New York City

     So after our Boston trip we had a few days of work to get through before our big trip to New York City. I have to admit that several of the things we were able to see were on my bucket list. As many of you know the reason for the trip was mainly family and seeing places we have never been. After arriving in New York we went straight to see Auntie Julie's house and head to central park. Auntie Julie gave us the information on which direction we needed to go to make it to central park. This was my first experience on the New York subway system. We were able to see street dancers, a mariachi band, several people asking for money and several people that were clearly in need of help from society. The worst was an old man that was clearly homeless and decided to pee on the subway car door right across from us. We made the mistake of hitting the subway home one day during rush hour and that was the closest I have ever come to going postal.

I did not understand just how bug this damn city was until we drove in from Connecticut. Every other city we have see has a great sky line but none of them took up an entire 180 degree's of the horizon.

View as we drove in!

This was actually the station we took into Manhattan.

     Central park was beautiful and in this concrete jungle, it was needed so that people could find a patch of grass to lay in or walk the dogs on. We walked almost the length of the park that first day and I was almost hit by a cab twice by not following the rules of the side walk. We saw Velvedere Castle, some fountain near a lake, a metal sculture of Alice in Wonderland characters and of course lots of people and trees.

That fountain I cant remember the name of!

Random guy making giant bubbles.

View of the castle

Enough Said!

That great first born of mine.

     That night we met Auntie Julie in Time Square and had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp after checking out the three story Toy's R Us, M&M store and Hershey's.

M&M Store

Hershey Store

NYC's Finest

TIme Square

Toy's R Us Lego Hulk

Time Square Again

Laura & Julie

     On Day two we went and saw the 9/11 memorial, took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and walked along Wall street and threw things at the rich bankers.

9/11 Memorial

This really gets a person thinking 

Add caption

Staten Island Ferry

Our Ferry's escort

The Lady of the Harbor

Statue Baby

The Freedom Tower

Wall Street Bull

I don't know what the hell this thing is but it seemed cool.

     On our last day in New York City we finished up at the Natural History Museum and saw some great exibits as well as seeing Rockifeller Center before we headed out.

Museum Entrance

What a cute family

Gum Gum Dumb Dumb 

Thats a big skeleton

Theodore Roosevelt

One big Whale

We didn't get to see anyone famous except for Laura!

Keeping my eyes open

Learning to trust and be flexible seemed to be the lessons of the day, or lessons of the week in this case.

    After the Government shutdown brought our plans to tour DC to a screeching halt we realized that a shift in thinking would be required! So, instead we headed down to Colonial Williamsburg. The realization that 1.) I am a total nerd, and 2.) I am raising at least one other nerd, became very clear.  As we pulled into the parking lot I began clapping and whining with anticipation. Aiden began to chant “the mystery of History!” and Jacob was cheering “I love History!” Alan, of course, being the only cool one among us, shook his head in utter horror.

            We paid an ungodly amount but in return got to actually interact with characters from that time period! The seamstress told us all about the impeding non-importation act with Great Britain, and what it would mean to her business. The printer told us all about the sacrifices one would make to support the colonists and the choices he would have to make for his family. The Blacksmith talked to us all about treason and the success war would bring to his craft, all as he made a hoop to fortify the wheel on the cannon wagon. And, amidst it all, I was struck with the awe-inspiring realization that as he stoked the billows, they were EXACTLY THE SAME BILLOWS THAT WERE STOKED BY COLONIAL AMERICANS! This place isn’t re-created for tourists, it’s were these things actually happened!

    

The next day we went down to Virginia Beach and marveled that we were playing in the ocean even as our friends back home were enjoying their first snowfall of the season. It was 85 here and 45 % humidity so the guest services offer of a SUMMER job here next year was met with interior guffaws! Alan had read about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and was very eager to see it. I didn’t understand the true significance of it so when I was told we were paying 13 dollars to drive over a bridge I was less than thrilled! And this, my friends, is where faith and flexibility come in. As we readied ourselves to turn around before the bridge, defeated by the impending “frivolous” expenditure. Aiden’s little voice piped up from the back. “I can’t believe I am saying this but Dad, I’ll give you my money so you can go. I know how much it means to you.” 

