I have been a total slacker! I need to update Chicago, Knoxville, Memphis, and OKC.
But … I couldn’t wait to write all of that up before mentioning that it had worked out to go visit my sister in Roosevelt. The plan was to fly in Monday, spend Tuesday with her and then head to Boise on Wednesday. Turns out I got a call early this morning that she is at the hospital trying to have her baby! I’m finally going to be tia tia! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.
We flew into Chicago on Monday afternoon. We really only had time to have dinner, so we went to Schuba’s. Tyler knows the family that owns it so we thought it would be fun to check it out.
Tuesday we went for a walk along the river, in the misty rain. Then we headed to Hot Doug’s for lunch. I was told I shouldn’t miss it. Instead of sausages and duck fat fries I was greeted by this:
Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. Because of the rain and my lack of motivation we went to see the Toy Story / Toy Story 2 3D double feature. Then we went to the pizza place next door and had Chicago style pizza, which is far more filling than NY style. I didn’t make it through a whole piece because we had ordered breadsticks. We headed out to Knoxville a day early to visit family, but I’d like to go back and see more of the city.
We are currently in Boston visiting Tyler’s family. All I have to say so far is hooray for family and home cooked meals. Lori (sister in law) made us awesome biscuits and terrific banana cream pie. We’re going to be spoiled when we leave here.
Rebecca and Madelyn (nieces) made me look bad at Guitar Hero last night. I was just pleased that I had done better than the last time I attempted to play, which is to say that I didn’t fail big time.
Tyler has been teaching Mark (his brother) to play Titan. Read: They have done nothing but play Titan and eat. They spent Thursday night playing Titan at the kitchen table and Friday night in the office. Its nice to see them spending time together.
My first flight in the rain was Philly to NYC (Teterboro). Below is a map of our flight. The blue lines are what we filed for, and the green is what we actually flew.
We really had no sightseeing plans for here. We wanted to tour the UN but it’s closed to the public right now. We did get gussied up and go to dinner and a show. I’ve always wanted to see Phantom of the Opera and finally got the chance. It was fun to feel fancy and dressed up. Turns out I don’t mind it when I don’t have to do it very often. We’ve also been having a nice time just wandering the city, having meals with friends and relaxing just a bit. I think the cooler weather here makes the days feel less wearing, even if they were just as busy.
We’re leaving for Boston in the morning, and hopefully while there I’ll have the chance to get caught up on photos.
Also known as the Cathedral of St. John the Phallus Measurer [citation needed], this Cathedral was built in response to the size of St. Patrick, further downtown. Construction of this Cathedral has not finished to this day. Looking at the church, one can see how long various bishops reigned over its construction. This building stands as a testament to excess — both money and power. It’s a fairly impressive structure in terms of size and the stained glass is amazing. I could say the same for design, had they stuck to one style. This church is linear shaped, however where the cross beam would be (for a cross-shaped church), a mis-matched cement wall closes the hole. The wall is patched with bricks in places, other materials in other places. Next to the central dome, the surrounding structural elements rise a few feet. You’ll need to see the pictures. The building is impressive, in a humorous way.
Tyler
I suck at keeping up on this. So from now on I’m going to post less pictures, and after I get home will edit them and let you know when they’re up.
Finally, Orlando pics are up on Flickr
Philly was fun. Lots of eating and drinking. Andrea, Tanya and Mindy made excellent dinner companions. Justin and Kelly were a joy at brunch. It was fantastic to see/meet people and socialize.
We drug Tanya along sightseeing, and indoctrinating her with our country’s history. We went to Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, The Mint, Congress Hall. Then out to lunch. Turns out that the Liberty Bell is not nearly as impressive as I had anticipated. It’s just a bell with a crack. I thought it at least would be a *HUGE* bell with a crack, but nope.
The next day Tyler and I went to the Natural History Museum. Do not bother. After we went to Eastern State Penitentiary, which was *awesome*. Entry fee includes the audio tour, which I was glad about. Steve Buscemi narrated it and I got to see Al Capone’s cell. We went on the “Uprising” tour. They told stories about the prison break attempt. Hopefully I’ll have photos posted soon, but I’m not making any guarantees. For more about the Eastern State Pen go here.
The weather was warm the first day, and I was discouraged, but by the second day it had turned into pants weather. Yay pants! I am so grateful for the shift in weather. The south was a bit much.
Update: It has been pointed out to me that I have left out some details. Tanya is our friend from SF who has joined us from the land down under. Andrea recently left SF to kick it on the East Coast. Mindy was a lovely addition to their little group for the weekend. Justin and his girlfriend Kelly are old friends of mine, and Philly would not have been the same without a visit with them.
Upon request I have posted some of the pictures I’ve taken of clouds. I really love them, but I feel like other people’s interest falls off fairly quickly. Since it was requested I feel like I can justify it.
(Click below for the flickr set)
I forgot to give everyone the brief overview of our trip. Shame on me.
Here’s the round-up:
Been – Grand Canyon, Roswell, San Antonio, New Orleans, Orlando and currently in Philly.
Going – NYC, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Knoxville, Memphis, Topeka, (fill in the blank/suggestions?), Boise, Seattle, Portland, home.
Suggestions for things to see/visit/eat? We would love any advice you have to give.
I swear at some point I’ll get us caught up. There are a *ton* of photos to edit. I might be a little trigger happy …
So, Mike ended up joining us in Orlando. Which was awesome. He and Tyler are both former Disneyland employees so between the two of them we covered every bit of Disney trivia ever. It was awesome. I feel like I got a much more in-depth and personalized Disney World experience. Mike was a pleasure to have along and we were glad to have him.
Disney World was far larger than I had anticipated. We spent forever there. 3 days of parks and sun and humidity and fun. I got the *biggest* blister ever. Huge on the back of my right heel. I’ll spare you the pictures. Needless to say, it’s still healing. I also acquired 3 blisters on two of my toes, for a total of 4 blisters. I was a trooper and walked it off.
Mike and I got *soaked* riding in the front seat of Splash Mountain. Fortunately it was warm, but not warm enough to dry us off in a timely fashion. Hooray for damp underpants! The food was better than I expected. Tyler and Mike kept me laughing the whole time which gave my abs as good of a work out as my legs got.
I was amazed to see such consistent and thoughtful branding. Almost to the point of overkill, but I can appreciate the thorough implementation. It was great to see all the ride photos because I always had a stupid look on my face and Mike and Tyler looked calm, almost to the point of boredom.
I feel like there’s no real way to sum up those 4 days. Long hours, lots of sun, lots of laughter, my threatening to chop off my right foot … the normal sort of Disney World stuff.
Following will be a post of Orlando/Disney trivia. I will also update with photos once I have a chance to sift through and edit them.