New York, Boston, Richmond, Winston-Salem

I wish I could figure out Blogger's photo organization...we caught this photo on our way
between New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island....that dog gave us laughs
for miles.  I haven't seen a dog with his whole shoulder out the window before....
He rode that way many miles on the interstate.....hahahahaha!

We saw this in Providence, RI when we were looking at Rhode
Island School of Design.  It was a great little town

Chloe got this shot from our hotel in Jersey City on our way home...I thought it was a cool one

Chloe at the spot where Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander
Hamilton in Jersey City...And where the term "shot heard 'round
the world" came from....

In Lexington, Virginia, after visiting Washington and Lee University, Jackie tried to do some stunt move in my car
 and blew my front tire....Roadside Assistance sent our guy to Lexington, Kentucky...what a dork.  So we lost our hotel in
Philadelphia but had a great trip after that....

There was a cute little skit in the park behind Independence Hall where they signed the
Declaration of Independence in the "room where it happened"

Saw this sign at a Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island.....

The view from our car of that Boxer half hanging out of its car

Jackie got us tickets to see the Great Comet of 1812 and it was
wonderful. Very funny, wonderful scores and he got us seats on the
banquets on the stage which made it even cooler....

It was cool to be so close to the actors during the play....You should go see it!

The view after the play in NYC from our Jersey City hotel....
Jackie's phone takes great photos

Chloe on Wall Street

NYU was my personal favorite college we visited....we got tickled at this
in the elevator....

Chloe with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello....definitely a place to visit if you're in Virginia

When we got back we went over to see Counts Louise and Stephen at Methodist
Hospital downtown Memphis.  He got a liver and was recovering...he's home
now thankfully and getting better a little every day.
Here's Chloe (11), Counts Elizabeth (8) and Allie (6th grade)

Monticello

Amy and Chloe touching the statue of John Harvard
Amy said it's tradition to touch his shoe and you'll have
good luck...so the three of us did :)  It worked, we had a
safe and fun time on the trip (even driving in New York City,
Boston and Washington DC :))

Amy, me and Chloe in front of one of the Tall Ships
in the harbor

Me, Dana, Chloe, Jackie, Aidan and Sydney (Troy took the photo)

Chloe (16) and Sydney (13)

June 12-23, 2017

Warning:  This will bore you unless you're interested in our summer tour of the east coast looking at film schools and eating really good food....

We left Le Conte and drove to Asheville mainly for a shower, lol.  Asheville is a wonderful city.  Very walkable and a very cool city.  We met Katie and Brent and their boys for dinner and enjoyed catching up with them.  Then we drove to Lexington, Virginia to tour Washington and Lee University where Jackie's great grandfather went.  It was a cool campus and has a great historical downtown.   On our way out of town, Jackie tried to do some kind of stunt move in my car and got us a flat tire...that was okay but the dude coming to help us was sent to Lexington, Kentucky to help.  Good lord, so we lost our hotel in Philadelphia but only lost a half day on the trip.  One plus was being able to see Staunton, Virginia, it has a very cool downtown.

Philadelphia was the next stop.  We got there in time to see Independence Hall, the park and enjoyed Philly.  Off to New Haven, Connecticut and Providence Rhode Island next.  We unofficially toured the Rhode Island School of Design.  We loved that campus, it shares lots of space and buildings with Brown University.  What a cool town Providence is.

Then we drove on to Boston and were there several nights.  My cousin Amy Dickey met us after lunch and we toured her Harvard campus and all around Boston.  It just so happened that the Tall Ships were in town when we were there.  These ships dock in Boston about every 10 years.  Jackie read that they were on the way from Boston to South America then to Iceland.  The ships really were incredible.  I'm glad we got to see them while we were there.

Emerson College in Boston is one of the top film schools in the US and we had a wonderful tour by several students on campus during the summer semester.  Emerson was our first official campus tour of the trip and I think is still Chloe's favorite of all the schools...we shall see!

We drove to Jersey City for two nights.  We first visited where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had their dual way back, Chloe loved being able to see the monument.  It was very close to our hotel on the Jersey Shore.  Jackie got us tickets to see the Great Comet of 1812 and had us seats on the stage, another shout out for Jackie's seat choices!  We absolutely loved that play and I did get a hug with Josh Groban, who wasn't in the play that night but is cast as one of the main characters.  Just recently Jackie's college buddies Amy and Bill Trocchi went to see it and got a selfie with him at the Great Comet.  Amazing.  What a great play.

We toured NYU the next day and it was really cool.  On our way to the tour we went by Trinity Church, just a block from the 9/11 museum and where Alexander Hamilton is buried.  What a cool church and grounds then we had lunch with Ronnie Adams, my high school youth minister from Oklahoma City.  He just retired from his mission work in Hell's Kitchen and Brooklyn.  It was great to see him.

NYU was my favorite campus and tour.  I loved our student tour guide and the admissions counselor that talked to all the students.  I loved the counselor said to apply and "say a prayer to the admissions Gods" because she can never figure our how some get in and some don't but to definitely apply.  Chloe was intimidated by their ACT score of 30 as a minimum and she actually found out by email that day before the tour that her first test score was a 24 and she was thrilled beyond words.   Chloe liked NYC but....

Then we were off to Virginia to tour Virginia Commonwealth School of the Arts in Richmond.  We stayed in Springfield, Virginia with my college roommate Dana Sherwood Holroyd and her family.  We had a cookout with them, got to catch up then we were out the door the next morning on our way to VCU.

Richmond, Virginia was a really cool town.  VCU is a large university and has a very good film program as well.  Chloe liked it but didn't love, love it.  We had a great tour of the campus though.  We were close to Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello and enjoyed an official tour and seeing that amazing place.  Jackie loves Jefferson, Chloe loves Hamilton.  There were several debates on our tour of preferences....lol...

We set off for Winston-Salem and the campus of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  That was a great campus as well.  It had a movie set outside, a cool, really cool props department and was also a great school.  Even at this point, Chloe was thinking her top was Emerson.

I didn't get photos of the campus' along the way and wish I had!  Jackie gets another triple gold star planning this trip.  It was great to take advantage of being in North Carolina on a family trip and see film schools for Chloe.   The weather cooperated the whole trip which is amazing.  It was a really great trip, go Jackie aka our Rick Steves.