East Coast Road Trip

As our last hurrah for a very busy summer we took off on our "East Coast Road Trip."  Meaning, we drove 2548 miles over a seven day stretch...or should I say that Mark drove, with an occasional break provided by me!  We were headed to Philadelphia to visit Mark's friend, Mark Haskins.  Mark Haskins (the "Elder Mark") is also an MPS researcher and they have been collaborating and working together for many years now.  The Elder Mark is a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania and maintains animal models for rare diseases.  We started off with a side trip to the Fiestaware factory in Newell, WV.  I had realized that we were driving about an hour away from Newell and we felt that I just couldn't miss the opportunity to see where Fiestaware is made.  I have always loved Fiestaware and have decided it is our main set of dishes for the farmhouse.  Over the years I have gathered a collection, and I love all the bright colors!   The factory was smaller than expected, on the banks of the Ohio river, and has an outlet store, as well as a seconds store.  I found several things in the seconds store that I "had" to have, and we were on our way.  The most fascinating thing about the factory was the piles of crockery that were in an area off the parking lot!  I wanted to go scavenge so badly!

This was the crockery garden outside the store. Might coulda used a few flowers too!  They do factory tours, but unfortunately not on the weekend, which is when we were there.

These are a few of the many piles of broken dishes that were off the parking lot.  I can only hope that they are recycled in some way...mosaics would work perfectly, I think!

After an early night in Pittsburgh, our next stop was to visit Les, Teri and Brittany Sheaffer, who live close to Allentown.  Les worked on Legislative matters for the MPS Society, and through the course of the years we have become good friends.  Brittany has Sanfilippo and is now 17 years old.  It was good for my heart to see these friends again!  How I wish we all lived closer!  Les and Teri treated us to a wonderful steak dinner with potatoes, corn and tomato salad.  We had a great time!

Next stop on the tour was the Haskins/Craik residence.  I had never met the Elder Mark's girlfriend, Becky, so that was a treat to finally get to have a face to put with the name, and I think she felt the same! Mark and Becky live in an 18th century farmhouse that has been added onto several times over the years.  It is so picturesque!

We went into Philadelphia with Mark on Monday and spent the afternoon at the Franklin Institute, where this huge statue of Ben Franklin is located.  There is so much more of Philadelphia that we didn't explore, but...there's always the next trip!

That evening Mark treated us to a wonderful dinner at Valley Green Inn.  We had our waiter take this picture, then Mark encouraged me to take photos of the food.  He says he does it all the time, but I've honestly never thought about it before (I guess I'm too busy thinking about eating it!).

These are the jumbo lump crab cakes that the Elder Mark and I both ordered.  Yummy!

A Pennsylvania covered bridge....

This was the hardest part of our journey, because we were there to deliver Hailey to her new home with Mark, Becky and Becky's father, Don. Hailey has not adjusted well to Emery's arrival in her home, and this was what was finally worked out for her best outcome. It was very difficult, although watching Hailey there I know she will be happy, well cared for, given lots of attention and love. It is a totally selfish emotion on my part, but Hailey has been a part of my family for a long time now, we have gone through so much with her, and she has come so far from her early days.  I know she will be a wonderful dog for them, but I'm jealous that she will no longer be our wonderful dog!

Next leg of the journey was an all night drive to Simpsonville, SC, arriving at 3:50AM.  Who needs sleep?!!  My parents came up to visit as well and we had a great time together.  First night out was spent at Bone Fish Grill, enjoying the $5 Bang Bang Shrimp Night.  It is my one request when we go to visit there, I LOVE Bang Bang Shrimp!  And the Wednesday night special cannot be beat!  As you can tell from the crowd in the background, I'm not the only one in Greenville that feels this way!

The next day Mark, Ryan and Whitie toured the BMW factory there in Greenville.  The girls showed up long enough to go through the museum part of the factory, then we headed for a nearby mall.

The cutest car/camper combo ever!

Since there's no helmet law in SC, all Emery needed were some keys and she was ready to go!

The second night out included a ridiculous amount of sushi...we don't get sushi in Owensville these days, so we had to get our fill while we could!

Note that I managed to photograph the dinner again this evening...this was only part of the sushi order of the night.

After Sara and Ryan treated us to Bone Fish, they surprised me with a birthday cake.  My birthday is always at the start of the school year and seems to have become a non event since I started teaching.  It is sorta like having a birthday the day before Christmas, I guess.  It was a nice surprise, and you can see that Emery definitely was happy to be celebrating her Boppy's birthday, as long as chocolate cake was involved!