We spent this Friday with Kate’s aunt and uncle, exploring Dover. We had a few people ask us about all of us being in RED, so we got to share the story with them.

We had a great time seeing the Dover Green , the Old State House, and the John Dickinson Plantation and learning about what makes Delaware special in the founding of our great nation!

We spent part of the afternoon at the Dickinson plantation learning about life in the colonial period. John Dickinson is known as “the Penman of the American Revolution”, having penned or contributed to several notable documents written during the American Revolution.

On our way out to visit Fort Miles at Cape Henlopen, we came across Atlantic Liquors ! Their tagline makes a bold statement that it is the GREATEST liquor store in the world, so we had to check it out! We had some really interesting finds while in the store.

While we passed on the Old Bay flavored Vodka (which would likely make a mean Bloody Mary…), we did end up grabbing some Kirkland margaritas. Have you seen Kirkland branded liquors outside of a Costco Liquor store? We haven’t!

This afternoon we visited Cape Henlopen State Park located in Lewes, Delaware (pronounced “Lewis”). What a cool place! Lewes is in the middle of the state. The term “cape” refers to a piece of pointed land that sticks out into a body of water. They are usually smaller and narrower than a peninsula. This cape was relatively small compared to something like Cape Cod, but was interesting to see. There were also a bunch of horseshoe crabs on the beach, apparently having come ashore to mate and lay their eggs.

The campground we’re staying in has a bunch of farm animals - chickens, turkeys, goats, peacocks, etc. Tucker keeps pulling us towards these guys! He seems to be very curious about them - I wonder if he thinks they are dogs to play with?

Some of what makes this life 100% worth the effort it takes to pick up and wholly move your home every week or two are the people you get to see. This week in Delaware, we are close to Kate’s aunt and uncle and so grateful that they could spend time with us!

Today we had lunch at Crooked Hammock Brewery (which was awesome!) and walked through Mt Cuba Center . Mt. Cuba was originally the estate of Lammot du Pont Copeland and his wife Pamela Copeland, with most of the property being purchased in 1935. They worked with husband and wife architect team Samuel and Victorine Homsey to design and build the mansion on property which is still in use to this date as a visitors and education center.

We took a couple hours and walked around the park in Milford, Delaware . The state of Delaware only has 3 counties and this city is in two of them! Originally a community centered around shipbuilding but now serving as an agricultural hub, the town of Milford is over 200 years old! In our walk through the park, we came across several art pieces that told the story of the town’s history. The downtown area is a quintessential small town downtown with active shops lining main street and wonderful, homey feel.

We made it to Delaware! The park where we are staying this week is quiet, except for the peacocks! So relaxing in fact, that Steve decided to take a nap after our travel day…
Doesn’t he look comfy?

As part of our travels, about 3 years ago we purchased a National Parks Passport book . Much of our travel evolves around seeing the public lands in our great nation. Washington DC was no exception! This year, as we celebrate 250 years as an independent nation, many sites have a special edition 250 stamp in additional to their typical passport stamps.

During our time in DC we collected almost 30 passport stamps PLUS 13 special edition 250 stamps (photo was taken after day 1 of 2).

Day 2 in Washington DC: we attempted to see a few things that one or both of us had on our bucket list. First, Kate collects Hard Rock Café pins, so we stopped to have lunch at HRC in DC on our way to Ford’s Theater.

A bit disappointing, but Ford’s Theater was closed and there was nothing on the NPS app about the closure. While we did not get to see inside the theater (Kate has been there several times), one of the docents was outside telling people the story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. She was even great enough to bring out the cancellation stamp for Steve’s passport book!