Rhode Island & DC

Whew - I am finally starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel! Seth and I have been traveling for the past month and a half straight.

 Every weekend. 

Literally every single weekend.

For over a month.

With traveling, both of us working FT, and this MBA program - our butts are whooped. Seth's been amazing with helping around as much as he is able - but the house has been a wreck. It took me 3 weeks to finally make time to clean my bathrooms - GROSSSSSSS - Please no judging here. I finally got the laundry squared away Monday - only to have it piled high today. We wake up - study - eat - work - study - eat - sleep. Every so often we find time in there to have a small conversation. 

We are certainly tired of traveling and are so looking forward to being able to stay around our home for a few weekends (and start some updating!!!) - but we've had wonderful memorable trips that I wouldn't trade!

We traveled up to Rhode Island for Seth to attend a Land trust conference. I was lucky enough to be able to go with him and we had such a wonderful time.

On the way up we were able to make a stop in Delaware to see the Mt. Cuba Center. That is after we paid almost 50 bucks in tolls - we were stressing  around NY since we only had about $10 in quarters and at this point running out of the cash we had on hand. Yikes! We obviously made it - but we did have to get some cash out for our trip back South. Seth worked there while we were dating one summer. I enjoyed being able to see where he lived, worked, what's changed, and what an awesome worker he is.

Seth showing me one of his favorite views (which was on the other side of the camera).

I loved these purple flowers - going to bring them to the hiz-house in Flo-town.

Walking through the garden.

Such a beautiful place.

We had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and it was absolutely gorgeous in Delaware.

I was amazed :).

Seth posing by force.

Seth isn't very good with posing for pictures. Thankfully he isn't as bad as Eason - that kid will just get on your dang nerves with picture taking. But Seth doesn't want to pose by himself - he hates when I ask him to do something other than just stand there with his hands behind his back like above. He still looks pretty studly either way though - but I asked him to do something fun. And he didn't know what to do - so I told him to just smile really big and do a thumbs up. He did. It was fun and cute. He forbid me to post it anywhere online. Sorry folks - only my eyes can see that :).

Unless you come to our home and see the thumbs up grinning Seth posing on that 16 X 20 photo I just ordered......

- Kidding of course -

After our pit stop in Delaware we trucked on up and made a quick stop in Connecticut - New Haven to be exact. We wanted to see the coast - and it was beautiful.

Looking back into the city.

So pretty.

We arrived in RI that evening and were ready to find something local and yummy to eat. We urbanspooned a little Indian restaurant and ventured out to find it. It was dark so everything seemed to be extremely sketchy around Providence. We found the Indian place and it literally looked like a hole in the wall, but of course those are the gems. And this was. Delicious. We haven't had Indian food since Tandoori Oven when we lived in Logan. Whew - it just hit the spot for sure. We got back to the hotel and fell out.

The next day was a 'field trip'. I was able to go on the field trip and we had such a wonderful and absolutely delicious time. I'm so glad I was able to join all these nature folks.

We went on a little hike that morning and then went to a local grist mill where we had JohnnyCakes. 

Yumm...

We got to see how the mill works and the story behind it.

Our group.

Such a studly natural looking guy.

This lady and her husband run the mill. She was making the JohnnyCakes for us.

Seth listening to how things move along.

After the mill we went to our lunch site. We had paella.

Gosh.

This isn't the best picture of the paella but man was it superb.

I didn't know what paella was, so let me explain it a little. It is rice cooked over an open fire with all sorts of ocean goodies. Scallops - shrimp - fish - mussels. Divine.

After lunch we were able to walk to the beach.

Such a beautiful place.

All these rocks were built up by the local land trust and retrieved from the grounds.

The waves were HUGE.

After the beach we went back to the site for local oysters and wine.

Seth attended seminars the next few days. We had amazing food every evening while in RI. We had local American food one evening and another evening we had Ethiopian. 

He was a VERY happy man.

 Providence had a fire display that was beautiful - but it sure was chilly!

Fire display getting started below.

A tad blurry but a Cook photo.

After the conference Seth and I started our trip back South. We stopped in Tarrytown NY to eat dinner with Seth's aunt and cousin.

Katherine - Sadie - Seth

And of course the food at Tarrytown was AMAZING. One of the best meals I've every experienced. I wish we would've been able to see this little town a little more. It was so neat from the little we did see.

After NY we made it to Washington, DC and was able to stay with another cousin of Seths. After keeping Whitney up until 4 in the morning chatting - we finally went to sleep and was given a tour of DC on Sunday.

We got to see the White House.

Seth and Whit.

Loved getting to see this place!

One of the main things I wanted to see in DC! 

Whitney and I - She was such a great guide!

Gapper/Tourist Picture.

Seth actually did want this picture of him and the Capital!

We were even able to fit in a big name art gallery - a little DaVinci and Van Gogh. We felt very cultured.

We made it back to SC for a work week and headed right back out the next weekend to visit Joseph, Laurie, Sarah, and Brandon and go to a Clemson game.

I'll have to start back up with that next time. I have lots to get to around here, more school to do, and we get to celebrate my cousin and her fiance this evening!

The Cook's :).