NYC Visit - Day 1

We woke up on a Sunday and Deb and her daughter Stephanie took us to Philadelphia. Only one hour by car and it took no time at all - I guess compared to an all day drive the day before, one hour was nothing! It was a good day to go; not a lot of crowds. It didn't take much time to get in and see the Liberty Bell. The displays ahead of time were helpful so we knew what we were looking at. What was so surprising is how very close we could get. If you were naughty, you could just fall forward and touch it!!

That whole city has such an Old World feel to it, it was so nice just to walk around and look at the buildings. We saw the outside of where the Declaration of Independence was signed, but didn't want to pay the boo coo buckaroo to get in, so we just looked at it and said "Huh, there it is." Then we went on to see where Betsy Ross lived, a statue of Benjamin Franklin etched with keys, and ate at an "authentic" Philadelphia restaurant ordering Philly Cheese Steaks. Personally, I am so used to ooey gooey cheese steak sandwiches, these were kind of dry and really had no "wow" factor that I was expecting. I think the boys were most impressed by the free M&M's ice creams they were handing out on the street - yum!! After that we went by Valley Forge, walked through a house that George Washington called his office (very cool). It was all set up like they were still living there. The rest of the area was replicated with the reproductions of life at the time. There was a neat museum and easy to understand movie about their time at Valley Forge. You think it was a battle, but really it was just a really super cold camp where some didn't even have shoes. Each state had a separate area to camp, it was just cool to see. Then we went back to Deb's home for relaxation and to get ready for NYC!!!

NYC - Travel Day 2

So the fireworks went well into the night on the 4th of July, with the M80's across the street rattling the house! But so what, it was the Fourth! The next morning the yard across the street was LITTERED with phone book pages - hysterical. And we hit the road running. Up through Ohio, across the tippy top of WVA and on into Pennsylvania. I was expecting things to be boring and flat. Boy, was I wrong. Absolutely beautiful, like driving in a really wide valley with mountains far away on either side. Gorgeous green grass even though it was July. Just lovely. Brian was kind enough to lend us his DVD player with a much bigger screen than we had, so the boys pretty much stuck to movies or books the entire trip. Close to the end we realized that we would be driving by Hershey, PA where my mom would be staying in a few weeks, so we drove in to leave her a surprise message at their campground's front desk. Not as simple as one would imagine. We got a full tour of Hershey before driving out completely another direction to find the campsite. We definitely have to go back there - who wouldn't love a city with Hershey kisses for lights? Yum!! And we bought a Hershey bar at the campsite for a snack and it was almost the best chocolate EVER - a silly Hershey bar, but it was so fresh and chocolaty. They need to put an "eat by" date on those things, kind of like beer except it's candy. Then on to NJ where we got lost yet again in the dark, but finally made it to Deb's welcoming house. Sigh. Long day, but fun and pleasant, plus bonus of Hershey!!

NYC Travel Day 1

I am rapidly forgetting about our NYC trip last summer, so I"m going to write what's left in my sad little brain.

Deb asked me in Spring 2008, "How about coming up to see me in NJ?" And I thought, "Great, why the hell would we want to go to NJ for vacation?" As if reading my mind, she commented "Did I mention that we are 1 hour out of NYC and the beaches, and I can write off your gas as a business expense." Needless to say, we were in.

We left on the 4th of July and drove up to our wonderful friend Brian's house, where we spent the afternoon walking across the purple people bridge in Newport and visiting a mostly abandoned (due to rain) 4th of July festival. There was an awesome racing car blow up maze for the kids, which unfortunately at the end, due to the seal to keep the house inflated, it looked like the bounce house was giving birth to the kids one at a time as they squeezed out the seal. Anyway, it was muddy and filthy and the kids had a blast. They even got to wade across a fountain before the guards came and told us to cut it out. You know you're having a good time when you are told to get out!! As we were walking back across the bridge, it started to POUR with rain and we all got very wet. Came home, dried off, ate dinner and set off several fireworks right at dusk. The kids loved the spinners and the racing cars, but were unnerved by the folks across the street who were blowing up entire phone books with M80's. Made me jump every time and what a storm of yellow pages! We walked up the street to the local park to watch fireworks, a really great small town feel without the kitch. It was so nice to hang out with Brian, since we really don't get enough time with him ever. The next day, it was an all day haul to NJ.