Graduation Trip – Adult Style

What a great week we had celebrating Eric’s graduation from Villanova.  We took the time to visit a few more great places while in the northeast besides Philadelphia where Villanova University is located.  We also took in New York City, Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Boston all in our 9 day trip, and can I just say…wow!

First of all, the campus of Villanova was beautiful, and although I gave Eric a hard time about actually attending the commencement for his masters degree since he attended online and never visited the campus, I was glad he stuck to his guns and decided to walk across the stage on the actual campus.  It was something out of Harry Potter World.  The buildings were absolutely beautiful.  We decided to only stay for the day of his graduation activities since we had spent time in Philadelphia before, and we left for NYC right after his ceremony.

Oh my gosh!  The traffic headed to NYC was horrific!  While sitting forever, Eric was playing around with the rental car and hit some button on the rear view mirror.  Next thing we knew, OnStar was being called and we couldn’t turn it off.  We learned from the OnStar lady that there was a wreck and we would be in traffic for quite a while.  After a few hours, we reached NYC which made the Philly traffic look like child’s play.  It only took us a short while to get to the hotel, but in that short time, I thought Eric was going to explode.  That place is bizarre.  No lanes.  No rules.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to drive anywhere while we were there.  I don’t think Eric could have handled another second.

While in New York, we saw Lion King on Broadway.   What a great experience!  I remember this movie as being Tyler’s favorite, so I knew almost every word and it brought back great memories.  We wished we would have seen more shows before we left.  They are just spectacular!

We happened to be in NYC during their annual 9th street International Food Festival.  Food.  Yum.  We had a great time wandering around looking at the booths and checking out the food.  Our favorite was the Mexican cornbread with cheese.  I think it was called Arepa.  All I know was Eric and I were fighting over it! it was so good. I might just have to try to make it.  Sweet cornbread with mozzarella cheese in the middle – how can you go wrong?

We did ride a subway to visit the 9/11 site one night, but the other main sight in New York we enjoyed was Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.  Yes, I know.  Not the most historical place, but it was some kind of fun…and creepy.  5 floors of stars staring at you.  A few looked waxy; some looked plain real.  It was super weird, and we loved it! Eric was being Eric, and of course was taking advantage of every photograph opportunity.  Eric has a way of always making things more fun.  🙂

New York offered us one of our top 2 best dinners of our trip.  We ate at Grand Central Station one night on the balcony at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse.  Yes, you heard me: Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse,  We had our doubts at first too, but the view was great so we took a chance.  Boy are we glad we took the risk.  We had the best steaks we have ever had, with the best view!  Ruth’s Chris has nothing on this place.  It was great to be in such a cool place eating such incredible food.  If you know me than you know, that’s my favorite part of traveling…the experience of the food.  We also ate at an Italian restaurant, Carmine’s, while there and had wonderful baked clams and spaghetti and meatballs.  I basically ordered clams or steamers every time we ate.  Love, love, love them.

Our hotel was right by Times Square so we always walked through it to get anywhere.  It was just what you’d imagine.  Busy. Colorful.  Engaging. Stimulating. Full of people. We saw the Naked Cowboy and unfortunately also a Naked Cowgirl who was about 65.  I wish I could unsee that one. We were only conned once.  I was approached by Luigi who asked if I wanted my picture taken with him, so of course I sad yes since Tyler was such a Mario fan.  Right after Eric snapped the picture, he held up a sign that he works for tips.  Didn’t see that coming.  Maybe I should have.  Yes, we went in the weak zone and gave him money, but then avoided every other character the rest of the day!

So, after a couple of interesting days in NYC, we were off to Cape Cod, MA.  Eric was glad to leave NYC and never wants to go back.  New York is not his kind of place –  too many people, too busy, and too much going on.

