New York and Washington D.C. in July 2008

(Hopefully this makes sense…it was pretty late while I wrote it.)

I went with my friend Valerie last year to New York.  This year, my hubby went with me.  Kris and I headed to New York on July 2^nd and stayed a week.  Since we’d both been before (although I’d done much more of the typical touristy stuff), this was more a family and sights off-the-beaten-path trip.  We arrived (me at LGA and Kris at JFK…don’t ask), got to my aunt’s, and she treated us to a deliciously well made meal.  We’d get lots of those.  YUMMY!

Reading in Central Park

We went into the city for a lot of subway riding, pizza eating, hot dogs, and other sweet treats.  We went to Greenwich Village (some naughty stuff there), Chelsea Market and Piers, Central Park and Strawberry Fields (some characters there), uptown, downtown, in between town…a lot of places.  

We shopped the Garment District, looked around at Tiffany’s, and, of course, spent time in Times Square.  My cousin, Danny, offered us an amazing time.  He drove us around a bunch, taking us to great restaurants like Max Brenner’s Chocolate by the Bald Man (highly recommended), Café Lalo, and the original Nathan’s Hotdogs, drove us up and down the city to see the brownstones in Harlem and the Waterfalls water-sculptures.  

He spent an entire day with us at Coney Island and a really neat museum called Forbes Galleries.  

After a wonderful family barbecue on July 4^th, he took us to see the Macy’s 4^th of July fireworks on the top level of the FDR.

We booked a day-and-a-half trip to Washington DC, as I was able to find fantastic bus fare.  After checking into our hotel, the Club Quarters, we saw the White House, a few museums, and other buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue.  

Right before we were to take a walking tour of the city, however, we were caught in a torrential downpour of a rainstorm which ruined our plans for the day.  

We couldn't find any open affordable restaurants, but, luckily, my aunt and uncle had packed us gigantic sandwiches, so we grabbed snacks and drinks from CVS and headed back to the hotel to dry and eat.  

The rain eventually stopped, so, not wanting to waste a minute, we decided to do the memorials by night.  This was my favorite thing about DC.  The memorials are really nice.  We saw the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial (commissioned by President George W. Bush), World War I Memorial (which was created before WWII so is called The Great War for Civilization), Vietnam and Korean Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and, the neatest one, FDR’s Memorial.

It’s amazing how much conviction our presidents used to have.  FDR said so many truly meaningful things.  That is, of course, before big business owned all presidential candidates. 

The next day was spent touring many of the Smithsonian museums.  We wanted to go to the National Museum of American History, but it was closed for renovation.  We were able to stop by the following:  the Castle, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of Natural History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery.

We stopped by the Capitol Building before getting back in the bus for four hours.  We actually thought we might not get back for a few minutes, as there was a guy they wouldn't let on the bus, and he threatened it…it was pretty scary.

After an evening, morning, and afternoon in NY with my aunt and cousin, we hit the air back to Dallas.