The Schweitzer’s Place

This was a very nice trip on a beautiful fall day. There were quite a few people out and about as it was Columbus Day.

Our trip down to Rhode Island was interesting as the road signs on the way were quite a mess. In our attempt to turn off and stop at a visitor’s center, we found ourselves on the way to Worcester, MA (that is the wrong direction for those not in New England). After 30 minutes we found a closed building so we retraced our path and got back on track. That was about 45 minutes wasted there. . .

We arrived around noon at the main visitor center in Newport, RI. Many of the tours were already booked so we decided to take a short walk and figure it out on our own. We headed toward the Cliff Walk and took several pictures along the way. Downtown Newport is very pretty.

Here is our list of places to go and things to do in New England. There are so many fun things to do and we want to accomplish as many as we can. So, this is the list setting our goals. If you think we are missing something important, please let us know! As we work through the list we will provide an update.

After a late night at the baseball game we woke up on Saturday morning. Our bus took us to the Hiroshima Memorial and the Arlington Cemetery. What an amazing sight! I am sad to say that our time there was limited. From there we went to the National Mall where we walked around taking loads of pictures! It is amazing to look at all of the buildings in the capital and think about all of the work that takes place there. Thank goodness we have people that work for the government in different capacities so that everything is taken care of. There is so much we take for granted. If you ever get the chance to visit D.C., you will thoroughly enjoy it. All of the buildings feature the most beautiful architectural detail. I got goose bumps just taking it all in. Some of the places we saw were the Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, the IRS building, several museums, Capital Hill, the Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian Institute, the Naval, Korean, and WWII Memorials, and the White House. Again, our time was limited. We were not able to enter the Archive building to see the Declaration or Independence and the Bill of Rights due to the wait. For security purposes, only 400 people are allowed in at a time. With that in mind, you can get an idea of how many people visit it on a daily basis.

Brad and I LOVED the trip. We hope to go back and spend more time so we can take in everything. I would recommend that you allow no less than two full days to complete this tour! I think it is a must for every American. God bless America!

This past weekend, Brad and I went on another adventure. I must say that I TOTALLY LOVE TRAVELING! This trip included a bus tour to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. We loaded the bus at 7 a.m. on Friday. Our bus ride this time was on one of the charter buses with roomy seats, a bathroom, and movie showings on the way down. After a few bathroom and food stops, we arrived at the “Home of the Orioles” at around three that afternoon. Brad and I were able to head down to the harbor and take in the sites. We also experienced some authentic food from Spain. The harbor area was beautiful. It seemed like a boardwalk area with various shops and restaurants.

There was also several historic ships and fancy yachts. After taking in the sights, we headed back to the ballpark where we settled in our seats behind home plate. It was a really nice night to take in a game. The weather was very comfortable and there were blue skies above us. I have to admit that the game was not as exciting as I was hoping for.

A nice weekend in Old Orchard Beach – camping near the beach and enjoying some down time.

Sara and Alexia were the first ones up. I really think Alexia was the most excited about seeing Mickey. Shortly after that Brendan was up too. The three of them went down to be first in line for the Breakfast buffet at the hotel. I think they were.

Once we woke up in the moring we raced Kohl’s and had a small shopping spree. Yes ALL of her clothes were in the bag we left behind. Luckily Kohl’s was there to save our marriage and I even helped pick out a couple nice outfits. It was the least I could do.

Deanna and I took a day and headed down to Bisbee. This is an old mining town that has been turned into a small artist hangout. The old mine now has a tour through a small section of it. The tour is worth the trip as it is run by miners that used to actually work the mines there.

We took the tour and they had a lot of informational tidbits for us. There is over 2500 miles of mine just in Bisbee. That is huge! On the tour we were dressed up like miners and rode the little rail cars into the different zones of the mine. We saw the supervisor bicycle that ran on the tracks in the mine. That looked like a good workout. After the trip through the mine we had lunch and walked through the town.

The extreme road trip . . .This trip was long and it included Brad, Deanna, Lane, and Cheryl. It all started about 3 AM on the 20th. We stuffed the jeep full of bags and people and raced to Denver. We only slowed down on the way and never really stopped. But we made it in time for dinner and had a nice time with Freddy and Chris.