Cheryl and I Are Going on a Trip...

and in our bags we have everything we'll need to visit...

PENNSYLVANIA

Including a comfy neck pillow.  Back and forth, back and forth all day yesterday.  New York, PA, New York, PA.  It was like re-watching Wimbeldon.  But Pennsylvania won fair and square.  A special thanks, however, to Kentucky. Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Illinois, and California - all states that got in the spirit and casted votes. 

For those of you who like rules as much as I do... a few points.

• There was some question about all the anonymous posts.  I received six emails yesterday: five from voters in PA and one from a voter in NY.  These are people who wanted to participate, but didn't necessarily want to put their names out there.
  
• If we scratched all the "Anonymous" votes (which we did not), PA still would have one by one vote.  In other words... both New York and PA had exactly 8 Anonymous votes.
  
• No, we did not recount a person's vote.  In other words... if Maureen voted for New York and Tera voted for PA earlier in the summer, and then voted again yesterday, we only counted their first votes. 

Cheryl was at my house last night and we are truly excited about our trip.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  In upcoming days we will work with the readership to determine exactly which weekend we will visit.  Ideally it would be sometime in September (excluding the weekend of September 19-21).  We will make our plans public with the hope that some of you from adjoining states, or who have frequent flier miles, will choose to meet us there.

There?  Hmmmm.... even that will take a couple of days to square away.  PA is decent-sized state - 46, 058 miles to be exact (and no, I will not be making chocolate chip cookies with 46,058 chips in them to commemorate our winning state)!  So... will it be Philly?  Hershey, Pittsburgh, Erie, or some other undisclosed location?  That is a question to  be answered in upcoming days.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime... I thought we could get in the spirit of trip taking (and continuing our effort to help Nicole).  How about a game of "I'm taking a trip and in my suitcase I have packed a...

I'll start with the letter "A."  and then wait for you the readers to take turns using letters "B" through "Z."  Our goal... get to "Z" naming items packed in your suitcase (and if feeling really creative, how you'll use it).

My example...  I'm going on a trip to PA and in my suitcase I will pack an Antacid... to make me feel better after eating the legendary... Philly Cheesesteak sandwich, the Primanti's sandwich, Hershey's chocolate, and of course... Blue Moon ice cream.

Now someone take a crack at "B."  Let's try to get to "Z" before the weekend is over.  As added incentive... I have a letter in my head.  Be the lucky one whose entry lands on that letter and you win four luggage tags from Nan.  If you're new to the site and don't know what I am talking about, see last Friday's post (7/18).

Signing off until Monday...