The weather in Cape Cod was kind of muggy the day we got there, which gave us a good excuse to stay inside some.  It was the only day on our trip that was not perfect, but it was nice to stay inside a little and take a break for a couple of hours actually.  We did take a trip to Provincetown and eat some local seafood (Portuguese style since the waitress said that is what the area was known for).  In the bowl of seafood and pasta was steamed calamari.  It was like something off of Fear Factor.  We both tried it. Eric couldn’t get it down, but I refused to give up and  eventually swallowed the chewy fish bait.  I love fried calamari, but let me tell you – when it is steamed, it is NOT the same thing.  I will not be ordering it ever again, and I’d advise you to do the same.

The next day, we were off to Nantucket to see our RVing friends we met in Mobile during New Years.  We were so happy to see how beautiful the weather was the day we set off on the high-speed steam boat to Nantucket. We arrived around 10:30 AM and settled into the historic Jared Coffin House before we met our friends in their boat at the Nantucket Boat Basin.  The rest of the day consisted of sight-seeing with Chuck and Melissa which was great since Melissa is a 10th generation Nantucketer and knows every single inch of the island.  We saw all of the communities and places from one side of the island to the next.  It was such a beautiful place – so relaxing.

We ended out tour with a visit to Nantucket’s Cisco Brewery where I had one of my favorite IPAs of all times!  To end our perfect day on this beautiful island, Melissa and Chuck served us 2 1/2 pound lobsters and clam chowder on their boat for dinner.  This was our other favorite dinner from the trip.  Excellent food and wonderful people!

Just when you thought the tour was over, we woke up the next day to a tour of Nantucket by sea.  We spent the morning on the water seeing the island from Melissa and Chuck’s boat, Ransom.  It was so pretty.  We even saw harbor seals by the lighthouse! What great hosts we had.  And to think we only met them at Meaher Park while camping in December.  I served them their first bowl of red beans and rice with Conecuh sausage.  When I asked them if they had ever had them, they said they had eaten beans and they had eaten rice.  I could tell by their answer, they had no idea what I meant.  Luckily, they loved them and actually bought Conecuh a few more times on their trip and made them before returning home. We also took them for a tour of the Causeway and Industrial Parkway (their request) and we celebrated New Year’s Eve together. If this is what RVing people are like, then I love it.  Melissa and Chuck are just good people! I can’t wait to run into them on the road next year when they travel again.

It was sad to leave Nantucket because it was so relaxing and beautiful, but we had to leave for Boston late that afternoon.  At this point in the trip, we were becoming a little tired actually.  Hotels every night.  Unpacking one night – packing the next morning.  It was catching up to us.  But I love Boston!  I always said, if I ever had to live in a large city, I would live in Boston. Eric had never been there, so I was anxious for him to see as much as he could in the day we were there.  The night we got there, we drove to a nice place to eat, but I decided we would walk to Quincy Market on our full day there.  We had a blast – ate great food – saw great entertainment…some of which was Eric.  Yes, he volunteered to be in the street shows. This is Eric we are talking about, after all.

Our final night in Boston, we ate at the Union Oyster House, which is the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the U.S. — the doors have been open since 1826.  Food was delicious! We ate clam chowder, oysters, steamers, and lobster. I think we ate clam chowder everywhere we went actually, now that I think of it.

After 9 days of traveling, we finally headed back to Mobile on Saturday afternoon.  We had a fabulous trip, and I am now glad Eric insisted on actually going to Villanova for his graduation.  I missed my Binkers horribly, but thankfully his grandparents and sister took care of him while we were gone.  They sent us pictures occasionally to keep us updated which helped a lot.  Gammy said to keep him happy, she would take him for golf cart rides.  He never wanted to get off though.  Good ‘ole Binkers!

I hope Eric had a great graduation trip. I know I did! So much better than the graduation trip to the beach I took in high school.  🙂  I love traveling with Eric.  He’s such an easy travel partner.  He’s all about relaxing, willing to try new foods, and doesn’t mind just wandering around looking at what a place has to offer – all things I love to do when I visit a new place.  I guess that’s a good thing since we have decided to make a life all about travel now.  I can’t wait until we will be taking trips like this in the RV! 🙂

Congratulations, Eric!

TJ