Living in a land of plenty has its advantages. America's abundance allows, for example, a transcontinental family reunion in just under three hours. In theory at least--Philadelphia's airport is a model of 1970s efficiency.
It seems odd to consider that it used to take three days thirty years ago, or thirty days three hundred years ago to travel from MN to PA. In short, we'd like to thank Toni's parents and sister, Mike, Collen and Kata, for making the long trip for her birthday!
Ben would like to thank his wife for allowing a birthday weekend detour to the USS New Jersey (BB-62). Ben and Mike couldn't resist the "Big Guns, Big Fun" advertisements, or maybe it was the fact that the Iowa Class Battleship has nine 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns aimed at our loft. Our WWII vet guide assured us that they were pointed at Philadelphia's City Hall. We nervously chuckled.
We did manage to see some lovely non-violent sights in the region as well. We checked out the artisans shops, colonial architecture, and art fair at New Hope in Bucks County, Pa. But not before a "spur of the moment" detour to Washington Crossing Historic Park, where G.W. and Co. attacked the drunken Hessians on Christmas day 1776. The next day, we drove down to the southern tip of the Jersey shore to the Victorian resort town Cape May. Curiously, America's Major, Rudy Guiliani, "happened" to be giving a campaign speech in the town. His stump speech didn't sign us up for his cabinet, but we did enjoy the free hot dogs and obligatory New York Yankees joke-sort off.
Oh, and Toni did have a fantastic birthday weekend.
It was the first time Ben and I hosted a holiday. We even avoided burning the turkey.
Du Pont Longwood Gardens, saw the Thanksgiving day parade, and went to the (in)famous Geno's Cheese Steaks. 
and a stroll on the rocks of the James river (think Gone with the Wind). Ben joined the ladies in the evening for some dessert at the Jefferson Hotel (think Gone with the Wind again). Richmond, it turns out, has gone through a remarkable transformation since the "war." Philadelphia, it seems, has done the opposite. 
It seems odd to consider that it used to take three days thirty years ago, or thirty days three hundred years ago to travel from MN to PA. In short, we'd like to thank Toni's parents and sister, Mike, Collen and Kata, for making the long trip for her birthday!
Sunday night we received a call from Kata (Toni’s sister). Ulan Bator Air had a little flight delay--a standard feature we hear--so the nurse returning from the Save Mongolia Expedition needed some companions in DC while she waite
d for her next flight to Raleigh, NC. A half tank of gas later, and
a great sleep at the Hilton, we three were touring the Smithsonian, touching moon rocks, scheming on stealing the Hope diamond, and listening to stuffed Lions roar. We also saw some old family friend from Minnesota, Paul and Colleen
Irwin. They gave us a wonderful tour of the jewel of Southeast DC, the aptly named, SE White House, a center for urban and spiritual renewal.
ith but never completed: the 1993 edition of the 1000 piece strong Noah’s Ark jigsaw puzzle. We’re not really sure if we were cured from all of our emotional scars of childhood (not that there were many), but we did learn interesting tid-bits of information. Did you know that Noah commanded all birds to not defecate over the arc? Apparently, we learned piece by piece, he had a little trouble with the Pigeons.
