NYC & WASHINGTON, DC ADVENTURES

There is SO much to do and see in NYC, but we only had a couple of days. Here are some of the things we were able to do and see.

We took a full island cruise. It was really nice and relaxing, and quite possibly the best way to get a complete overview of the NYC skyline and its many landmarks.

This is a view of the dock from which departed.

The first pause on our tour was at Lady Liberty. It is amazing to actually see Her and not in a book or picture. When we pulled close to the statue everyone on the boat wanted to take the "perfect photo". Of course, when you have that many people on one side of the boat, and nobody on the other, it tips. The tour guide came on the loud speaker and announced that we would circle around so that both sides of the boat would have a great view, and unless we wanted to end up at the bottom of the water, we shouldn't all rush to one side. :o) . The boat was definitely tipping to one side, but we managed to stay afloat.
This is the sewage treatment plant for all of New York city. Just imagine all of the raw sewage that is treated here. An awful lot of people are flushing waste on any given day. It was interesting to learn about how much water they purify. By New York State law, the supervisor on duty has to drink a glass of water each shift that has been treated. Now that is confidence in the quality of what you do! :o).
Doug is on the left, and his friend Ben on the right. They were standing at the front of the boat checking out the sites ahead. They are very good, and very handsome men.
This is Ben and I. We enjoyed having him with our family, and consider him one of our kids. :-) This picture is taken as we passed an old sugar plant.
This one is of several ail boats that we passed on our travels. looks like a lot of fun!
I love this picture. It was humid, and many of my pictures are a little fuzzy, however, in this instance I think it was a plus. This , I believe, are some nice apartments.
This is an abandoned building, Watchtower.
This is a harbor fire boat. We were told that they can pump an amazing amount of water to put out a fire when needed, and it is not a very big vessel.
The cruise we were on also offered a separate speedboat ride, although we didn't go on it. This is the boat they use, and man did it move!One of my favorite sites were the 7 bridges we passed under. They are amazing and beautiful. The architecture of each and every one is unbelievable. I don't remember the names of all 7 bridges, but I know 1 is the Brooklyn bridge, and 2 are named Washington. The other 4 I can't remember.These are pictures of buildings along the shore. Many of the views were very similar to these-- definitely a lot of buildings and people.This building rests on stilts and is partially over the water. I think they said it is a restaurant.I think Jamie got a little bored and hot, but all-in-all we enjoyed it very much. The next morning Jamie had a migraine so I stayed in the hotel room with her so that she could sleep it off. Kerrie took the boys on a double-decker bus tour/ride. Below are a couple of pictures they took. My niece's daughter will really enjoy this picture of the sign that says they are on "Madison" avenue. :o) . Hmmm, wonder which child would enjoy the picture. ...a sea of New York yellow is always available...The buildings are all a little different, and interesting in their own ways. One of the nights we went to dinner (thanks again Ben!) and to the Broadway musical, Wicked! It is an awesome show. The music is great. You can't take cameras in the theater (dah!), so these are some pictures I got of the Internet.

She makes me laugh, and she has a great voice! This lady has an absolutely amazing and very powerful voice! She has received several awards as well. Jamie and I took a walk late one night and headed for Times Square. I loved it and could have spent hours and hours wandering and watching people. Here are a couple of pictures and a video of our adventure. --Thanks for going with me Jamie!

This one is kind of blurry, but it is my cutie-pie. ;-) On our way back we stopped at a couple of buildings and looked around. They are pretty tall! The good old NYPD. I thought this picture was kind of cool. It was taken just outside a precinct that was around the corner from our hotel.This video was taken while I was walking down the street, and there isn't anything too exciting... but it is the memories ;-) . If I remember correctly it was about 11:30 PM... why aren't all these people in bed!

New York City was a lot of fun and I hope to go back a few times before my life is over, however, it was time to leave for this trip, and head for Washington, DC.

We flew from JFK Int'l to Regan Int'l airport in a smaller than I care for plane. Now it wasn't the 6 seat double prop plain I flew to Alaska in when I was 21 years old, but nonetheless, I prefer as big as you can get. I am not a huge fan of flying and it usually takes an Xanax or two to get me to our destination. :o) The flight went fairly well, although we did experience some pretty good turbulence. It is only a 52 minute flight, therefore, you don't ascend high enough to avoid all of the turbulence. Anyway, we landed safe and sound.

Once on the ground we picked up the vehicle we had rented. They were out of the one we had reserved (so what is the point of reserving??), but we made the reservations thru Ben, and he insured we got the best vehicle we could. We then drove to Kerrie's brother's home in Falls Church, not far from the airport.

It was so much fun seeing Tom and Reese and the kids! They are such kind and hospitable hosts, and we will forever be indebted to them for letting us stay with them for a few days.

Reese always made sure we were well fed and taken care of!

They were also kind enough to allow Ben to do his first diaper change!

Both Ben and child survived! ---good job Ben!

Ben not only caught the attention and love of the kids, but the dog as well. He even took Cleo outside for potty time. :-)

Washington, DC and the surrounding area has so much to see and do that there is no way we could cover it all in the few days we were visiting. Obviously, this is another place we will have to return and explore!

