Meriden, Pt. 2

Yay, the day is here!  We got up early and helped Chelsea pack up the rest of her things from her apartment in New Haven.  We decided to have lunch in Meriden so we would be close to the graduation.  We got to the restaurant only to find out that they didn't open for another half our.  Instead of waiting for it to open, we went in search of another place to eat.  Well, it turns out Meriden doesn't really have a nice downtown area.  In fact, it was downright scary in broad daylight, so.... we ended up back at the original restaurant just in time for them to open.  

After eating, it was time to go watch Chelsea graduate.  Her ceremony was actually shorter than mine, so I'm grateful for that.  It was very exciting to see her graduate! Unfortunately, a lot of the ceremony was only just OK. The jazz band was iffy, the singer totally changed the mode of the national anthem, and the keynote speaker.... Oh lord.  It was the president of the biggest community college in Connecticut. Essentially, the entire speech was about her, and since her circumstances were somewhat specific, most people there would not be able to relate. Just terrible.  OK.  Rant over.  

Chelsea graduates, yay!!!

Wendy's note:

Joel covered it today with the exception of leaving out one of the coolest features of Chelsea's graduation - the pipes and drums!  They played the processional while everyone came in and I DIG pipes and drums.  Photo below shows them on the left side.

Spending two nights using Jake's hotel points has spoiled us.  We weren't particularly bothered by the cheap hotels we've been staying in up to now, but I'll admit I'm a little sad to go back to that after enjoying a super clean room with plenty of amenities.