Last weekend we went on a quick road trip up to West Point, New York to the United States Military Academy, for our niece's graduation. Kind of felt like the Johnny Cash song "I've Been Everywhere". We drove from South Carolina through North Carolina into Virginia. After an overnight in Northern Virginia, we went through Maryland, Delaware and into New Jersey for lunch and then on to New York. Our kids and the fiancé had joined the trip for this second leg of the trip which made the trip more fun.
Graduation was great and loved visiting with family and good friends. Managed a good capture of our niece on the Jumbotron!
I love the Hudson River valley. Off in the distance is the Bear Mountain Bridge.
One benefit of our trip was seeing trees I didn't have photos of!! My brother in law started calling me 'The Tree Lady'. I will be sharing some of these trees in a few more Tuesday's Trees postings soon.
These two were outside the front door of the place we stayed. Just love big old trees.
On our way to dinner we went past this house with these REALLY mature azaleas. I do NOT like meatball pruning of shrubs...but look at the size of these azaleas!
On our way home we took a different route. The kids went their way (both the girls had to teach on Monday) so we said goodbye before leaving New York.
Charlie and I went through Pennsylvania instead of going through New Jersey. A great side trip was to go to my college campus for a visit. I haven't been there since the year I graduated. Fun trip down memory lane!
This is my old dorm.
Below is the dining hall where I worked in the dish room for four years. Oh the food fights.... :-)
This is Old Main, the flagship building of Shippensburg University. It opened in 1871.
For a little garden fix on the way home we stopped in Harrisonburg, VA at the JMU Arboretum
I know I mentioned this place last year, as the Master Gardeners from York County stopped here on our spring trip. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.
UPDATE~~
Last, an update on my mystery plant from the last posting. Many thought it was Euonymus americanus, Hearts A Bustin'. The flower did look very similar to E. americanus, but no.....there were a lot of other indicators to the contrary. My friend Daricia, A Charlotte Garden, suggested it was either a Euphorbia corollate or E. pubentissima. The leaves are alternately spaced along the stem until the flower stem, where the leaves are whorled. Additionally the stems are split at this part of the stem. Last, the stem has the classic white milky sap.
Alternating along the stem.
Whorled where the stems split.
Another view of the whorled leaf pattern.
Thanks Daricia!
©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.
words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.
Wow, look at all of those Poppies along the roadside.How lovely.You must be so proud of your niece. What an accomplishment. Those azaleas are huge.I have never saw any trimmed like that either. Too neat for me. LOL! The Arboretums are beautiful this time of the year. Have a wonderful weekend.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your niece!
ReplyDeleteYou covered a lot of ground on this trip! I love car trips. They are more fun than flights.
A beautiful field of poppies. Love them.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your niece. How wonderful.
A great road trip. It is always more interesting that other means of travel.
Ah, thanks for brining back memories of my home state.
ReplyDelete-Ray
Hi Janet, Congratulations to your niece on her graduation. Looks like you had a nice road trip. I like traveling at this time of year before it gets summer hot.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your niece. Good capture indeed! How neat to be able to visit your alma mater.
ReplyDeleteGreat post for me Janet. I grew up in Harrisonburg and learned to swim in the pool on the JMU campus! I had no interest in the arboretum at that time so I've never seen it. Also my brother is an optometrist at West Point so those photos were endearing to me as well. Congrats to your niece ~ graduating from there is a great achievement.
ReplyDeleteSounds like another good road trip ~ you've already traveled across most of the country this year and it's still only May! Hope you're having a good Memorial Day holiday.
What a fun trip Janet, catching up with the family and seeing some great things along the way. :)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great road trip, though I would have been tempted to free those poor azaleas from the bonds of that terrible tight pruning... Great picture of your niece, she looks so smart. Food fights?!
ReplyDeletethanks for the link, janet! glad i could help. congratulations to your niece..nice reason for a road trip! fun seeing all your photos of it.
ReplyDeletewhat a road trip! Congrats to the grad! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteYour niece is lucky to have such a supportive aunt. Congrats to her!
ReplyDeleteI love road trips, they make me appreciate home all the more.
Glad you found out what the mystery plant was.
What a great trip you had....my husband's nephew just graduated from West Point as well, small world...I wonder if your neice and he know each other?
ReplyDeleteVery exciting that your niece graduated from Westpoint! Sounds like a really fun road trip, you get to see so much more than if you were on a plane. I'd love to visit some of that part of the country some day.
ReplyDeleteLona, I love all the different roadside plantings --each state is different. We are proud of our niece too.
ReplyDeleteTatyana, we did cover a lot of ground, but sure glad to be home!
Lola, I love the poppies too. I like seeing the countryside too.
Ray, what part of NY are you from?
Jennifer, thanks, we did have a nice trip. It sure got too hot quickly!
Tina, thanks! It was fun to see my old stomping grounds.
Kathleen, What a fun coincidence, we should know each other with all the pathcrossing! I hadn't realized we had traveled so much until you mentioned it. Funny.
Racquel, it was a great trip to see all the family.
Janet, I couldn't believe those azaleas, what were those people thinking?? Food fights--I worked in the dishroom and we would scrap the plates before putting them into the giant dishwasher. Sometimes we got a little crazy. Red jello stains the worst, followed by yellow mustard.
Daricia, sure, thanks for the help!
Cameron, thanks!
Rosey, She is a great young lady, we are proud. I am glad I got help with my mystery plant too.
Darla, It is a small world! Did your husband go up to WP for graduation? We have gone to four USMA graduations. Liked Adm. Mullen's speech the best of all of them.
Catherine, it was a lot of fun to go up to West Point. I went to 6-8th grade there, so it is like going home. One day I will get to come out and see more of your part of the country.
I think your mystery plant must be the second Euphorbia, because I have E. corollata and it has snow white flowers.
ReplyDeletesweetbay, I agree, one's common name is Flowering Spurge and the other is False Flowering Spurge.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the Southern Tier - (BInghamton, Elmira, FInger Lakes, Cooperstown) and went to college in the capital area (Albany, Troy, Saratoga) Great for summers.
ReplyDelete-Ray