The Road Trip Begins!

Thought this was a funny shot.

Our first two days of road tripping are complete.

On Monday morning, we finished loading the car and wrapping up the last little details in Somerville. We said goodbye to 124 Cedar Street, our happy and cozy home for the last three years, and headed out.

This photo is a view of our packed little car!

Chris took the wheel for day one, as we headed through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and into Philadelphia. There was some nasty traffic due to a "truck fire" on the Jersey Turnpike, so we arrived later than we had hoped. But we had a fantastic visit with our dear friends Keri and Mike, who have lived in Philly since we all graduated from GW Law back in 2006. They showed us around town, including some of the touristy sites (e.g., Independence Hall) as well as some of the really fun, unique neighborhoods in the city. It was a beautiful evening for a long walk, followed by a spectacular dinner al fresco at an awesome Italian BYOB restaurant, Mercato, and a quick gelato stop on the way back to Keri's. We laughed a LOT and had a wonderful time. It was especially fun for me to walk around Philly and picture my parents living there when they were in their twenties (pre-kids); I could really see how it would be their kind of city. In fact, I could see how it could be our kind of city as well, and I wish we could have spent more time there.

This is a view of Philly skyline from the Walt Whitman Bridge,

but we did a terrible job of taking any more photos of Philly. :(

We stayed at Keri's gorgeous apartment last night, and got a relatively early start this morning. The drive to the Pittsburgh area was very pretty-- lots of rolling hills and farmland that reminded me of my family's visits to my Nana's house in northern central PA when I was younger. Chris liked the tunnels that went right through a couple of mountains. The route itself was easy (pretty much a straight shot), but driving was a bit tiring due to frequent road work and periodic rainstorms. We hit several bands of very heavy rain, alternating with perfectly nice June sunshine.


We split the driving and arrived at our friend Jones's house in a suburb south of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon. We got a quick tour of his hometown, which reminded us of Westborough in so many ways. We then helped Jones and his mom make and eat a great summer cookout, which included local corn on the cob, grilled veggies, and grilled chicken with a BBQ sauce recipe by Bob Dylan (Jones loves him some Dylan). Music legend or no, this was some seriously good barbeque sauce. We hung out on their lovely back patio watching the lightning bugs (haven't seen those in a few years!) and marveling at how quiet it was. Jones and his mom even picked up a birthday cake (or more accurately, a cookie cake-- a giant cookie) with a candle in it for Chris's 31st birthday, which is tomorrow!

Tomorrow we head to Cincinnati, which is a bit of a drive, so time to sign off for now, but we are well, safe and happy and enjoying our road trip so far. We are grateful for the opportunity to do this; for our car, which is doing very well so far (averaging 46mpg even packed full of our stuff!); and for our wonderful friends who are hosting us and making us feel so welcome.