We’re home now, but wanted to do one last post about the final few days of our trip, which we spent visiting family and doing a bit of sightseeing.

After an amazing ride in the Catskills, we set of for Amish country. While we’ve both been through it before, neither of us had spent any time there. We were so close, so took the one-hour detour to check it out. The area is beautiful rolling hills of farmland with large farmsteads. We were surprised to see so many Amish out and about on the main roads. They travel by horse and buggy and by bicycle. We saw them working in the fields with horses pulling plows, and we saw the cutest little group of toddlers in a wagon waiting to cross the road. No pics of that one, but here are a few that I did manage to snap from the back of the bike.

On to the west side of Philadelphia to visit Biker’s mom and his sister and her family. We had a wonderful visit with all of them and felt really glad to have spent the time with Biker’s mom. While there, we took a quick trip into Philly to see the Liberty Bell and tour Independence Hall. We had a great tour guide who gave us all kinds of history. Did you know that the Liberty Bell was originally called the State House Bell because it was originally commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pennsylvania’s original constitution? It became known as the Liberty Bell and gained iconic importance when abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of their efforts to end slavery. What about the crack, you ask? Well, there are a lot of theories about it, but the bell apparently had quite a few cracks – both natural and manmade – but was ringable up until the final crack occurred in 1846 during an effort to fix one of the previous cracks.

Our final stop was the D.C. area to see our youngest. We had a great time with him, as always. After a quick stop on campus to buy Biker a Georgetown shirt, we grabbed some dinner and then headed into D.C. to wander around. We grabbed scooters and visited the Jefferson Memorial – under construction, the FDR Memorial – one of our favorites (so beautiful and serene!, and the MLK memorial. We whizzed by the Lincoln Memorial – my perennial favorite; I can’t ever see it too much! – and down the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument. Wandered up north a bit and ended up for a nightcap at the fancy and always fabulous Trump Hotel bar.

The drive home was uneventful. Just long. It’s good to be home.