A silence settled over the car as Daddy made a U-turn, went back to the gas station, found an ATM and pulled out the necessary cash. You see, Aiden and money are mortal enemies. He has yet to learn the lesson of saving. It’s PAINFUL for him to have money in his pocket and not spend it. He had been trying to save up for a video game system, $74 to be exact. And, as you can imagine, there are not a lot of opportunities to earn money for the boys yet. Aiden, parting with a single dollar that could otherwise be spent on something shiny or sweet was a true miracle!  His moment of generosity reminded us of the reason behind this all trip, to experience new things as a family!

     The bridge is a modern marvel of human ingenuity. It spans 20 miles going both above and BELOW the water!

 It’s truly amazing, an experience I would not want to have missed. And on the way out, there was a small café attached to a gift shop and peer. We had an amazing (and affordable!) dinner as we sat and watched the sun set over the ocean. It was a fantastic evening and one we would have missed if I had remained rigid and lost site of the overall goal.

Leaving Northampton KOA

I found myself sweeping up more and more leaves and less and less sandy footprints the last weeks or so. The leaves are an amazing kalidiscope of color. Often, 4 or 5 kinds of trees co-exist together here so the changing leaves are spectacular! Golds, oranges and vibrant reds. Quite different from the gold color of the Colorado Aspen.

   

    If I am going to be a true Gypsy I need to get better at the goodbye part! We had a lovely and teary goodbye today from the KOA we’ve been working at for the last 6 weeks. We learned TONS! I am relatively competent with an ancient computer system that KOA uses (and should have been put down like an old three legged, blind, deaf hamster.) The owner’s, Sally and John and their six children are kind, generous people. They spoiled us rotten and the boys are not looking forward to going to a KOA without kids and the ability to drive the golf carts at will! They run their place as though we are all family, having family dinners as staff meetings. What a fantastic first stop on the KOA train! I love that we now have even more varied skills to add to our resumes, and in the process made some great friends. Sueparker (that’s right, one name) had a great analogy to help Jacob process the idea of leaving. She said it’s like dropping a pebble in the pond, and it ripples out. We are creating relationships rippling out all over the country, that and Sueparker gave the boys their own jar of “Fluff”. For those of us not from this area, “Fluff” is marshmallow fluff that is often eaten with peanut butter on bread, a “Fluffernutter Sandwich.” Between that, and the secret 5$ she slipped each of them, she is clearly a goddess to the kids in the backseat! Sally also set them up with an entire 18 inches of pixie stick sugar and Nicole (one of the most together 17 year olds I have ever met) gave them each a Mountain Dew, it’s going to be a long trip to PA, pray for us!!!

Laura

Boston Baby

     WOW, Boston was a great city to visit and is rich with American history just like Philadelphia was last July. The surrounding area was just a beautiful along the Cape and around Plymouth MA. We arrived on a Tuesday and went out to one of the towns along Cape Cod to try some local foods. We were also able to visit Seagull beach before the sun finally went down.

The Beach

Sunset

Horse Shoe Crab

     Wednesday we were able to see Plymouth Rock and take a whale viewing tour out near Cape Cod. Plymouth Rock was not as grandiose as I thought it would be but it was still pretty exciting to see the place pilgrims landed. We then got to see what some believe is the type of ship the Pilgrims came to the Americas on and take a trip out on the open ocean to see whales. We didn't get to see any Grey Whales or Blue Whales but did see some small Minky Whales. They kind of looked like dolphins to me since they were so small but they were whales non the less.

Enough Said

Plymouth Rock

Mayflowerr II

     Our next great adventure was the city of Boston and the Freedom walking tour and National Park Junior Ranger program. We learned everything about the events leading to the Boston tea party and of course Paul Revere's famous ride. The city of Boston is quite clean and a great place to visit with the family and we are ready to come back for another visit.

Our Tour Guide

Boston's Legislative Building.

Paul Revere's Grave

Ya, cant remember what building this was.

Church

       We were also able to tour the home of Paul Revere which was quite small compared to the building next to it. Our friends AJ and Tom and their children met us in Plymouth later that day and we were able to show them what we had seen the day before. Last for this post, the boys have completed another national parks badge and I believe they are one away from earning their junior ranger vests.

Paul Revere's House

Boston Badge

Tom and Laura

AJ and Laura