50 States in 2021: 47-50

We did it! All 50 states in 2021!

We covered a lot of miles today! By our regular standards, that is - nowhere near the number of miles we drove on some of the days during our summer trip!

We started the day in Massachusetts, but as I mentioned in my previous post, we couldn't get a photo of a welcome sign yesterday. One of the signs was on the left side of the interstate and we had zero chance of a pic there; a second sign was kind of far off the right side of the highway and was situated in the middle of overgrown foliage, so I had to stand way back to even see the word Massachusetts! Ridiculous!

get it together, Massachusetts!

much better!

We went to breakfast at a place called The Friendly Toast and we were excited about it because we'd been to one of their other locations in Boston back in December 2018 and we really loved the food. Today's breakfast was amazing!

After breakfast, we drove to Salem and while I expected to see some cool things, I was not prepared for how strong a reaction I would have to all of the witch trial history. I was so disgusted by the injustice. A very somber reminder of how people's ignorance irrational and fears can lead to unspeakable atrocities. Humans are the absolute worst sometimes. The memorial has a stone marker for each of the victims with their name and info and there were flowers and notes/letters on many of them. It was a very moving experience. The town itself is pretty kitschy and has really leaned into the witch theme, and since I'm not really a Halloween lover, the touristy stuff was not my thing. But I am very glad we went so I could learn more about the witch trials.

After Salem, we drove into New Hampshire and right through it to Maine, where we visited the L.L.Bean flagship store. If you know me, you know how much I love their tote bags!

From Maine, we drove back through a small section of New Hampshire before arriving in Vermont, which is STATE #50! We went to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury before heading to our hotel for the night!

YAY!!!

On another note, I forgot to share this yesterday...my mom sent me this pic of Ginny and given the obvious sass, she is clearly not happy to have been left behind on this trip!

Happy Tails to you!

50 States in 2021: 45-46

We crossed two more states off the 2021 list!

even though we were in CT yesterday,
we couldn't get a good picture until today

We started the day in Stamford, Connecticut (I can't possibly be the only one who hears Andy Bernard chanting and clapping, "Stamford, Connecticut! clap, clap, clap-clap, clap" every time I hear the word Stamford!), and drove to Milford for breakfast. Breakfast is the best meal of the day, and usually I rave about any breakfast place we go to. Not today! C had cinnamon waffles and they were great, but I ordered french toast and it was awful. Easily the worst french toast I've ever had! Yikes! I won't name the place, but I was not impressed.

The rest of the day was much better! We drove through Connecticut and Rhode Island, and ultimately ended up in Massachusetts (I'm not counting Massachusetts today because we weren't able to get a good welcome sign picture, but hope to do so tomorrow!). One negative is that it was Saturday of Labor Day weekend, so we had a few places planned and they just didn't work out because of crowds. Not the end of the world by any means, and that just left us with more time to relax at the hotel!

C's breakfast - delicious!

We found a cool donut shop,

a really awesome used bookstore,

and a fantastic ice cream shop!

I wanted to go here, but the whole area was packed
and there were absolutely no parking spots anywhere,
so I took this pic through the moon roof and we called it a day!

this children's museum had an impressive dragon on it

I will never ever stop loving bridges

obsessed

My favorite story of the day comes from a pizza place where we stopped for lunch. We could overhear the conversation happening in the next booth because the ladies were chatting pretty loudly and with their New England accents, they sounded like a group of Lois Griffins! Very entertaining!

Part way through lunch, we heard one of them say, in a tone that was dripping with disdain, "All 'Toms' leave. First my dad. Then my husband. Then Brady."

Without missing a beat, one of the other ladies immediately said, "Good riddance to ALL of 'em!" and they joyfully clinked their glasses together and laughed! If that's not a beautiful and hilarious example of support and solidarity, I don't know what is!

Happy Tails to you!

A Beautiful Lunch

On our way to New York today, we stopped in New Jersey to take my YaYa out for lunch. He’s 91 - almost 92, actually! - and is so wonderful! As I've written on a few occasions, I have so many happy childhood memories from our countless summer visits to his house in Huntington Beach, CA!

