2019 Books

Another year done! Another decade, even! I didn't read as many books as last year, but I visited a ton more states and moved two thousand miles, so I guess that's the trade off. Some really good finds this year. Also note that since I started keeping track in 2011 I've read 705 books. Not too shabby :) 

Totals:
65 books, 34 nonfiction/31 fiction
Page Count: 21,820,  10,498 NF / 11,322 fiction (GoT and Chuck Wendig really boosted fiction)

Top 10 Reads of 2019 

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

The first book in a long time that I finished and immediately read again. WONDERFUL. I'm was genuinely angry to discover it was Ms Honeyman's first book, because no one has the right to be that talented right away and I needed much more to binge! It's about a lonely woman in a bleak time of her life; it's uplifting and sweet and completely human. One of the only books since A Man Called Ove that I actually cried while reading. Recommend to anyone who has ever felt like the world is full of rules and secrets everyone else knows but you somehow missed the class on. 

2. The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago - Douglas Perry

In my opinion there is nothing better than a good nonfiction read, and this one brings 1920s Chicago to life. All the women, both the murderesses and the reporter who couldn't believe men were being fooled by their beautiful facades, are depicted in a way that makes you feel like you know them. I was shocked at how much dialogue from Chicago came right out of court testimony. Highly recommend for any musical theatre or jazz age buffs.

3. The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb - Sam Kean

Sam Kean seems to make my list every year he puts a new book out! (And I thought that even before he responded to a fan email I sent him.) My favorite science writer, hands down. This year's book was right up my alley, detailing the struggles of World War II scientists in their race against Nazi Germany to create the atomic bomb. This was a side of the war I hadn't learned much about, Curies, Kennedys, and other famous names abound. The outcome may seem inevitable now, but when in the beginning it seemed like the Germans would seize the prize of atomic bombs first.

4. Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte - Kate Williams

Last year a biography of Clementine Churchill was one that stuck with me. This year, it's the wife of Napoleon, Josephine Bonaparte. While she certainly knew how to scheme and politic with the best of them, Napoleon truly did view her as his lucky charm and love of his life. There are some twists and turns in her fortune, but in the end she was inevitably tied to the general from Corsican, and certainly a lot of his success with those in power in France can be attributed to Josephine.

5. The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah

Wow, this is quite a novel. Alaska, after the Vietnam War, a family of three in a state so wild and empty (at least in terms of humans) that most of us can't really fathom it. I also reading Into the Wild this year; Alaska is a dangerous and beautiful place, maybe the last real wilderness left to us. This book features young love, but also fear. Fear of missing out, fear of physical danger, both from man and nature, and fear that comes from being somewhere completely alone, where all you have is what you can do. I didn't love the ending but the rest of the book is so good that it makes the list anyway.

6. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age - Deborah Blum

This is a great companion to The Girls of Murder City, but in the Big Apple. Until the last century, poison was an ideal murder weapon, almost impossible to detect, much less be criminally convicted for, even if the death was seen as suspicious. Until Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler were put on the case, that is. This book covers many common poisons, how they kill, real life examples, and how science was able to bring them into the light, and justice. Fascinating.

7. Becoming - Michelle Obama

Ms Obama has no interest in running for public office, but she'll be forever associated with politics. Growing up in Chicago, meeting and marrying future president Barack Obama, her experiences with presidential campaigns and living in the White House are all recounted in her down to earth style memoir. I especially appreciated her opening up about her struggles to conceive, as fertility issues are not discussed openly enough and are nothing to be ashamed about.

8. Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith

I'm a sucker for a good thriller, and this one is a classic for a reason. If you met someone on a train who, after both of you indulged in a few drinks, promised to eliminate a person that was causing you problems, what would your response be? And what if that troublesome person turned up dead? And now the stranger on a train is saying, "You owe me"? Gave me shivers.

9. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Daniel James Brown

Who doesn't love a good underdog story? Washington State was an underdog not just at the Olympics, but to get there as well, as fancy East Coast schools had the highest rating crew (rowing) teams. This book follows several of the boys destined to go to the Olympics through the Depression and beyond. I loved it-- humans are survivors.

