To the East Coast we have been!

Erwin sets foot in the Atlantic Ocean! :)

I love the East Coast. I was so happy I was able to share my "second home" and many childhood memories with Erwin. We were able to go to Philly and New Jersey. (For just one day. But that one day on the beach was so fun!) Now, we happened to go back East during their horrible heat wave. It was 100 degrees AND extremely humid. We be dripping even if we slightly moved our heads. It made sight seeing and sleeping at night, a little rough. But we were able to still have a good time. :) In New Jersey, the weather at the beach was hot and the sand burned our tender feet. But the water was cold and it was a nice welcome to cool down. We ate, swam, walked on the beach, shopped and had a nice drive home back to Philly that night.

We ate on a boat. This is our view.

The next few days were of us doing some historical sight seeing. Philly is HUGE on American history and it's everywhere. It draws a lot of tourists and there is so much to see and learn. I grew up with it, and my dad is a lover of history. Erwin put up with some boring sights (to him I'm sure. haha) and all my dad's talking and teaching of the area and of Philly. Needles to say, he was a good sport during it all, and learned quite a bit. We got to visit Valley Forge, tour a beautiful Cathedral and visit where G.W. stayed during the winter at Valley Forge. Now that day was MUCH too hot for us. Ick.
We trudged through the sweat and heat and were able to still get around, but the car with the AC is the only place we really wanted to be. We visited where my dad grew up and where I spent my days and nights as a child.

Erwin being silly at the Cathedral


We visited G.W.'s winter quaters

The next day, Erwin and I took the bus into town. Downtown Philly is massive, and we ended up walking around it for hours and hours, looking for places to shop and eat. Our feet hurt...and we were tired. But we did get to do some more historical sight seeing. I took Erwin to see the Liberty Bell, and we did a tour of Independence Hall, where we got to see where everyone signed the Declaration of Independence. We decided to jump the joint, and leave again to go shopping and sight seeing. We saw the the famous "LOVE" sign with the fountain in the background, where many people were sticking their feet in it to cool off. On part of the square plaza, there are massive dominoes, monopoly and chess pieces, and we had fun taking pictures next to them. We walked through some more massive cathedral-like buildings and stopped to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe for a break. ahhhh...It was good.

Erwin and I were able to go out to eat and watch quite a few Philly's baseball games while there. It was fun to be among fans who would really get into the game and feel of their home town spirit. Erwin got to really like watching the games, and enjoyed the city. He found a classic Philly's hat, bought it, and wore it with pride. Which of course, had me beaming with pride. :)

We woke up bright and early to head to church on Sunday. It was about a 30 minute drive to get there, and we enjoyed the Sacrament meeting. I have been going there since I was a kid, but it was so funny that Erwin recognized one of his old TA's there with his wife. Philly is a very popular place for med and law students, so the ward is accustomed to Utah kids showing up. But talk about a small world!
We later on ate the world's famous Philly cheese steak sandwiches, and then took a walk around a beautiful park with a big pond and big forest fields. It is SO green and lush and beautiful there. Erwin commented on it feeling like home to him, and it is something so familiar to me as well. There are also huge stone bridges that cover all of the state and beautiful parks and rivers and streams. Erwin loved them.
There is also an area called "Boat House Row" There are houses that all light up at night, that are all next to a huge river, where people go sculling. It is always an amazing sight and such fun to see and look at.

My Grandma.

It was a good time for us. We were glad to get away. It was fun to show Erwin more of my childhood, and it was so great to have him meet my Grandma. Myself and my siblings are the only grand-kids she has, so meeting additions to the family is so wonderful to her. She LOVED Erwin. I knew she would. They would sit and have good chats and he was so kind to her. She loved us, gave us food and of course, spoiled us rotten while we were there. Unfortuanatley, she couldn't go with us very many places since she is on full time oxygen and has bad heart issues. But we enjoyed the nights we had with her and the dinners were her spunky personality shined through as she sipped her daily Martini. :)

Yeah...you don't want these falling on your head.

We hope to go back every once in a while, not only as a couple, but with our future family. And of course, I would love to take anyone of the Rivas/Wright family to the East Coast and show them around. :)