Honeymooners

Six months and three weeks later, we finally go on a honeymoon. We both needed this break, honeymoon or not. The difference between a holiday trip and a honeymoon? Staying in an expensive hotel (The Renaissance) eating out, doing touristy stuff and taking silly pictures of each other and together. Oh and doing honeymooner stuff in said hotel room. The weather was perfect, clear, sunny, and only mid 70s to 80 temps. Nearly everything went according to plan. And we are well rested and still very much in love. I think we shall have a honeymoon every year.

The downside is coming home with a head/chest cold that surely came from one of the many hacking airplane companions going up to Philly. We got home on Tuesday and before Wednesday morning I was miserable. At this writing, I am on the mend but still feeling a bit yucky.

Where did we go? Oh yeah... Philadelphia. We toured the PA countryside and ventured into Delaware and New Jersey.

My least favorite part of the trip was breakfast at a Denny's in Vineland, NJ. At the table next to us was a Hispanic family. Mama, Papa, and two daughters (about 8 and 13). Their waitress was also our waitress. While we got fairly good service, they got none. It seemed she was going out of her way to avoid this little family. They were seated before us but we had given our order first and was served before the "waitress" had even acknowledged them. They could not get refills on their coffee and by the time I was nearly finished they still had not received their breakfast! As you can imagine I was fuming, I was outraged!! I, too, began to look for someone to help this family. I could not see a manager of any description and the "waitress" (who did no waiting) ran past their table. Finally, the father managed to get a different server and ask about their orders. I saw the woman talking with the "waitress" and the other servers, but no one came to the family's aid. By this time I had lost my appetite and just wanted to leave. The family also began to leave but no one would take their money for even the coffee and hot chocolate they had managed to obtain. Out came my pen and pad and I began to write a scathing letter to the manager (knowing full well he/she might not read much less do anything or care). Nigel had pity on me and finished so we could leave. By this time I was struggling to hold back the tears of anger. No. We did not leave a tip for our so-called-waitress. I handed my letter to the cashier asking her to see that management got it. I'll never know if that happened. What I do know is that I am ashamed to know that racism is alive and well in America. And it ain't only in the South folks. Yankees are just as heartless and rude. This little family is just like millions of families across America. They deserved the same respect and service we all desire. Just because they were Hispanic (and just like the Blacks in the past) they received disdain. I had hoped that one day bigotry would die. It won't. And I am left with a really bad perception of a small town in New Jersey.