10. A Fighting Chance - Elizabeth Warren

I love Elizabeth Warren and intend to vote for her in the Democratic primary. This memoir covers her early life in Oklahoma, professorship at many universities including Harvard, work with financial reform and big banks, up through her successful campaign for Massachusetts Senate. I listened to this via audiobook because it's read by Senator Warren, and she's warm and funny and passionate, delightful. And very smart.

Honorable mention: 
Fiction: Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett

Nonfiction: I'm Sorry... Love, Your Husband: Honest, Hilarious Stories From a Father of Three Who Made All the Mistakes (And Made Up For Them)-- Clint Edwards


And now the full list, alphabetical by author, rereads marked with ***, recommendations bolded. I hope you enjoy!


Nonfiction

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Maya Angelou

Don't Wait Up: Confessions of a Stay at Work Mom -- Liz Astrof (this one seems light at first but be warned it gets deals with the author's abusive childhood, real heavy)

James Buchanan-- Jean H Baker

Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose -- Joe Biden

***Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History -- Glen Berger

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder & the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York-- Deborah Blum

***James Madison -- Richard Brookhiser

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans & Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics -- Daniel James Brown

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century-- Maureen Callahan

Swimming to Antarctica -- Lynne Cox

Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City -- Matthew Desmond

Life Itself: A Memoir -- Roger Ebert

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America -- Firoozeh Dumas
I'm Sorry... Love, Your Husband: Honest, Hilarious Stories From a Father of Three Who Made All the Mistakes (And Made Up For Them)-- Clint Edwards

My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie - Todd Fisher

Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, & Championed Pit Bulls One Flying Disc at a Time-- Jim Gorant

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed -- Lori Gottlieb

A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness and a Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression -- Ted Gup

I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man -- Maz Jobrani

The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb -- Sam Kean

Into the Wild -- Jon Krakuer

Little Demon in the City of Light: A Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris-- Steven Livingston

No Happy Endings: A Memoir -- Nora McInerny 

Becoming -- Michelle Obama

Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters-- Nancy Pelosi

The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, & the Beautiful Girls Who Inspired Chicago -- Douglas Perry

On My Own-- Diane Rehm

Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross Country Adventure -- David Rosenfelt

This Land That I Love, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the Story of Two American Anthems -- John Shaw

Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong -- Alina Tugend

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen-- Jose Antonio Vargas

A Fighting Chance -- Elizabeth Warren

Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte-- Kate Williams

A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert & Sullivan-- Gayden Wren




Fiction

***The Girl With All the Gifts -- MR Carey

City of Bones-- Cassandra Clare

Boneman's Daughters-- Ted Dekker

The Wonder -- Emma Donoghue

Schoolgirl Missing -- Sue Fortin

Good Omens -- Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

E is for Evidence -- Sue Grafton

Less-- Andrew Sean Greer

The Great Alone-- Kristin Hannah

Strangers on a Train-- Patricia Highsmith

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine -- Gail Honeyman (read twice)

The Haunting of Hill House -- Shirley Jackson

Three Men in a Boat-- Jerome K Jerome

The Everything Box -- Richard Kadrey

Genuine Fraud -- E Lockhart (I would recommend it except I HATED the ending)

A Dance With Dragons -- George RR Martin

***Anne of Avonlea -- Lucy Maud Montgomery

*** Anne of the Island -- Lucy Maud Montgomery

Truly, Madly, Guilty-- Liane Moriarty

Sula  -- Toni Morrison

Moving Pictures -- Terry Pratchett

Witches Abroad-- Terry Pratchett

Reaper Man-- Terry Pratchett

Small Gods-- Terry Pratchett

The House of Brass-- Ellergy Queen

***The Lightning Thief -- Rick Riordan

*** The Sea of Monsters-- Rick Riordan

Love & First Sight -- Josh Sundquist

***The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Mark Twain

The Fate of Mercy Alban -- Wendy Webb

Wanderers-- Chuck Wendig

Pursue Your Happiness

Wow, it's been a hot second.

