Day 48 - Washington

Today was our one full day in Washington, and today was the one day this week that rain was forecast in Washington. And it rained!! All day!! 😩 But as we only had one day we didn't let it deter us from exploring.

We headed out this morning (walking...in the rain) about 9 ish and walked down our street to The White House!! So cool! Just like you see it in the movies and on television. Secret service men stationed at the front and back.

Then on to the Washington Monument which was surrounded by geese which Kaleb thought was awesome!!

Continued on to the Holocaust Museum which was fairly traumatic. We were unsure about how the kids would go so went to the children's exhibit first called Daniel's Story. It was about a little boy called Daniel who lived in Poland and how his life changed after Hitler came into power. While there we ran into Kelly and Asha who we knew from Perth and are now living in Washington. It was great to see them but we lost them as we headed through the exhibit.

 

The permanent exhibit was very informative and pretty graphic. It's so hard to comprehend that something like that was able to happen. I don't understand how people thought it was okay that these atrocities were happening and so many did nothing. Some great stories though of those people and countries (well Denmark) who did help and not stand by and watch. Made me really sad watching these humans being treated like they were nothing. 😥

Continued our walking tour and went to the World War 11 memorial which was pretty impressive.

Then a long walk past the reflection pool and up to the Lincoln Memorial. We got to stand on the spot where Martin Luther King did his 'I have a dream' speech! Very cool!
We then walked (still raining!) down to the Capitol Building which was quite a bit further away than we thought. We were completely soaked by this point and our feet were squelching in our shoes! 😬

 
 Got some pics at the Capitol and then began the walk back to our hotel. Past the White House again for another look and then back to the room for a warm shower and to use the clothes dryer! Can sneakers go in the dryer?

Finally it stopped raining...now we are all showered & in the room. Couldn't be bothered going out  so we are dining on an extremely unhealthy meal from 7-11! Oh well! We did walk 15 kilometres today!!

Day 47 - Washington DC

Time to farewell our beautiful hotel, Manhattan at Times Square. 😩 Packed up ready to go, went for a quick walk with Caitlin to find a couple of Marvel pictures she wanted and then it was time to go.

Caught a taxi (much nicer driver) down to where the Megabuses leave from and sat down to wait. Caitlin, Josh and I got stuck into our books while Kaleb went and made some more friends!!

The bus to Washington left at 1pm and it was a pretty comfortable four and a half hour drive. Comfortable seats, free wifi and a toilet! The kids were stoked!

Arrived in Washington about 5.20pm and finally found our way to the taxi stand. Union Station is huge!!  No taxis here to fit 5 people so we needed to take 2. 😬 Caitlin and I had a dodgy one again who had an iPad instead of a meter and wouldn't tell me how much! I ended up just giving him $15 cash and getting out!

Checked into our hotel, Holiday Inn which is gorgeous. The guy at the front desk, Eddie, couldn't have been more helpful! Got up to our room and there's a 24 hour guest laundry right next to our room! Thank goodness!! Put some washing on and then went for a walk to get some dinner and essentials. By this time it's already after 9pm so back to the hotel to plan for tomorrow!

Day 46 - New York

Our last day in New York and we had a sleep in (yes another one!!).  After much deliberation on what to do on our last day, we decided on another Yankees game!

Old hats on the Subway now we headed to the 7th Ave station to hop on the train to the Bronx, getting off at 161st for Yankee Stadium! Unfortunately we weren't there early enough to get one of the free bobble heads they were giving away! 😩

They were playing the Mariners again who got off to a great start with a run in the top of the first. That was where their luck ran out! The Yankees scored 6 runs in their first bat! I've never seen so many errors in a major league game- I was feeling for them! Yankees won 10-1, its hard to come back from a disastrous first innings like that!!

Back on the Subway and back to 7th Ave. Went for a walk to Times Square for one more look at the craziness! Saw the naked cowboy, a girl getting parts of her body painted that aren't meant to be painted and lots of colourful characters.

Decided to go to Ellen's Stardust Diner. It's a diner where all the waiters and waitresses sing. We lined up for almost an hour to get in but it was really good fun! Apparently most of the staff are working there while trying to get their big break on Broadway!

 
 

Time to start packing as heading off to Washington tomorrow!

Day 45 - New York

Time is going too quickly now. Only 2 days left in New York. 😥 After breakfast we headed down to Times Square to see if we could get some discounted tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Had to wait in line for awhile but scored!! Got our tickets for the 2pm matinee so had a bit of time to kill. Walked down to the Highline which is where the trains used to run but has now been turned into a bit of a community park area and has some nice views of the city and river.

