We had a spectacular week-long family vacation that was so much fun I didn't want it to end! We had fun doing all sorts of different things in different places, I'll let the pictures do the talking and provide some of my favorite highlights for you!
Day 1) Hurricane Florence was swirling out in the Atlantic Ocean and was projected to fall somewhere in North Carolina. It caused us to start the vacation early (no problem for me!) We left Thursday morning and drove to Northern Virginia where we visited Government Island, a unique island surrounded by tidal marshland where stone was quarried for important buildings in Washington, DC. I was the bus driver and I led our trek around the hilly island. The end of the day was concluded with a yummy dinner at PF Chang's where I expertly used chop sticks to shove rice into my mouth. After dinner we eventually found our way to a hotel (A HOTEL,YAY) in Virginia.
Day 2) We took a relaxing drive to Altoona, where we would spend the next two nights. In Altoona, Dad showed us where he first when to college, then we had a surprise visit with Grammie and Gramps which included touring the Railroader's Memorial Museum and a fun dinner followed by checkers on the porch of Cracker Barrel. And yes, I did eat a cracker at cracker barrel!
Day 3) Arising early, we drove to State College for a college football game. We had the chance to see more of the Penn State campus in addition to an exciting football game. Luck would have it that we ran into the Nittany Lion mascot outside of the stadium to complete our football game experience. After goofing off with some special friends (kids of Mom's friend Doreen) we filled our bellies with delicious food from the Commons (aka the cafeteria where Mom and Dad used to eat when they were in college). What an experience!
Day 4) One would think we would be exhausted at this point after trekking all over a college campus, viewing a long college football game (which Penn State won!) but the next day we were ready for another new adventure in Pittsburgh. We arrived at Kennywood, an amusement park outside of Pittsburgh mid-morning. We spent the beautiful day riding rides before driving to downtown Pittsburgh. No sooner had we gotten to our huge hotel room, we left to go ride something called the Monongahela Incline. It was a weird train thing that drove on a track straight up a hill. At the top of the hill, we have beautiful views of Pittsburgh! Once we got back down to the bottom of the incline we had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and had fun watching a dancing fountain in a plaza along the river before heading back to bed.
Day 5) Well, Hurricane Florence finally caught up to us, so we took the opportunity to see the Carnegie Museum of Natural History while it rained outside. I had a blast looking at all the dinosaur bones that were in the museum. We also went to a show where we met some live animals: a snake, a lizard, a bird, a baby crocodile and a skunk! Fortunately the rain slowed an eventually stopped so that we could go to a Pittsburgh Pirate's baseball game! My first professional baseball game ever! It was so foggy, many of the skyscrapers were hidden by the fog, but the rain stayed away!
Day 6) In the morning, the weather had improved so we could walk around downtown Pittsburgh and explore Point State Park. We enjoyed sitting along the rivers and counting train cars in the distance. There are lots of trains in Pittsburgh! We at lunch in the car as we headed off to our next stop: Washington, DC! On our way we stopped to see the Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 Memorial. Once we got to Washington, Dad easily navigated the rush hour traffic and found our hotel no problem at all. We enjoyed a nice dinner sitting outside along the bustling sidewalk taking in all the sights and sounds of the city!
Day 7) Today we explored the Monuments of Washington, DC. Walking a huge circle around the National Mall, we started at the White House. We passed by the Washington Monument, then went through the World War II Veterans Memorial. The next stop was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. Abraham Lincoln looked huge in his chair! We took in the view of the mall with the Capitol in the background atop the steps there before wandering over to the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was an interesting stop before we arrived at the FDR Memorial. This was one of my favorites because I liked looking at the different fountains in this memorial. We circled around the tidal basin and ascended the steps to the Jefferson Memorial which was our last stop before going to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was a hot day, so it was nice to take a rest in some air conditioning. The Air and Space museum was after that, where we saw an IMAX movie about astronauts exploring space, then we got to see some of the exhibits and explore the airplanes around the museum. Before I knew it, we had walked almost 11 miles and I didn't even realize it. I was hungry though and was glad to sit and enjoy dinner before going back to the hotel.