Every time I visit somewhere cool I think, wow, I should blog about that.

Arrested Development Narrator voice: And then she didn't.

It's been a full four months out here in Philadelphia, an overwhelming, good, hard, amazing experience. Since I haven't done proper posting, here are some highlights that I missed writing about. Pictures that I had on my phone included..... Justin is the master photo compiler. Check out his albums for a lot more awesome pictures.

• Fourth of July  -- we went to a picnic at Valley Forge. We went to Valley Forge when we first arrived, in March, because George Washington is one of my heroes, but it was lovely to see it in summer and blooming. Complete with Revolutionary War reenactors! I don't envy those long skirts and petticoats, it's very much "hot as hell," as they since in 1776, set in Philadelphia at the time the Continental Congress was meeting about the Declaration of Independence.

• The PA Department of Agriculture put out a kind of ice cream bingo called Pursue Your Scoops. For every local creamery on the bingo card that you visit, you get a stamp. Collect five, and you get a t-shirt. Justin and I visited our fifth last night. It was a truly delicious trek. My favorite of the five we went to was Chester Springs Creamery. Not only was the ice cream out of this world good, each flavor is named for one of their cows. How cute is that?? We also picked up some fresh produce and have been enjoying it at home.

• I've been in rehearsal for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for a couple months. My goal when I moved here was to be in a show for my birthday so I would by default have some friends. And I did! I'm having a great time singing, attempting to dance, and making fun of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

We have more of a set now

• Went downtown twice in one weekend to see Superego podcast live, with the incredible podcaster talent that is Paul F Tompkins, and the next day to see Latin History for Morons. I also got to see Mike Birbiglia, my favorite comedian, work out some new material at a comedy club. I'd never been to a comedy club before, but I figured it out. And it was awesome to see Mike again (I've also seen him with Justin in Denver and Salt Lake.

• Probably the most special thing I've done since moving here was visit Mount Vernon. As I said, George Washington is one of my heroes. And to walk where he actually walked, to see his land and his home and his grave.... it was incredible. Highly recommend. Standing in front of George and Martha's tombs was a profound experience. Walking around the estate made him feel more like a man, an actual person, than a mythic figure. And I also had some heavenly French toast in the restaurant there.

• We visited Harrisburg and Hershey one Sunday. The capitol building at Harrisburg is breathtaking, the most ornate statehouse in the country. There's Renaissance style art and soaring domes and crystal.... it's really beautiful. I've visited a handful of capitol buildings together: Denver, Annapolis, Dover, Salt Lake, and each has a different aesthetic going on. The Hershey Museum was an interesting, quick tour. It's always nice when business leaders turn out to have actually cared about their employees and not just profits. Milton was devoted to making a city that people would actually want to live in, not a factory slumtown. And it's a real cute place! We also stopped and got a treat at Duck Donuts, must recommend. The best donut I personally have ever had.

• Justin and I tried to adopt a stray cat in our neighborhood who kind of looks like the cat that looks like Adam Driver. But our other cat was just not having it, and so we content ourselves with feeding him. I just want to hug all them, but you can't, can't hug every cat. (The lullaby I will sing to my future babies.)

SO there are some updates. Like I said, my husband is waaay better at taking and posting pictures. It was a beautiful spring, prettier than any I saw in the west, I have to say. And summer is beautiful too, even with the constant humidity. There's just so much life: plants and trees and vines growing and blooming everywhere you look. Lots of quick, intense thunderstorms.  We've been feasting on seafood and real Italian pasta. And the bread..... mmm. 

My job (judge's clerk in Wilmington) is one I enjoy. And every day when I cross the border back from Delaware, I see the "Welcome to Pennsylvania: Pursue Your Happiness" sign. What a great message for people. Moving out here has a crazy adventure, harder than I thought it would be, but man is it ever cool. I never ever thought I would get to live this close to so many historical and cultural sites. I'm going to New York again with my sister in a couple weeks, and am also planning a Boston trip over Labor Day. Life is what we make it! Pursue your happiness!