Below are a few of the things we were able to do and see. I should also point out that I could have spent a great deal more time at each of the places we visited. There is so much history to read and see that it is impossible to take it all in in just one visit.

The day we arrived Tom took us to see the Korean War Veterans Memorial. We had a great experience, and from what I understand, a unique and rare experience. While we were there a group of soldiers were honoring, or graduating a couple of young men. Below are some cool pictures.

This is some of the history posted on one of the boards around the memorial.

Here is a picture of some very good looking group! :-) Left to right; Ben, Tyson, Craig, Jamie, Doug.The United States Marines:
This group makes you very proud to be an American!That evening we went to a couple of other sites, but the battery on my camera had died. :-(

One day we went to Gettysburg and toured the battlefield. It is a very large and sacred place. The day we went it was very overcast and it rained just a little bit, however, that too was gorgeous!This is one place that you could spend literally weeks and never take in everything. It would be a forever learning experience.NOBODY could ask for a better group of kids! than those above!

One unknown soldier--Among many. . . . . . and MANY more.It is one thing to read this in a book or hear of it in stories, or even see the story in a movie, but to experience a true sense of the huge number of soldiers lost, you have to go . . . and another to actual be at the place were thousands of them lay. . . I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we enjoyed being in places where our country, the United States of America, was begun!

--I promise, it wasn't loaded, although the look on Doug's face would lead you to believe otherwise. ;0)Numerous statues have been erected to honor the soldiers and their leaders.

The battlefield is spread out over several miles. We purchased CDs of the driving tour, and this is just a couple of the stopping places along the route.

What a good looking group of men!

The very best family anyone could ever want to be a part of! Left to right: Jamie, Craig, Kerrie, Doug, Tyson.At one of the stops was a tower that we climed up (most of us anyway). At the top you could see a great distance and many points of the field. As you can see by this picture, it was a long way up.

Of course, if it is a long way up it is a long way down... and there is the car!This was a long but very interesting and enjoyable day! (see picture of Ben and Tyson below)Getting around the Washington, DC area was a breeze, provided you're on the Metro.The Home stop was East Falls Church.

Of course we had to go to the White House while in DC. Kerrie worked with our local congressman to get a tour of the White House. The FBI and Secret Service had to do background checks, and it was a lengthy process. Unfortunately, the tour is only of the East wing, is self guided, and lasts a total of about 20 minutes. I think that next time we will skip this part and spend the time at other places. It just wasn't worth the effort. Once again, as you can see, Mal is taking care of us by greeting us as we came out. She is a cutie! Another place we toured was the Beauru of Printing and Engraving. It is a facenating place and a tour I highly recommend. I also enjoyed these pictures. The first one really is 10 million dollars in 10 dollar bills. Wow!

I've got to be worth more than that!!! That's much better! ;0)

On one of our outings we came accross a restaurant called, Zola. Of course we had to have a picture because it is my mothers name, and is not very common.
Speaking of restaurants... One evening Tom and Reese introduced us to a cool restaurant called Jerusalem. We had great food and the service was good (By the way Ben, thank you for dinner!!! ...and did she ever call you after you left your phone number on the receipt? ) Of course a trip to DC also includes a view of the "pencil". We had tickets to tour the Washington Monument, but we ran out of time. We did walk by it, and have one more reason to have to go back! - not that we would need one, we have tons. We did a couple of other things while in DC that I don't have pictures of. One of the tours that had a great impact, and I would strongly recommend to everyone over 12 years old, is the Holocost Musim. It is an amazing place that tells a truly sad story of great injustice. I could have sent an entire day ot two here alone.

On the 6th we traveled to Williamsburg to spend the night and see the area. We spent the night at the La Quintana. With the exception of Tyson having been charged 7 times for 1 ticket to Busch Gardens on his debit card, it worked out well. (After multiple conversations, Tyson did get his money back)

Doug, Tyson and Ben spent the day at Busch Gardens, and totally loved it!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sign on our way to Busch Gardens... Where in the world did they come up with 18? Why not 19, or even 17?? Although it was a very hot and humid day they boys were in heaven! The apartment we stayed at in Washington, DC was not quite big enough for all of us to sleep in, so the boys stayed at a friends of Tom & Reese. They were very good to us, and because the lady liked frogs the boys got her a BIG one. :-)

Kerrie, Jamie and I took a tour of the towns in the area.

The scenery was beautiful. We stopped at a pull-off where we could walk down to a beach. Notice the sign?Kerrie really wanted to go walking in the water... and thankfully she came out alive. ;o)Directly oposite of the beach was another georgeous view, as is evident by these pictures.

This is more of the sites we were able to take in that day.

Unfortunately, the end of our adventure had to come. . .

On August 8th we flew back home, although there was adventure in that as well as we sat on the runway for 4 hours before taking off because of thunderstorms. --Although we flew on Delta Airlines... our plane was green. :-)

We loved our trip and hope to return to New York City and Washington, DC very soon!