Benji and Soph College Visits

Benji and Soph had wanted to see some schools together, so we planned a short trip through some schools they were both interested in. We started in Pittsburgh and had an official tour at Pitt:

Pitt's main academic building building is a skyscraper called the Cathedral of Knowledge, seen in the background here (the students call it Cathy, apparently)

Heinz Cathedral, donated by the Heinz family, of course

It was not a tour day at Carnegie Melon, but they had a self-guided tour which Kevin led them on:

Random art on campus

Once we finished up in Pittsburgh, we drove on to Cleveland for the night so that we'd be ready for a 10am tour of Case Western. We also added on the additional engineering experience, so both teens got a really good look at the school (which they both liked a lot):

After a late lunch and ice cream together, we parted ways as Alex and Soph headed home and we headed towards Michigan for the rest of our trip.

NPS Flight 93 National Memorial

Benji insisted he had to have a solemn face in all pictures at the memorial

We left straight from Benji's concert on July 1 to start making out way towards Pittsburgh. We stayed the night in Berkeley Springs, WV, had a leisurely breakfast, and hit the road in plenty of time to make a 2:15pm tour at Pitt. About halfway up, Kevin spotted a sign for the Flight 93 National Memorial and we decided we had enough time to stop (we did not really, it turns out).

Since Kevin needed a restroom, Benji and I started wandering down the path behind that building, which ended up taking us to the memorial plaza:

Looking up at the viewing platform

This is called the Western View. It is where the families gathered the days after the crash to see the site and get updates

The fields are planted with native wildflowers as a deliberate part of the memorial design

The wall in the memorial plaza follows the flight path of the plane and is inscribed with the names of the passengers and crew

This stone marks the point of impact for the plane

Looking out from the memorial plaza

Kevin met us at the plaza and we headed back up to the visitor's center, which is very well done, but we only had about 10 minutes to take it in, which was not nearly long enough. Glad we were able to see the outdoor parts of the monument on such a beautiful day, though.

Abby and Jules in Ann Arbor

Abby, Jules and Drew planned to spend the 4th of July together in Ann Arbor, where Julia is working for the summer, which became the impetus for us switching the timing of our college tour. We had originally planned for something later in the month, but going this week worked well so we could meet Abby in Michigan and drive her home. To maximize her time with Julia (and so she could skip the first part of the tour), she flew from Richmond to Detroit the same day we set out by road. She sent us a picture when she arrived:

Cville Band at CHS

Back after a week on the road! It'll take a while to catch up on all of our pictures, but to start here is the Cville Band concert we attended right before started our trip. You can see Benji to the far left:

Virginia Theater Festival: Into the Woods

 

Family Tea at Cake Bloom

 

National Bomb Pop Day