Mini trip within a trip

    Our first trip to Philadelphia started out this summer with what was just going to be a one night trip to Pittsburgh to visit my Aunt (she doesn't live there but that's meeting in the middle), and then we decided to go the extra distance to Philadelphia (5 more hours away) to meet up with my husband who was there on business. I did feel a little bad since we could have saved the money on a hotel and just visited my Aunt at that time. From Philadelphia it is only a 3 hour drive- or less-well it took me over 4 hours to get there then only 2.5 hours to get back. I did make some stops on the way there. So it would have been easier for her had we just waited but I didn't know if whether or not we would actually be going all the way to Philly.

I love this pic-she was so mad at me for making her leave a gift shop and huffily put her glasses on...crooked.

    On our second trip to Philly I knew that I could not be such a short drive from my Aunt and not see her and since our trip was off to a not so great start I figured this would be our first adventure. When I called to tell her she informed me that she would be coming to Michigan the following week! What a bonus! I never get to see my Aunt this much and never with visits so close together! Including our trip there last Christmas we got to see each other 4 times this year!

      It was a nice overnight trip for the two of us, obviously my husband did not go since he was working. During the drive I spent a lot of time thinking about how much I dislike the state of Delaware and how funny and random it was to even be in Delaware as this mini trip was very last minute notice (so was the entire trip for that matter). So while driving through I kept thinking how you never know where life will take you- a week before I had NO idea or reason to be in Delaware ever again in my life....heck even 24 hours before I left I had NO clue that I would be there. I like to take advantage of visiting new places but unfortunately there is not anything interesting at all to do in that state. Now, Maryland on the other hand is a state I am quite fond of and it was nice to be back. I've been there several times so there are many landmarks and roads and stores which are very familiar to me now. Where it is kind of sad to have relatives out of state it is a good opportunity to make the most of it. I mean, I have been to Washington D.C. like 10 times! If I didn't have a place to stay and a reason to go I never would have been able to do that in my life. And it makes our visits more memorable-we say thinks like-remember when we were at the Pentagon and.... or that time we went to the Hershey Hotel....when we met up in New York City-so it makes all our visits very interesting!

It was funny on our way there I was approaching the Harbor Tunnel bridge which is a bridge I had wanted to go on for years now. I know this sounds silly but I had seen it on the Travel Channel and in books and it looked interesting because it was half underwater. I even remember asking my Aunt a few years ago if we could go and they informed me that it was over an hour away which led me to believe they did not want to go, although I totally would have. So it was exciting to be at this bridge because I had always wanted to drive across it however, now that I was there I decided it was in fact not something which you would make a special trip for. I was pretty pleased with myself for having driven in a tunnel that was underwater-it sounds so cool-then my mom reminded me that the tunnel to Canada is underwater which I have driven through well over 100 times (we are only about 45 minutes from Canada).

   We had a lovely visit and my Aunt was able to give my little one her birthday gifts in person which I thought was neat because I bet she no idea when she bought them that she would be opening her gifts in her house! One of the gifts was possibly the greatest idea ever for a 2 year old.....giant pipe cleaners! I received quite a gift myself- in reference to my blog my Aunts boyfriend told me that "I'm kind of like a journalist" That's a nice compliment- not only will I take it but I'm putting it in writing and adding it to the 'log book'. (I really should tell you about the Log Book one day, it's no Diary of Anne Frank but I think it could adequately serve as a historical document one day).

Guess what captivating state this is. 

     We stayed the night and headed back to Philadelphia after her boyfriend made us breakfast- what a treat to be served breakfast and coffee then got back on the road. That meant one more drive through Delaware. America's bellybutton-once rather important to the formation of this great country but now serves no purpose.....and is only occasionally attractive. If you're listening Delaware you can try to win me over but I'm done spending hours online searching for something fun to do in your state. I hate to be spleenful and I am not trying to asperse my negative opinions but honestly, to me, it seems like a waste to drive through a state and not do or see anything interesting there.