Posted on October 14, 2014
-Spent a night in Western Pennsylvania before we headed towards D.C. Absolutely beautiful there. This was snapped in Airville, about ten minutes from our campground.
-Dan’s late night delirium.
-We rented bicycles! Probably time to buy our own.
-Hey man!
-Quick hang sesh with the prez.
Washington D.C. was purely spur of the moment. We hadn’t discussed going until some plans in Pennsylvania fell through and left us with some free time. Turns out, we ended up having way more fun than expected. We found a beautiful state park just twenty minutes out of the city and hit the sack early so we were prepared for the next day’s historical activities. We followed the signs for D.C. and kept our eyes on the Washington Monument, in search of somewhere to park. After walking a bit we decided it was time to try something new. We rented two bicycles, tied Willow’s leash to Dan’s seat, and cruised around the city, stopping at anything that caught our eyes. The result was much better than expected. Surprisingly, no one was hurt in this trial run! We see bicycle purchases in our future!
The rest of the afternoon was spent in Georgetown. We walked along the water, poked our heads into some unique shops, and ate too much frozen yogurt. As night began to roll around we made plans with Dan’s cousin, Andrew, who lives in D.C. for work. He took us to his favorite local restaurant, a mum and pop Mediterranean spot with heavy, pink, draped curtains, dim lighting, and a waiter with an obvious toupee. We dined like the fancy people we are, snacking on homemade hummus and sipping red wine. We headed to a whiskey bar down the street from Andrew’s apartment for dessert. The walls were lined with hundreds of bottles of whiskey…more than you can even imagine. We sat at the bar and learned the intricate details of each whiskey that was sipped.
Our second day in D.C. was a lazy one. Hiking at the state park, some blogging, necessary Game of Thrones catch up, and diner food. D.C. has a historical charm that is hard to replicate. It was a good stop indeed.
We’re off to the beach!
-T&D
Posted on October 2, 2014
-Photo by Rob Loud (www.robloud.com)
While our night was coming to an end at our campground in Philadelphia, we watched as a beautiful Volkswagen pulled up to the office and attempted to check in after hours. Knowing that the office was closed we had a feeling they would be in trouble and wouldn’t get a site but hoped they would sort out another solution. On our walk with Willow an hour later we noticed they were still there and on their iPhone’s looking for another place to camp. The fact that they were young (which seems to be rare in our travels) and had such a cool camper with license plates from California, prompted us to go chat with them and ultimately offer to share our campsite. We are very glad we did.
As it turns out Brian and Rob are currently on a three month, 20 city journey across the USA. They call their adventure “Experience People” (@experiencepeople) and have a goal of “Digital Enlightenment” which involves technology assisting real life interaction as opposed to strictly online interaction. This is a movement we can get on board with. Brian (@brianhiss) runs the company and is the face of the movement and Rob (@rob.loud) is a talented photographer/videographer along to document this amazing journey.
The first night was spent getting to know each other and sharing a beer around a re-lit bonfire while checking out the other’s campers. The following morning was spent making community breakfast on the grill, playing with a remote control helicopter and more stories of each other’s travels. Hanna (@hannathalen) the babely blonde was out visiting Brian and Rob and had some trouble going back to the real world as a director’s assistant after seeing how free life can be living in a camper. We said our farewells after a quick photo shoot in a nearby cornfield.
It was really cool to meet some like minded travelers and individuals. Their journey is truly worth following, make sure to check out www.experiencepeople.org and check out their Instagram links above for recent updates!
Farewell Philly!
-D&T
Posted on September 23, 2014
-Hippie Jim next to his beautiful ’47 Ford Pickup. We met him as we drove from Connecticut to Philly when we stopped to admire his vintage car collection.
-First stop in Philly… Pizza Brain!
-Rainy day festivities.
-Fishtown has become one of our favorite areas to visit in Philly.
-South Street.
-First months travels on our new 1940’s USA puzzle map.
-This is Raymond, check below for details on his story.
-Our friends Mike Lerner and Matt Vogel came to the campground for dinner and s’mores.
-We saw a unique visitor.
-Toni attracts the cats.
-Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest residential street in the US.
-Mütter Museum. Creepy and awesome.
Philly gave us the necessary friend time that we were looking for. It started off with our tradition of going to Pizza Brain which seems to happen every six months or so, the best part is that several good friends live down the street and were able to join us this time. Most of our days consisted of hanging out with our friends Matt Vogel and Mike Lerner, both are great photographers so it made for interesting adventures. We went to the movies on one of the rainy days but otherwise were #blessed with great weather and beautiful locations. We cooked dinner, helped Mike make his first s’more and went on many walks with our cameras and Willow.
One of the days that friends were busy, we just drove in random directions trying to see what we could find. We ended up in Gibbstown, NJ at a rusted out warehouse which we thought had a great texture for photographs. As Dan was running away from a group of wasps, we noticed we were being laughed at by one of the neighbors. We took this chance to get to know this man and learn his story. Raymond was a Naval Officer for ten years and spent two of those years in Korea. He noticed our Massachusetts license plates and told us all about living at the Navy Yard in Charlestown. He also told us about his girlfriend at the time, Suzy Walker, who wrote to him while he was in Korea. Upon his return after two years, she was engaged to another man and never spoke to Raymond again. This was a perfect opportunity to photograph another character on our journey for an ongoing portrait series. Interesting guy….
Philly continues to be one of our favorite cities in the US as we’ve now been here 4 times in the last year and a half. We hold it dear to our hearts and can’t wait to come back.
Stay tuned for Part 2!!
-D&T
