Crazy Roadtrip, Continued

After the luncheon we walked across the street to take in the view of the White House. My whole goal in seeing several of these sites is so that one day, when Millie wants to go there, I can show her the pictures and tell her she's already been. And that it took me until I was nineteen to go to these incredible places. Think she'll buy it?

We made it a quick stop because we had plans to meet up with Chris's cousin (on the other side of the family) to have dinner at Tortilla Coast. Tortilla Coast holds so many happy memories. Sadly, their all-you-can-eat-fajitas are no longer available (not that we were interested after the amazing spread we'd just eaten). That Saturday special, particularly its invitation to "Bring Mom!" fostered a lot of really good times during my intern days. As we were getting into the car to drive away I realized that I hadn't gotten a picture with Scott and Heather. Darn!

Back to Chelsey's house to snuggle with baby Archie, who is a month younger than Millie and about 1.5 times her size. More visiting and watching some of the BYU game.

The next morning we went to church at the Capitol Hill ward, Chris's old ward. It's changed a lot in the 3 years since we were last there, but there were still plenty of familiar faces.

After church we made a quick stroll through Eastern Market. Because we still had money on our SmartTrip cards I convinced Chris to let me ride the Metro. He wasn't thrilled with the idea since we had our car, but he's good to indulge me. Oh, how I wish blogs were big back in my intern days. The stories from the Metro alone could have filled one.

It ended up that he ditched us a few stops later to go back to get the car, and then we met up near the Capitol. We snapped a family photo (nothing nearly as good as our anniversary pictures taken at the same spot), but again, photographic proof Millie has been there.

The weather was warmer than we'd expected, so we were both pretty warm on our walk from Union Station.

We had plans to stop along the Mall and see the new MLK memorial (and whatever else I could sweet talk Chris to letting me visit), but a diaper blow out ended that plan.

Chelsey and Bryan fixed Chris a yummy birthday dinner, complete with red velvet cupcakes and ice cream. Back in the day, Chelsey was one of Chris's "office wives" (he had several of them), and dinner proved she's still a pretty good wife! Sadly, no pictures of them either.



We'd decided to go visit our friends Casey and Lindsay in Philadelphia, so we took off Sunday night after the cupcakes and ice cream. Millie hit her tenth state that night (Delaware holds the honor). We got in late, but it was so fun visiting with old friends (both themes of this trip) I could hardly make myself hush up and go to sleep. Casey and Lindsay were our upstairs neighbors in the house we lived in as newlyweds. Once we weren't neighbors and weren't battling over the washer and dryer, we became dear friends! :) I am so grateful for all the friends we've made since moving, but there is just something wonderful about that easy comfort of old friendships. Inside jokes, silly memories, shared acquaintances, spiritual growth-- those things make for rich histories. It's hard to believe that it has almost been six years since we met Casey and Lindsay. Funny to think that they were once our "new friends," too.

Casey is in dental school at Temple University. If only Temple had known what they were missing out on and accepted Chris, we could have been there at the same time with our friends! As much as I like Philly, visiting there made me realize that we're in a good spot here in Indiana and I don't think I'd trade it. It's nice to get that confirmation and lay to rest "what ifs."

Lindsay and Jack played tour guide for us. In his eight years of living in DC, Chris had never been to Philadelphia, so we had to take him and Millie to see the sites.

Family portrait at the Liberty Bell

Jack is just too cool.

Liberty Bell- Check!

Benjamin Franklin's grave. We threw on our pennies for good luck.

Lindsay & Jack

Independence Hall

I love Independence Hall. I remember going there six and a half years ago, right after I'd finished a class where we discussed it at length and watched a film about it. It was so incredible to see it, just like it looks in the movie! I love thinking of those hot days, with the windows boarded up while the founding fathers worked in secret to bring about the amazing documents we have today.

We went to Reading Terminal market to browse and take it in. You can bet that if I lived in Philly I'd spend a good amount of time there. I get kicks out of visiting grocery stores while out of town, so a busy market with so much to see was heaven!

Casey came home from school and we celebrated Chris's birthday with some cheese steaks, one with American, one provolone and one "whiz." Yum!

We took off after dinner to head back to Pittsburgh. Longest and most expensive toll road of my life! It was over $20 in tolls. Nelly also rolled over to 100k that night. Chris had kept me posted on the odometer status all trip. I was glad to roll it over so the updates could stop!

Kristin was up and expecting us in Pittsburgh. The next morning, after breakfast and our fill of peanut M&Ms, we were homeward bound.

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio were such pretty states to drive through. The leaves were just starting to turn and we enjoyed the rolling hills.

From Indianapolis home I rode in the backseat with Millie. She was a champ the whole trip, but after so much time in the carseat, she had just about met her max. Luckily, her toes kept her entertained for a while. We hit horrible traffic about halfway home from Indy, and we all about lost it by then!

 

We unpacked, started some laundry and it was nearly bedtime. Chris went back to school the next day and had to hit the ground running. It was a great trip together. Seeing so many friends made it especially sweet.