Miles: 270
Route: Madison, NJ - Brooklyn, NY - Old Westbury, NY - Stonington, CT - Boston, MA
Sarah and I kicked off our two-month road trip on Thursday. We packed up our trusty (well, hopefully!) car and headed to Brooklyn to see some friends. My mom was kind enough to take the Avalon in for a check-up while we were in South America so hopefully our 10-year-old car with 150,000+ miles on it will make it across the US and back!
Here we go!
Our hosts on Thursday, Mike and Nikou, prepared a fantastic dinner at their apartment just in time for some more friends (Matt and Emily) to join us from Chicago. After dinner we took a walk down to the water to see the view of lower Manhattan - we didn't realize the Tribute in Light would be illuminated already, but it made the view even more special.
Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights.
We left early on Friday to drive to Old Westbury, NY for Sarah's cousin Todd's wedding. After catching up with the family for a few hours in the afternoon, we boarded a school bus toward the de Seversky Mansion on the NYIT campus. Todd and Dana planned an amazing wedding and we had a great time celebrating!
Sunset ceremony.
A "picture perfect" evening.
Sarah's siblings (and significant others).
We woke up early again on Saturday morning to drive to Orient Point - the easternmost point of the North Fork of Long Island - to catch a ferry to New London, CT. It was a nice way to break-up the trip to Stonington, though it probably took a little longer than driving the whole way.
Waiting by the shore for the ferry.
We passed another ferry on its way back from New London to Orient Point.
Next stop, New London.
After quickly showering and getting ready, we were off to Elihu Island, a small island near Stonington, CT where Amanda and Dan's ceremony and reception were held. It took about 30 minutes to get there, but it was worth the ride - the setting was beautiful and everything was perfectly set up for another amazing celebration!
A suit like that can even make a man with a burly beard look good!
The Tulane crew.
We partied until well into the evening so pulling ourselves out of bed to return to the island for brunch was a bit of a challenge on Sunday morning. It was great to see all our friends, though, and we were happy we got another few hours with them.
Fortunately, the drive to Boston didn't take very long on Sunday afternoon. We met our friend Todd just in time to watch his beloved Patriots lose to the Dolphins - the Giants just lost pretty badly though so I'm glad I didn't give him too hard a time for it. (Sarah is still pulling for the Bengals, who actually won their first game against the Ravens!)
We spent Sunday evening and Monday catching up with Todd and his fiancée Shannon. Though I'll always prefer New York to Boston, we had some great weather while we were here and it was a fun stop on the trip.
Our view from an early morning run.
Todd gave us a tour of Harvard Business School (he just started his second year).
Felt good to be back on a college campus - reminded me of all the fun times at GW.
Tomorrow we drive to Lake George, NY. We have two days there before heading further west to Niagara Falls. Looking forward to a few days in the outdoors after spending the last week in various cities!