Vacation Day #1 And I am OFF!!!

So to start out the "Vacation" blog I decided to do a day by day. So much happened! Also if you want to see the rest of my pics from this trip you will have to check my facebook page.

My vacation started on March 21st in the afternoon. After Tom got home. I must admit I felt a little sad and a whole lot guilty leaving them all behind. But I needed this. I drove to my parents house to trade vehicles and to tell them goodbye. Things didn't start out so smooth as that night, my Mom had lost her job. She has worked in this same position for 28 years, and they let her go over a ridiculous mistake. But that is a whole story in itself. I finally made it to my Aunt's house and hunkered down for the night. I decided I really wanted to sleep on the plane so I stayed up all night, and I had to leave at about 4 a.m. since my flight was scheduled to leave at 6. My cousin drove me to the airport at the wonderful time and I was off. I flew to Chicago, where it was cold and wet, and then I was off to Philly. I got to Philly, got shuttled to my hotel and then met up with friends that night. I had a few beers, unfortunately I am used to Utah's watered down version so I quickly became "fun". The conversations at the small hotel bar were fun. One gal there said, "I was in Montana once and they have these metal bars in the road to keep cows in!" I said, "Cattle guards?" LOL. I was loving the contrast of our lives there. I hung out and had a good time. But I was also exhausted. I had slept a little but not a lot on the plane and throw a couple of beers in there and I was about to drop! I went to my hotel room and immediately fell asleep. It was about 10 local time, which is 8 here in Utah.

Day #2 Jersey!

I slept good and hard that night. I woke up when my brother texted me asking me when I wanted him to come get me. So I called him, gave him the addy and got ready. I hadn't seen the butthead in 2 years, so I was excited. I met him in the hotel lobby and he gave me the biggest bear hug. We went back to my room and got my bags and then we headed off. I was so hungry cause I had skipped dinner so he drove me into New Jersey and we went to a little cafe for breakfast. My first impressions of the Northeast? Very crowded. It is like people live on top of each other. I am just so used to spacious living I would imagine. There are a lot of trees and one thing people out west don't really understand is rivers. I remember when I was in the Southeast and I thought the same thing. The rivers are huge out there! Everywhere has its good points and bad. Bryce had to do some training since he is being deployed in May. So I sat at his apartment and watched TV and got some rest. He came back and we went to a steakhouse for supper. We then returned to his place and rested up cause the next day we were heading to DC.

Day #3 Washington, DC

We got up and went to the local Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. Sad to say, that is the first time I ever experienced a DD. Then we went to a storage unit place since Bryce was going to be giving up his apartment and needed a place to put his stuff while he was deployed for 6 months. Afterward, we headed south. Since this was all so very new to me, I stayed glued to the window. Looking at everything. I got my first time in Delaware, and that is another thing. The bridges out there are stunning! Delaware was, interesting. Also a very short drive before we were in Maryland. I got to see Baltimore. Bryce had gotten us a hotel room in a town called Laurel. We got to the hotel and got our stuff in and asked the front desk how the best way to do DC was. This was the one place that he hadn't ever been to. Kinda neat to be a tourist with him! She gave us maps and directions to the nearest Metro station. We got there and got our day passes for the Metro and we were on the subway. We chose the L'Enfant stop. Well, Bryce did. I didn't even attempt to know what I was doing. We ended up in the middle of somewhere lol. After about 5 minutes of doing the, "Where the hell are we?" we figured it out. My first impression of DC was that it was very beautiful. We made our way to the "Mall" area, and decided to head towards the Capitol first. While walking the museums had caught our eye. The first one in particular got Bryce's. The Air and Space Museum. Upon a closer look we realized it was part of the Smithsonian! OMG! I got so excited! Why do you ask? Because that is a "bucket list" item for me. Ever since I knew there was a Smithsonian I wanted to go and swore that one day I would. Tho, this wasn't necessarily my cup o tea I have to admit that it was really cool. I saw the Wright Brothers plane that they used, the Spirit of St. Louis, and of course a ton of memorabilia from the space missions. Afterward we made our way to the US Capitol which was nice and then we went back towards where the Whitehouse was. Along the way my brother needed to duck in to one of the buildings and we realized we were at the US History Smithsonian. AWESOME! This was the one I wanted to go to. I was so impressed, getting to see Washington's uniform, tons of artifacts from our history, Dorothy's ruby red slippers, the counter from the "sit-ins". I coulda spent all day there. But we only had so much time. We left after a few hours and walked along to the White House. Another must see item. Of course I am only skimming through everything we saw, but you should get the idea. After that we were pretty tired from walking what we calculated as almost 4 miles, not including the massive museums we ran through! We found the closest station and made our way back to the truck and found a place for dinner. Got back to the hotel and settled in. Bryce zonked practically immediately after we got there and I had a bath and was soon out. A very busy day.

Day #4 - Solemn

We got up pretty slowly today. LOL. I think our muscles weren't impressed with us. All I can say is I am glad that I work out. There is no way I coulda done all the walking and climbing and standing I did the day before and then get up and do a practical repeat! We weren't sure exactly what we would be doing. I really wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum and Bryce wanted to hit the war Memorials. Other than that we didn't know. We decided to go to Arlington. I do have a love for cemeteries, and this is probably the most well known in the nation. We got on the train and made our way to Virgina. (another state to knock off my list!). We purchased a tour bus ticket. And the first stop was the Kennedy's grave. It was really a neat place. Not only did we see JFK's and Jackie O's along with their two kids buried there, but we also saw Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy's too! After a couple of photos we hopped back on the bus and the next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We got there in the middle of the changing of the guard and couldn't really see much through the crowd already there. Bryce really wanted to see it so we waited front and center for the next go around. Didn't really mind tho, watching the soldier walk back and forth and observing the tomb itself wasn't too boring funny enough. We watched the changing of the guard and some laying of wreaths. I am amazed at the precision and perfection. Very neat. We got on the next bus and headed to the Arlington House. I had heard about its beginnings before but never really paid attention to the story, so it was like I was hearing it for the first time. We walked through the house that had no furniture since it was undergoing a renovation. Saw the slaves quarters and then we hopped on the bus again. Of course I can't speak about a trip to Arlington without talking about the moment that you see those infamous white headstones. It seems as if they go on forever. It is so beautiful, and then you think, "Every single one of those represents a soldier who is gone."

