Our Exodus East

As many of you know, we returned home from our vacation to the east coast several months ago. Since we’ve been home, Catherine has been preparing for school and has since begun teaching her second year of general music/choir at Madison Middle School. I, on the other hand, had three more weeks until school started up again. They went by quickly as I spent much of my time unpacking boxes, getting our house in order, and making the initial attempts to refinish a bookshelf Mom and Dad let us have.

All of that aside, what we really want to do is share with you our favorite parts of the trip. I’d be delighted to share the whole trip with you, but even verbally explaining it takes nearly an hour! I can’t imagine typing it all out!

I initially thought that identifying my “favorite part” would be easy, since I’ve visited nearly every stop on our trip before. However, even I had a ton of fun. Ironically, one of my favorite stops was Manassas National Battlefield, a spot only 40 minutes from my house growing up! I believe that with aging comes a greater appreciation for culture, be it classical music, history, or art. As a kid, I remember being compelled to accompany dad on his Civil War battlefield excursions. Then as a teen, it became an optional outing, so I rarely went (I remember Cath and Tim being good sports though). One could spend an entire week on the east coast just visiting Civil War battlefields, so we decided to give Catherine a “taste” of it by visiting the battlefield of the first battle of the Civil War: the 1st Battle of Bull Run.

It’s surprising to think that drizzly weather would be embraced on a vacation, but after a few days of trudging around D.C. in the hot sun and intense humidity, an overcast, rainy day was such a relief. We took part in a guided tour by a young man from the National Forest Service who had such a passion for the Civil War. He was very articulate and captivated us with each sentence. We walked around to several points of significance and listened as Hank would treat us with a play-by-play of the military strategies utilized by the Union and Confederate troops. It was a blast!! After our short visit to Manassas Battlefield, I gained considerable interest in the Civil War, a passion held not only by my dad, but also by my brother-in-law Kyle. We both agree that it would be a dream for Catherine and I to go back to the east coast with Kyle to take in even more of the history encapsulated in that area.

As for me, Catherine here, it is so difficult to say what I enjoyed most. We did so many new things I have wanted to do. Wandering the mall and seeing all the sights was sweet, meeting all of Peter's high school buddies was a treat, going to the battlefield was awesome, attending the temple was memorable, the wild ponies and light house where fun, the beach is always refreshing, seeing family in their natural habitats was special, riding the roller coasters at Busch Gardens was a thrill, Colonial Williamsburg was fascinating, and Mount Vernon was amazing. (I get tired just recalling the crazy 10 days) Really if I had to choose one thing, I'd say that each night no matter where we were staying, whether at the Gallo's, Jon's, the B&B-fast, or a hotel (which we didn't plan on paying $150 for, just for 8 hours) going to bed feeling exhausted and reminising of the day's events with Peter was wonderful. Even though I was in charge of planning much of the trip I didn't realize how busy the itinerary was going to be. What a great feeling it is to cuddle up next to a wonderful husband and feel like our days were well spent and many wonderful memories were made. This also marked our two year anniversary. Thanks Peter for taking me on the trip of a life time!!