Boston

Darin and I spent two whole days in Boston. The first day we got into town around 8 in the morning, found our hotel and learned that we were going to be able to check in until 3 in the afternoon... What the heck were we going to do. So we got a map and went to eat some breakfast down the street and plan out our day. On our map we found out that there was this 2.5 mile historical trail through Boston and decided we were gonna do that and then head to the New England National Aquarium. The trail had 17 different stops and we cut in at the 14th because it went right past our hotel. We went over to the USS Constitution and the USS ...don’t remember the name. They had a little museum that we got to walk through that Darin felt was way too interactive for him. They had this machine that you could pretend like you were loading a cannon and shooting it at another boat. They also had an area upstairs for kids (of course we went up there) and you got to see what life as a sailor on boat would be like. We took a brief nap in the hammocks they had hanging.

After going aboard one of the ships it started really coming down and knew it wouldn’t be the best idea to walk back to the hotel so we caught the ferry that conveniently took us strait to the entrance of the Aquarium. The line was so long and we still had 2 hours to kill before we could get into our hotel. There was a 3D IMAX movie theater next to the aquarium and we went to go see a movie call Hubble 3D. It was a movie about the hubble telescope and all the missions up to it to restore it. The telescope took some amazing shots of everything that is beyond our universe and more.

After the movie we checked into our hotel and both Darin and I passed out until about 6:30 pm. We showered and went to get some dinner around the corner at a sports bar. After dinner we went back to the Hotel and watched the rest of the ESPY’s. They were really good, Seth Meyers was hilarious! And Kenny Chesney got to present the award for Best Team (or something along those lines). Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints won. That was cool! I watched a documentary thing on Drew Brees once. Him and his wife have given so much to the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Day 2

Day 2 in Boston consisted of Darin and I sleeping until 1:30 in the afternoon. Oops! We went to the big shopping mall downtown and of all placed went to CPK for lunch. We needed a little bit of a fix. Then it was off to the game, not without heading back to the hotel because I forgot to bring the tickets with me. We got into Fenway Park just when they opened the gates and got to see the Texas Rangers do batting practice. I even got a picture of Vladdy hitting! The Rangers kicked some butt! They scored 6 runs in the first inning and scored another in the third. The starting pitcher for Boston was out 40 minutes into the game. Our seats were almost the furthest seats in the stadium from home plate but it was cool, we had a very wide perspective. I got my baseball bat, a picture at the seat where Tim Williams hit a home run 502 feet at Fenway Park. Darin found 5 bucks on the floor while we were leaving and got his shot glass and a baseball with 42 on it for Jackie Robinson.

Shannon Rae

Philadelphia with the Family

So I know its been a while since we have last posted but let me update you on what we have been up to. Its hard to find time to go online and post when you are out and about in all these amazing cities that we have never been to.

After our trip into New York with the Family, we spent our next day in Philadelphia actually cite seeing and not just at a baseball stadium. We went to Independence Hall where we took a tour, got some authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches and caused a little bit of trouble. Brandon got yelled at for kicking a seat, Darin got yelled at for chewing gum and we all got sshhhed for being too loud. It was a lot of fun though to be with family and be somewhat all getting along. It was definitely a different experiences seeing Independence Hall, the real one and not the replica at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. We also got to see the place where the court system was held back in those days as well as where the House and Senate met.

On one of the tours we took of the old House and Senate Building, the tour guide asked a question of who knew the name of the third President and everyone was rambling off names and Brandon says really loud, “Bill Clinton!” ha-ha I started cracking up. Me and Debbie were also laughing at a guy that missed a step and almost ate it in a historical Building. Oh and our tour guide for Independence Hall looked like a Who from the Grinch. No Joke! and she was throwing out facts about there being 26 of the between 100 and 200 prints of the original Declaration of Independence and when we went into the room where they had one copy the guy said that only 13 were found? Who was lying? I think the crazy lady, but thats just my opinion. We will have to check the facts.

We had decided that we had seen about all that there was to see in Philadelphia so we headed to the Hotel that Melany, Brandon, Debbie and Dad were going to be staying at before they flew home in the morning to relax a little bit. Everyone else went swimming and I took the opportunity to try and upload some of our pictures from New York. We went to dinner and got to sit at the Chef’s table in our hotel. Our waitress was really nice. After dinner and before Darin and I left for Boston we were able to watch at least the the first 7 or so innings of the All Star Game that was all the way back home :(

Shannon Rae

New York Part 2

Today was such a fun day!! We went to New York and went site seeing in the city. I don’t even have words to describe but I think the pictures will explain everything. We went to places like Time Square, the tip of Manhattan where we could see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, all the beautiful hotels and buildings in downtown NY and central Park. We walked around it seemed like all day. We got home and went straight to the hotel spa to unwind.

