We have it to our Philadelphia hotel prior to our flight to Las Vegas early tomorrow morning.

Having started the day in Ronks near Lancaster, we spent a few hours in Bird in Hand and Intercourse. The first shop, Log Cabin Quilts had the ladies beaming, that was a big success. Ryan and I spent time at a bakery.

Another quilt shop took us to an Amish homestead, beautiful setting. Lovely day and location, a very friendly German Shepherd dog who took quite a shine to Ryan (and vice versa).

All of us have enjoyed the Amish community, such a peaceful area.

Around 1.30pm we started out for Philadelphia with a stop at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. All the ladies have enjoyed the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain far and away the most.

Now the ladies are doing another show and tell before they start to figure out how they are going to get all their 'stuff' into their limited bag space.

We are quickly coming to an end of the east coast portion of the bash.

Today we started in the rain in Towson, just out of Baltimore and headed south to Washington DC around 100 K's away. Rained most of the way but fined up just as we arrived - it was still cold but at least dry.

I dropped the gang off at the Lincoln Memorial and went to find a parking spot which I did easy enough so joined the rest of them.

We all looked around the Lincoln Memorial, the reflecting pool and both the Vietnam and Korea War Memorials.

The gang then walked alog the reflecting pool to the World War II memorial. I got the van and picked them up between the WWII Memorial and the National Monument.

Then to the White House where the gang had a look whilst I did a couple of laps of the block. We managed to check out a couple of street vendors for Tee Shirts before heading for the Hawk and Dove for lunch. 

No luck at the Hawk and Dove, under new ownership and closed for renovations.

A short drive the Smithsonian, Air and Space. Ryan had a look around us, the rest of us looked less and had lunch.

Around 3:00pm we drove across the Potomac River into Virginia and checked the Pentagon. We saw the area where the plane crashed on 9/11. 

From here we headed back towards Lancaster, where we started our east coast drive 8 days ago. The ladies want a bit more of a look around. I didn't think we would make it all the way back, but traffic was OK so we have made it to the Days Inn in Ronks, PA

Today Rayls and I started the day by finishing the drying of the clothes we washed yesterday.

Breakfast in the hotel and then caught the 10.10am 163 bus to NYC. $51 return for the 6 of us.


We alighted the bus at the Port Authority terminus and went down to the 42nd Street station and caught the subway train to the World Trading Centre. That cost $27 return fare for 6 of us.

We arrived at the World Trade Centre just a few minutes after 11.00am on 11/11.There was a long line to enter the 9/11 Memorial. Due to the recent storm there has been problem with on-line ticketing and it is suppose to be a ticket only area. Preference was to Military and Emergency Service personnel (including retired), and then people with tickets and then those without tickets. I provided my retired police ID and the six of us were allowed into the VIP line. We still had to line for 20 minutes or so but that was fine and it was wonderful to pay our respects at the memorial. Two pools with the largest manmade waterfalls in the United States cascading down their sides are located within the footprints of the Twin Towers. Each pool is 4,000 m², and together they are intended to symbolize the loss of life and the physical void left by the terrorist attacks. The sound of the water falling is supposed to drown out the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary. Almost 400 sweet gum and swamp white oak trees fill the remaining area of the Memorial Plaza, furthering the reflective nature of the site.

Then it was back on the Subway to 42^nd Street and we walked down to Pier 84 on the Hudson River. After some delay we boarded a water taxi, which is basically a cruise boat with commentary. We had stops at Battery Park, Wall Street and Brooklyn before stop a hundred metres or so off Liberty Island where we got sensational views of the Statue Of Liberty. Liberty Island is closed due to storm damage from Sandy.

Upon return to Pier 84 we caught a bus up 42^nd Street to 6^th Avenue. That was an experience; the driver was very grumpy, worse than me even. 42^nd Street was a mess of traffic but we got to our destination.

We walked to Rockefeller Plaza, no Christmas tree up yet due to Sandy and so back to the Port Authority and the 6:10pm bus back to the hotel.

Dinner was at the Meadowlands Diner, very nice.

Tomorrow we head towards Washington DC.

Tonight we are in Sturbridge in Massachusetts - a couple of hours out of New York City.

On our way just after 9:00am, the ladies wanted to go back to Keepsake so there we went. It was a lovely day although a little cold, probably around 6 or 7C.

We checked out the lakefront just over the road from Keepsake. It is a very pretty spot, lot of photos taken. To the store just after 10am and the ladies did their thing. Ryan and I took the opportunity to check out a Harley Davidson store in nearby Laconia. Cool store and Ryan had a chat with Steve, one of the salesmen.

Back to Keepsake by the designated time but the ladies were still shopping, even Susan.

Eventually we hit the road again heading sort of south for New York City.

A stop in Concord at the Golden Gese Quilt Shop where I had to ask the question, "why is there just one e Geese" Because the owner of the shop has the surname Gesen...... OK.

Back on the road and a 2pm sort of lunch stop at a Starbucks/Burger King/Starbucks. Kerry had to do Starbucks twice because Rayls kicked her tea over when getting into the van.

Back on the road again trying to get within a short drive of New York City and here we are in Sturbridge, around 3 hours out of New York. The Days Inn here is a beauty and we are all tempted to stay here for the remainder of the holiday but alas.......... After I checked in I came outside to see the rest of the gang busy in a snow ball fight!

Son Scott has managed to get us into a hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the next two nights. Apparently on a bus route and an easy and shortish bus ride into NYC.

We are all OK, Ryan and I on the mend and it seems at this stage none of the ladies seem to have caught what we had. All bar Susan could do with a rest day. It has been pretty much go go go. However, NYC beckons with little chance of a rest there.