College Visitations Done - Decision to be Made

Eight days, three colleges, and now it is time for her decision. We left the Wednesday before Easter and drove to Providence, Rhode Island for our 2 day visit to Brown University. The drive was great considering it was evening and close to a holiday weekend. We made the trip to Providence in 5 1/2 hours including a longer than planned stop at Cracker Barrel. The entire next day was spent on the Brown campus doing tours, meeting with admissions staff, etc. The campus is pretty and right in Providence. Casey thought our tour guide was "hot". He had a great personality as well.

Next we were headed up to Maine for an Easter weekend with family. The drive was great and we stopped for lunch in Wells Maine at Billy's Chowder House. The view was incredible and made me feel so happy to be back in Maine. It only took us about 5 hours to get to Aunt Rina's house. We got settled in and visited for awhile. Then we headed out to dinner with Uncle Tony and Aunt Isabelle at the Chicken Coop - boy the memories of that place were very strong. We also stopped by to see Aunt Pauline after dinner (she worked at the Coop for 30 years tending bar). The entire weekend was spent visiting with family. At times it was overwhelming for Casey as she didn't grow up surrounded by so much family due to the fact that we lived far away from family. She did enjoy herself even it at times it seemed too much. Easter Sunday was spent at Kenny and Margaret's beautiful house in Belfast. The food was fantastic and the laughter abundant. I love being from a big family.

Early Monday morning we drove to Bowdoin for their accepted students program. Casey had pretty much decided that she wasn't going there so we didn't spend much time visiting the campus. We got in the car around 11 am and headed home to sleep in our own beds for 2 nights before heading to Dartmouth. It was a long drive but we got home around 8 pm. Two days later we were on the road again to Dartmouth and their accepted students Dimensions program. Casey stayed in the dorm and did activities with current students. I basically was on my own for the entire time. I walked all over the campus and took a lot of pictures.Once again we were heading home; the college visitations done. Now she has a decision to make. Bowdoin is out of the picture so we are left with Brown and Dartmouth. It is a big decision and I know that she is being very thoughtful about it.

I hope this trip is one that Casey will remember. I took lots of pictures and did journaling every night about what we did. I enjoyed the traveling with Casey and spending time with her. I hope that Larry gets to do this with Greg. I would like to do this trip with Greg too, but I don't want the next four years to pass too quickly. Life is just passing by way too fast and I want it to slow down some!!