The first night we were there, we were able to meet Julie and Brian and Brian's family in Times Square for supper. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed a good visit with them. John and I were staying in the Bronx, so we headed back on the subway at around 12:30am. We got a little lost trying to find our hotel.....wondering around the Bronx at 1:00 in the morning was not my idea of fun. We finally just got a taxi and he took us right to our hotel. We NEVER would have found it! Besides the one incident, the Bronx wasn't so bad. A totally different world than I am used to, but not as scary as one might think....at least where we were.
The Yankees game was AWESOME!!! We had bleacher seats, weren't close to anything, were in the full sun (without sunscreen!), and I couldn't take my camera in.....but it was great! They put on a show for us by hitting four homeruns and winning 15-6! It was a great birthday present for me. :-)
The new stadium!
We spent Monday waiting to get out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. It was worth it! It is such a peaceful place with a great view of the city skyline. It is a very moving experience to see not only Lady Liberty, but all of the different nationalities of people that are there to view her. I can't tell you how many languages I heard! It amazed me what this symbol of freedom means to so many. Very cool! We could have gone to Ellis Island and toured the buildings where so many imigrants first set foot on American soil, but we were running out of time before it closed and decided to skip it.
Notice the lovely skyline....and the lovely sunburn. :-)
The lovely Lady herself!
We went back to Times Square for a spectacular meal at a restaurant called Keene's Chophouse. Wonderful porterhouse steak!!! That was the highlight of the day for John. :-)
Tuesday, we headed out to Long Island to a town called Riverhead. I think this was the most relaxing time we spent on our whole trip. We went to a great water park there called Splish Splash and enjoyed a few hours of fun in the sun.....kind of. I was really sunburned from the game, so I tried to stay lotioned up and in the shade as much as possible. We still had a great time!
Wednesday, we headed to Gaithersburg, Maryland, via Baltimore. We stopped in Baltimore at the National Aquarium. This was a cool place to go and the wharf was absolutely beautiful! We were glad to get to Julie and Brian's house and so glad to spend some time with them. Even though they worked during the day, our evenings were spent in great company!
A boat at the wharf in Baltimore...it was a beautiful day!
Thursday was my birthday and I chose to spend it at Mt. Vernon, home of George and Martha Washington. I think this might be one of my favorite places to go. It is so peaceful and takes you back to a simpler time and through the mind of one of my heroes, George Washington. Did you know he was an innovative farmer who expanded his lands to 8,000 acres during his time of ownership......while he lead the Revolutionary War and served as our countries first president? Amazing! I truly enjoyed walking around the grounds they have preserved and learning about the life of the Washingtons.
Washington's 16-sided barn designed and built for threshing wheat.
Mt. Vernon from the Potomac River.
Me and John in the garden.
Friday, we went to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC. This was a truly moving experience for me. I had never been to a Holocaust museum, but am glad for the experience. Very moving....very emotional. I don't think I can even put it into words. After that, we would have liked to gone up Washington Monument, but the tickets were gone for the day, so we kind of wandered around for a little while. I was pooped, so we really didn't do much for the rest of the day. We had both been to DC before, so there wasn't anything I really wanted to see. John would have like to have seen more museums, but we decided against it........we were very tired of sightseeing. :-)
These two speak for themselves. :-)
We spent a good Saturday morning with Julie and Brian and then headed home. Whew!! I think that about covers it. :-) We had a wonderful time and felt ready to come home and tackle this fall semester!
If you made it all the way to the end.....thanks for reading!
