IT'S OUR 16TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Hello, friends.  Welcome back.  Yesterday was a special day.  Joe and I have been married for 16 years.  It seems impossible that all that time has passed.

Because I haven't been feeling all that great, we decided not to go away this year.  But we wanted to do something so Joe made reservations at King George II Inn for an early dinner.

Let me tell you a bit about the history of this inn.  It started in 1681 when Samuel Clift established a ferry service between Bristol, PA and Burlington, NJ.  Ferries were the only form of transportation between the two towns until the Burlington-Bristol Bridge opened in 1929, about 250 years later.

The same year that his boat began carrying passengers, Mr. Clift opened the Ferry House at the end of Mill Street close by the boat landing.  This was probably not much of a hotel, but in those days cold rooms and bed bugs were a matter of course.

From 1730 to 1765 Patrick O'Hanlon owned the Ferry House.  It was during this time that George Washington stayed there.  He wasn't a general or a president at that time, but a 25 year old on his way from Virginia to see the governor of Connecticut about a commission in the militia.

Next, the Ferry House was owned by Charles Bessonett who rebuilt the hotel and made it larger, much as it is today.  He renamed it the King George II Inn.  The Burgess and Council met here frequently.  In fact, on September 17, 1786, their expenses for eight meetings at the Inn were 3.19s and 3 1/2d for punch, grog, wine and porter.

Problems came when a company of Yankee troops arrived in town during the Revolutionary War.  They took offense at the fine pub sign painted with King George's head and shot it down with musket fire.  After the war, Bessonett put up a new sign and wisely changed the name to The Fountain House.

By 1892, the inn was called The Delaware House and belonged to Mrs. J.E. Lincoln who built the porches on the riverside.  The Bucks County Gazette that year reported, "A fine view of the Delaware River and of the city of Burlington on the opposite shore can be obtained from any of the rooms fronting the river."  It's still true today.

We had a fantastic dinner.  We were debating, but decided to start with a warm crab dip with soft pretzels for our appetizer.  It was so delicious!

Joe had Chicken Parmesan with penne pasta for his main dish.

I had fish and chips.  The fish was wonderful with a crisp batter on it.  The fries were perfect.  There was fresh coleslaw and the tartar sauce was certainly not out of a jar!

I was too full for dessert, but Joe got a five layer chocolate cake.  He said it tasted like an iced brownie.  It came with vanilla ice cream, Chantilly cream and strawberries.  He was very pleased with it.

We were going to look around a bit, but my leg was bothering me so we just went home.  On the way we needed to stop at Shoprite.  When he came out, Joe was carrying a large bouquet of a dozen roses for me.  All different colors.  So beautiful.

Earlier in the day Joe had given me a beautiful necklace.  It's a heart with a blue butterfly in the middle.  The blue stone is my birthstone.  The butterfly is important to me.  When my dad passed away, the inside of his coffin was embroidered with butterflies.  And then in the next few weeks I saw butterflies wherever I went.  The side of the heart is engraved with the words, "I love you for always and forever".  I love it.

We were going to go to a movie, but there wasn't anything we both wanted to see.  Instead we went home and turned on Netflix.  We ended up watching Miss Congeniality.  I had seen it several times before, but it was new to Joe and I knew he would like it.  And he did.

By this time we were very tired and ended up going to bed.  It was a great anniversary.  I'm so glad we were able to get to Bristol.

And now on to year 17!

Until later,

Kathy