World Traveler

Keegan and I had a wonderful honeymoon! Bermuda was a beautiful and peaceful place to visit, and all of the people there were very welcoming and nice (although I'm sure this is because their economy is based primarily on tourism). I posted many pictures on Facebook, but I took about 1200 (seriously). We mainly used the bus system to explore the island; we visited some underground caves, climbed lighthouses and church towers, explored forts, walked on the beaches, Keegan played golf while I enjoyed the scenery, and we took a boat tour that allowed us to see sides of the islands that larger boats are unable to visit.

We arrived home around 9p.m. on Sunday and I was back at the airport at 6:45a.m. on Monday to fly to Chicago for my conference. The conference was extremely informative and interesting but also very specialized. There were about 6 or 7 different groups there from all over the world and while I understood a bulk of their work, it was very chemistry-based. I now know I will need a more extensive chemistry (or polymer chemistry) background if I am to proceed with this as my research area. It would be wonderful to be on the forefront of the field, introducing these materials into the biomedical realm, but I'm going to need a bit more knowledge before that's feasible.

I got home around 1a.m. on Thursday from the conference and used that day to recover from all my flights and to compile my notes on the conference presentations to see how to best incorporate what I learned into my review paper. I also tried to make at least a little space in our place around all the wedding stuff that is piled up :-)

Friday we got up at 5a.m. and left around 6:30 to drive to Connecticut for Keegan's family reunion; we made it to Connecticut around 6:30p.m. and spend the night at his grandparents' house with his dad, one of his sisters and one of his brothers. On Saturday we again got up at 5a.m. to drive to Hardwick, VT for the actual reunion. We spent the afternoon there socializing with his (and my new) huge and extended family. I had a great time and people actually remembered me from last year! News travels fast though, because pretty soon we were approached as "David's boy from Gerard's family... the newlyweds!".

I personally loved Keegan's grandpa's hat; on the front it said "Genuine Antique Person" and on the back it said "Been There, Done That, Can't Remember". When asked where he got it, he said it was a present on his 75th birthday (he's 86 now) but that he only wears it on special occasions, which is why it still looks new. He and Keegan's grandmother will be celebrating their 63rd wedding anniversary in September; I only hope that Keegan and I will be able to spend such long and happy lives together too! :-)

So in a time span from Sunday, June 28 to Sunday, July 5 I was in two countries and 15 states. Bermuda to Philadelphia to Raleigh/Durham on June 28 followed by Raleigh/Durham to Cincinnati to Chicago on June 29 then Chicago to Detroit to Raleigh/Durham on July 1/2. Then factoring in the drive up on July 3 and the drive back on July 5 I hit North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachussets, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Delaware. Adding in Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan and you've got my 15 states. Plus Washington, D.C. too I suppose. We were going to try to hit Maine also, but that would've added some time to the drive to the reunion; Keegan says we can go there another time. I want to hit all the states at some point, plus I've heard Maine is beautiful :-) Keegan was there for a wedding last fall so he's already been there, but it will be new for me!

I think we are going to plan a trip to Rhode Island for our one year anniversary; we will time it to line up with the reunion so we will already be in the Northeast. We both enjoyed seeing the Biltmore House so this time we'd like to see where other Vanderbilts built their "summer homes" in Newport. Maybe we can take a drive along the coast to go visit Maine sometime during this trip :-)

Being married is so wonderful :-D