Goodbye, Rhode Island and hello, New Jersey (again)

I was sad to leave Rhode Island on Thursday, June 19th, especially saying goodbye to my friends there who had taken me to so many different places in such a short time. My train from Kingston left at 2.40pm and arrived at Newark Penn Station four hours later, giving me a good view of Manhattan as we approached NYC.

My cousin and her husband met me and we went back to their house in Scotch Plains, NJ - and watched the fireflies dancing around all evening. No photo, unfortunately, as they flashed too quickly for my camera to cope with!

Next day, my cousin Helen drove me to Morristown, to George and Martha's Restaurant...

... where I met up with Jennifer Wilck, one of the members of our writers' blog, Heroines with Hearts. I've 'known' Jennifer for about four years, and we had plenty to talk about over coffee and then lunch.

In the afternoon, we went to Washington's headquarters. He and the Continental Army stayed at Morristown from December 1779 to June 1780, surviving what was then the coldest winter on record.

When we arrived there, we discovered the next tour was not for another fifty minutes, so instead Jen drove me round some of the older houses in Morristown.

This one was especially interesting - the home of Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist who created the Democrat donkey and Republican elephant.


 

That evening, my two cousins and I enjoyed a meal at a local diner. I was getting quite used to American burgers by this time!