We got home today, Aug. 5, at about 2:30. In all, we were in 11 states, and took almost every form of transportation we could take short of a helicopter. We flew to DC, took the Metro, a bus to Mt. Vernon, a light rail/trolley in Baltimore to see the Rays win, a boat to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, subways in NYC, and rented a car in the Boston area before flying home out of Providence, RI today.

Along the way, we visited with my parents in Phila, saw some high school friends; went to Ocean City NJ to see my brother and sister-in-law (boy was it hot walking the boardwalk at 11 a.m) visited with, and stayed with, Donna's sister in CT while her other sister and niece visited from upstate NY; attended Donna's high school reunion near Medfield, MA; visited with Donna's nephew and family in Dover, NH; visited another nephew and family in Providence, RI; and saw Tim a couple of days in NYC. By the way, we managed to get in some historical sites as well.

Lots of highlights on the history front. In Boston, we went to Lexington and Concord; walked part of the Freedom Trail, where we saw the site of the Boston Massacre, the gravesites of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere; went to Old North Church; and went to the birthplace of John Adams - we also saw where John and Abigail, and John Quincy and his wife are buried. Lots of great history on the trip. I had never been to the Boston area before, and it was worth it.

At least for the history. Several days ago as we were going to dinner and found that directional signs are lacking in Massachusetts, I said to Donna, "we are never, never going to live in Massachusetts." Besides that, there are a lot of aggressive drivers there. Tampa really is tame by comparison.

We have lots of pictures, and I'll get back to the reading and research in a couple of days. But it was a very good, and very worthwhile, trip, both for family reasons and study reasons.