Bethlehem

I was feeling some anxiety about moving to Henderson after we made our final decision.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what was bothering me for a while.  Then I realized I was moving straight from the absolute epitome of quaint, Bethlehem, PA, to the absolute void of quaint, a Las Vegas suburb.  So I decided to take some pictures, as many as I could, of my favorite Bethlehem spots. I missed a lot, but I'll post what I did get.  

Here's my favorite cape cod.  Nothing spectacular, but I could always picture our family living right there.  In that very house.  

One of our favorite gardens.  So very tidy.  Always had every color of the rainbow, and by the end of summer it's absolutely overflowing.

My favorite giant of a tree.  Notice how they built the road around it instead of chopping it down.  Very Bethlehem.

Scotty sometimes commandeers the camera and takes a bunch of pictures.  I love to see what he chooses to photograph.  I was about to delete these and then I realized they're pictures of things I wouldn't normally take pictures of, that we might like to remember.  So I'll post a few,  for fun.  Here's our GLOBE Bush.  This thing was taller than Jeremy.  I never liked it really, except in the fall when it turned flame red for a few weeks.  It did provide some nice stealthy coverage for all our bikes and ugly outside toys though.  Thank you, Globe Bush.

Here's James' exuberant reflection superimposed on our green screen in the back.  Those shrubs (still don't know what they were) were everywhere in Bethlehem.  Some of them grew stories high.  These were the perfect backyard privacy screen.  Green year round.

Our front door from Scotty's point of view.  We miss you Lincoln Ct.  James-head in the bedroom window is saying hello.

I'm including this one to help me to always, always remember to be grateful for a garage.  This is our 5th and hopefully last Jeremy Tilton family parking lot!

Here's more Bethlehem.  Henderson St., near our house.  Took this pic for the pretty sycamores and for the ridiculous road.  Driving on it was like running the car over a massive wash board.  

Here's an average sidewalk on the same street.  Walks with a double stroller were quite the adventure.

 Hydrangeas.  Everywhere.

 Centuries-old buildings all around downtown.  This is part of a ritzy private school, the Moravian Academy:

A little old shed surrounded by wild roses.  

My route to the gym

Gorgeous historic mansion downtown.  There were too many of these to take pictures of!

Of course Bethlehem had its share of tacky, but I think even this type of tacky has a place in quaint.  Vegas tacky is a different kind of tacky.  For example, we would never see this here, a Maryland Fried Chicken come Cigarette Outlet Drive Thru:

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Or this, a nail salon / deep fried turkey joint in a re-zoned house:

Our favorite ice cream place was the best kind of tacky.  Inside was a hodgepodge of Elvis posters and kid-painted murals, but they served the absolute best ice cream in town, in all sorts of exotic flavors.  Bethlehemers, please enjoy a scoop in our memory every chance you get!  

 I'll end with a purely nostalgic pic of Scotty's first Elementary School, Spring Garden.  Great people and good times.  We love you Bethlehem!