10/2:
Today we woke up and left Philidelphia to drive to Assateague state park. The drive was pretty normal, however when we stopped for lunch Dad took the Starbucks' Via taste-test. The challenge was to tell which of two coffee sample handed to you was brewed, and which was instant (Dad said the real giveaway was that instant doesn't have bubbles). He of course one the prize of a free small coffee (which conveniently had to be redempt at a different time) and left with a grin.
We drove through Dover Delaware, and right past the Air Force Base where all of the fallen members of the military are brought back into the US. Dad and I considered the idea of going to the war museum there, but decided against it because daylight was getting short. Finally we arrived at Assateague State Park.
Sadly, the most we saw of the famous wild horses were 2-3 of them sitting in the parking lot corner, basking in the sun and swatting flies. The day was getting late so we headed over to set up our tent and then relaxed at the beach. After this, we made a typical camp dinner and were about to go to sleep when Dad called up Mom out of curiousity of what the weather forecast was. She called back with the grim pronouncement that a severe thunderstorm was headed our way, and seeing as we were not fond of packing up in thunder, lightening, dark and probably rain, we packed up to leave then and there.
Where we were going to stay that night, however, was another question. Dad drove us generally in the direction of Annapolis MD as Mom tried to find a decent hotel with vacancy somewhere along the way. To our good fortune, a small Residence Inn had a single-room available in the close town of Salisbury. Dad checked us in groggily, we dragged in our bags and promptly caught Z's in the hotel.
10/3:
After a rather ad-hoc previous evening, we aroused from our slumber later in the day than normal. As usual, I was the last to 'come-to'. I stumbled out of bed, resisted the urge to drink some coffee (as I had become a bit, erm, hooked on the beverage up at the Boston Residence Inn. Talk about the seductive thermos...) and headed for the workout room to work out.
We had a normal hotel breakfast, packed up and left for Annapolis. The drive was typical, the highlight being crossing the Chester-Annapolis Chesapeake Bay Bridge, not to be confused with *the* Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was still quite large, but the one you're probably thinking of (down by Norfolk) is a lot bigger.
After we arrived in Annapolis, we parked the car and hauled our heavy bottoms off of the car seat, and went to tour the Annapolis State House. There, we were greeted by a cheery and eager tour guide, known as the official town crier Squire Frederick. He even has a webpage! http://www.squirefrederick.com/
He gave us a detailed, informative guide of the building that satisfied our needs for information. After, we hopped down to the Frozen Yogurt store for some cold refreshment.
For the rest of the day, we drove back to DC where we spent the night with my Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary Lou. The evening was spent playing yard games, guitar (me of course) and watching The Incredibles.
10/4:
On Day 25 of our adventure, we departed Bob and Mary Lou's house to stay at my Grandma's apartment. But, in the meantime we headed over to our house-party-y Uncle Marty's House. We spent the day eating Chinese Food, playing on their trampoline and on their Wii, and hanging out with relatives.
10/5:
Today, the penultimate of our nearly-month long adventure, began with a visit to Baltimore's Fort McHenry, famous for the event of which the National Anthem is based upon. The astonishing thing about Fort McHenry is just how massive it's guns are. Even though they were placed during the Civil War and were therefore a little larger than 1812, they were rustic and comprable when it came to technology, and still *freaking massive*. Let me clarify: imagine a piece of lead bigger than the size of a basketball shooting out of a cannon the size of a car at hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles per hour. That's what I'd call intimidating.
After this, we spent the rest of the day picking up Grandma, hanging out until dinnertime, where we went to the Tapas Restaurant Jaleo and ate some incredibly healthy fried dates wrapped in bacon (I am just kidding about this being healthy, of course) I spent the evening studying for my 13-18 Test for Spanish, due the next day.We were ready to go home!
10/6
On the last day of this spectacular trip, we woke up early and headed out from Grandma's House, on our long drive Home. En Route, I completed my 13-18 Review Test for Spanish, which turned out that it didn't need to be handed in until 3 weeks later.
We got home, gave Mom a big hug while the beyond ecstatic Raleigh jumped and squealed and licked and nearly went of his mind at our heels. What a great journey.
I hope you guys enjoyed following us! Sorry about the several-month delay on the last post!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Whoops!
Sorry guys: time got ahead of me and now I'm several weeks behind on the blog! I will do a short recap of the rest of the trip so that it's done once and for all.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Philadelphia (Day 22) 10/1/09
Today, we woke up bright and early at 5:00 to leave Harford. I went to the workout room to get 'all buff and stuff' and then headed out at 6:00 for Philadelphia.
