New England, November 2002

Our first trip away together, and Mike's first vacation in over FIVE years!! We left for a wonderful 2 week trip that tooks us all around New England. We started at Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's house with a visit from Aunt Gail. As a graduation/christmas/all holiday gift Gail gave me a gorgeous elk stained glass that she made. After Thanksgiving dinner and family time we headed over to Dad's (Ken) birthplace, Providence, RI, to visit with James. Here we spent a couple nights in his trendy condo on the 3rd floor and were able to check out Boston. Loved Providence, great little "big" town, but next time we want to make it to "Badda-bing" land! Then down the coast and over to the Big Apple. Had a bit of a problem finding a hotel (in Manhattan, believe it or not), but after we were settled in we went for a walk only to find the remains of the twin towers not one block from our hotel. Sad. Spent the next day walking around taking in all the sites. Nice city, but one day was enough for the both of us so we were off to Bedford, PA, home of Cannondale Bicycles. SLEEPY little town, but the drive was beautiful and it was great to meet Janice, Mike's Cannondale rep. Had a great tour by Janice of the facility, testing and sewing areas ... all, very cool. Finally we headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's for a couple more nights before we headed home. Great trip. I think Mike is ready to enjoy himself and start using the vacation time he has not used (and should be saved up) for the past 5  years!

Crosswalk sign in Downtown Boston by John Hancock building