A Jaunt to Washington

Yesterday was my last weekday without a job (my new position starts Monday), so to celebrate I drove down to Washington DC! Well, I drove to Bethesda and took the Metro in to the city. It was fantastic! I've been to the Washington Monument and walked around the National Mall, but this was my first time in the heart of downtown. 

I went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. How incredible is it that the Smithsonians are free?? They just let us all in! I don't know much about art, but I loved being there. They have an exhibition called "Votes for Women" about the struggle of the suffragettes and it was amazing. No progress ever comes without protest. Saw the portrait gallery with all the presidents, and found Michelle Obama's portrait too. Gorgeous :) Also, this painting is called "The Justices" and the amount of women lining up to take pictures with it was huge.

I took a picture of all the art with cats in it, of course.

Modern art has never been my thing... I just don't get it. But there were a couple pieces that I felt I at least got what they were going for-- this is a television map of the US with each state's TVs playing a piece of media that reminded the artist of that state (Wizard of Oz for Kansas, etc).

And this is a piece about the Vietnam War that kept churning out news reports constantly.

There was just So Much Art. I could've spent the whole day there, but I was starving and wanted to get a glimpse of the rest of downtown as well.

Outside it was raining lightly and the air was muggy but the blocks are short and easy to walk around. Found this "walk of fame." (There were a lot of other stars too, haha.)

Also walked by Ford's Theatre, the National Theatre, and the Warner Theatre.  Ate lunch at Shake Shack-- my first time and it was delicious! I'm excited to go to the other Smithsonians! It's amazing to be so close to all these cultural icons that I otherwise would have to plan whole trips around. Hoping to do a New York weekend very soon :) 

The drive back home actually turned out to be an adventure because my GPS took me on these CRAZY back country Maryland roads instead of on the interstate?? Like, I was driving on roads with chickens wandering about.  My phone battery was going to die and I don't know the area at all, obviously, so when I finally saw a sign for the I-95 I followed it and made it home. Thanks for nothing, Siri.

Week One

Now with pictures!

March 15^th, 2019 Friday

Whooooo a lot has been happening!!

I made it out here with Nova. She hated being at Nicole’s with Missy again, and mostly hid under the bed. At night she did come up to sleep on my feet, though. Poor thing has had a rough month. When we got to the airport the Delta agent didn’t measure the carrier, which was good. We went up the escalator and I was like, ugh this is a long security line. But a TSA lady told me a drug dog was working and so I could cut to the front; I followed her to the front. Then the problem became there was no female agent to do a pat down so a guy held Nova while I went through the metal detector and then we went to a private room. (I never even had time to think about asking for one, it was just a whirlwind kinda day.)

Nova was on her leash and was fine to be out of her carrier for a minute while it was put through the x-ray. Everything came back good so we headed to our gate. She did better while were walking because I think she was too nervous to do anything. Once we were sitting down she started arching her back and clawing at the carrier trying to get out. She found a zipper and pushed her head through and luckily I noticed in time before she could get all the way out. Panic.

We definitely got some looks, and “what do you do with a mad cat?” comment, but mostly people who said things were cat people. I had an empty seat and then a nice older man who was very understanding of her distress. In the row behind me were the people who I sat next to when I flew to Salt Lake, crazy.

The problem with her carrier turned out not to be the height of it, which I had feared, but the width. It almost wouldn’t fit in the space between my seat and the seat in front. I had to really squish her down, but we made it. For the first few hours I could put my hand in the carrier and pet her and it would temporarily calm her down, but by the end she was just mad and would try to scratch me if I did that. I think the thing that scared her the most besides when the engines started roaring for takeoff was when we landed and all of a sudden everyone was standing up and chattering and opening the overheads and everything.

Then we had to go wait for our luggage and it took forever and I thought mine was lost. But it did show up and then I went to find Justin. Nova was so happy to be out of the carrier and seemed to get the idea that we live here now pretty fast. She has a closet under the stairs that is her space; poor thing was so thirsty. But we made it and it wasn’t the worst.

