STAR CHART

First, in a fountain in DC:

And some birds in the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh:

I think the best way to do this is to post by a day (or a few days at a time) so there isn’t one HUGE mongo post.

Edit: I changed my mind. Sorry if I spammed your RSS. It is now one HUGE mongo post.

Day One!
Saturday, August 30
We fly into Providence, Rhode Island. It was a very easy flight; the winds were with us and we were early. We stayed with Dan’s grandparents, and Grampa Frank and Aunt Liz picked us up at the airport.
Highlight: The fire festival. Every summer they light mini bonfires in pits set up down the center of the river at night, and it’s beautiful. They pipe music through speakers along the river, and there are street performers, and everyone comes down to take it in.
On the way back, we found this little guy on the sidewalk!

Day 2
Sunday, August 31
We spent the day with Liz, checking out the sceneries around Providence. We spent an hour on the bridge, because of the traffic, but then we walked along the beach (called the cliffwalk…water on one side and mansions on the other!), then went and got ice cream and coffee down at the docks. After that, we drove around looking at all the mansions, which was fun!
Highlight: Dinner with Dan’s grandparents…they cook enough for an army!

Here are some beach scenes:

Here are Dan and Liz:

See any resemblance?

I picked (illegally) Liz’s favorite flower for her.

A cormorant drying its wings in the sun.

Down near the docks.

A lucky shot while randomly sticking my camera out the car window.

A gateway to one of the many mansions we saw.

My beautiful sweetheart.

While at the graveyard, we saw H.P. Lovecraft’s grave. (”I am Providence”?? What the hell is that all about?)

Dan being cute.

This mausoleum is built into the hill.

I had to run around to the top and call down to everybody. Liz: “OMGyorgonnafallandDIE!” Dan: “Fascinating…” *working out how she got up there*

Both: “Yeah, OK, hi Meia.”

I wonder if there’s any relation to our friends?

I wonder if that’s any relation?

Around Brown University.

Day 5ive
September 3
After breakfast with Dan’s parents, we start the drive to New York City. That night, we went and saw the play Spring Awakening, which we didn’t really like too much (Dan describes it as a rock anthem version of Dead Poets Society, which sums it up pretty well), but we had dinner at a wonderful Castilian restaurant beforehand! Some things we’d never tried before: squid in ink (delicious…but I personally couldn’t get past the ink part) and bruchetta with bittersweet chocolate and chorizo sausage (sounds weird, but it was fantastic!!)
Highlight: Waking up in Dan’s parents’ guest room. The windows were open, the light was streaming in, the birds were singing, and all was well with the world.

Day 6ix
September 4
Today we visited the Museum of Natural History, which was awesome! The space displays were my favorite…they are hard to explain, but they were fascinating. We also saw lots of dinosaur bones and early mammal bones, and tons and tons of amazing gemstones. We had dinner that night with Dan’s cousin Sveta and her boyfriend. It was a lot of fun. They’re both really awesome. Later, we took a nice walk around Greenwich Village and stopped to have dessert at Rocco’s.

Walking around in New York.

Day 8ight
September 6
Apparently there was some huge football game going on, and the whole town was FULL of people. It was impossible to get a sit-down breakfast, so we ended up eating at Starbucks. It was raining, and we got to see some undergrad girls slip huge plastic bags over their heads and walk around like really big condoms. (I tried to get a shot, but failed. XD) We drove to Bellefonte and saw some ducks, another cemetary, and had lunch at a really good pub! That night Cady, Dan and I went to the Mexican restaurant and had snacks and drinks. It was awesome.
Highlight: I love it when Cady’s lips start getting loose after a drink or two. It’s always wonderful to see the real Cady come out! I tried to tell her so afterward, but I think she thought I was being sarcastic. I wasn’t! I mean it! I love you Cady and I always love hearing what’s on your mind, whether you’re proud of it or not!!!

On the way back from breakfast, David got a hold of a really BIG stick and proceeded to whack it into anything that got in his way on the way home. XD

There were some really beautiful buildings in Bellefonte!