The drive went pretty smoothly. After some of our Pimsleur Spanish-a-Day CD, we stopped at a Burger King to get some morning chow. We ordered some breakfast sandwiches, nearly fainted after seeing the nutrition facts and ate sullenly. Cheerfully, I pointed out to Dad that *I* had burned calories already today, just to make sure he was extra-jealous .
After hitting the road again, Dad told me to check whereabouts we were in the world. As it turned out, our somewhat looney GPS was trying to take us straight into Midtown NYC during rush hour. Sorry, Nancy (The name we gave our GPS) not happening!
I ended up directing Dad *around* New York by way of the famous Tappan Zee. We passed through Nyack, and headed into New Jersey.
New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states that have 100% full-serve gas stations. This surprised Dad and I, but it's true. New Jersey was also the hardest state of all for us to find a postcard in. When we finally did find a store that sold postcards, we were lectured by the cashier on how evil homeschooling is. Hmmm...
Finally, we arrived into Philadelphia. Dad checked us in to our hotel, where we set our junk down and went to see the sights. After being in NY for so long, Philadelphia seems like a very small city. Dad and I compared it to about the size of Charlotte.
First, we headed down to a food court of sorts, where Dad ordered a Philly Cheese Steak. Being somewhat stupid with lack of sleep, I instead ordered a turkey hoagie to share with Greta. I'm regretting not having the sandwich that makes this city famous.
Our next destination was the Liberty Bell. Apparently, some crazy tourist recently ran up to it and began banging it with a little hammer; now you have to go through a metal detector to enter. We read the exhibit surrounding it, which explains that the bell's original title was something like 'The Pennsylvania State House Bell', until abolitionists in the mid 19th century gave it the title 'The Liberty Bell'.
After this, we headed for Independence Hall, where the Constitution was written and ratified. Our tour guide was rather chubby, balding and had long stringy white hair. We all joked at how lucky we were to get Benjamin Franklin as our tour guide. As he 'guided' us through the building, he gave a few brief facts and then expressed his rather long opinion on the poor restoration of the building. Still, this was pretty good value for a $0 ticket.
We then headed back to the hotel, where we chilled out for the rest of the night and went to bed early.
The drive went pretty smoothly. After some of our Pimsleur Spanish-a-Day CD, we stopped at a Burger King to get some morning chow. We ordered some breakfast sandwiches, nearly fainted after seeing the nutrition facts and ate sullenly. Cheerfully, I pointed out to Dad that *I* had burned calories already today, just to make sure he was extra-jealous .
After hitting the road again, Dad told me to check whereabouts we were in the world. As it turned out, our somewhat looney GPS was trying to take us straight into Midtown NYC during rush hour. Sorry, Nancy (The name we gave our GPS) not happening!
I ended up directing Dad *around* New York by way of the famous Tappan Zee. We passed through Nyack, and headed into New Jersey.
New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states that have 100% full-serve gas stations. This surprised Dad and I, but it's true. New Jersey was also the hardest state of all for us to find a postcard in. When we finally did find a store that sold postcards, we were lectured by the cashier on how evil homeschooling is. Hmmm...
Finally, we arrived into Philadelphia. Dad checked us in to our hotel, where we set our junk down and went to see the sights. After being in NY for so long, Philadelphia seems like a very small city. Dad and I compared it to about the size of Charlotte.
First, we headed down to a food court of sorts, where Dad ordered a Philly Cheese Steak. Being somewhat stupid with lack of sleep, I instead ordered a turkey hoagie to share with Greta. I'm regretting not having the sandwich that makes this city famous.
Our next destination was the Liberty Bell. Apparently, some crazy tourist recently ran up to it and began banging it with a little hammer; now you have to go through a metal detector to enter. We read the exhibit surrounding it, which explains that the bell's original title was something like 'The Pennsylvania State House Bell', until abolitionists in the mid 19th century gave it the title 'The Liberty Bell'.
After this, we headed for Independence Hall, where the Constitution was written and ratified. Our tour guide was rather chubby, balding and had long stringy white hair. We all joked at how lucky we were to get Benjamin Franklin as our tour guide. As he 'guided' us through the building, he gave a few brief facts and then expressed his rather long opinion on the poor restoration of the building. Still, this was pretty good value for a $0 ticket.
We then headed back to the hotel, where we chilled out for the rest of the night and went to bed early.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Almost messed up train stop! Day 22 (9/30/09)
Today we wrapped up with NYC. We woke up early, bought some paraphernalia at the M&M's and Hershey's store. and took the train to Hartford.
