The East Coast - D.C., Philly, and the Lehigh Valley

On Sunday Gwen and I left West Virginia, and headed into the scarier wilds of Washington, DC.   It was great to settle into a night with family in a real bed, with food cooked in an oven! But first, we swam!

After feeling a little refreshed in the pool, it was time to do homemade pizzas!

The food was delicious anyway, but all the better for who it was shared with.

We were all excited to see Uncle Epie, but none more then Gwen I think... she really adores that Uncle of hers.

My brother and his wife had to work the next day, but they were able to join us for some breakfast before we all got on our way.

(Not the worst view to start your day with!)
We ate at the cafe next to the National Cathedral, where I got to indulge in some lavender hot chocolate!

We had to say goodbye to Elise at that point, as she had a meeting to jet to, but Ethan showed us around the Bishop's Garden and we checked out the National Cathedral a little bit more.

After making it all the way across the country unscathed, DC gave me about 5 bug bites on each leg (Thanks DC!). The place really is full of blood suckers...  

After that we all loaded up, Ethan to head to work and us to head on to our next destination: Gruncle Wray and Aunt Susie's!

It took us about 3 hours to get to their place near Bethany Beach, Delaware, and we ended up pretty quickly on the beach!

Gwen buried some feet, we jumped around in some waves, and she met some older kids who showed her how they found sand crabs.

It was a great day with some more of our favorite people. (Also note the tattoo... this is the final clear picture of it in this state!)

We spent the night at their house, and ate a nice breakfast the next morning before heading out mid-morning towards Philadelphia.

Gwen and I had a lunch date (its Tuesday now, if you've lost track!) with Tally - who I loved getting to catch up with - after which we had a few hours to kill. We spent them grabbing some Rita's, then playing at a park, then headed to the library for a bit of browsing.

Dinnertime was spent with Ro, Pat, and the girls. It had been a year since Gwen had seen the girl and I had seen Pat, so it was nice to catch up.

After dinner Gwen and I headed up to the Lehigh Valley for our first long stop at my parents! Four days of relaxing a bit and staying in one space!

That didn't mean we were lazy... Gwen wanted to get in a year's worth of playing with her Nonnie and Papa. Nonnie was endlessly playful and patient, coloring, reading, and including Gwen in all her activities which gave me the chance to sit down and relax by myself for the first time since we'd left!

Gwen and I also headed to our favorite hairdresser, Cindy's, to get Gwen's hair trimmed (she's the only one allowed to touch Gwen's hair... by Gwen's choice!). And I headed to a long awaited appt to finished tattoo #12, my half sleeve ode to camping and our travels.

I am so damn beyond pleased with it!! Alexis does thee most amazing work. Its everything I hoped for and more!

On Friday, our last full day in Pennsylvania, we headed to the Lehigh Valley Zoo to check out the animals.

Gwen got to feed the giraffe!

It was a really nice end to our visit. Saturday morning we had a relaxed morning, eating, dressing, and packing up the car with the last items. Then it was on the road again, for another 6+ hours to our other home away from home - Cape Cod - where we are currently enjoying another week in one location before starting our journey back home.

From DC, all the way up to Cape Cod, we added 720 more miles to our journey! More to come!