Author: Brad (Page 2 of 1450)

While on the DC trip, we walk outside a lot. I needed to have a hat for such circumstances. In the past, I’ve made due with stocking caps, ball caps, and even one year a bucket hat. This year, I decided to take my recess hat, which is a felt fedora-style hat I got seven years ago at the Stetson outlet in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Packing it in my suitcase was tricky, but I figured it out. The other issue was what to do with it when I wasn’t wearing it. I got a magnetic hat clip that I could attach to my belt loop. It worked well.

The black part has a magnet in it, which is attracted to the another identical part in the back, and together they pinch the hat, and hold it on the ring. It worked well. I will use it again next year.

Yesterday we stared by going to Central Park. It was a cool, clear morning – perfect for a walk in the park.

And the azaleas were in bloom!

The Bethesda Fountain was empty. Maybe they’re fixing it? One student wondered out loud what you call a fountain with no water.

Next, we did a quick stop at Rockerfeller Center. I got pictures of the things you’re supposed to get pictures of there:

To end our time in New York City, we had a couple of free hours in the Times Square area.

I decided I’d look for a hat shop. I found one right next to the Empire State Building.

But my most exciting find was an egg salad sandwich. When we were at the LA airport at the beginning of the trip, I was really crazing an egg salad sandwich. Ever since then, every time we stopped to eat, I looked for an egg salad sandwich, but never found one. Until yesterday:

After that, we went to the Newark airport, had an uneventful flight home, and the kids got picked up by their parents. The travel part felt fast.

What a great trip! I feel like I could do that indefinitely, if it weren’t for the sleep deprivation.

It definitely will be an adjustment to get back to Normal.

We started our day with a trip to the Statue of Liberty. In spite of earlier predictions of rain, the day was beautiful.

We climbed to the top of the pedestal, which gives you a pretty close-up view of the bottom of the statue.

Next was Ellis Island. The building is full of history.

I particularly like the preserved graffiti.

I also liked the room that had displays of treasured items that people brought with them when they immigrated.

Then we did a tour of lower Manhattan. We started at Bowling Green, a park from Revolutionary times the iron fence is original. I touched it.

Our tour took us past Trinity Church, with its super old graveyard. Alexander Hamilton is buried there.

We saw many other sites, including the 911 memorials.

We ended our tour by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, then taking a subway back.

Someone had put these stickers all over the bridge:

After dinner, we went to see “Wicked”. It was great.

We got back earlier than Wednesday night, but I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I’ll be glad to be back in my own bed tonight.