SHARE
We just got back from our epic east coast excursion (I love a good aliteration) yesterday. What a trip! I’ve decided to break It into two blog posts because we had two very different vacations wrapped into one. I’m going to start with our bookends, New York and Boston.
New York was our first stop. We had big things planned and they did not disappoint! When we first arrived we dropped our stuff off at our mid town Airbnb and walked over to Central Park. The east coast was on the tail end of a HUGE heat wave so this was a bit of a slap in the face for us. The air was heavy in the Big Apple but we slogged through It and got the lay of the land so we could hit the ground running the next few days.
On Wednesday Allen and Jill got up at the crack of dawn (ok, only the crack of dawn if you were still on west coast time…which we were) to go see the Today Show while Ellie, Kate and I slept in. That is a pretty good indicator of the types of travelers we have in our group. Jill and Allen also ended their day by going to the Top of the Rock to check out the view. I don’t know where that energy comes from. Good thing we can break It up occasionally!
We met them for some shopping at B&H (photo Disneyland) and then the purse and jewelry wholesalers. Plenty of treasures found!
The rest of our day was dedicated to a birthday present we gave to the girls this year. Tickets to go see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This play was simply magical! If you are a serious Harry Potter fan you probably remember what it was like to see the movies for the first time when they brought the books to life. Always wondering…how will they show THIS magical thing, or THAT creature. This was just the same except you were seeing it live. We could hardly believe our eyes as characters apparated (disappeared), wands fired spells, and a real life centaur walked on stage. As a photographer I was giddy with all of the amazing ways they were using light to pull off these feats. This play is actually two full length shows so we had a quick dinner before heading back for more fun. This show did NOT disappoint and we would all love to go see it again. I won’t share anything else because the show’s tag line is #keepthesecrets. Ok. We will!
On Thursday we started out by going to Kate’s favorite store. Tiger Copenhagen is a store we found in London a couple years ago. It is essentially Ikea for small stuff. Lot’s of bright colors, low prices, and names we can’t pronounce. Ha! We also found a store that spoke to Jill’s heart too. After brunch at Big Daddy’s Diner (we are huge breakfast fans so we loved how many restaurants advertised their ‘all day’ breakfasts) we headed up to the Natural History Museum. This is the place Night at the Museum featured. We are not museum people but enjoyed the exhibits greatly!
We ended our day with Hamilton. We gave these tickets to the girls for Christmas this year. (Love the fact we can give experiences now instead of THINGS!) We’ve been singing these songs for months so it was incredible to see WHO sings the songs (we couldn’t always tell on the soundtrack) and how they choreographed everything. ‘Quiet Uptown’ had much of the audience sobbing (or at least sniffling) and that is something you just don’t pick up on in a soundtrack. Loved every minute of It!
On our last day in the city we took a boat out to Liberty and Ellis Islands. Even though Allen and I have been to New York many times (I was born there and lived nearby until I was 10) neither of us had ever visited the Statue of Liberty. That was a fun excursion. We also visited the 9/11 memorial. It was powerful to share that with the girls. We finished our day separately again. Ellie, Kate and I sharpened our elbows and had a great time at Century 21 checking out all the great deals. Jill and Allen can only handle so much shopping so they quickly headed off for a walk along the Highline. It was still very hot so it was an impressive choice to go back outside! We all met up for dinner at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. While the food isn’t great there it is totally worth the visit because the singing and atmosphere are so much fun!
That concludes our trip to New York. The next day we rented a car and hit the road for Cape Cod. I will share more of that part of our trip later this week when I finish working on the pictures.
We did not do Boston justice. I will just say that now as an apology to this history filled city. Bad weather was threatening most of our visit (Thunderstorms were forecast for every day we were there but, thankfully, never appeared.) and it was hot and VERY humid. (Boy did this trip ever make us appreciate the lack of humidity in the Pacific Northwest!) So we planned our stops around indoor activities that didn’t involve regular museums because we aren’t really museum people.
We started our visit with a wander around Harvard Square and the campus. Loved those old buildings. Really beautiful campus and we felt smarter just by being there! We did NOT wait in line to touch the shoe of the Harvard statue. Apparently people think if they touch his shoe it will ensure that you get into Harvard. Um…no. This is known as the statue of three lies. One- There are no pictures of John Harvard so Sherman Hore sat for that statue. Two- John Harvard was not a founder of the university and didn’t attend there. He was a major benefactor. Three – Harvard wasn’t founded the year the statue says. It’s actually older than it states and is the oldest university in the United States.
We finished our day with a walk along the Freedom Trail. This was really neat. We started in Boston Common (a half block from our Airbnb) and followed the brick road almost to the end, (We did not see the things on the other side of the bridge because we met family for dinner…and we were hot and tired. That’s a reoccurring theme for Boston for us. Hot and tired.) We got an app that gave us an audio history blurb at all of the major stops. This was great so we could set our own pace. It was a fun way to see downtown Boston with a purpose.
On day two in Boston we bough umbrellas that we needed on and off. We would just have sprinkles here and there but, being from Seattle, rain doesn’t scare us. It was the 90% humidity that did! We started this day with a two hour bus tour. This was perfect because we got to see many of the places we’d walked to plus some new ones. Our bus driver was just great and shared all sorts of funny historical facts. Plus, we were under cover during the rainy times! This was our favorite activity in Boston.
The other fun thing we did that day was we went to a restaurant called Fire and Ice. At this place you go through a salad bar type line and fill your bowl with all the yummy things you want the chefs to cook for you. Then you stand at a bar and watch them stir fry everything. Fun and yummy too!
On our last day we started at the day at the MIT Museum. So many cool robots and brain drawings but the best exhibit was the sculptures by Arthur Ganson. Wow! All these intricate little machines doing simple little things like putting a yellow chair together, or moving a feather across a violin or moving a baby doll so it looks alive. Totally captivating!
After the museum we said goodby to Allen as he needed to travel to Texas for work. That meant the girls and I were on our own to visit the Maparium. If you ever get a chance to see this exhibit at the Mary Baker Eddy library then go! I LOVE color and just walking into this room took my break away. Essentially you are inside of a 1935 globe. The acoustics were crazy because you were inside of a round room. They warned us that anything whispered to our pals would be heard by all. They weren’t kidding!
We finished the day with a movie in a nice air conditioned theater (did I say It was hot and humid?) after we dragged ourself up and down Charles Street in an attempt to shop. We were just too tired and punchy!
While we are happy to be back in our own beds we had a great trip and so many great memories! Stay tuned for my Cape Cod post later this week…