Day 8) The final day of our trip did not disappoint! We took a city bus to the National Zoo. I enjoyed walking around the zoo and seeing different animals. It was nice to get out in the morning, because in the afternoon we had to drive back home.
Day 1) Hurricane Florence was swirling out in the Atlantic Ocean and was projected to fall somewhere in North Carolina. It caused us to start the vacation early (no problem for me!) We left Thursday morning and drove to Northern Virginia where we visited Government Island, a unique island surrounded by tidal marshland where stone was quarried for important buildings in Washington, DC. I was the bus driver and I led our trek around the hilly island. The end of the day was concluded with a yummy dinner at PF Chang's where I expertly used chop sticks to shove rice into my mouth. After dinner we eventually found our way to a hotel (A HOTEL,YAY) in Virginia.
Day 2) We took a relaxing drive to Altoona, where we would spend the next two nights. In Altoona, Dad showed us where he first when to college, then we had a surprise visit with Grammie and Gramps which included touring the Railroader's Memorial Museum and a fun dinner followed by checkers on the porch of Cracker Barrel. And yes, I did eat a cracker at cracker barrel!
Day 3) Arising early, we drove to State College for a college football game. We had the chance to see more of the Penn State campus in addition to an exciting football game. Luck would have it that we ran into the Nittany Lion mascot outside of the stadium to complete our football game experience. After goofing off with some special friends (kids of Mom's friend Doreen) we filled our bellies with delicious food from the Commons (aka the cafeteria where Mom and Dad used to eat when they were in college). What an experience!
Day 4) One would think we would be exhausted at this point after trekking all over a college campus, viewing a long college football game (which Penn State won!) but the next day we were ready for another new adventure in Pittsburgh. We arrived at Kennywood, an amusement park outside of Pittsburgh mid-morning. We spent the beautiful day riding rides before driving to downtown Pittsburgh. No sooner had we gotten to our huge hotel room, we left to go ride something called the Monongahela Incline. It was a weird train thing that drove on a track straight up a hill. At the top of the hill, we have beautiful views of Pittsburgh! Once we got back down to the bottom of the incline we had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and had fun watching a dancing fountain in a plaza along the river before heading back to bed.
Day 5) Well, Hurricane Florence finally caught up to us, so we took the opportunity to see the Carnegie Museum of Natural History while it rained outside. I had a blast looking at all the dinosaur bones that were in the museum. We also went to a show where we met some live animals: a snake, a lizard, a bird, a baby crocodile and a skunk! Fortunately the rain slowed an eventually stopped so that we could go to a Pittsburgh Pirate's baseball game! My first professional baseball game ever! It was so foggy, many of the skyscrapers were hidden by the fog, but the rain stayed away!
Day 7) Today we explored the Monuments of Washington, DC. Walking a huge circle around the National Mall, we started at the White House. We passed by the Washington Monument, then went through the World War II Veterans Memorial. The next stop was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. Abraham Lincoln looked huge in his chair! We took in the view of the mall with the Capitol in the background atop the steps there before wandering over to the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was an interesting stop before we arrived at the FDR Memorial. This was one of my favorites because I liked looking at the different fountains in this memorial. We circled around the tidal basin and ascended the steps to the Jefferson Memorial which was our last stop before going to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was a hot day, so it was nice to take a rest in some air conditioning. The Air and Space museum was after that, where we saw an IMAX movie about astronauts exploring space, then we got to see some of the exhibits and explore the airplanes around the museum. Before I knew it, we had walked almost 11 miles and I didn't even realize it. I was hungry though and was glad to sit and enjoy dinner before going back to the hotel.
Day 8) The final day of our trip did not disappoint! We took a city bus to the National Zoo. I enjoyed walking around the zoo and seeing different animals. It was nice to get out in the morning, because in the afternoon we had to drive back home.
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