Dave's trip to America: part 3 - road trip
2025 America trip: report 3
Aug 6 - Aug 12
MY boys and I took a 1-week road trip north from Pennsylvania to the New England region to visit family and friends. We traveled through the states of New Jersey and New York, and visited people in Connecticut, Massachusets and New Hampshire.
Aug 6
Pennsylvania to Connecticut
Me and the boys drove 6 hours from Quarryville to Connecticut to see 2 different cousins from both sides of my family.
From my mother’s side, we met Jessica, her husband Jared and son Quinn in Norwich, where they had just moved 2 days previously and were still waiting for their furniture to arrive. She was already getting great restaurant tips from her neighbors and we ate at a very authentic pizza place.
After lunch we drove to Kensington and went to my father’s side cousin Joanne’s house. She organized a dinner get together with her husband Mike, adult children Alexander and Stephanie, my uncle Jimmy and his partner Alita. We spent the night there.
Lots of great food and fantastic conversation all day long!
Aug 7
Hartford
The boys and I spent the day at the Connecticut Science Center, a kid’s science museum. They had a big Pixar exhibition with many interactive displays.
After the museum closed we drove the whole way up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to spend the night.
Aug 8
Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Needham, Massachusetts
In Portsmouth, my aunt Susan and her partner Ed took us on a harbor cruise tour where we learned some history of the area and saw lighthouses, forts, a naval yard and gorgeous homes and boats. It was perfect weather for a day out on the water.
My hometown and college friend Terra lives in the state of Maine but just 15 minutes from Portsmouth and so she joined us for lunch and a walk around the town.
I had a lobster roll (cold not hot!) for lunch. It was fabulous and was probably the best lobster roll I have ever had.
Portsmouth is a charming little port town with many local shops and restaurants. The brick architecture and flower gardens were spectacular.
In the evening, we drove southwest of Boston to meet with my cousin Aiko, her husband Anthony and daughters Stella and Allegra. We all had fun catching up with each other and talking about Japan with Aiko.
After dinner, we drove to a nearby town called Needham to stay at my college roommate’s house.
Aug 9
Needham, Massachusetts
Saturday was a reunion with friends from university. My old roommate Keith hosted the day, first at his local pool which was like a mini water park and later at his house, where he cooked up some “Wagyu” fajitas. My other old roommate Marc came out from Boston and another college friend Brian and his family drove up from Rhode Island.
There were 7 kids and 6 adults who all got together. The kids from ages 2 to 14 all had fun at the pool. My kids liked jumping off of the diving board. Back at Keith’s house, the kids all got along well and had fun playing together.
The four of us relived many old university stories during the evening while also talking about our lives nowadays. It was amazing to have these guys all in the same room again.
Aug 10
Needham to Sturbridge, Massachusetts
After waking up and having a delicious family breakfast, we got on the road to Sturbridge to see Shawn, Mai and Kai Read. Shawn is my oldest friend from Japan and we try to get together whenever I am in the States.
Sturbridge is a very quaint small town. It has a colonial village but we didn’t go there this time. Instead we used the extensive network of hiking trails around the town.
After a pleasant hike, Tatsuki and Satoshi had endless rounds of laser tag and water gun battles with Kai. Mai made Japanese style curry for dinner so the boys were happy to have an authentic taste of home.
We were also introduced to VR (virtual reality) gaming, which none of us had done before.
The boys all slept together in a huge tent that Shawn and I set up in the backyard.
Aug 11
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
The next day we had a very slow and relaxing day.
We did get out of the house for a short hike and also again later to fly Shawn’s drones around a park by a local lake. We all got a turn flying the drone, which was a new experience for us three and a lot of fun.
The boys slept out again in the tent and ended up sliding down to one side of the tent during the night.
Aug 12
The drive home
The bulk of the day was driving back to my hometown Quarryville in Pennsylvania. We had some good views of the Manhattan skyline after we went over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.
Our 1-week trip was do great! We got to see a lot of friends and family we haven’t seen for many years!