East coast 2 week adventure

2 weeks, 2408 miles driven, 13 states (North Carolina, Virgina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware), plus DC and Canada. What great once in a life time adventure. (Emphasis on the once in a lifetime)

The kids were set with their new Ipod touches they purchased, they were a life saver. I don't think we had one argument in the car.
We left Thursday the 10th of June. First stop Richmond VA, we ate dinner and spent the night.

At the restaurant we were at they had cigarettes in a vending machine. Kali wanted to pose by them.

Friday we spent in Washington DC. We went there 2 years ago and the Smithsonian American History Museum was closed so we wanted to go back to see that one.


We drove into Pennsylvania that afternoon.
We then toured Historic Gettysburg. The history in the east is amazing!
Way to respect an important historical figure kids.

Kali is so silly

This is where Lincoln gave his speech. 4 score and 7 years ago.......
We drove on to Harrisburg and spent the next 2 nights. We went into Hershey to go to Hershey Park. Yes it does smell like chocolate in spots. Their street lights were Hershey Kisses:)

The Hershey plant.
Hershey Park was fun. There were some pretty thrilling roller coasters.
Kali barley made it to Twizzlers status. That got here on every ride if she stood really tall.
The boys were Jolly Ranchers


After we took a tour of a mock Hershey plant they give you a sample, Yummy!!
Kali wanted this for a sample. 5 pounds of chocolate
After spending 2 1/2 days at the park we moved on to Niagara Falls. The drive is so beautiful. Rolling hills, trees, sheer rock cliffs. It is amazing. Right of the side of the road in PA I think we saw where they played the little league world series. Tanner thought that was pretty cool.

It poured on us this day and was so foggy, up in the clouds.
Canada, EH. We could of stayed in NY but we had gotten pass ports for out cruise in January and wanted to get some use out of them.

The falls were as amazing as I thought they would be. This is the Canada side, the "Horseshoe"

We stayed in a Marriott they over looked the falls, this is the view from our window
and this.
This is the American Falls. The little one on the right is called "Bridal Falls"
These red stairs are part of the Cave of the Winds, tour. It was spectacular, You got to go right under the waterfall. It is amazing the power of water. The water was flowing over the stairs, and it ripped right through Tanner and Kevin's poncho's, soaking them. Not that the rest of us stayed much dryer.



My kids are such rebels

So romantic
When Tanner heard that we were going to Niagara Falls he asked if he could go over in a barrel, This is as close as he got.
At night they light up the falls, and do a light show, by changing the colors for an hour or so. The night we were there they had fireworks over the falls.
This is the falls, not a great shot.
It was cloudy the whole time we were there so we never saw a rainbow.


After walking for what seems like for ever we finally got tickets for the trolley to tour the rest of the park.


Kaden made a boat out of leaves to send over the falls.

We also went on the Maid of the Mist. It was pretty cool to be right up close to the falls.

right behind the fam is our Hotel. Thats how close we were.




Tanner took this picture, Kali had no idea what was going on.

The canadian side was very camercial, with restaurants, riply's believe it or not, wax muesems. I was very dissapointed, that is not at all what I expected. When we got over to the American side it was so beautiful, grass, trees, rivers, that was more like it.


Kaden's picture, leave it to him

This is above the falls, I was freaking out if the kids got to close.
The mist is from the Horseshoe falls

After the amazing experience in Niagara we headed east to the coast. While we were in Niagara one of the hotel workers asked where we were from we said UT (we never claim we were from NC) he asked if we were members and if we planned on seeing some of the church sites. We said no we hadn't planned on it. But some else had something else in mind. We ran out of gas 1/2 mile from the exit to Hill Camora. We coasted most of the way then the boys got out and pushed us to a gas station. So we thought while we are here we might as well check out some of the sights.

We were there after hours. It sure was beautiful. The kids had a great time rolling down the hill.
We spent the night in Verona NY. Giving us a break in driving. Then headed to Albany, so we could see Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame the next day.

Cooperstown is so cute.

The boys have been wanting to go to Cooperstown ever since we moved out east.




Our next stop was Portsmouth New Hampshire. We drove through Vermont. It is breathtaking.

This is what happens when you are spending way to much time driving.

Tanner wanted his hair cut before we left but we forgot. His hair was driving him crazy so we cut it in our hotel room. Business in the front party in the back, I wanted him to leave it for a couple of days but he wouldn't
Maine was totally worth the extra driving we had to do to get there.
It was so cold though, maybe 55 degrees.
Here is Kaden gathering rocks for grandma.


I wanted to see a lighthouse and the rocky coast line while there, done and done.
Public restrooms. silly:P

I don't remember the name of this town but it was so cute

My kids refuse to use the path they always need to make their own. A good moral for life.





We ate at the Lobster Shack, Kevin loves to watch the food network and heard about Lobster Rolls and had to have one. they put lobster meat in a hot dog bun, and charge 15 dollars.

Next stop Boston. We stayed in Peabody and rode the train into town.

