Even though we’ve lived in New England for nearly 12 years now, we still act like tourists much of the time.  One reason for this, I believe, is the 25+ years we spent living in a state that you could hardly even get out of in seven hours.  I just did a little research and found that from the tip of the Texas panhandle to the farthest southern city of Brownsville is 801 miles! (That’s about 16 hours of drive time.)  We marvel at folks who have never been to, or have no desire to go to Boston because “It’s so far away.” (We’re about 80 miles west of the capitol city.)

Well, we put on our tourist hats again last week and drove to southeastern Pennsylvania.  We drove through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania all in the course of 7 hours. We stayed with a sweet family who used to go to our church, but have since moved back to that area to be closer to their families.  They made the trip so special for us, and it more than satisfied my travel bug and my homeschool mama’s heart.  (Talk about a field trip!)  Our first stop was to a fish hatchery just down the street from their house ~ thousands of trout at all different stages of development.  Kayla and little Lucy enjoyed picking up some of the dropped food, throwing it in the tanks, and watching hundreds of hungry mouths vie for the crumbs.

 Mike and Michelle met at Cornell in plant propagation class ~ which I think is so funny and cute ~ and they are the real deal.  Michelle can grow ANYTHING.  (She can also cook and can anything, too.) I couldn’t help wanting to take pictures of all of her plants and projects.  Do you see the succulents and hanging baskets in every windowsill?  What about the perfectly straight branches of several different varieties of pussy willow?  And the flower starts?  Michelle has her own cut flower business called Roots.  She sells at the local farmer’s market, to grocery stores, and will even give you a great bid for your upcoming wedding.  Mike also has his own business; a landscape design company called Earthworks.  They are a gifted pair to be sure.  Their little ones Jake and Lucy are a gifted pair as well ~ and totally adorable!  We enjoyed their hospitality so much. We even got to spend one of our evenings with Michelle’s parents whom we stayed with several years ago when we visited Gettysburg.

 Next up on the field trip agenda was the Army Heritage and War College in Carlisle.  We spent an hour or more walking a trail on the large campus that takes you to various bunkers, tanks, outposts, and helicopters. The kids ALL enjoyed climbing in and out of barracks and bunkers, but they were totally worn out by the near 80 degree heat ~ red cheeked and all.  Robert and I are the only ones in our family who ever really lived in Texas.  The kids’ home is Massachusetts, so they start to get faint when the mercury hits 75.

 Carlisle lies in what is sometimes referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch Country, so if you’re lucky you might get to see an Amish buggy going down the road or a farmer tilling his field behind a horse and plow.  What you can’t miss are the beautiful farms and silos that line the horizon.  Robert and I went for a run on Saturday morning, and Michelle provided us with a route in which we got to see some of the farms up close.  It was really beautiful. The photos of the dresses hanging out to dry are of a Mennonite family’s home and farm. Michelle buys her eggs from them, but is so appalled by the $1.25 price per dozen that she just gives them $5 for 3 dozen and calls it even.

The primary reason for this trip was so that we could attend the public memorial service of Maj. Dick Winters.  Maj. Winters was a WWII vet and the main character in Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers mini-series on the 101st Airborne Division “Easy Company.”  Kory is a big fan of his, and even recently completed an art grant proposal for school based on this man.  This heroic figure passed away in January, and because of his recent fame brought about by the mini-series, Robert discovered that a public memorial was scheduled.  It was held in Hershey, PA in a downtown theater.  The tickets were free, but still had to be reserved, and it was a “sold out” event.  Only four tickets per family were allowed, but thankfully we received an extra one at the box office just prior to the start of the service. (Answered prayer!)  I expected quite a bit more fanfare than was provided, and it took me a while to realize that this service was just what it was advertised as ~ a public memorial service.  It was truly a regular memorial service. There were traditional hymns sung, scripture verses read, poems recited, and a few speakers who had been close friends of Maj. Winters.  It could have been straight out of my old Methodist church in Uvalde, TX, and I’m so thankful that Kory and the rest of our family got to be a part of it.

And you just can’t go to Hershey without indulging in some chocolate.  Actually, you can’t go to Hershey without SEEING chocolate all around you ~ even the street lamps were capped off with Kisses! (They alternated: wrapped Kiss, unwrapped Kiss.)  We toured The Museum of Chocolate (Milton Hershey was quite a special man ~ wonderful boss, generous community member), and then after the memorial service arrived at Chocolate World just in time for the last round of tours in which you learn how chocolate is made and is perfectly complete with free chocolate samples at the end.  After the tour, we hopped back in the van at about 5:30pm, stopped in Scranton, PA for dinner (Mexican, if you can believe…) and were all cozy in our Amherst, MA beds before midnight.

So thankful for the chance to do all of these things!  Love being a tourist in my own neck of the woods!