On Wednesday Kathryn and Eric took Amtrak from Rome to WDC with friends Linda, Bonnie and Cindy. They visited the National Zoo on Thursday and the Mall on Friday. Our friends Kent & Kathy flew in on Friday with their two daughters Marisa and Julia. Everyone returned to Rome by train on Saturday.

On Sunday we packed up the camping gear, hooked up our pop-up camper and went to Soft Maple Reservoir for an overnight camping trip. It was the girls 1st opportunity to go canoeing (with mixed results) and Marisa caught her 1st fish in the same ‘below the dam’ fishing hole where Eric caught his 1st fish at age 2.

Upon our return home on Monday evening ate a fantastic meal out on the deck and enjoyed some bird watching before yielding to a night filled with fire flies. The kids caught several in a jar before releasing them. It was one of the nights that was so nice you dreaded going inside to sleep it away- but we did. The next morning I transported our guests back to the train station where they departed for WDC and the rest of their vacation.