Pit stop at Rushmore!

Our journey west had begun.

We had the lovely opportunity to experience Chicago's rush hour.  It was fabulous.  I don't think I have experienced a rush hour quite like it before.

We stopped in Wisconsin and bought some fabulous cheese.  We were lucky enough to pass this swiss cheese chalet right off the free way.  I thought it would be a tourist trap, but it was pretty legit and the cheese was fabulous!

The plains of the mid-west...not much to see.

Cora chose to ride with Dad the whole way.  She pretty much got to do what ever she wanted, no sharing movie picks or loud screaming boys.  She was pretty spoiled.

 We detoured up I-90 so we could stop and see this magnificence.

Mount Rushmore

 We are so excited!

 We watched the film, but we were sad because the sculptors studio was closed when we went.  However, the film did a great job describing what went into this monument.  It is a feat of vision that I can not even comprehend.

 My kids were a little tired of posing for photos...they have a bit of a crazy streak in them.

 The boys had these little mini rifles that they got in a Cracker Barrel.  Here they are taking aim.

Here is Jack's gun pose.

He had been doing it all day in other photo ops...I decided I needed one of just him.

 We stayed for the evening's lighting ceremony.  They do a brief program, show a historical film and then do a Soldier/veteran salute.  They lower the flag and then they light up the monuments.  It was a  pretty neat experience, very patriotic.  It was getting us ready for the 4th of July!

NY, NY

Our weekend saga continues...with New York City!

After a quick evening in Philly, We hope back into our giant, black, Ford Expedition and drove up to New York.  A few months back we had bought tickets to tour the Statue of Liberty and climb up to her crown.  We did our major NYC trip last October, but it so happened that our trip fell during the fiscal crisis, which shut down all National Park's.  Statue of Liberty just so happens to be a National Park...luckily we didn't buy our tickets in advance, so we didn't loose anything.  We almost lost out on this trip, with Wanda's car hiccup....but we were able to salvage most of our trip so far.  We only lost a day.  Which isn't so bad considering.

We got up super early to make the 8am ferry out to the Statue.

We only had 1 day (instead of the 2 we had originally planned) so we wanted to make the most of it!

Here is our Lady Liberty.

It was a beautiful day!

 On the Island, looking around before we started our climb up to the crown.

 Climbing up the stairs inside Lady Liberty.

 It was about 500 stairs, which is nothing to us after Europe!

 Lady Liberty's face from inside.

It was interesting to find out that the copper is as only as thick as a penny.  all the infrastructure and scaffolding inside is what gives her strength and stability...I feel an object lesson coming on.

 Here we all are, at the top of her crown. That's her hair above us.

Hunter is here, but he is behind the bar.  Sad we can't see him.

 Matt touching Liberty's hair.

 There's my Hunter.

Somewhere on this move, we lost that jacket.  It was a good jacket!

Anya wanted to touch her hair too.

 Looking down out one of the crown windows.

 We love New York!

 NYC skyline behind us.

After Liberty we took a quick tour of Ellis Island.

 Next, we really wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

My awesome Cousin and her hubby met us about half way across!

Then we went to Grimaldi's for some fabulous NY pizza for lunch.

We went to John's on Bleeker last time we met up with them.  Now we just need to go back and eat at Lombardi's and we will complete the NYC pizza trifecta!

 Here is my awesome Cousin!!

She just graduated from Columbia, she is so great with the kids, we just love her!

We were able to find some delicious ice cream.

 Here is my awesome cousin's husband...my cousin in law I guess.  We just love him to pieces too!  Riding the subway is so much more fun with locals!

 We stopped to see the Manhattan Temple.

It actually has a church building in the basement.  We got to go down and use the restrooms.  It was so cool.

 Our crazy crew, in front of the Temple.

 My cuz and I taking a selfie!

I was wearing Matt's space age sun glasses, because I had left mine in Wanda....in D.C.

 Group Hug!

Saying good bye!

 Love these guys!

 After parting ways with our cousins, we headed down to the Twin towers 9/11 memorial.

