A warm welcome in Pennsylvania

Oh my goodness does it feel good to be back home!!  We rolled into Two Harbors, MN. on Friday evening and stayed the night at my parent's house.  As much fun as we had during our two week vacation to New England, it was absolutely exhausting!  I have so much to share with you all and thought it might be a good idea if I did it in sections, starting with our first big stop in Bloomsburg, PA.

We first traveled the nine or so hours down through beautiful, green Wisconsin and into the town of Joliet, Illinois for our first hotel stay.  When we first started traveling roughly ten months ago, the girls were able to tolerate long hours in the car a bit better than they do now.  We now require several more stops along the way to take a break and to stretch our legs.

We got back in the truck the next morning with the hopes of making it all the way to Bloomsburg, which was about a nine hour drive.  Unfortunately we didn't make it and stayed in Dubois, PA for a night.  Pennsylvania is quite a large state to drive across, but what a pretty drive it is!  Nothing but rolling hills, valleys, rivers, and green treetops as far as the eye could see.  It appeared so unpopulated, but we knew that tucked away under all those trees were little communities bustling with everyday life.

We continued on and arrived at Maegan's house around noon.  I became fast friends with Maegan a few years ago online.  We were both just getting into photography and turned to flickr for a place to share our photos.  We soon realized that flickr was more than just a dumping ground for pictures, but also a community where you could build relationships with people who had the same interests.  This wasn't my first time meeting an online friend, but definitely one of the best.

We instantly connected as if we were old high school friends.  We talked about anything and everything while our girls pranced around playing and ran through the sprinkler.  There were plans that evening for all of us to camp out in their backyard... something we had yet to experience as a family of four.  Before we left Duluth we purchased a large three room tent and two air mattresses knowing that camping was going to be on the agenda while staying in Maine.  Little did we know that these things would get used sooner, in a much more enjoyable way (more on that when I post about Maine).

After meeting up for dinner with Tessa, who is a real high school friend of mine, we headed back to Maegan's to find her girls in their jammies waiting for our return.  I promptly got our girls into their pj's too and headed out to the backyard where the kids played Simon says and caught fireflies... lots of fireflies!

I regret so badly that my camera sat in my bag until that night, after we were all tucked into bed.  Maegan captured several great moments during our stay and blogged about it almost immediately. :)  I highly recommend checking them out along with her well written words.

It was wonderful to finally meet Maegan face to face and she ended up being exactly how I had envisioned her... warm, thoughtful, and caring.  Her husband and three girls were equally as charming with the oldest two girls being wonderful artists, and their littlest sister, Maya, spoke in the sweetest 2 yr old voice.  Hearing her always made me smile and look forward to the day when Ginger decides to speak up.  Nope, no words yet. :)

Because Maegan and Brent were kind enough to open up their home to four almost strangers, we were able to leave with an unforgettable experience.  Thank you so much Maegan and family for your generosity and hospitality.  It was definitely one of the more enjoyable and relaxing parts of our trip out east.