Vacation

Pennsylvania

Anna Blankenheim Vacation , , , , , ,

The next state on our road trip was beautiful Pennsylvania. After a rough start in Philly/New Jersey, we returned to Philadelphia to check out a couple of the key attractions. The first was Independence Hall. We didn’t actually go in because the lines were crazy long, but it was a beautiful building to look at. This is where both the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the US Constitution was debated and adopted. It’s always cool to me to stand somewhere that history was made. We didn’t go see the Liberty Bell because the line for that was super long too.

Independence Hall
Independence Hall

We stopped for lunch at the Famous 4th Street Deli for lunch. Let’s just say that they don’t do things small there… Mike had an enormous sandwich and I had a pretty good grilled cheese. We ordered fries that came in a gigantic mound. The food was awesome and the walls were lined with pictures of famous people who visited – from movie stars to presidents. I definitely recommend visiting this place!

After lunch we started our drive across the state towards Gettysburg. Along the way, we passed through Lancaster County, home of the Amish.

Amish Buggy
Amish Buggy

Gettysburg was absolutely amazing. It took a lot longer than we had expected… we spent an entire day doing the auto tour… you basically drive yourself to sixteen different points on the battlefield based on a map that the visitors center provides. I was amazed at how big the battlefield actually was. We started with the museum which walked you through the battle and had some great artifacts. I really liked the self tour… we could go at our own pace and take time for lunch when we felt like it.

Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg Battlefield

There were amazing monuments scattered throughout the battlefield – both to the North and South. The North basically had a monument for each regiment, while the South went state by state. They were absolutely beautiful and reflected the individuality of each group. I liked the Alabama memorial (my grandpa is from there!):

Alabama Memorial
Alabama Memorial

Even though we had a rough start in Pennsylvania, we ended up having a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and we really loved seeing the sights!

New Jersey

Anna Blankenheim Vacation , , , , ,

The year that Mike and I got engaged we were on a road trip… from Seattle into Canada. The year prior we had done one through Wyoming. Last year for our first anniversary, we went up the Northern California coast and into Oregon. We’ve decided that we pretty much love those kinds of trips – they give us the freedom to go where we want, when we want. He’s even convinced me that it’s ok to book your hotel rooms the day of. Those of you who know me well know that something like that totally freaks out the OCD in me. But it works, we have fun, and we’ve come up with some great stories. We’ve decided that we’re going to continue the tradition and do a road trip for every anniversary.

This year, we decided to fly out to the East Coast and rent a car. We flew into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and drove through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington DC, New Jersey, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It was a seriously great adventure! I’ve decided that there’s way too much to post in a single post, so I’m going to go by state. Today’s state is New Jersey.

Wait, you ask. Didn’t you fly into Philly? Yes, we did. I had booked two hotel rooms – the very first night we were there and the very last night, just to make things easy. I figured we got there late and it’d be nice to note have to think about where we were going. Our flights were surprisingly smooth – one layover and it was virtually non-existent. We landed in Philly at around 9pm and headed towards the hotel, which was just across the bridge in New Jersey. That’s where it all went wrong.

Apparently, I forgot to look at the hotel reviews when I booked it on Expedia:

We asked for a non-smoking room and the room we were given REEKED of cigarettes.

This room was infested with bed bugs.

First impression – stepped on a used condom walking into the hotel.

Those are the nice ones. There are also discussions of “ladies of the night”, cigarette burns on the sheets, drug transactions, and all of the seedy neighboring establishments. When we got there, the “manager” checked us in and gave us our keys. We went to the room and when I opened the door a serious smokey smell came out… when I had specifically requested a non-smoking room. We went back down and asked to change rooms… the manager asked us to come with him. He went to open the other room that he planned to give us only to find that the room was already open – and he muttered something about someone staying the prior night that shouldn’t have.

If that wasn’t enough, I also didn’t know that it was in the lovely little city of Camden. For those of you unfamiliar with Camden, three of its mayors have been jailed for corruption and at the end of 2012 the FBI ranked it #1  violent crime per capita of cities with over 50,000 residents. Had I known all of this, I may have chosen a different hotel… despite the fact that it looked really close to where we wanted to go. Needless to say, we politely asked for our money back and moved on. Word to the wise, don’t stay at the Days Inn Brooklawn Philadelphia. Just sayin’.

By this point, it was almost 11pm, we’d been up all day and really just wanted to go to bed. We made the 1/2 hour or so drive to Ocean City, NJ where we booked a lovely hotel that literally was directly on the beach. MUCH better! The next morning we woke up and drove into Atlantic City. We wandered down the boardwalk and checked out the sights.

The Atlantic City Boardwalk
The Atlantic City Boardwalk
Mike & I On The Jersey Shore
Mike & I On The Jersey Shore
Who Knew?
Who Knew?

 

From there we headed back into Pennsylvania… stay tuned for the next post! I’ll eventually get around to getting all of the pictures up on Facebook… I’m home sick with a heck of a cold right now, so I’m trying to do some serious resting.

A Whale Of A Tale

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I know it’s been a while, but I was on vacation and I’ve discovered that I’m getting better and better at this whole relaxing thing. Those of you who follow me on Facebook saw that I posted a few pictures and status updates, but not nearly as much as I have in the past.

That’s because I was busy catching fish:

Fish In The Wind
Fish In The Wind

It was a little bit breezy out that day, can you tell? Mike and I spent the week down in Newport Beach with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew. It was really a fun time – we took the boat down. I finally got to go on it, after three years of dating and almost two years of marriage. No, my husband is not a jerk that won’t take me fishing, it’s just that whenever they do go, it’s typically during the week when I’m at work. Apparently the tuna don’t understand the five day work week. Anyway, we spent the entire week fishing, dolphin watching, sea lion (seal?) watching, and playing on the beach. I boogie boarded with the kids and taught them to paddle board. We even took the boat over to Catalina for the night and hung out on the island.

I did, however, get the dreaded sunburn. I know, I should know better – I got distracted once I put it on my face and ended up forgetting the rest of me. Two hours and a lot of boogie boarding later, I ended up with a gnarly sunburn just about everywhere besides my face. Coincidence? I think not.

The boys did manage to get some serious fishing (sans wives and kids) and caught/saw some interesting stuff. This is a mola. It scares me:

Mola
Mola

They also came upon a shark, sheep head fish, perch, sea bass, and god knows what else.

Finally, the real reason we headed down for the week… my stepdaughter graduated from college! Without getting all stepmother mushy, I’m really proud of her!

Graduate!
Graduate!