After Arlington we headed back to DC and walked over to the Holocaust museum. There were no tickets left for the day, but thankfully since my bro was military, we got right in. That is also a very sobering experience. Seeing actual items from the Holocaust and its victims. All the propaganda, torture, murder and cruelty. It is so sad, yet intensely interesting. We didn't know how huge that museum is. There is so much information and items to go through. I made a mental note that next time I would plan on being there all day. We probably were able to actually read maybe a third of the information available. We would have been longer but wanted to see the war memorials too. So we left and walked over to the Washington monument. We walked up next to it, and boy is that thing tall! after that we headed to the WWII Monument, which was also quite big. We were hoping to see the reflecting pool but all we saw was the bottom of it. It is being "renovated" LOL. We went to the Korean War monument, the Lincoln and then finally the Vietnam Memorial and wall. That one got us both quiet. Needless to say we were very tired and sore. So we headed back home. I totally fell in love with Washington DC.

Day #5 - NYC

A smart person would have taken the day off. But there was so much I wanted to see and I didn't have time to be smart about it. So this day..Saturday.. we headed to NYC. Driving into town we saw the Statue of Liberty and then Bryce drove me by Ground Zero. I knew it was cold out, so I didn't really care to get out and walk. But he insisted. So we stopped and walked about two blocks to where the site where the WTC once stood. It was odd that my first thoughts when I got right up next to the site was flashbacks of where I was and what I was doing that very moment on September 11, 2001. I thought about the terror those people felt it was so sad. We then ducked into a pizza place for my first taste of authentic New York pizza and it was yummy. We then walked back to the car and my brother took me on one hell of a ride. He drove me by Radio City Music Hall, The Empire State Building, Central Park, Madison Square Garden, and then finally he stopped and parked and we were at Time Square. It was very busy, and exciting to see. We got our pic taken on those red stairs they had set up. We got back in the truck and I had enough of NYC so we took the Holland Tunnel and went home. I know I only spent about 3 hours there and it was neat to see, but I wasn't all that impressed. SORRY! I think you get it in your head that it is just the same as you would see on TV. And to an extent it is. But I just thought it was too crowded, noisy, FREEZING, and somewhat dirty and it didn't smell too good. At the same time I am glad I got to see it. And maybe I will plan a trip during the summer season in the future.

Day #6 Lazy Day

We were thinking about going to the shore today but decided with gas prices the way they are and we were kinda tired anyway, it would be cool just to skip it and stay home. We watched TV and then Bryce decided he couldn't stand it any longer and just HAD to do something. So we went and saw the movie, The Adjustment Bureau. It was really pretty good. I enjoyed it. Then we went and had dinner at the Iron Skillet where Bryce decided he had to show the waitress that he could in fact eat a double chicken fried steak meal. HAHA. He felt that later.

*btw, I know the pic I posted had nothing to do with the day, but I wanted to post a pic and couldn't find one that I took that day, so you got another shot of Arlington, I mean, it is cool right?

Day #7 Philly

My last day in the North East. We headed to Philly so I could tour the sites. He took me to Joe's where I got my first genuine Philly Cheese steak. Oh wow, it was so good! Then it was time to be a tourist again. First off we were at the Liberty Bell, then we saw where the original house where George Washington and for a time, John Adams lived while president. We then realized we had a few hours til our tickets would let us see Independence Hall and my brother just had to have his coffee fix. We found the closest Starbucks at a Mall Downtown. I had seen a sign pointing the way to Ben Franklin's grave and..ooh! A Graveyard!! Bryce trudged along with me and we went into this old cemetery and saw his grave. Between that and all the other really old plots, I was in heaven!!! We then headed over to the Constitution center and saw some of the exhibits and the 'show' and then went back to Independence Hall to take the tour. If you could get past the intense lecture that our guide felt inclined to do, it was really awesome to see the place where they signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We then returned to the Constitution Center and I looked at the exhibits, took the oath of the President of the United States and then we saw the special exhibit they had on of "Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs." We then got back in the truck and Bryce drove me past the infamous Art Museum where Rocky ran up the stairs. I love pop culture.

Day #8 Home Sweet Home

Last day, well not really, this was the day I headed home. I was sad that my trip was over, but excited to get home to my hubby and kids. Bryce was coming with me so that was an added bonus. We got a ride on the Rapid Rover back to Philly and boarded the flight. When I saw Las Vegas in the distance I just about jumped for joy while on the plane. I was so glad to be home. I know Las Vegas isn't home, but it is close to my home and I know where I am and there is a certain familiarity there. My cousin picked us up from the airport and we went to my Aunt's house so my Grandma and everyone could see Bryce. We had dinner at a Buffet, something Bryce was just dying for, and then came home. When I finally made it to Cedar, I couldn't help but sneak into Dylan's room and give him a kiss and tell him "Mom is home." He was so happy he had tears in his eyes. I know he was having a hard time the last couple of days I was gone, so that was why I just had to go in there and give him a love.

So there you have it. My trip. I had so much fun, I can't believe all I did. I am hoping to someday soon take Tom there. I am sure he would enjoy it as much as I did.