 

Walked back and Ian and the kids sampled some New York hot dogs from a little van on the road. Apparently they were really good.

Headed back to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and took our seats for the show. They were great seats but I don't think there would have been any bad ones as the theatre was quite small. The show was brilliant! The two actors who played Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka were fantastic. We all really enjoyed it.

 

Back to the hotel to shower and change and then Ian went off to watch the Mayweather fight while I  took the kids to a free outdoor movie screening of Spider-Man 3 in Central Park. So cool! We took our blanket and some snacks and enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of Central Park.  We had about 45 minutes before the movie started in which Kaleb found some friends to play ball with. I love how he manages to make friends everywhere we go.

 

Day 44 - New York

Another sleep in this morning. I think all the early starts and late nights have caught up with us. Finally got organised and went for a walk to Grand Central Station. Had a look in some shops and then Josh found an ice hockey store that was having a sale. Big mistake going in there. But we saved $1138 lol!! Josh was happy - he finally got his ice hockey jersey!

On to Grand Central Station. It is huge and just how it looks in all the movies. Kids thought it was cool because it was in Madagascar lol!

 

Next stop was the Yankees store to get our shirts for tonight. Then we went to a place called BB Kings for lunch. $13.99 for 2 halves of chicken, 2 pieces of corn bread, 2 salads, 2 bowls of soup, chips and a huge baked potato! It fed all 5 of us!!


Back to the hotel for a quick shower and change and then back on the subway to head to the Bronx to Yankee Stadium. It is huge!! It was Star Wars night so everything was about Star Wars.

 

 
 

Day 43 - New York

Huge sleep in today!! We were all exhausted!! By the time we got up and organised it was after 12pm before we got out of the room! Walked down to the corner, a quick stop for a pic with the Hope sign and then on to the Subway to head to the World Trade Center. First trip on the Subway too!

Went to the 9-11 Tribute Museum first. Spent a couple of hours wandering around the museum and reading/watching/listening to stories or actual footage of the day. It was really quite emotional. We got to listen to Adrian Pearce, one of the survivors,  talk about her experience that day. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for those people who were there.
 

Had a quick look at Century 21 after it being recommended for bargains but we were very restrained. Caitlin was horrified after she realised the jacket she liked was made from rabbit fur!

Walked over to the memorial and spent some time at the north and south reflection pools. Felt really sad, it was all just so pointless.
  

 

Caught the Subway back to 42nd street and walked back through Times Square. There were lots of interesting people and characters about in various states of undress!!

Went to Tonic and had another yummy dinner while watching the baseball and other sports on the TVs. That and free wifi keeps all the kids occupied!
 
Back to the room and finally enjoying the bottle of red that Saverina gave us in Canada!!

Day 42 - New York

Big day yesterday so had a bit of a sleep in and then off to breaky. First time there's been eggs at breakfast and no hot water for the tea - just use the tap he says when I ask!!! 😬

Packed up and on the road again. Back over the border in to the US and then walked down to do the Maid of the Mist tour! It was AWESOME!! We all donned our blue ponchos and then headed for the falls. We got really close and really wet. It was great fun.

Went for a walk over the bridge to get some photos. And to get a bit wetter lol!!

Stopped at a couple of shops for a quick look but it's a long drive so back in the car we went. Got through about 5 chapters of Harry Potter and a few chapters of my book and a few snoozes while poor Ian was driving.

Back to the hotel, popped out for a quick bite to eat (I am in desperate need of some real food!) and then put the kids straight to bed. They are exhausted after so many late nights are being rather annoying! Kids in bed, Ian and I having a well earned drink. 😃

Day 41 - Niagara Falls

Very early start today and I didn't make it to bed until almost 4am! Wasn't tired after the concert and had a few things to do and time just slipped away!!

Picked up the hire car and off we went for our long drive to Niagara Falls! There was some beautiful countryside and scenery on the way, went through Pennsylvania so added another state to our list.
About 2.40pm my phone started beeping and an emergency tornado alert came through telling us to take cover!! It got really dark and started raining really heavily, it was a bit scary!!

Arrived at the US border and crossed over into Canada and Niagara Falls is right there!! It is huge and spectacular and very, very impressive. Walked through the mist coming off the falls, it was just like it was raining!

 

Checked into our hotel and Kaleb jumped in the pool for a swim just before the heavens opened up and there was torrential rain!!

Went to Taco Bell/KFC (what the?) for dinner. Caitlin tried a cheetoh slider! Really??

Went back down to the falls to see it at night. It was beautiful all lit up and illuminated with different colours. We stayed to watch the fireworks over the falls which was pretty special.