Day 10
September 8
After a very sad (and teary) farewell, Dan and I drove to DC. We walked around a little, and had dinner at a Burmese restaurant. Dan’s food wasn’t very good, but mine was! We are both sad and missing Cady. DC was very cool so far, though!

Day 11
September 9
I was getting a bit overstimulated, so I decided to take a day off. Dan went out sight-seeing, and I stayed by myself in the hotel (which was the Embassy Suites…very nice). We had a very good dinner that night…somewhere. I didn’t write down the name of the restaurant. I spent the day drawing, reading, knitting, and meditating. It was wonderful.

Day 12
September 10
We went to the National Gallery of Art. Wow, I saw so many great works! Here’s a list of the artists I saw whose names I recognized: Rembrandt, Rafael, Da Vinci, Lautrec, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugin, Titian, Boticelli, Morisot, Cassatt, Degas, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Seurat, Gentileschi, Hals, Friedrich, Cole, Constable, and my favorite artist, Andy Goldsworthy!! *faints a million times* We had dinner at a Jamaican restaurant, which was very good! Then we went to U Street for drinks. We had a very annoying waitress, but the drinks were good! Well…they were too sweet for Dan. But they were perfect for me. XD

DC’s subway is way cooler than New York’s subway. (Both literally and in the vernacular sense.)

Here are a couple of shots of Andy Goldsworthy’s pieces, one from the inside of the building, and one from the outside, along with another person’s sculpture.

Whuh?

There really are some amazing buildings in DC!

I forgot to mention that we walked around the White House. I kind of wished Bush would come out so we could throw tomatoes.

The back.

Then we got our rental car and headed to an early dinner at Indique, which was amazing. We drove back to Pennsylvania, to see Madeline and Andrew in Pittsburgh, in a crazy ass rainstorm! It took us such a long time, but we finally made it in, and went to bed pretty soon after.

Day 14
Saturday, September 13
We had an awesome time hanging out with Madeline and Andrew. We went to the Andy Warhol museum and had lunch at an Italian place. Walking back to the car, we got caught in a downpour! It was just sprinkling for a while, then suddenly it was just SHEETS of water! Our umbrellas were in the car, of course. It turns out that both Andrew and I love walking in the rain. We tried to see the installation museum, the Mattress Factory, but it closed earlier than the internet said it did. So we just drove around Pittsburgh. When we got back home we watched Ratatouille, which Dan and I hadn’t seen yet, ate dinner, and met a guy who worked with Cambridge/Microsoft. And the sweetest thing…Madeline made us birthday brownies to celebrate my past birthday and Dan’s coming up birthday!! I couldn’t believe how sweet. Awwww. Then we watched SNL and went to bed. : )
Highlight: The birthday brownie. It was just soooo sweet.

Here is some interesting raindrops on a rail outside the Warhol museum.

Walking across a bridge in Pittsburgh.

Day 15
Sunday, September 14
Dan and I made breakfast for Madeline, which was fun. Then we went down to the Phipps Conservatory, where Madeline and Andrew joined us later. After that, we drove to the airport…and flew home. We got in about ten or eleven after a smooth flight. The plane had yahoo games on a screen in front of me. It kept me so busy that I didn’t even use the restroom for the whole five hour flight. LOL.
Highlight: Jumping on Andrew’s trampoline! I haven’t laughed that hard in months!!

Here are some pics of the conservatory and butterfly garden:

A tree that has eyes!

The orchid garden.

We had a great time. We visited fourteen people in fourteen days! Although they were quite spread out.

First we went to Rhode Island to visit Dan’s grandparents and aunt and uncle, then we went to Connecticut to visit his parents, grandmother, and we saw his brother while we were there. Then we went to New York City for a couple of days and saw his cousin Sveta and her boyfriend while we were there. Then we went to State College, Pennsylvania where our friend Cady and her son David live now. Then we went to DC to do the touristy stuff there for a few days. After that, we went back to Pittsburgh to see Dan’s aunt and cousin. It was a fantastic trip all around, though I am a little tired now. The good thing is, I still have a week left before I go back to school.