My Vagabond Year: Washington, D.C. and New York City with Pennsylvania in Between

I had the distinct honor of getting to see my granddaughter, TENAYA MICHELLE CAMPBELL, graduate from Georgetown University, Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in French. (She plans to spend the summer in France and return to Los Angeles to start her job with a talent agency in the fall.)

Georgetown University was the first Catholic university in the United States. It was started by John Carroll, a Jesuit Priest, in 1789. The graduation ceremony took place in front of Healy Hall which is the flagship building for the University. It was built in 1877 when Patrick F. Healy, SJ, (Society of Jesus) was president of the university. He was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. and the first to head a major university.


Healy Hall

The night before graduation was a "Senior Ball" held at Union Station for all the graduating seniors and their families.


(Brother) Jonah, Tenaya, (Mom) Diane, (Dad) Mike

While in Washington, D.C., we ate at Tenaya's favorite restaurants: Il Canale (Italian), Bistrot Du Coin (French), and The Tombs (American) - where Tenaya will have her name permanently inscribed on a plaque of students graduating in 2013 who came to The Tombs each and every day for the 99 days preceding graduation. Yea Tenaya!!!!

I was also able to take the night tour of the monuments which included Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, MLK, Iwo Jima, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam plus the Capitol and the White House. I think the most spectacular is World War II - especially at night.

Then it was on to Philadelphia. I rode with the Mike Campbell family as we went from D.C. through Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware to Pennsylvania. (That took about 2.5 hours. We in the west think of going from state to state to take much more time than that, don't we?.) Now it was time for getting acquainted with the school Jonah will be attending this fall - University of Pennsylvania (Penn), which was the first university in the United States, started by Benjamin Franklin in 1740. Penn is in the Ivy League and Jonah will be a member of their baseball team.

I was met in Philly by my sister, Dione Smith, and her son Mark and his wife Chrysa. I stayed with them in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on the way to and coming back from New York City. Doylestown may have been the highlight of the trip for me. The countryside is so lush, everything so green, big beautiful trees everywhere. It is a very small town, population 8,380, but four very famous people have lived there: Pearl Buck (1892-1973), Margaret Mead (1901-1978), Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960), and James Mitchner (1907-1997). Another interesting fact is that for the first time ever I saw a road sign which read: Beware Aggressive Drivers. What does one do with that kind of advice?

Home of Pearl Buck

Home of Margaret Mead

Mark Smith, (son) Dane, (wife) Chrysa

From Doylestown I rode with the Smith family (from Pennsylvania through New Jersey) to New York City. After checking into our Hotel ($300/night with a bathroom so small it fit only one person at a time) we met again with the Mike Campbells for dinner at Lattanzi Restaurant (Italian). (I know this is a terrible picture but it proves that my iPhone 5 can do that scanning thing. There are 4 Smiths, 4 Campbells and 1 friend of the Campbells in this picture. What are the odds that we would all be in NYC at the same time?)

Then it was on to Broadway for my sister and me, to see the "Book of Mormon." It was delightful, beautiful music, wonderful dancing, clever story line, and very raunchy. (A little too coarse for my taste.) The next day Dione and I continued with the touristy things: bus tour through streets of New York City, boat tour around the city, followed by a bicycle tour (someone else pushing the peddles) through Central Park.