When we got home Justin ran off to the office to turn in our move in checklist and tell them about the leaky ACs. As he left I heard a dripping sound and thought he had left the sink on. Walked into the kitchen and there was water everywhere dripping from the ceiling! Not ideal. Called him and luckily we were able to get an emergency maintenance man out real fast. It was coming from the dishwasher of the tenants above us, but it was fixed fast, and nothing important was damaged. It was just like, the last thing I wanted after that really stressful day. But it all worked out.

A few days again we went to see Captain Marvel. I was confused by a lot of the first part, but once it got going I was into it. Of course I cried. Duh. But that montage of Carol getting up after failing, from the time she was little, I just-- unstoppable women are so important and the patriarchy is terrified of us. Also I would die for Goose.

March 18^th, 2019 Monday

The catch up continues although I have an interview in seven minutes so we’ll see how much I can get done. Went to my first in person interview on Friday; it was by far the strangest interview I have ever had. It was in a hospital building, for a real estate company, but it turns out they own the complex so that makes sense. The two girls who interviewed me were extremely dressed down-- jeans and tanks tops and messy hair. Like, great, although I definitely felt out of place wearing my snazzy interview outfit. But that’s what’s expected, right? Anyway girl number one gets right down to it and is like “what is your background?” I explain and she says “do you have any other skill sets?” Always a good look to answer no to that. :/ Then they go into a five or six minute explanation of the position and the company and ask if I have any other questions.  I’m like, oh boy, the interview is about to get going, yikes!

Then they go, okay well we’ll be letting people know next week.

GIRL what? ? I was asked two (2) questions and they weren’t even interview questions and I feel like my skill set is a good match so saying no shouldn’t be an instantly disqualified thing because it’s an admin position and I have admin skills!! Are they just picking people based on their vibe? Do they already have someone they want and the rest are courtesy interviews? Did I somehow do something so egregious that they immediately decided the full interview would be a waste of time??? I am baffled, folks.

After that I walked around and took pictures of some old churches; I love how things are just old. A mix of old and new. Obsessed. 

Then decided to try my hand at driving downtown. The roads here are pretty crazy, especially trying to figure out if you’re in/going to be in a turning lane or not, so that can be terrifying. But I wanted to see if downtown was any better, so headed there. Turns out it’s real the same and I spent most of the time driving in a lane I’m not completely sure was a lane, and people parked in the no stopping lanes and I never know the turning protocol. But I saw so many old buildings and am psyched to take a bus down there and start exploring!!

Set the radio stations through trial and error although it’s disorienting not to know what mood is associated with each channel. And some have static and I think others may have been “false advertising”, as it were, ie they were playing Taylor Swift and I immediately saved it without further listening and now they seem to be hip hop. It was just a lovely day with a clear, sunny sky, and I felt good about our choices. Taylor is the same everywhere.

I picked up Justin from work and we decided to go on a walk in the nature reserve across the street. It’s nice, and will be nicer when the trees start to bloom. I spotted a little curled up garter snake, which I was quite proud of. We also saw some squirrels, one who was hiding nuts in an unused birds nest. I’m glad of our location, it’s not downtown with the crazy parking and lanes and all that, and it’s close to everything but in the middle of none of it. Also, this picture of us makes me think of a Renaissance artwork; I think it's the light.

Yesterday we went to Jersey for the first time to take Justin to see the Atlantic Ocean! It’s ninety minutes away, so close! The drive wasn’t what I expected: wooded and farmland and we saw at least twenty five deer. Also some bird of prey: hawk? The restaurant we’d planned to go to was seasonally closed, so we went to the Shrimp Box right next door. Y’all know I love shrimp. We got to sit by the window overlooking the harbor, so blue!! The sun was sparkling off the water and it was so warm and just ahhhh! Beautiful. I got the four way shrimp and Justin got a sampler platter and we both agreed with the shrimp was divine.

(Also the other day we went to an Italian place that had delicious ravioli and Justin got some crab topped noodles that were also delicious. Good food here!!)

