September Adventures

Every year, due to a series of shows, we head to the East Coast for the month of September. Our business started 12 years ago on the East Coast. I considered settling in the beautiful country side of Virginia many times, but Paul really wanted to see more of the West before we made any decisions. I was surprised this year while heading to the Virginia Fall Races Steeplechase in Middleburg, VA when Paul said "It is really beautiful here, but.." and there always is a but, "it gets too cold." I have to say it also gets too wet for his arthritis ailments.

It is an adventure during this time. We stay with friends and in hotels. Staying with friends we eat the best, staying in hotels we sleep the best.

We had some great times visiting east coast friends. We always celebrate Paul's birthday at our friend's "Aunt Mac's" house where she always cooks her delicious crab cakes and we have a chocolate pie celebration! One of our all time favorite shows is the Maryland Wine Festival. We get to work with our friend Sandy and Adrian gets to play with her son Josh. On this trip a friend of ours who is from Germany (and I make this point because I find Germans have the hardest time accepting the concept of homeschooling) commented on Adrian traveling with us. He wanted to know if there was someone we could leave him with so he could go to school. Paul's response was wonderful. "Why would I not want my son with me?" Here's Adrian, not socializing and having a terrible time because he goes to work with us.

We have done a show near Philly forever. It is one of our favorite shows because it is the best Dressage Show in the country! Here's a picture of our shop for the week we are there.

This year we hung around Philly and saw some historical sites. I found this to be such great fun! It was inspiring knowing that we were in the home place of our constitution. I truly felt the earth move while visiting Ben Franklin's grave as he was turning restlessly at the thought of our government today.

In DC we went to the International Spy Museum. What a treat. A really fascinating tour. I just have one question? Why do we prosecute and execute men who turn spy's against US yet pay top dollars to the person willing to do the same against their country?

I had to drag the boys to see some significant sites of DC! You can tell how close we got. LOL!

Is that the Prez?

Another highlight of DC is hanging with our friends Edna and Carsten. The meals are the best home cooking ever and the conversation is inspiring. I loved that Paul got to experience Peggy's front porch. Happy hour is amazing as characters in or combing the neighborhood drop in. This time we were visited by a young retired Marine collecting for Amnesty International. He never asked for money but sat talking with us about a myriad of topics, then their was the couple who had just got back from Tangier. They had stayed a month in a remote part of the country. The hardest thing was the lack of food choices they had. He spoke of how all the money from the US never went to the intended. Wow! After the hour, Paul compared the "Frolic Arms" happy hour to a TV show!