road trippin.

pennsylvania dutch country... their prison looks like a castle.

buggies on the highway

woodstock, NY. notice the shoeless hippie in the background. 

hiking in the catskill mtns, ny. gorgeous scenery. we could see all the way to the hudson river.

camped by this lake.

hiked to a double waterfall. the water was a little low. something about a country-wide drought.

historical sightseeing in Philly.  everyone was bashing this boring concrete building, but it was one of my favorites. call me crazy.

kennedy square

rocky statue @ art museum

plaza with giant monopoly game pieces. who knows why.

betsy ross' house

ben franklin... you can't tell (unless you click on the photo to enlarge it... do it!), but he's entirely made out of keys!

i got tired while alex was taking pictures of this church. it was SO hot. and we'd walked a LOT.

one trip to whole foods for some zevia and our day perked right up. 

pretty fountain. the mist felt so good, we sat there for quite a while cooling off. most people (adults) actually were swimming in the fountain. it was a scorcher of a day.

rodin museum.

liberty bell with independence hall behind.

independence hall, where the declaration was signed. the color scheme of greys and greens is so 'in'.
(or, timeless... i guess)

thanks to my Best Road Trip Ever app, we found Opus 40. what is opus 40?

we weren't sure either.  basically it's a whole city made of shale rocks, by hand.
took a guy something like 40 years to make! 

the hill cumorah. or, cumorah hill if you are Alex. it was the 75th anniversary of the pageant that night so we didn't really have a chance of getting a photo without others in it... though we did ask 4 youth conferencers to please move off the steps AND take this photo for us. thanks guys. 

smith family log house.  after this pic was taken, a guy offered to take one of both of us. and they while he was trying to get the camera focused, there grew to be quite a crowd waiting to get in the house. and they ALL failed to mention that my shirt had come unbuttoned and my entire bra was showing. so i had to post the one of just alex. 

anyway, buttoned up my shirt and trotted off to the sacred grove.  it was amazing. you really could feel that you were in a sacred place. the overwhelming number of people meditating and praying was a little dramatic though.

finally...niagra falls!

maid of the mist boat ride. we went right to the front of the boat, and got soaked. laughing all the way. i couldn't get a picture because of the mist, but we also went to "cave of the winds." where there is a sketchy staircase that takes you to the bottom of the falls and you basically get pelted by the waterfall. it was HILARIOUS. 

so the USA side of niagra is a bit dumpy/abandoned/rundown/lame

though alex did win $40 at the casino. and then proceeded to lose it again by continuing to try to spin the wheel.

from the canada side the next day. rainbows and all. 

so sunny....

canada side of niagra. green grass, flowers, fountains. a bit of a difference from the US side.

Toronto.  loved the buildings there. it was a city of glass.

union station

best thai food ever. then off to batman. alex was in heaven. 

kensington market. so many vegan restaurants and bargain shopping. it was great fun. this car was filled to the brim with dirt (trunk, hood, windows), and had plants growing out of it. toronto loves their graffiti

more graffiti

waterfront of lake ontario. all the sailboats were white. it was quite pretty.

toronto had all these pianos for people to play... and people were playing them! it was very fun. (must not rain there much)

that's all for now. it was fun, but i'm so happy to be back home.
over and out.