After relishing in the delicacies of four kinds of shrimp we went and found the beach! It was minutes away. This is crazy, it hasn’t really sunk in yet that we can just go to so many different states whenever we please. And the beach is free yo. I took off my shoes because I didn’t want them to fill with sand. The first stage of the beach was normal sand. Second filled with rocks and broken seashells, and the third just the lovely fine beach sand. Justin gave me several seashell fragments which have been worn perfectly smooth by the sea, and I found a pearly dragon egg rock.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a sunny beach, excluding Puerto Vallarta, which was so warm and like paradise that it is not even comparable to any other beaches I’ve seen. Cannon Beach is gorgeous but always the weather is imperious. Justin touched the water, and took a vide of the waves. I love the Ocean!!

And Nova is settling in just fine :)

Journey Over

Can't believe that our two thousand mile road trip has come to an end. I highly recommend it; it gave me such a better sense of the country and where states are in proximity to each other and what they are like, at least to a small extent. 

Yesterday we drove diagonal across Tennessee, starting in Memphis, all the way into Virginia. We stopped in Nashville and drove past the capitol building, which looks older than the others I’ve seen in the west. We wanted to get fried chicken there, but the line around the chosen place was so long we couldn’t wait. It was a ringing endorsement if I’ve ever seen one, though.

It rained ALL day; we had about an hour total collected time where it wasn’t pouring. Tennessee is a gorgeous state; it’s old school and gothic and I can just see myself getting lost in the hills of the Smoky Mountains to learn all the stories that live there. I kept being astounded by the rocks, the trees, the flooded riverbanks. It’s just so different than anything I’ve seen before. And the same road that we got on in Albuquerque, the I-40, morphed into this. America is a land of many lands.

We stopped for the desired fried chicken in Knoxville, Tennessee, instead. We tried the spicy southern style and the chicken was delicious, although it is my opinion that nothing has ever really been improved by being spicy.

We have been listening to The Boys in the Boat about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It’s a great read. As LeVar Burton says on his podcast, you can do it, with audiobooks.

We’ve only had one major traffic holdup, and that was for construction. We crossed into Virginia at night and the sign was dark and my hands were shaky, so that’s the first state sign picture that’s not really clear. But you can’t have everything in this life.

We collected the West Virginia license plate, so now we’re down to five missing.

(Isn't this the cutest welcome to a state sign?) 

Later:

Made it all the way to Philadelphia! It was odd when Justin pointed out the Delaware and we recognized it. We’ve been here before.

Today was our most states day with Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The drive was quite nice; there are so many trees everywhere and we finally had blue skies, something we haven’t had since Texas. Something else we saw for the first time since day two was snow-- nothing crazy but there were patches here and there from northern Virginia on up. We stopped for frozen yogurt in WV, a state I have never much thought about but it was good frozen yogurt.

We took a side trip through some Maryland countryside in order to avoid toll roads because we haven’t figured that out yet. This turned out to be a great choice because the drive was absolutely beautiful. Can’t even imagine how pretty it will be in the spring when the trees are growing. Then we found a collection of old houses with the gables and the porches, you know the type. Old Victorian style houses. We saw the Susquehanna, we saw a hydroelectric plant, it was a lovely break from the interstate traffic. It was picturesque. 

We collected Vermont and Delaware license plates. At the beginning we said it would be all right if we only got the 48 continental states. Since we had all but the Dakotas and Rhode Island, but got Alaska and Hawaii, we decided the Dakotas could be the outliers. That left us with the task of finding Rhode Island, and Justin was especially dedicated. We sped up, we slowed down, we looked for that license plate, to no avail.

We were so tired today and just wanted to get pizza and crash at the hotel to celebrate our long trip being done. We pulled up to the hotel and Justin was walking towards it when he stopped and motioned me over. A Rhode Island license plate!! Our quest is complete!

I don't know if Philadelphia will be our forever home, but this will be a fun adventure for at least a few years. Lots to learn, so much to see. So many towns here have signs that they were established pre-1800. I'm loving it!! Can't wait to go downtown and see Independence Hall. And Baltimore, and Boston, and just, everything.