Spring Break

For Spring Break this year,  Dane and I (or really just me) decided to take our last big trip without kids! I have been wanting to take Dane back east to show him my old "stomping grounds." So we planned to fly into Baltimore and stay for a few days, and then head up to NYC to adventure around there! It was a fun, exhausting trip and we were excited to be home by the end, but I'm SO glad we went! Here are some highlights:

Ellicott City (where I was raised from ages 7-16):

My childhood home, the house I STILL dream about when I'm home. I was kind of sad the yard looked gross (we walked around the side of the house) and the basketball hoop is getting a little rusted, but that's ok. MANY wonderful memories were made here as a kid!

 Howard High School: Home of the Lions! They have added on a lot since I left, but the entrance still looks just as old and ghetto as I remember! Love this place.

 Ellicott Mills Middle School. This is actually the NEW school. The one I went to was at the same place, but they tore it down after my 7th grade year and built this one. When I was there, the art room was a bomb shelter in the basement from the war...that's how old it was.

 Worthington Elementary School. I went to school here from 2-5 grades. We were the Worthington Winners. I love telling people about my mascot being kids holding balloons that were all winners. Sadly, now they are the Worthington Wildcats! Oh well. :)

Baltimore:

The Water Taxi we rode around to get from place to place in Baltimore. It was a great way to get around, even though it was pretty cold!!

 Fells Point. A cute old town that we had fun walking around.

 Fort McHenry has a really cool visitor's center they opened on the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner being written. It started with a really neat 10 minute movie that ended with the screen going up while the National Anthem was playing and you see the statue of Francis Scott Key looking out at the flag waving in the fort. So neat!

 We didn't go out to the actual fort (that's what cost money...the visitor's center was free :) ) but here's a picture from a distance!

 Dane at Hard Rock Cafe in Inner Harbor. It was yummy and fun to eat at a Hard Rock!

 Camden Yards from the car. I went to many an Orioles game as a kid (back in the Cal Ripken, Jr. era) and have lots of good memories there!

Washington, D.C.:

Air & Space Museum

 American Indian Museum

 Natural History Museum...this was my favorite! I remember going here as a kid on field trips and whenever people came to visit. It didn't disappoint!

Lincoln Memorial

 The White House from a distance...thank goodness for a good camera lense. :)

 National Monument

 The Capitol Building

 Jefferson Memorial from across the river

WWII Memorial

Arlington Cemetary

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...we were there for the Changing of the Guards and that was really neat!

 The Eternal Flame...JFK's grave

 It was amazing the number of graves and how nice and neat all the rows and gardening was. It was a chilly, but beautiful day!

We went to the DC Temple one night and I left my camera at home, so this is just from my iPod. But it is still such a beautiful Temple!!

New York City:

Dane with our luggage on the subway. We rode a train up to NYC and then got on the subway to Harlem, where we stayed with my dear friend, Deb. It was kind of nerve wracking for 2 Utah kids navigating around NYC with all of our luggage, but we made it! :) And Dane was a really good sport.

 The new World Trade Center, still under construction

 Dane and I at the 9/11 Memorial

 This is where one of the Twin Towers stood. They have one of these big fountain pools in the place of both of the towers.

The tree that survived the attacks on 9/11

Dane eating a yummy waffle

 Us on the Brooklyn Bridge

With our wonderful tour guide, Deb, in Central Park!

Waiting for Newsies to start. We put our names in the lottery and I won! $30 tickets, SO worth it. I LOVED this show, every second of it!

 A dark, blurry picture of us waiting for Peter and the Starcatcher to start. We bought day-of tickets for this show so they were cheaper. It was a fun show, but I preferred Newsies. :)

Across from the Manhattan Temple. So neat that it is right downtown!!

We took a 2 hour cruise of the city one day and I took WAY too many pictures. Here are a few:

Overall, the trip was WONDERFUL and really made me grateful for the slower life we lead in Pleasant Grove, Utah. We are plenty busy, but definitely don't have to run everywhere we go to catch a bus or subway, don't have to get stuck in DC traffic every day at rush hour, and we don't get lost as often with the roads Utah has built. :) BUT we are very grateful for opportunities to travel and learn more about different parts of our country!