When noon rolled around on May 31st, my summer started! Although I had joyfully joined in on the inevitable summer countdown some time after spring break, I was a little sad to see the year come to end. This was by far my favorite year of teaching, and I just hope next year goes just as well! But, don't let all of that sap fool you, I was indeed ready for a break.
As previously mentioned, my sisters, mom, grandma, and I had a trip planned. We left on June 1st- my first official day of summer. We spent three beautiful days in Washington D.C. followed by three chilly days in New York. In DC we enjoyed seeing all the typical first-timer sights, and in New York we kind of took it easy. In case you were wondering...
Day 1:
The first day of travelling, for me any way, is all about getting your bearings. We try and plan some low key things on our first days, and this day was just that... minus a whole lot of walking!
- Tour of the Capitol- One of my favorite things we did!
- Walk through the Library of Congress- One of the prettiest buildings I have ever seen!
- Q&A Session at the Supreme Court- Interesting, but ruined by all of the 9 year olds asking irrelevant questions.
- National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution- This was neat to see, but being that our feet, pants, and hair were soaked from the miniature hurricane that came through, we weren't all that sad to head back to our hotel and get into our warm jammies.
Day 2:
Day 2 started with a minor mishap on my part. We were supposed to start our morning off with a walking tour of the monuments. We were almost late to the nonexistent tour. Oops! I hadn't checked the tour website in a month, and there was obviously some rescheduling that I wasn't aware of. So, with a minor adjustment to our highly organized itinerary, our day played out like this...
- Quick stop in front of the White House... a mandatory first-timer site!
- A few hours spent at the American History Smithsonian and then the Holocaust Museum... and a very brief stint in the National Gallery and Air and Space Smithsonian.
- The Lincoln Assassination Tour- One of the highlights of our DC trip! We had a fabulous tour guide who took you through the events and locations leading up to Lincoln's assassination! We didn't go in to Ford's Theater of the Peterson House, but it was amazing nonetheless!
It is inevitable that you walk a lot of vacation, even if you use public transportation, but I was curious to see how much we actually did walk. I wore a pedometer that day, and we apparently walked over 15 miles that day!
Day 3:
This was our "relaxing" day in DC.
- Georgetown Flea Market- It has kind of become a tradition to scope out a good flea market when we are on The Girl Trips. It was a bit off the beaten path, but it was a fun couple of hours. I found a super cute necklace that was created from vintage pieces, my sister and mom bought some photography from a local artist, and my grandma found an antique mirror!
- Shopping in Georgetown- After the flea market, we had brunch at Serendipity, and we proceeded to shop around Georgetown's cute main stretch.
- Arlington National Cemetery- It might be shameful to admit, but I wasn't all that excited about going here. However, it was very neat, and I am glad we went.
- Monuments Tour- Since our mishap from the day before left us without seeing the monuments, I found another tour company that took us for a twilight tour of the monuments. The Lincoln Memorial was my favorite, and I happened to run into some students and teachers from my school that were on their 8th grade trip!
The last 3 days of our trip were spent in New York City. Since this would be our fourth time in NYC, we were able to skip all the major touristy things and kind of lay low.
Day 4:
We arrived in NYC fairly early, and we were welcomed with rain and chilly weather.
- Uptown Tour- We took the ultra-touristy double decker bus tour of uptown NYC. Overall, it was interesting and we learned/saw some new things, and I have no shame in admitting that we took a bus tour. :)
- 9/11 Memorial- We had gone down to Ground Zero a couple years back, so it was neat to see the progress that has been made. They have built 2 fountains in the place of the twin towers. It was very inspiring to see.
Day 5:
Hands down, this was the most care-free, random day we have ever had on The Girl Trip.
- Today Show- My mom loves Kathie Lee Gifford and has wanted to stop by the Today Show for years. We walked down to Rockefeller Center from our hotel and waited only 10 minutes before my mom got a glimpse of Kathie Lee and Hoda. It made her happy. :)
- Tea at the Plaza- Another tradition of sorts has been going to tea. We went to tea at the Ritz when we were in London 2 years ago, and it was so fun that we insisted on going while in New York. Our experience at the Plaza was so-so, but I guess we can check that off the list.
- Shopping- We pretty much shopped and strolled the streets most of the day... fine by me!
Day 6:
Our favorite New York day!
- Canal Street- Canal Street is were you can go buy cheap jewelry, scarves, and knock-off merchandise. It is kind of hit or miss, but we had a great time that morning and came away with a lot of cute stuff!
- Greenwich Village Food Tour- This was one of the very best tours I have ever done. Our tour guide had the best stories and commentary, and we were taken to some of the greatest little restaurants and shops around Greenwich Village.
- Chelsea Market and the Highline- I'm glad we went, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that is on a time schedule. There just wasn't that much to do or see.
- Once- We went and saw Once that evening. It was fantastic, and it won the Tony for best musical (and other things) last night!
All in all, it was a great trip! I was kind of sad to come home except I did miss 2 very important people.
I am horrible at remembering or wanting to take pictures, so I will try to get those from my sisters... if I remember to do that. That would probably be more interesting than reading my ramblings.
I must go now... I need to pack for the lake. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Oh the joys of being a teacher and summer vacation!