How could we be in Boston and not go to a Red Sox game. They versed the Diamond backs and won 8-4.





The famous Green Monster!!
The next day we rode into town again and toured the historic part of town. It was amazing seeing all the things that you learn about in school. Don't ask, Kaden wanted a picture.
We walked the Freedon trail.



It either has red paint or red bricks along a 2.3 mile trek. With so many things to take in. This cemetary had, Paul Revere, Samual Adams, and John Handcock.



This was my favorite part of Boston, you could just feel the history.
Paul Revers house.


This is about the point where the kids were not have fun any more.


We are crossing a bridge to Bunker Hill.
The river was just filled with jelly fish.
This in the U.S.S. Constitution. or "Old Ironside"
The view from the top of the Bunker Hill monument.
Kaden is celebrating the end of the Freedom Trail.



The kids were so relieved when they found out that we could take a water shuttle back to the subway and not have to walk any more.

Boston view from the water shuttle

IT's the end of another long, hot, tiring day. And we are so excited that the train is coming to take us back to our hotel to sleep.
On the way out of town we saw there the Celtics play. They lost to the L.A. Lakers for the championship the night we were in town.

We wanted to hit as many states as we could, so we tweeked our travels a little.

Next stop Terrytown New York. Never heard of it? me neither but there was a Mariott there.
The kids swam every chance they got. Even late night swimming.
We stayed in New Jersey while we visited Mannhatten so we didn't have to deal with traffic. So we stayed in East Rutherford NJ, only a 30 min bus ride to Time Square.
New York was exactly what I expected. Loud, hot, dirty, crowded, and amazing.

Kaden wanted a picture my this hotel, because it was mentioned in his Percey Jackson books.
Had to visit the M & M's store


It was fun to see all the sights that you see on TV. Me and Kevin were asked if we wanted free ticket to see David Letterman that night. I told the lady we had kids and she said never mind. Those darn kids are nothing but trouble:
Central Park was so neat, it had huge rocks scattered about.


We had to get a hot dog off the streets.
Yummy
It was a sunny day but the buildings are so tall the streets were dark


Here is Tanner disrespecting another icon.
Empire State building at night. So cool

And back to Time Square to catch our bus. It was surreal.
We stopped by the toys R us, it was so big, it had a farris wheel inside.




ON the bus station windows they had painted it all up for the World Cup
these were some of the kids favorites

did I mention those Ipods were worth every penny.
Again my kids taking the less traveled path
Our first sighting of the big green lady
We made it down to the world trade center. This is a model of what the memorial will look like in 2011

We went over to Brooklyn, and had some Pizza, then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge.






even though we just ate pizza, Kevin had to get Chinese food in China Town

The kids got invited to play soccer with the NY Red Bull soccer team in the basement of some World Cup store.
Little Italy's fire hydrants.
Here is Kali pouting in the subway, I could of made a whole blog entry journal of Kali pouting in every spot we were. But I will spare you the frustrations we felt.
We really wanted to see a Yankee's game but they were in Phoenix playing. We still wanted to see the stadium.

Then it was on the the Empire State building.. We couldn't decide if we wanted to see the view in the day or the night so we went up at sunset. It was amazing
So far I think Tanner has had his finger up Lincoln,s Statue of Liberty, and now King Kongs nose.
Totally worth the money we shelled out for this.
While we were up looking at the view, Kevin overheard a lady asking where Alcatraz was, he thought it was so hilarious.

Straight down.


Ya it says Gorilla Poop
We ate at Papaya Dog, I guess it was on Seinfield. It was OK Kevin loved his Cheesesteak.


This was the highlight of the kids day. It was an Apple store. It was just a glass box, you go inside and take the glass stairs or the glass elevator and the store is all underground.
They had 50 or so Ipads that you could play with.
Last day in NY, we took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
We only spent about 10 minutes here (sorry dad) we parked in the 2 hour parking and didn't want to get a ticket.
At this point the kids were so sick of pictures. Can you tell


This was pretty cool. The kids said they though she would be bigger. I had heard that before so she was bigger than I expected.


New York sky line.
This was pretty cool also. The lines in the grass lead to where the twin towers use to be.
After a bit of a drive we ended up in Cherry Hill PA. This was the last stop of our journey, and we were all a bit dissaapointed. Kevin was waiting for this moment. To eat at Geno's, it was on Man vs Food. He said his cheesesteak was way better in NY.
The city was cool we came kind of late so everything was closing. We didn't get to go into independence hall. The building sure was neat. I love all the old buildings
And we did get to see the Liberty Bell.
We hit one last state on the way home.
We made it.

Over all it was a great trip. The kids did not seem to have as much fun as I was hoping. But at least they can say they did it and have seen so many neat historic sights. I think they will appreciate it later on. As for me and Kevin, it was about what we expected. I am so glad we had the oppertunity to do it. Next trip. NO KIDS!!!!! It was defenitly a trip of a life time, if you have the chance don't pass it up.