Visiting the Harris family in PA

My recent trip to Philly for a conference was a great opportunity to drag Duane and the girls along to a new city they had not yet explored. So on Melia's birthday, June 13th, we hopped on a red-eye from Sacramento thru Atlanta (at 3am!) to Philadelphia, PA. This was my second trip to this historic place but I was eager for the three of them to see some of the important sites, including the Liberty Bell and the site where the US Constitution was signed by the founding fathers of our country.

The trip was also a GREAT opportunity for us to visit Shannon, Jeremy, Connor and one-month old Declan Harris in their new Furlong, PA home. They moved from San Mateo in March 2006 so that Jeremy could pursue a nanotech start up job in that area. Shannon and I had become great friends in their short time in San Mateo and I was excited to catch up with her again. We all enjoyed our visit - Kali protected the cats, Cleo and Tigger, from Connor's attempts at over-eager attention. Melia played games with Connor (she is very patient with little kids) and enjoyed holding Declan for a few minutes. Duane LOVED Jeremy's home brewed beer. (Jeremy is a chemist, so the beer is a natural extension of his expertise.)

Our visit extended overnight to Father's Day and, coincidentally, Shannon & Jeremy's 7th wedding anniversary. (Thanks for letting us crash your dad's day and your anniversary!) We had a 1/2 day to spend with them before we had to head back to the airport. Shannon suggested we visit a small town on the Delaware River, New Hope, PA. It was great! OLD tiver village from the colonial days - very colorful bunch of visitors (a harley davidson gathering at one spot, lots of families and others enjoying the warm weather). We even walked across a bridge over to Lambertville, NJ.

Though the red-eye flight, time difference and short turn around of the trip made it a little challenging to be fully alert and energetic at all times, we had fun, saw many interesting things (ground hogs!) and people (woman with full facial hair... transition to one sex or another? Duane and the girls saw Lou Ferigno (sp?? the hulk!) in the hotel restaurant). Next time we hope we can spend more time visiting historic sites and the Harris family.