I've also shared that I adore C's family and he adores mine; there's no "in laws" business because we are all just one big extended family. My YaYa is one of C's favorite people and the two of them have always gotten along so well. I think C was about 18 when they met, and they always have a great time together. Lunch today was no exception. 

Have you ever just observed two people interacting and having fun together and felt so lucky to be witness to genuine love and joy? It's just about the closest thing to magic that I can imagine. That’s exactly how I felt today.

And while I was watching them, eating and joking around and discussing life, the song “Precious Love” by James Morrison started playing in the diner. If you’re a fellow Schitt’s Creek fan, you’ll understand why it felt like the most perfect moment to me.

Family really is everything and I was reminded today how lucky I am.

Happy Tails to you!

50 States in 2021: 44

We made it to state 44 in 2021…and actually it’s our second visit to New York this year. Back in June, we visited family, but I was sleeping way in the back of the car when we passed the “Welcome to New York” sign! C didn’t stop to wake me up because we already had plans to come back, and he knew would could get the pic on that return trip - which was today!

We left our house before 6:00 am, and drove up to New Jersey to have lunch with my YaYa before continuing on to New York and Connecticut. (Yes, we actually went to our 45th state today, but couldn't safely get a pic of the Connecticut state sign, so I'm not counting it until tomorrow!)

not happy we were leaving her

saw a beautiful sunrise

I love bridges!

We went to the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant in Danbury, CT because "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" is one of our favorite shows and we just had to see the sign in person!

hilarious!

After checking in to our hotel and having a short rest, we drove back into NY to have dinner with B2, S2, and our three nephews - two of which are dogs and one of which is a cat. B2 and S2 just adopted the cat a few months ago, so it was our first time meeting him and I am obsessed! We had a great visit and could have stayed and talked long into the wee hours of the morning, but we have to get on the road early tomorrow, so we called it a night around 10:00 pm.

Max

Kazak

Glen

We'll get to that Connecticut sign tomorrow!

Happy Tails to you!

Restless

I really like this quote because it sums me up pretty perfectly. I love being at home, but what I love even more is the anticipation of an upcoming trip. I have all of these countdowns on my phone to our various trips and when I'm feeling stressed or having a rough day, I check them and tell myself, "Only ___ days until we go to...!" Including the one below, I have eight countdowns for upcoming travel, some in the not-so-distant future and others almost a year away, but I love that they give me something to look forward to! This countdown has gotten me through an exhausting first two weeks of school!

The school calendar happened to work out so that we have a five-day weekend starting tomorrow! I'm always happy to have a three-day weekend (and, side note, if I were in charge, students would go to school four days a week and there'd be a three-day weekend every weekend...), but a five-day weekend means we can easily travel a little further away than we might normally attempt if we only had three days off!

We're embarking on another driving adventure in the morning and I'm super excited! Ginny will not be coming with us this time, even though she immediately took to hotel life back in the spring when we took her to Tennessee and Kentucky, so my mom will be watching her for us. I predict she's going to be highly annoyed when she sees us put our bags in the car without her, but she’ll get over it quickly once she realizes she’s got my mom all to herself!

Happy Tails to you!

Team Work

I’m sure you know what I mean when I say that I feel like I’m a member of many different teams…in my family life, in my friend life, in my school life, etc. While some of those teams are relationship oriented, there are others that are more task oriented (and naturally there can be some overlap!).

One of my teams that I’ve relied heavily on for the past week and a half has been my Kiss and Ride team. It can be a super stressful undertaking: making sure kids arrive and leave safely, monitoring for traffic issues, and dealing with angry and impatient people. However, it can also be awesome: seeing kids excited to start the school day, witnessing sweet exchanges between kids and their families as they say goodbye in the morning and hello in the afternoon, and of course, all of the dogs we get to see, which absolutely makes our day!

And then there's the weather. Ugh. It's been hot and humid every single day. So gross! There's a TikTok video about Kiss and Ride and one of my favorite lines from it is, "It is full on Nick Lachey right now. #98degrees" because it is so accurate!

Regardless of the challenges, my team is the best! It's not a glamorous job, but I wouldn't trade it for any other duty because I love starting and ending my day with these people! There's a good chance I won't see any of them during the actual school day because we have different schedules and are housed in different areas of the building, but I look forward to dismissal each afternoon because I know I get to work with them!

Happy Tails to you!