treat to meet up with the family of Reni's school friend, Lucien, at Arlington Cemetery where we visited Lee's home and observed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Sunday we were due to speak at a church in Allensville, Pennsylvania. It allowed us to visit the Lu family in Maryland for lunch on Saturday! Kristie made us delicious homemade dumplings!
The boys played chess and practiced solving Rubik's cubes. We just missed dad, Jack, who had work that day.
Since our last time in the States, a church transferred their support of some colleagues to our family, after our colleagues left a career in missions. Wanting to meet this congregation, we scheduled a visit to meet them. It was our first time to visit this part of Pennsylvania, and it was quite charming -- full of dairy farms and a thriving Amish community. Of course, I forgot to take any photos of Nathan speaking, but these photos will have to suffice as proof of our visit. :-)
NEW JERSEY
Sunday afternoon we drove east, across Pennsylvania to the home of our regional director, Joy Phillips. I always forget how quaint southern New Jersey is! Joy hosted us for some days while we enjoyed a mix of in-person ministry discussions and sightseeing with Joy, who wanted to share her childhood home with us.
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| One day for lunch we tried hoagies and cheese steaks! |
Another day she took us to Cape May, which is apparently a mecca for bird watchers. I had never seen such a collection of binoculars and scopes in one place!
She treated us to seafood on the docks. It was amazing! And we walked around beautiful Cape May town, with its concentration of Victorian homes and little shops.
Tuesday we met up with Frank and Kelly Brown, and met the Kohls!
Tuesday evening Joy's sister, Lindy, and her father, joined us for supper. It was so nice to meet these members of Joy's family whom we have heard about for years!
Our last full day in New Jersey we decided to take our meeting to a local coffee shop so Reni could do online school in peace and quiet. Imagine our surprise when who walked into the same coffee shop but college friends we hadn't seen in over a decade! What a sweet, sweet AMAZING surprise!
We ended our time in New Jersey with supper at Aunt Melanie and Uncle Paul's home, glad to also see Nathan's cousins, Paul Jr. and Elizabeth, and Paul's two kids (missed you, Steph!). It's always so sweet to see family!!
MASSACHUSETTES
My (Cydil's) family had not been together since Christmas 2019, and since my sister's family (based in Vermont) would not be traveling to Illinois this Christmas, we elected to meet up in Plymouth, Massachusettes, where Seth's parents have his grandparents' former home. Not only were we happy for some rare family time, but we also were happy to visit a part of the USA that was new to us.
We arrived after dark and had little idea of our surroundings until morning when I caught this view of Plymouth Bay from the second-floor bathroom.
On our first day in Plymouth, we visited a reconstruction of Plymouth Plantation and learned about Patuxhet Village, the native American village whose population had been decimated by disease just a few years before the Pilgrims arrived.
Later in the day, we wandered up to the Plymouth Cemetery, where we stumbled upon the burial site for the family of Adoniram Judson!
Then we walked down to the harbor to see Plymouth Rock -- which apparently has questionable historical origins. Just a few dozen yards above the rock we found this memorial to those Pilgrims who did not survive the first year. We learned that they buried their dead under the cover of darkness and smoothed the ground to obscure the reality that their numbers were dwindling so rapidly.
Of course we also enjoyed a lot of card games at night!
Saturday morning we took the train into Boston to visit the city!
While their cousins shopped, we enjoyed hot chocolates at Burdick's!
Ellie was thrilled when we popped up out of the subway and unexpectedly stumbled upon the famous Berklee School of Music! She researches the pros and cons of various music schools in her spare time, ha ha.
Seth suggested we get lunch at Boston Burger. Oh my. In honor of our Vermont family, Mom and I split the Vermont-ster Burger which was topped with Vermont cheddar cheese and maple-soaked apple slices. It was delicious! Reni split the shake below with Nathan and a burger topped with fried mac'n cheese, American cheese, onion rings, and
While the majority of the family went to the aquarium, the four of us visited the MIT Museum.
Below, Ellie smells the scent of an extinct flower. The science described in this museum was a mix of amazing and scary!
PENNSYLVANIA
Our next visits were scheduled in western PA, so we treated the kids to a brief stop at Hershey's Chocolate World -- basically the largest collection of candy and candy-related merch you have ever seen! We visited a number of years ago, when the kids were quite small.
It was a special treat to meet our friends, John and Corrina, for dinner at Cracker Barrell. Some friends you can just visit with forever, so a dinner was not nearly long enough, but better than nothing!
Thankfully we had very limited space in our car, which kept us from acquiring many useless - yet eye-catching-- odds and ends in our travels (below).
Wednesday evening we stayed overnight with the Stevensons!
Ellie thoroughly enjoyed every one of Sue's instruments she discovered, including a piano, flute, and dulcimer!
In a previous post, I bemoaned the fact that we rarely have time in our travels for unscheduled stops. This is still true, so in planning our travel between Pennsylvania and Ohio I was thrilled to find half a day to squeeze in a visit to the Heinz History Center in Pittsburg.
Hailed as the #2 history museum in America, it is second only to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. We saw a beautiful painting exhibit devoted to the American Revolution, a display of glassworks, collections of household goods from historic neighborhoods in the city, an interactive exhibit on the underground railroad and slavery in America, and my entire reason for going: the Mr. Roger's Neighborhood display.
Oh, and an entire exhibit devoted to my favorite condiment... it was fascinating to learn about the history of this company, America's changing eating habits, and all the products the Heinz company cans and sells. Mr. Heinz's motto was "To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success!"
I would love to return and have more time to read the information more thoroughly! As it was, we didn't know how much time to spend on each exhibit as the museum was set up in a renovated but meandering historic factory building. Regardless, we more than got our money's worth as Reni's Access Pass procured us admission for $1 each!
The last floor of the museum was devoted to all things Pittsburg sports. As you can see, Reni lit up in this section!
OHIO
We saw the Ramellas in northeast Ohio!
Then we saw the McMillens in Newark!
And the Coopperriders!
Our final visit in Ohio was to see Nathan's cousin, Dan, and his wife, Marcy!
KENTUCKY
We finally made it! Our last state on the trip: Kentucky. We bunled at our old quarters: the WGM Student Center at Asbury. We shared at Daybreak Community Church in Lexington and Pastor Chuck and his wife, Teresa, took us out for lunch at Gattitown, our tradition!
Monday morning we were headed out for our next appointment and ran into fellow WGM colleague, Lisa Fish! What a fun surprise!
We registered Ellie for a campus tour. To describe her as "thrilled" would be an understatement.
We had a great meeting with an admissions counselor and learned about some online classes we may try for her next year while in Albania.
Monday evening we shared dinner with our dear friends, the Mungillos! You may notice Reni's absence.
He started to feel under the weather, but finally on Tuesday could deny it no longer. He tested positive for Flu-A and we had to reschedule his appointment at Shriners to pick up his new legs.
ILLINOIS
Thankfully, Reni felt better by Thursday!
Ellie was thrilled to enjoy Thanksgiving with turkey (we usually eat chicken in Albania).
On Saturday -- college football rivalry day -- our family's loyalty was not hard to guess...
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| Ellie made her feelings known |
Sunday morning we woke up to snow!
We were pleased to share at Cazenovia Mennonite Church.
Our friends served a tasty Albanian lunch of roasted chicken, vegetables, cornbread and kos!
Monday I got a pre-op physical and woke bright and early for a 7AM cataract surgery on my right eye!
It was a great way to end November, with clear vision in my right eye!
''And so much food!!