 We missed this last time we came to NYC.  I guess we weren't sure where to go, but we found it this time.  I am so glad we made the time to stop by.  It was so heart wrenching and sacred to see. I hope we always remember the sacrifices and courage these people represent, I hope we never forget as a country.

 Here is the one tower, kind of brings tears to my eyes to look at it.

We took the ferry back to New Jersey's Liberty Park, where we had parked our beast.

We were rewarded with this great view of the New York City skyline.

It was a fun day in NYC. 

I wish we could have stayed longer, caught a show or something...but we need to get back to D.C., pick up our vehicles and stuff and start driving West to our new home!

Philadelphia, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell

Philadelphia, PA

We have meant to visit this city the whole time we were in Virginia.  It kept getting put on the back burner and postponed until we were finally out of time!  We had to go and we had to go now!  If you read my previous post, then you know it almost didn't happen.  Luckily, nice rental car people, auto garages, Independence Hall ticketing agents and traffic all worked together to help us get here...

This is what we most wanted to see...

Independence Hall

Where the declaration of Independence was signed, essentially starting our first war as a nation to gain our Independence to become a Nation.  America was born here...and later confirmed on Surrender's field in Yorktown.  It was so neat to see this building and soak up some History.

You have to get tickets early online to see this beautiful Hall.  So I had been a good tourist and done that.  Then everything happened with our car, and we weren't sure if we were going to make it.  If you don't show up 45 min. prior to your reservation, they release your reserved tickets (which are free) to the public.  So, we are in our rental driving from D.C. to Philly and we know we aren't going to make it 45 min. prior to our tour time.  I made some quick calls, talked to some wonderfully understanding park rangers, and they held our tickets for us!  We arrived 30 min. before our tour, grabbed our tickets and amazingly made it to our tour.

This is the main court room inside the Hall.  This building served as a town hall for Philadelphia.  Our forefathers essentially rented out a room to meet in.

I took this picture because of the "Bar" going across the room.  In those days, only the Lawyers were allowed to "pass the Bar" in a court room.  I didn't realize the saying had such literal origins.  Once you took the "Bar" exam, you were given the authority you required to "pass the Bar" and work in a courtroom.  Kinda cool.

 Matt in front of his "Bar" in Independence Hall.

 The main Hall that was rented out for the debate, writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence.

 Now this was a piece of work, that took months of debate and work to put together.  The counsel had actually rented several different rooms from different locations, during the forming process.  This just happened to be the last location the met at and formally signed the documents declaring our Independence.

Green was a very rich color.  It was a hard dye to come by back then.  If you had green in your home, you were considered wealthy.  I love all the green in this hall.

Tidbit....George Washington's family home, Mt. Vernon, has a whole green room.

Not many items in this room are original...but the Sun chair behind the desk in front is the original Sun chair that Mr. Washington sat in during the counsel and signing.

We had a great tour guide.  He was small but mighty.  He was maybe 5'3'', but his voice was very dramatic.  You could tell he enjoyed what he does!

 Finally, the dramatic conclusion...the Declaration is signed!  Our guide pulls up a framed replica with flourish and pauses in silence for effect.

At which point, Jack calls out loudly " But, where are all the Weapons?  I want to see the weapons.".

Nice, Jack, Nice.

It was a great tour though.

Next we head across the street to see the Liberty Bell

 Playing on the lawn, while waiting in line to see the bell.

I love seeing Independence Hall in the background.

We owe much to our brave forefathers who had the courage to go against the crown for what they believed in.

 The Liberty Bell, with the tower she once hung in, in the background.

 We also walked past Benjamin Franklin's gravestone.

It seems that I keep finding out new things about this great man.  Things that created this great nation.

He definitely was rare and unique gem.

Of course, what's Philadelphia with out a Philly cheesesteak sandwich.

Of course, we did the tourist thing!  You know us!

There are 2 cheesesteak places that constantly compete for the title of best sammy in Philly.  They are kitty corner from each other.  So we went to both!  We got a cheesesteak from Pat's and one from Geno's.  Then we all tried both.  We thought Geno's was the best.