The ride was rather uneventful, until we heard the exit at Hartford was not going to have space for our car at the front. We would have to move to a car behind us to leave. We then heard a message about approaching Hartford, and rushed a couple cars back to exit. I almost stepped out into Berlin, Connecticut until the conductor asked us, 'Aren't you folks heading for Hartford, because this isn't it.'
I thanked him and we waited for the *real* Hartford.
Once we got to the right station, Sara picked us up and took us back to our car. We gave her a bag of gifts & stuff from the Hershey store, said goodbye and left for our car.
At the hotel, we did some work (Algebra 2 for me) and had a typical American dinner: TV and pizza. After this, I read a bit and went to bed. It's nice to have rather uneventful day after so many exciting ones!
The ride was rather uneventful, until we heard the exit at Hartford was not going to have space for our car at the front. We would have to move to a car behind us to leave. We then heard a message about approaching Hartford, and rushed a couple cars back to exit. I almost stepped out into Berlin, Connecticut until the conductor asked us, 'Aren't you folks heading for Hartford, because this isn't it.'
I thanked him and we waited for the *real* Hartford.
Once we got to the right station, Sara picked us up and took us back to our car. We gave her a bag of gifts & stuff from the Hershey store, said goodbye and left for our car.
At the hotel, we did some work (Algebra 2 for me) and had a typical American dinner: TV and pizza. After this, I read a bit and went to bed. It's nice to have rather uneventful day after so many exciting ones!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Ooops! Couple typos in last post.
If you've figured out some of the wrong things I wrote about WSS, don't worry, I'm about to edit those out.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Story of the West Side Variety!! (Day 21) 9/29/09
The day started out with a bike tour of Central Park. We grabbed a quick breakfast from a bakery next to the bike rental shop, and set out.
The tour consisted of a collection of about a dozen people, and was led by two guides. They directed us through the park, where we stopped every few minutes to be told about a certain site. It seems that every other movie that exists has *some* scene from Central Park.
Central park is the first fully landscaped National Park. Up until the 1850s it was entirely Manhattan Schist and swampland. Beginning in 1854 (If I remember the date correctly) thousands of trees were imported into the park. Truckloads of dirt were brought in from New Jersey (Our guide re-assured us that this isn’t a rude comment about people from the Garden State.) Today, you almost can’t even tell that the foliage isn’t originally from here, except for the fact that the whole place looks a little bit too perfect to be nature.
After the bike tour, we decided to head for the famed Ray’s Pizza, which was having a 45th anniversary 45¢ per-slice special. There was a line stretching to the end of the block, of course. I have to say this restaurant goes on my top 5 pizza places, because these were pies of perfection. It’s hard to describe, but the pizza was amazing. If you’re ever in NYC, go there. We left the restaurant with full bellies and only $4.05 spent. Wow.
Anyway, on to more important topics.
Dad decided that the two things we *had* to see before we left New York were the Empire State building and the Brooklyn Bridge.
We started off by going to the ESB. Outside the base of the building were a few dozen salesmen, each trying with all their might to sell us the ‘Skyride Ultimate Package’, which would have run us up $108. We took the cheaper normal ticket and were fine.
I have to say, seeing off the top of the Empire State Building variety is quite the sight. Even though it is significantly lower than the CN Tower and not terribly impressive from ground, there is a lot more to see than you would think. All of NYC, much of Long Island and a good bit of New Jersey were very visible. The highlight of the observation deck was when we saw 21 police cars in a row driving down a street with their sirens on and horns blaring. Dad said this was probably a drill that the police do to time getting across the city.
We left the ESB and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. I’ve seen several NOVA shows on what a ridiculous proposal this bridge was at first, and how difficult it was to build. Up until now, I’d just thought that this is just a pretty small bridge crossing a bridge. Boy, you don't really get the sense of just how enormous the Brooklyn Bridge is until you try to walk even up to the first tower from shore. At first it looked to me like a little 2-minute walk on the pedestrian path. 15 minutes later, I was finally closing in on the first tower. Believe me, this bridge is massive.
The first thing that strikes you visually is the main suspension cables. When you see a picture of any major suspension bridge, the cables look like two tiny lines of twine. Once you get up close, even on the relatively small Brooklyn the cables are big enough to walk on. Of course, workers maintaining the structure do just that, hence the handrail-wires on either side. Don't fall off!
Another surprising thing that I noticed is just how wide the deck is. Back when they built the bridge, I would assume that it was mainly stagecoaches and pedestrians crossed the bridge. Now, it is a jam-packed 4 lane road with a large pedestrian/bike path in the middle.
