All work and no play.....

Even though the Inn serves meals 7 days a week, we each have a day off and a prayer day. On Friday-Sunday, the meal is served from 11:30-1pm, so by 2 pm most of the time everything is mopped and put away, and our time is our own. This week we were both off on Wednesday, and we drove to New Jersey to a wildlife refuge near Atlantic City. One thing that is different from NC is that there are charges for the highway and bridges. Since we are on a budget, paying $4.00 to cross a bridge,$3.00 for a highway and $4 to enter a refuge is going to be an infrequent event. We have learned to find alternate routes to places that do not require a tollroad. Unfortunately, there is no way to cross the river without using a bridge!
Saturday we took the subway/El to the Philadelphia Museum of Art around 2 pm. Our membership in the Hickory Museum allows us free admission. I had gotten public transportation directions from the Transit website, but didn't realize there was a station named Spring Garden on the El and one named Spring Garden on the subway. We got off on the wrong one, and ended up walking two miles to the Museum. It was pretty hot and Mark had been on his feet for hours working. Once we got there, it was fabulous--gallery after gallery of our favorite Impressionists. We only had to walk a mile to the correct subway station when we left the museum.
Tomorrow is Labor Day, and since it is a holiday the meal will be served early. After the meal, all of the volunteers and staff that live here are going to a park and have a picnic, followed by games. This meal will be our community meal for the week, and it will be fun to visit a city park.