October 22, 2003

Road Trip - Day 18: Long Island Friends

Today was a "let's not do a whole lot" day. We slept in as long as we could, then Joel tracked down a McDonald's and brought breakfast to us. (Can you believe there's not a McD's "just down the road" here?) Then we got caught up on some of our schoolwork.

In our reading today, we came to the end of the Civil War in the Lincoln Photobiography book, and we learned about the stress the war put on families (especially in the border states) when sons chose to fight on opposing sides in Across Five Aprils.

It was almost 1:00 p.m. before we left for lunch. Joel made a quick stop at Best Buy then we went back to Mill Creek Mall (where we shopped last night) to have lunch in their food court. (I'm not sure, but that may have been a big mistake.... I've had an upset stomach for hours....)

By the time we finished there it was time to go back to the room, shower, and get ready to drive out to Long Island to see our friends, Victor and Judy Picone. (Joel and Victor go waaaaay back to their days of selling Encyclopedia Britannica in Dallas, Texas.) The drive out there took longer than we figured--between the traffic being backed up and us getting a little lost.... But we arrived around 5:30 with Victor driving up right behind us.

It was great having the time to get caught up with Victor and Judy, and getting acquainted with the newest addition to their family, Christian, their 9-month old son. (He was such a cutie! and a really good baby.) Jenna, especially, had a good time playing with Christian. It was her first time to get to play with a little baby like that. (...Good experience with her cousin, Kari, expecting a new baby in a few months!)

Judy had made a very tasty dinner for us, then we watched some of their home videos from Halloween a couple of years ago.

The Picones are great people--real people. They're the kind of friends you know you'll have for a lifetime. No matter how much time passes between visits or emails or phone calls, we always pick up right where we left off.

Our time with them passed all too quickly, and before we knew it we were on our way back to New Jersey and our last night in the Red Roof Inn, Secaucus. Socrates was really happy to see us, as always! He is such a good dog and a great little traveler.

Tomorrow we pack up again and head for Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love--and some more new adventures!

Note: It was a little strange not going to the Empire State Building or even seeing the Statue of Liberty on this trip. We did visit those sights a few years ago when we were here, but still, it seems like we should have gone to those places again.... I'm not sure how much Jenna remembers from our previous trip. It would've been good to give her another look.