We finished up the day with our first non-touring Broadway show: West Side Story.
The show started with the rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are a white gang who hate the Sharks because theey don’t want them intruding on ‘Jet Territory’. The Sharks are a recently immigrated Puerto Rican gang, who hate the Jets right back. The Jets and the Sharks appear to be equal-numbered in size, with the exception of Tony, who presumably could tip the balance.
Tony is an older gang member who is inactive at the beginning of the play. The Jets gang leader convinces him to help them ‘take care of the Sharks once and for all’.
The Sharks and the Jets decide to have a ‘War Council’ that night. They meet up, and come to very little conclusion other than to have a ‘Rumble’. They give the impression that a Rumble is some sort of fight. The two gangs later have the Rumble, and finally the two gang leaders decide to duke it out. After much back and forth actoin, the Jet leader finally pins down the Shark leader. Somebody surprisingly tells him to back off and let him the Shark leader be. As the Jet leader is walking away, the Shark leader jumps up and stabs him to death to everyone’s shock. Tony shockingly finds his best friend dead, and out of rage he leaps forward and brutally stabs the Shark leader to death. Suddenly, the gangs have lost their structure; all hell breaks loose.
After the rumble, Maria is finally clued in to the death of her brother, the gang leader. She is shocked and then Tony walks in. A tense moment ensues, as Tony is the one who killed him. Maria and Tony decide that they want to run away. Tony then leaves.
After another few scenes, a police officer shows up at Maria’s house and asks her about who killed the Shark officer. She tells him his name is ‘Jose’ (of course, lying) and sends her mother to the drug store where the Jets hang out to warn Tony. When Maria’s mother arrives, she is rudely accosted by the Jets before she flees to the owner of the Drug store. Out of her anguish, she decided to lie and tell the drug store owner that Maria was shot by a member of the sharks out of jealousy. He then tells Tony that his lover has killed herself.
Tony runs off in desperate sadness and stumbles around the Jet’s hangout place, until Maria suddenly shows up. Surprised and in joy he runs to embrace her at the same moment a rebelling Shark jumps out and shoots him. He quickly dies, and the show ends with Maria, the police officer and the murderer all in sadness.
The first stunning thing about this Broadway show is the music. A vivacious, dramatic and relevant melody drifted, bustled or shot out of the sound pit during the play. You wouldn't even notice it until you think about all of the live instruments in the sound pit. It’s amazing to what extent soundtrack can complement, contrast or sometimes even complicate nearly every second of an almost two-hour show.
Another amazing part of the show hit me near the end. Whenever you see professional acting, the actors feel almost completely like the characters they play. However, when I even try my hardest at acting, it always comes out with an awkward, 50’s kid-show sort of jaunt that is highly unrealistic. These actors are so good that you didn’t even realize how skilled they are.
Stunned and Satisfied, we left for our beds and fell asleep before we hit the pillow.
The tour consisted of a collection of about a dozen people, and was led by two guides. They directed us through the park, where we stopped every few minutes to be told about a certain site. It seems that every other movie that exists has *some* scene from Central Park.
Central park is the first fully landscaped National Park. Up until the 1850s it was entirely Manhattan Schist and swampland. Beginning in 1854 (If I remember the date correctly) thousands of trees were imported into the park. Truckloads of dirt were brought in from New Jersey (Our guide re-assured us that this isn’t a rude comment about people from the Garden State.) Today, you almost can’t even tell that the foliage isn’t originally from here, except for the fact that the whole place looks a little bit too perfect to be nature.
After the bike tour, we decided to head for the famed Ray’s Pizza, which was having a 45th anniversary 45¢ per-slice special. There was a line stretching to the end of the block, of course. I have to say this restaurant goes on my top 5 pizza places, because these were pies of perfection. It’s hard to describe, but the pizza was amazing. If you’re ever in NYC, go there. We left the restaurant with full bellies and only $4.05 spent. Wow.
Anyway, on to more important topics.
Dad decided that the two things we *had* to see before we left New York were the Empire State building and the Brooklyn Bridge.
We started off by going to the ESB. Outside the base of the building were a few dozen salesmen, each trying with all their might to sell us the ‘Skyride Ultimate Package’, which would have run us up $108. We took the cheaper normal ticket and were fine.
I have to say, seeing off the top of the Empire State Building variety is quite the sight. Even though it is significantly lower than the CN Tower and not terribly impressive from ground, there is a lot more to see than you would think. All of NYC, much of Long Island and a good bit of New Jersey were very visible. The highlight of the observation deck was when we saw 21 police cars in a row driving down a street with their sirens on and horns blaring. Dad said this was probably a drill that the police do to time getting across the city.
