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Vacation was a whirlwind!  Whew!  I loved our vacation but I will say this… the east coast is way too fast paced for me.  But it made me appreciate even more the small little village of 1,200 I live in.  Seeing the big cities of Philly, Washington DC and Manhattan was awesome, but by mid-week I was craving my simplistic life style once again.  I ate way too much dessert too… but ah heck, I was on vacation after all.  I sure could go for something chocolate right about now.  HA! Frankie made the 14 1/2 hour trip just great.  She hung out in her car seat most of the way.  A few times I let her perch upon my pillow on my lap and seat belted her in with me. When she sat with me I often got misty eyed as I thought why we were making the trip.  All because of her and what we went through.  Yes, maybe I would have eventually gotten to PA and Washington DC, but who knows. Seeing Washington DC and the White House and Capitol Hill took my breath away!  Going up over 500 ft in the Washington Monument and making the mistake of looking straight down when at the top gave me noodle legs!  I had to get down right away after that!!  Advice:  If you have any fear of heights do not look down once at the top of the monument!!  🙂 One of my favorite things was seeing Amish country in Lancaster, PA.  I am fascinated by them and their lifestyle.  I also really enjoyed doing my Frankie presentation for both my nieces classrooms.  More to come on that in the next day or two. Below are some photos of John and I in Washington DC. There was a protest on the front lawn, so my brother-in-law said we had to have a photo as if we were among the protestors… we weren’t.  Not even sure what they were protesting! All in all a great vacation.  Fun to go away… fun to return home to my “cottage in the village.”

As many of you may have guessed, I am thrilled to share that my book, “Frankie, the Walk ‘N Roll Dog” was awared the Merial Human-Animal Bond Award by Dog Writer’s Association of America.  That was the reason for Frankie, my husband and I making the trip to New York this past week.  You can read about the award here. I wish the photo was a bit better, but thought of it at the last moment as I quickly gave the camera to John and I made my way to the front of the room. It really was an honor to be among so many that share the same love of dogs as I do.  It will be a moment I treasure for a long time to come.  I will write more about our trip in the next few days.