A hike in the woods

Last weekend (yeah, my blogging rate is a little slow), Bill and I went out to Valley Forge for a hike. Bill works not far away and wanted to check out the trails for mountain biking so I tagged along.

All and all, the hike was pretty lame. We should have guessed that when we saw two-year-olds and a woman wearing high-heeled boots and carrying a purse on the trail. However, it did prove a fun photo op.

While there wasn't any snow, the whole wintery silence of the terrain reminded me of the Robert Frost poem my mom used to recite to me... 

Whose woods these are I think I know

His house is in the village though

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep

Our Anniversary

This New Years marked Bill and I's second year anniversary. He told me early on that he had a secret plan for the day and I didn't have a hint at all as to what it was until he accidentally gave it away as we were driving to it.

Meg: "Let's open each other's presents now"
Bill: "No, it'll be better if we do it on the train"
Meg: "Train?! What train?! Are you taking me on the Strasburg Railroad?!"
Bill: Silence.

Yep, we road a train for our anniversary. But not just any train. The Strasburg Rail is a fully refurbished Victorian train with a parlor, lounge car, coach, dining car and Presidential lounge. I have been dreaming of taking a real-deal, old-fashioned passenger train since I moved to the East Coast and this one was simply beautiful. We didn't get any great pictures of the interior as the sun was shining heavily into the car so I've grabbed a few from the website to demonstrate.

The President's Car was used by President Harry Truman and has been completely restored to its former glory. 

The First Class Parlor Car where we sat

The ride was relatively short- about 9 miles round trip- but it took us past some beautiful, picturesque Lancaster County Amish farms. Oh, and did I mention that it was about 60 degrees that day- so warm that the sunny car had most of its windows down to cool it off? Yeah, it was glorious.

Our parlor car

Who's that handsome stranger coming my way?

We were the best dressed people there... by a landslide...

The rail line is part of a larger railroad museum so they have a ton of old trains and engines around the place

At the halfway mark, instead of turning the train around in a loop, the engine detached from the front of the train and backed up to the back and took us backwards. As it did so, it passed the cars, giving us a few good shots....

This was such a fun trip and I would recommend it to anyone with a car (its about an hour outside Philly). It was definitely a fun, romantic and unique date. 

New Years Eve

For New Years we went to Bill's sister's house for a sibling-only party. His twin, Mike, and his wife, Deb, were there with their dog as well as his youngest siblings Sam and Jon. And of course, the homeowners, his sister, Liss, and her partner, Sean. They had a nice spread, including several things that I could eat guilt-free (aka dairy and gluten- free).

We spent the night watching Louis C.K., which usually leads me to laugh so hard I cry. This was no exception. Makeup was just running all down my face.

Afterwards, we watched a little bit of the oh-so-sad Dick Clark while realizing we were old because we totally didn't understand the pop culture happening on TV.

What's happening?!

After the ball went down, it was a Wii gaming fest for the rest of the night.

Can you tell they're sisters?

New Years romantics

We're back!

And we're skating!

On the 29th, the last day we were at Bill's parents' house, we roped together the remaining family members and headed to the nearest ice skating rink. I had never been ice skating so needless to say I was a tad nervous.

(Oh no! Bill let go of me! I'm nervous!)

Bill is apparently a pretty strong skater, though I doubt he'd admit to it. So he took me around the rink, supporting me the whole way. Luckily, I didn't fall down once and while I didn't feel comfortable skating solo, I felt pretty comfortable skating alongside Bill. Long story short, I'd love to try it again. 

Bill's twin, Mike, and his wife, Deb

Christmas- Part II

This Christmas we went to Bill's parents house and met up with his entire family- 4 other siblings, two other significant others and two dogs. I'm from a small family so holidays were never any different size-wise than any other day of the week. But here there is a certain energy that comes with the holidays- the energy of that comes with reunion.

Not to lose that energy for Christmas, we ended up engaging in the Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve so that his oldest sister, who was splitting her time up between her old family and new in-law family, could be part of the family Christmas gathering.

This year, to keep things in budget, we did a Secret Santa gift exchange instead of having everyone overspend for the entire family. Each person got a gift or gifts under $50, so everyone got a single something special. Bill and I, however, did give each person their own copy of a hand-drawn sketch of the family home (done by yours truly). Each one didn't cost more than the $5 Ikea frame so we didn't stretch too far over budget. :-)

(The annual family photo- reading from left to right: Liss, Sean, Mike, Deb, Sam, Jon, Mary, Bill, me and young Bill)