I would love to put up pictures from the last few days but for some reason the internet here isn’t very strong. Tomorrow we are heading to Philadelphia to check out all the historical places there and will post the pictures once I get to a more reliable internet source.

Missing California!!

Shannon Rae

New Jersey on our Day off

Yesterday was what we needed. I slept in, we got ready and went to a local sports bar to watch the soccer game, such a long game for just one goal, but happy with the results. Got back with some food and played some tennis. The rest of the gang joined us last night around 7 and now the whole gang is together for the next few days.

Today we are off to New York City to do some sight seeing :)

Shannon Rae

New York Part 1

I know you all are so disappointed in us for not posting last night but I will tell you why. We caught our 3 am train ride to New York and arrived at 6:40 in the morning. Darin and Dad slept the whole way, I couldn’t sleep, I think i got a combined 20 minutes of sleep. Once we got there I went outside and saw NY for the first time! It is amazing here, just such a different culture than Orange County. We found a place to get some breakfast and went to the luggage storage rental place and picked up our luggage.

We got on the train to our hotel, hoping that we would be able to check in early. We got there at 11 and nothing was available. so we went in the pool for a while and finally got into a room. We got ready and headed out for New York again. haha crazy how in and out of the city we have been already. We got to the game just in time for the national anthem.

The stadium is amazing, they have included a big apple in center field and it appears when the Mets hit a home run. They also have a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge in the stadium. Darin didn’t get a shot glass here because they only had 4 different kinds and they all had players on them instead of just Mets. We’ll have to find one for him online. I got my baseball batt and Darin bought a hat. Once the game was over, after all three of us started to fall asleep at the game, we headed home to the Hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey. We got back at 10 and all three of us were out by 10:30 it seemed like.

Today is our relaxing day and our catch up on sleep day. I slept in until 1 in the afternoon :) Will post later today with more pictures and with our adventures from today.

Shannon Rae

Washington DC

This morning we woke up (super early for some reason considering we didn’t go to bed until like 3) and got all our bags paced and headed towards Penn Station in Philadelphia to catch our 9:30 am amtrak to DC. We got there early so we decided it would be best if we got Darin and my train tickets in advanced so we knew we had a spot on the trains. Once again, the lady had to be rude! I guess she didn’t want to take the time to do it and wanted to have an attitude about it! I guess if people want to get through life that way its fine by me. Another lady tried to help us out but they had to let us get on our train. She called about an hour into our train ride to DC and said that the tickets would be waiting once we got off the train. Some reason I knew it was too good to be true.

When we arrived in DC, we went straight to the amtrak ticket line to get our tickets printed out so at least we had physical copies of the trains we were taking. It took probably 30 minutes for two ladies to figure out what was going on and get it all squared away. Now we were free to venture out into the city.

Because we had been here, oh at least 6 years ago, we really wanted to get out and see those sites that we might have missed the first time around. We decided to go to the National Aquarium, Chinatown for lunch and walk through one of the Smithsonian Museum’s we didn’t get a chance to see last time we were here.

Lunch in Chinatown was kinda cool! Dad found some hole in the way joint that must have been really good because the line was out the door. It didn’t quite live up to my standards but was happy to have a meal and get off my feet for an hour. The owner of the restaurant I guess was pretty popular because they had newspaper articles and awards posted in their window. This guy was so cool, he made handmade pasta from scratch. Ya’ll will have to see the pictures. He would take this dough and loosen it up and then in like 4 twists he had noodles. I took four pictures as fast as I could so ya’ll could get the true effect.