We left the ESB and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. I’ve seen several NOVA shows on what a ridiculous proposal this bridge was at first, and how difficult it was to build. Up until now, I’d just thought that this is just a pretty small bridge crossing a bridge. Boy, you don't really get the sense of just how enormous the Brooklyn Bridge is until you try to walk even up to the first tower from shore. At first it looked to me like a little 2-minute walk on the pedestrian path. 15 minutes later, I was finally closing in on the first tower. Believe me, this bridge is massive.
The first thing that strikes you visually is the main suspension cables. When you see a picture of any major suspension bridge, the cables look like two tiny lines of twine. Once you get up close, even on the relatively small Brooklyn the cables are big enough to walk on. Of course, workers maintaining the structure do just that, hence the handrail-wires on either side. Don't fall off!
Another surprising thing that I noticed is just how wide the deck is. Back when they built the bridge, I would assume that it was mainly stagecoaches and pedestrians crossed the bridge. Now, it is a jam-packed 4 lane road with a large pedestrian/bike path in the middle.
We finished up the day with our first non-touring Broadway show: West Side Story.
The show started with the rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are a white gang who hate the Sharks because theey don’t want them intruding on ‘Jet Territory’. The Sharks are a recently immigrated Puerto Rican gang, who hate the Jets right back. The Jets and the Sharks appear to be equal-numbered in size, with the exception of Tony, who presumably could tip the balance.
Tony is an older gang member who is inactive at the beginning of the play. The Jets gang leader convinces him to help them ‘take care of the Sharks once and for all’.
Both gangs take part in a dance at the beginning of the show. A girl named Maria, related to the Shark gang is introduced. She appears to be not-so interested in the Shark boyfriend pressed upon her. She attends the dance, without taking much part. Near the end of the dance, Tony and Maria quickly glance at each other and instantly fall head-over-heels in love. They dance and then talk about how confused they are that they are in love with somebody in the opposite gang. A man from the Shark gang then sees Maria with a Jet and quickly drags her back to the gang.
The Sharks and the Jets decide to have a ‘War Council’ that night. They meet up, and come to very little conclusion other than to have a ‘Rumble’. They give the impression that a Rumble is some sort of fight. The two gangs later have the Rumble, and finally the two gang leaders decide to duke it out. After much back and forth actoin, the Jet leader finally pins down the Shark leader. Somebody surprisingly tells him to back off and let him the Shark leader be. As the Jet leader is walking away, the Shark leader jumps up and stabs him to death to everyone’s shock. Tony shockingly finds his best friend dead, and out of rage he leaps forward and brutally stabs the Shark leader to death. Suddenly, the gangs have lost their structure; all hell breaks loose.
After the rumble, Maria is finally clued in to the death of her brother, the gang leader. She is shocked and then Tony walks in. A tense moment ensues, as Tony is the one who killed him. Maria and Tony decide that they want to run away. Tony then leaves.
After another few scenes, a police officer shows up at Maria’s house and asks her about who killed the Shark officer. She tells him his name is ‘Jose’ (of course, lying) and sends her mother to the drug store where the Jets hang out to warn Tony. When Maria’s mother arrives, she is rudely accosted by the Jets before she flees to the owner of the Drug store. Out of her anguish, she decided to lie and tell the drug store owner that Maria was shot by a member of the sharks out of jealousy. He then tells Tony that his lover has killed herself.
Tony runs off in desperate sadness and stumbles around the Jet’s hangout place, until Maria suddenly shows up. Surprised and in joy he runs to embrace her at the same moment a rebelling Shark jumps out and shoots him. He quickly dies, and the show ends with Maria, the police officer and the murderer all in sadness.
The first stunning thing about this Broadway show is the music. A vivacious, dramatic and relevant melody drifted, bustled or shot out of the sound pit during the play. You wouldn't even notice it until you think about all of the live instruments in the sound pit. It’s amazing to what extent soundtrack can complement, contrast or sometimes even complicate nearly every second of an almost two-hour show.
Another amazing part of the show hit me near the end. Whenever you see professional acting, the actors feel almost completely like the characters they play. However, when I even try my hardest at acting, it always comes out with an awkward, 50’s kid-show sort of jaunt that is highly unrealistic. These actors are so good that you didn’t even realize how skilled they are.
Stunned and Satisfied, we left for our beds and fell asleep before we hit the pillow.
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