Our first stop in the old USA was our hometown of Saugerties New York.

Leaving London, we flew to Dublin for a short, two-hour layover before boarding our plane to New York. Even though it was only 9AM, our breakfast consisted of tea/coffee, buttered scones and a pint of Guinness! The bartender did not even blink an eye when serving us. As part of the US Border Protection Program, we actually cleared security for the US while still in Dublin. A question on the form we had to fill out asked us to list the number of countries that we had visited—we ran out of room in the little box provided for us on the form and had to write in the margin. We thought that the employee would have something to say about that, like welcome back or something, but nothing. Ironically, we actually got more of a reaction when we entered England from the Chunnel. The guard couldn’t believe that we had been traveling for so long.

Our flight to New York felt very long as we were both anxious to be home. We handed in our form with the stamp from Dublin security check and we were back in the United States, exactly one year after we left Portland. At the airport, Matt’s parents, Kathy and Ralph, and Robin’s mom, Gloria met us. It sure was wonderful to see familiar faces again. They had a large sign, painted by Ralph—one year around the world! It was great to be back. We experienced someone’s road rage on one of the on-ramps, and were initiated back into life in America!

In Saugerties, our hometown in upstate New York, we had six days to visit with family and get used to being back home. We were the guests of honor at a barbeque thrown by Matt’s folks. We visited with family and old friends and answered lots of questions about our trip. We even met with our friend Andrea and her daughters, Karinsa and Leeanne, who we stayed with in Milan at the local diner. Saugerties has been enjoying a real boom over the last few years, and it was interesting to see all the new shops and restaurants. We also saw a very cute soap box derby in the big city of Kingston, New York. For the last two days of our trip to New York, we stayed with Robin’s mom in Albany. We had a dinner out with Robin’s side of the family at an Italian restaurant that has been around since the 1940’s. Again, it was great to see family and we enjoyed everyone’s company. Then it was back on the last flight to Portland and we knew that the trip was really over.

You may be wondering why there are no photos from New York and the reason is that both of us just couldn't take another photo.