50 States Challenge: Delaware

November 11 - 13, 2016

Newark

My boyfriend hails from the great state of Delaware.  Or as he may say "The Most Magical Place on Earth"....He's kind of a diehard.  But it took him through a solid year of dating before he was prepared to bring me back; in his own words, he needed to make sure I was worthy enough to touch the land that is Delaware

(insert emoji eye-roll here and the truth that it was his first year of residency so a free weekend was a rarity).

We roadtripped the five hours to Delaware and made it in the early evening to his parents house.  The next morning, we woke up early and my boyfriend and his brother took me to tour the University of Delaware campus where they both went to undergrad.

I took some superb Snapchats that I've since lost.  We walked through the main street of town and imagined life for the undergrads.  It was just about the middle of November, but the weather cooperated with our wanderings.  I saw the dorm my boyfriend once ruled over as the RA (those poor students).

We drove past the grade school he first went to, then his high school, and drove through Wilmington.  It's so interesting to see a place through someone's childhood eyes - the buildings that have changed, the ghost of former friends and classmates.

This trip was also a little anxiety ridden for me.  It was the first time truly stepping on his ground. Pittsburgh was his adopted city and he knew the ins and outs better than me, but it still felt like shared space.  Delaware was 100% his.

Our next stop was the DuPont Environmental Education Center of Delaware Nature Society.  It was breathtaking.  There was this adorable wooden walkway that lead to the water.  Both my boyfriend and his brother rowed in high school and college and they knew the ins and outs of the river.

This was probably my favorite part of Delaware.  That night, we got all dressed up and went to a concert in Wilmington with the whole family. I don't remember the name of the band, but it was a well-known Puerto Rican artist and his daughter.

The audience knew all of the songs and it was a really fun environment.

We left the next afternoon after home-cooked meals by my boyfriend's mom.  We went back the following October to visit when his grandparents were in town.  I'm hoping to go back in the summer because I would really love to see the Delaware beaches!