Posted in My husband is involved in full-time missions, and travels a bunch. Since spring break happened to coincide with one of
his scheduled trips, we decided to tag along as a family. We have a one year old, and a soon-to-be six year old - both have travelled extensively and are pretty used to long drives and sleeping in strange places. We left Gainesville on Thursday afternoon, and made it well into Virginia before stopping for the night. After an early start on Friday, we arrived in Philadelphia just after lunch. Our accommodation for the night was in downtown Kensington, in a row-house beside a church. We were grateful for the bunk beds and the bathroom, despite the fact that the latter was down one level. Just knowing that it was on a different level intrigued my daughter, so it took multiple trips down in the dead of night to satisfy her curiosity...In between meetings with ministry teams and staff, and spending time with some special friends in nearby Newtown Square, we did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to pose with the Rocky Statue, and have the kids stand on his footprints for the scrapbook layout. We left for Newark, NJ, early Sunday morning, and arrived at a ministry called World Impact Inc. just before lunch. Our accommodation was on the top floor of an old technical college building, and this time the bathrooms were 2 flights of stairs below - that'll teach me to complain again! We took the train into New York and on to a church in Brooklyn. It took us almost 3 hours to get there - the rail system is definitely not as user-friendly as the one in London! Heading back to Newark after the Brooklyn meeting, we were able to visit Ground Zero. What a poignant experience! We stood in silence and stared at the gaping hole where the landmark towers had stood...
Having a stroller in a city not built for anything portable with wheels didn't help either. After lugging the stroller up (and down) the stairs of every subway station, we were ready to throw it in the trash by the time we got back to our dorm - especially after carrying it up the four flights of stairs to get there...
Bunks have become a luxury over air matresses, so we slept fairly well and got an early start Monday morning, taking the train back into New York City for a bit of sight-seeing. Other than the fleeting visit the day before, which was mostly spent on trains and underground, this was our first trip to the city. We were very excited to see Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patricks Cathedral and the Empire State Building. We were also able to stop at Liberty Park on the way out of New Jersey, and saw the Statue of Liberty from afar...
Last night we are stayed with a family in Newark, Delaware. As I type this, we are driving down I 95 South into Washington D.C. to meet with ministry partners there, and will overnight on the floor in an empty house owned by a church tonight. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we head for Virginia Beach, and will overnight with a couple leading a ministry for Unreached People Groups. Thursday we will get home to Gainesville, GA. This will make it eleven states in six days. My friend says we are incredibly brave. I sometimes thinks we're incredibly stupid - but then I think back to this time last year, where we made the same trip with a soon-to-be five year old, and a 10 day old infant - now that was incredibly stupid!
