Day Trip: New Hope Pennsylvania

Every now and again I eschew my regular Monday responsibilities (which are mostly self-inflicted, since my full-time job is Tuesday through Saturday) and The Hubs and I head somewhere fun for the day. Our last trip was way back in August, so it was about darn time we headed out of our local digs and hung out someplace else. On this occasion we decided to return to New Hope, Pennsylvania. New Hope is a quirky sort of place: it’s a meeting place for motorcycle enthusiasts, has a large LGBT Pride Parade every year, provides eclectic craft and antique shopping and riverside dining. It’s a cute little town that caters to a wide variety of tastes.

Washington Crossing State Park, NJ Johnson Ferry House
Via Wiki Commons

We started on the opposite side of the Delaware River in New Jersey with a quick stop at Washington Crossing State park. They have a great display of revolutionary war artifacts in their Visitor’s Center. We didn’t stay too long because I was hungry for TACOS! So hungry, in fact, I took no pictures of the park… or my delicious lunch. I’d discovered a seriously authentic taqueria in Lambertville, NJ, Tacos Cancun, which is a teensy tiny hole-in-the-wall place, which are always THE BEST KIND of place. I was super-psyched to have some Tacos de Lengua (beef tongue), but sadly, they were out. The chorizo and al pastor (pork) tacos did not disappoint, however. This is seriously authentic Mexican food. Double corn tortillas, meat, topped only with cilantro and onions and served with radishes, cucumbers, a grilled spring onion and a grilled jalapeno. SO YUMMY.

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Not open on Mondays 😦

After that hearty meal we moved our car across the mighty Delaware and spent the rest of the afternoon strolling down Main Street, browsing in shops and checking out the local history.

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Locktender’s House

Isn’t it cute?

20161107_130748We even met this little guy sunning himself in front of a shop:

20161107_125259And then we saw this… thing… which is apparently an art installation with a live cam. Weird.

20161107_130920Walking back on the other side of the street, we found a lovely tea and spice shop where I found a new type of dried chile I just had to take home with me.

2016-11-12-19.00.30.jpg.jpgAnd of course we had to stop at a place called HOUSE OF JERKY!

20161107_132755The Hubs insisted we buy the combo pack, which contains SIXTEEN meat sticks of various flavor.

We decided to traipse out onto the bridge to check out the view. We’re on the PA side looking back over to our home state of NJ.

We browsed several more shops and decided it was warm enough (and we’d walked enough) to indulge in some delicious ice cream. I chose Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel and The Hubs chose S’Mores, both delicious!

20161107_144014After that, we headed home and ate a healthy meal of beef bulgogi, white rice and spinach and just relaxed. A truly lovely day!

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Bingley’s Photo Shoot – Wag Your Tail Photography

dsc_0156Last Christmas, my mom gave The Hubs and me a gift certificate for a Wag Your Tail Photography photoshoot for our Boston Terrier, Bingley. The gift certificate itself was a full color laminated photo of a gorgeous husky (the photographer’s own pup), personalized with our names! I was super excited at the time but we knew we’d have to wait for warmer weather as Bingley doesn’t have much fur to keep him warm. And then I got the news that I was going to be in a magazine, which came with it’s very own photoshoot! It wasn’t until late August that I actually got around to booking Bingley’s shoot.

The photographer, Christina, was incredibly sweet and helpful, guiding me to choose a good time of day for lighting and weather, and we set a date. I filled out a small questionnaire regarding Bingley’s history and immediately started browsing Amazon.com for doggie bow ties. We had decided on a park very close to our home, so I was really familiar with the area.

The day of the shoot The Hubs and I got all gussied up and headed over to the park. Christina and her husband and “dog wrangler”, John, met us there, and we wasted no time settling down in the meadow on a soft blanket. It was so difficult to NOT have fun, because two adults are repeatedly squeaking a dog toy at you and saying “tweat!” over and over again so Bingley pays attention. I couldn’t help but giggle and my goofy face was captured on more than a few shots:

dsc_05871For 60 minutes we had fun and played with Bingley and enjoyed the outdoors and as you can see, he was having the time of his life. The four of us even managed to get him to sit in a box!

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There were lots of tweats (treats) to be had, lots of water drunk and lots of praises for our little Bingley. At the end of the session, he was beat! We parted ways and went home to rest.

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In about a week, we received a link to a shared Google Drive that contained so many photos it took us forever to decide which were our favorites! (Hint, none of the ones in this post were our favorites, I’m saving those for Christmas!)  Once we finally decided our final few, Christina took back over for retouching (they can edit out LEASHES, people!) and just over a month later we have our finished photos!

Every moment working with Wag Your Tail Photography was fun and stress free! If you live in the Philadelphia area and have a pet you adore I cannot recommend them enough. I really hope you’ll check out the website and her amazing Instagram account!

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#Repost @indogspot with @repostapp ・・・ #HumansOfDogspot Meet Christina Cookson from @wagyourtailphoto . . "My love for animals (especially dogs) and photography really blossomed in 2008, when I moved to Colorado and got a little 3-month old black and white Siberian Husky named Newton (as in Sir Isaac). The move out West & the love and joy that Newton brought to my life jolted me in a very real and permanent way. Being in such a beautiful place as Colorado made me appreciate and see the world more intensely. It also brought a sense of independence and adventure that quickly grew by leaps and bounds. I soon picked up my backpack, first Nikon DSLR camera and headed out into the mountains with Newton. . A few years later, life happened and I moved back to Philadelphia with Newton. I was working as an attorney, bombarded with long and stressful days. But I never quit my passion for photography. I upgraded my DSLR and continued to take photographs of friends and family and their furkids. I then met my amazing husband, John. John encouraged me to take my passion for animals and photography and grow into more than just a leisure activity. And that’s when Wag Your Tail Photography was born. Why that name, you ask? Well, I always wonder if Newton would understand just how much I love him if I had a tail that I could wag right back at him when he sees me. Maybe this sounds strange to you, but maybe you completely understand that sentiment. . . Shortly after WYTP got started, our family grew by 4 more furry paws! We rescued sweet Maya, a then-6 year old sable-colored Siberian Husky, and our lives became even fuller. We can’t imagine our world without these two. They are our furkids and our only kids. We take them with us everywhere we can and build memories with them every day. I hope that my photography brings those memories to life for other people as well. Get out there and make memories with your furkids! You and they will cherish them forever, I promise." ❤ #indogspot #adventurepup #pink #cute #adorable #dogs #instaedit #instadogs #dogsday #dogscorner #dogsdaily #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram #dailydogs #Doglovers #followback #instafollow

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Seriously, how adorbs is this?! Talk about someone who loves what she does. It shows in her work! I truly hope you’ll check out Christina’s Portfolio, or better yet, book a session, I assure you it will be a memory you’ll cherish. 🙂

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