Phily-Providence Road Trip, April 2007
Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
- Martin Luther King Jr., excerpt from his "I Have A Dream" speech
When : 2 April - 7 April 2007 (Spring Break 2007).
Where : Phily, PA and Providence, RI.
Phily, PA and Providence, RI
Who : Reggiedio, Suwandi, Sylvia and siduahuruf.
What : 4 handheld digital cameras, 1 pillow, 1 body pillow, 1 rental Garmin GPS, a coupla of CDs, Suwandi's iTune, 4 bellies craving for Indonesian food.
Why : being 4 souls sick of daily routine, intending to see more of the world. AND IT'S SPRING BREAK!
How : Mazda from Enterprise Rental (starting mileage : 2427, returning mileage : 5010)
What's in for me?
- Quenching the thirst of travelling.
- Adding the 19th and 20th states I went to. (Coz DC is not considered in the 50 states of the US, credit of acknowledgement goes to ~vodKa).
- Adding the 8th Capitol city and 2nd Capitol building being visited.
- The third and the longest road trip so far in my life (distance and time-wise).
- A self record of passing by 8 states in only a day. We passed by 9 states total in less than 5 days.
- Adding the 10th university visited (colleges are not included) and the 3rd Ivy League University visited (coz surprisingly MIT is not considered as one, and we didn't have time to visit UPenn)
- Being in the place where the United States of America was given birth by George Washington circa 300 years ago (Independence Hall) and visiting the most famous bell in the world (the Liberty Bell).
- Feeling the adrenaline of exploring new places again.
- Looking for any Indonesian restaurants in Phily, which gave us no results :( But the Chinese food was good and cheap.
- Being loyal to lent promise though travelling was hard, but not impossible. (No Starbucks, no alcohols, no meat on Wednes- and Friday)
- Series of worthy food.
- Passing by the home of the great lady who sewed the United States' First Flag (Betsy Ross).
- Passing by the burial site of Benjamin Franklin
- Delicioso chocolate Cremé Brulee in Old City, PA and Kahlua Chocolate Explosion in Bloomsberg.
- Singing to Michael Buble and a bunch of other songs together
- For once after quite a time to feel a lil bit burdenless
- Learning more to share
- A rendezvous with a long-time-no-see friend, Sandi Wenas.
- Appreciating how blue the sky and the sea can be, how puffy clouds can be, how green the grass and trees can be, how sweet the shining stars can be, how 'grande' but delicate a sunset can be, how beautiful the full moon can be, how lovely a town can be, how real the raindrops can be, how quick the time can pass, how helpful and sympathetic your friends can be, how expensive freedom can be, and how thankful a human SHOULD be.
- Reminded again how massive amount of pictures taken would never be able to replace the moment seized.
- A glimpse of the idea on the root of American nationalism. (Feeling this after doin the trip, similar to what ~vodKa wrote in her blog entry "Spring Break vol. 2"
- Other things too many to mention.
- and last but not least:
laughters, jokes, puzzles (the one from CSI by Suwandi showed that Reggie, Sylvia and I are not just 'average' people! YEAY! :p ) and quality time spent with friends, giving a priceless experience.
Pictures session
Providence State House, RI Capitol
Brown University, Providence, RI
Inside the Independence Hall, where the US Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
"Yes there's a lady that stands in a harbor for what we believe. And there's a bell that still echoes the price that it cost to be free."– Aaron Tippen
"The original Liberty Bell announced the creation of democracy; the Women's Liberty Bell will announce the completion of democracy." - Katherine Ruschenberger
Near the burial site of Benjamin Franklin
The travellers are with Sandi. Thanx a bunch Sandi!
The blue sky and the blue sea, the puffy clouds
The green trees and grass
A grande but gentle sunset
How cute the Old City can be, how pretty towns/cities can be.
How much difference a rain can make
The witty travelers / amateur photographers
At last, I am so glad that this road trip happened after such rush planning. I guess all of us do think that the road trip is definitely a something to remember.
Us.
More pictures of the trip can be found HERE (clickable). Credit for all pictures go to siduahuruf, Sylvia Wijaya, and Reggiedio Yapaulo.
If I had a bell
– Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening ... all over this land,
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between all of my brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
...
It's a bell of freedom
posted by siduahuruf @ 3:20 p. m.
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