After lunch we made our way to the aquarium. I found some really cool looking buildings. They turned out to be like the Department of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, etc. They were beautiful buildings and the clouds around them were pretty neat looking as well. The National Aquarium was pretty small. They had created an exhibit that brought together all different kinds of animals from different parts of the united states. A couple of my favorites were the frogs and the turtles. They also had an octopus but we weren’t able to take pictures of it. :(

After, we walked through the Smithsonian Museum of American History I think it was called. They had a small baseball section in the gift shop (This is where I took the picture of a baseball bat with I think Cal Ripkin Jr’s signature on it. Just before we left, we went through one of the newest exhibits that they had running called the Star-Spangled Banner, The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem. It was pretty cool, it took you through our nations Civil War and how the flag came about, they they had the flag displayed. That was pretty neat. I didn’t get any pictures of it because I thought it was just a projected image until I heard someone saying it was the real flag. Oops!

After the museum, we walked through the nationals grassy lawn, which was in very poor shape, and headed back to Union Station so that we could get ready for the game. The game was a lot of fun, we got there about 20 minutes after the stadium opened and got to see the Giants do their batting practice, unfortunately we were so hot that we went to go sit in our seats and get some waters and when we got to our seats, one of the players got up and hit three consecutive balls to the same spot we were just standing. So, sad story, we didn’t get any baseball’s or any autographs. If it hadn’t been so damn humid I probably would have pulled out my A game and gotten us some ;) I’ve had tons of success in the past with this technique. Might have to try tomorrow at the Mets game at Shea Stadium. Dad was really excited to see Strasburg pitch. I guess he has been doing amazing, people wanted to see him in the all-star game, and he pitched at SDSU. He pitched a really good game! I was excited once we got there because Adam Kennedy, one of my favorite past time angels, got traded to the Nationals this season. Funny thing was, around the 5th inning, both Darin and I got SO tired because we had been walking around and in the Heat all day that we were exhausted, so we went on a mission to find something to keep us awake.

The Nationals Won!! Darin got his shot glass and baseball hat. I got my baseball bat and a t-shirt and hat, so I could fit in. They had friday night fireworks so we stayed for those. Let me tell you, they were nothing like Big Bang Friday at Angels Stadium... I’m just saying! Look out All-Star Game, You all are gonna have so much fun!

What I’ve learned from this leg of our trip so far is that people in DC are a lot more friendly then any other city. I don’t not what has been the deal. Maybe its because I am blonde, maybe its because I am being a brat, but really I think that people are unhappy around here. Cheer Up East Coast. There is so much beauty around you, all you gotta do is look around and smile :)

So it is 12:15 in the morning. We are sitting in the amtrak station wait for our 3:00 am train to arrive so that we can head up to New York, get our bags in the morning and head to the hotel, and SHOWER!!! :) ha ha I know, we all showered this morning, I just like to be clean, and have clean hair, and be presentable... Not too much to ask now is it.

I know that some of you are following and reading our blog, but let us know what you think and leave us some comments. Also if you know of any good spots for our upcoming cities, feel free to share so we can make the most out of our experience here.

Nap time!

Shannon Rae

Philadelphia

So Today was our day to spend in Philadelphia. We woke up from a great nights rest, with three hours of our day lost to time changes, and headed down to breakfast. I am convinced that people here are either not willing to accommodate for those around them or are all together just not nice. I only met one nice lady today, but I’ll tell you all about her later.

So once we were done with breakfast, we decided that it would be best to head towards New Jersey and drop our bags off so we didn’t have to trek them around with us. This turned out to be an all day event and an all around bad idea. It took us three and a half hours just to get to New Jersey because of all the transfers and trains we had to wait for. Well after missing trains and waiting for new ones and finally looking at what time we would make it back to Philly for the game, we made the decision that it was best to find somewhere in New York to store our bags for the next few nights and hurry back to Philadelphia on the Amtrak's. So i jumped in this really long line at Penn Station in NY and finally made my way up to the front where I met the nicest lady on the east coast, well the only nice person on the east coast. She was so helpful. Got our train tickets and headed back to Philly.

The Game was SO much fun! It was a close game, I think the Phillies ended up winning in the 12th inning. We had to leave in the middle of the 10th because there were not going to be any more subways after the game. The fans there really seem to love their team, it kinda reminded me of that movie with Drew Barrimore about the Boston fan she starts dating. But we soon realized that they could turn on them on a dime. It was fun though. We got some really cool pictures. They had a building off in the city that we could see from the stadium that had been light up with red and white lights in the P sign thats the phillies logo. I thought that was pretty cool. Oh and I can’t forget, Darin got his shot glass and I got my baseball bat :)

Off to bed, Long day of trains and we are headed to Washington DC tomorrow morning. Excited to visit somewhere that is familiar.

Shannon Rae