Just a few more photos...

I thought I'd share just a few more photos with you from our trip to the eastern U.S. This is a photo of Hildene,  the home of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, in Manchester, Vermont. It is a beautiful old home. I didn't know how economically successful Robert Lincoln was until we visited this home.

We also visited President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park, New York. Another beautiful home, but a little dark inside for my taste. The week before we had also visited his summer home--Campobello--in New Brunswick, Canada. That home was simpler, but also light and airy - more to my liking!

Next we traveled to New York City. This view of Manhattan is from the top of Rockefeller Center. We had an unexpected disaster as we drove into New York our first night there. Our little RV hit a very big and deep pothole which caused a rear leaf spring to break. Not only did it break, but it came right up through the floor, making a big hole!! We had the RV towed to a repair shop where they told us it would cost as much to fix it as we had paid for it in the first place! Also, it would not be a quick fix. We called our insurance company and realized we'd have to continue our trip by car while they figured out if and how they might help cover the cost of the damage. We rented a car, bought some luggage and went on with our trip.

We spent about 5 days in New York, visiting as many landmarks as we could. This is a photo of the 9/11 Memorial. We also went through the museum, which is very sobering.

This is a view of the new World Trade Center.

I tried to imagine the horror of the two former towers collapsing on this site, and it is just beyond imagination, even though I watched it happen on the morning news.

My husband is a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan, so we had to visit the Gugenheim Museum, which he designed. It is such an unusual building. I liked that it wasn't a large museum--you can walk through it and enjoy the art in just a couple of hours.

We took a boat tour of the harbor, which gave us a great view of the Statue of Liberty.

Next we headed to Philadelphia. This is a photo of me with a dumb look on my face looking at the Liberty Bell. We also toured Independence Hall and many of the other historic sites in the old part of the city.

Of course, we also had to take a little side trip over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art - not to look at the art, but to see the steps that Rocky ran up in the first "Rocky" movie.

After leaving Philadelphia, we headed to Washington, D.C. We walked and walked and walked, taking in a number of the fantastic museums: Holocaust Museum, African American Museum of History & Culture and the American Indian Museum. We toured the Capitol and the Library of Congress and saw many of the famous memorials.

This is a section of the Viet Nam Memorial that holds the name of a young man from my high school who was killed in that conflict in 1968.

Here's a view of the White House - this was as close as we could get.

While in D.C., we took one day to tour Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington. It's quite a large estate so there was lots to see and lots to learn. There were a number of people dressed in period costumes giving demonstrations from that period including boat building, cooking, weaving, etc.

On our last day in D.C., which happened to be Sunday, we attended a morning service at the Washington National Cathedral. It's a beautiful structure that took 83 years to build! It suffered quite a bit of damage in an earthquake a few years ago, so they are still repairing parts of it.

Before heading to Chicago and then home, we toured Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous structure near Mill Run, Pennsylvania. It is truly an amazing home built over a waterfall in 1936-38 for the Kaufmann family. I recommend visiting if you ever get the chance!

After we arrived home, we learned that the insurance company had deemed our RV a total loss! We were pleased to receive the replacement value of the vehicle, and we will be purchasing another one. Can't wait!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl