last group of pictures from all over

We went to the Apple store in NYC the day the iPhones came out. There was a long line of folks sitting in lawnchairs along the street to get their phones that evening at 6pm.

News crews were lining the street in front also. The top of the store is perfectly clear with an elevator in the middle (under the apple). You can walk down or take the elevator down into the actual store part.

Dylan had to ride the ferris wheel in the Toys R Us store just to see the store from the ride. Brad was making faces at me while I took pictures.

Dylan

making

a

house

of

cards

in

the

hotel

room.

The entrance to Harvard.

It says something about everyone who enter seeking knowledge. And of course Dylan said "I don't want to enter".

Dylan &

Brad

sitting

in

Green

Monster

Section 1 during the Fenway park tour.

Dylan 'thinking' as he is looking at the falls. Notice his fingers stroking his chin.

Nolan Ryan's ho nitter display in Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. Special because Brad & I saw his last no hitter in Arlington, TX (b.d. - before Dylan).

Brad & Dylan showing their muscles after climbing the 194 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill monument in Boston and then back down again. This did not count the steps up the hill to GET to the monument in the first place. Michelle chickened out and stayed outside the monument in case first aid was needed. (sure.. that was the reason). The vendor at the bottom of the hill joked that he was selling water for $100 a bottle. :)

more pics from all around

Dylan and I flashing the peace sign before boarding an Air Force One.

:)

Brad & Michelle outside the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

Getting wet on the Maid of the Mist.

pictures of everything...

Dylan & Brad getting ready to go into Lake Tenkiller to finish their scuba training.

Getting in and out of the wetsuit was the toughest parts.

ballgame in Cincinnati - if you can see the scoreboard in the background - the Rangers are kicking the Reds hiney. :)

post NYC

Where to start. Dylan didn't like Manhattan. I have always loved it. Maybe because it is so big and busy and when I manage to go anywhere and do anything I feel a sense of accomplishment. :) After all of Dylan's complaining, Brad & I did realize we have always come in the November - December time frame where the weather is cold and the air is crisp, everyone is in the holiday spirit, the stores are all decorated.... The air is quite different when it is 99 degrees outside and it seems like all the tourists in the entire universe are walking the streets in Times Square. It was crowded and STIIIINKY! And not just us visitors - the streets and the subways stink too. And we had to go to 4 or 5 subways before anyone had a subway map. Ugh. It even wore some of the shine off my NYC memories :)

We arrived around 4pm, checked into a dinky hotel w/ a dinky elevator, and a dinky room. We had one double and a twin. There was barely room to walk on one side of the beds and no room on the other. I personally could not turn around in the bathroom unless I got into the shower. Dylan was NOT impressed right from the start. We left the room and walked down to Columbus Circle where we stopped at the Time Warner building to cool off. Dylan loved the Bose store and the Samsung store. (They display Samsung laptops in the store but won't sell them in the US but they say that Dell and HP laptops contain a lot of Samsung parts.) They had the largest LCD and Plasma TVs I have ever seen - quite fun. And Dylan had Bose demo their entertainments system for us (it ONLY runs around $5000 - of course, that doesn't include the TV).

We figured out enough of the subway to ride it near Times Square without a map and finally found the TKTS booth. (They moved it Mom - while they build a brand new booth there in the middle of Times Square.) We were able to get 3 tickets to SPAMALOT - the play based on Montey Python's Holy Grail movie. We got these 3 hours before the play starts and less than a block from Times Square and Dylan says... "What are we going to DO for THREE HOURS?" We managed to kill time at Planet Hollywood AND the largest toy store in the nation (Toys-R-Us in Times Square) and get to the play in time for Dylan to buy a button that says "I fart in your general direction." (A line from the movie and play.) The play was hilarious and we managed the trip from the theater area to our hotel just off Central Park West.

The second day we went to the Natural History museum. Brad & Dylan could easily spend a week in that place. It is pretty amazing and had a planetarium show about collisions in space between stars, galaxies, etc. An IMAX show about the latest dinosaur finds in the Gobi desert and in the badlands in the Southwest US (New Mexico or Arizona??? we have already forgotten) and a display about where the ideas for mythical creatures such as Unicorns and Big Foot and the like probably get started. Astronomy stuff, biology stuff, zoology stuff. Not really my kind of stuff ... until we got to the GEM HALL :). I thought of my sister Pam when I saw this HUGE star saphire. It was gorgeous. I bought a postcard of it but it doesn't do it justice because you can't tell how big it is and it doesn't show the color well. It is bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a baseball, I think. Not as colorful - more white but still beautiful. We finally got so exhausted we left. Not because we saw everything.

We took a break in our tiny room then headed back downtown on the subway to the TKTS booth. I convinced Dylan & Brad to go see CHICAGO :) We had fun watching it. For those of us who are older: Harry Hamlin and his wife (from dancing w/ the stars and Days of our Lives) were starring. The other actors were actually better in the play -- but it was great fun and the audience stayed to hear the orchestra play "All that Jazz" one more time after the play. Just to annoy Dylan I did "Jazz Hands" all the way back to the room on the subway and walk.

This morning we got up and out by 7:30 in order to get to Rockefeller to see the NBC tour. Finally we had come up with something that Dylan was excited about. He wanted to see the SNL studio. We found some T-shirts Dylan wanted (I think these are the first soveniers he has purchased aside from the minature bats we get at the baseball fields.) They are pretty funny and the tour was fun. Then we went to FAO Scwartz, the Apple Store (yes - we went to the apple store the same day that the IPhone is coming out. There were tons of 'true geeks' waiting in line in their lawn chairs with their mac laptops. They go on sale @ 6p.m. The news channels were on hand.) We walked back through Central Park trying to find Strawberry Fields. Dylan doesn't remember any of his previous trips to Central Park. Brad kept saying "We took you to play there. We went to a fountain over that way." No Memories. :(

Finally found strawberry fields and then left our tiny room and picked up our van at the La Guardia parking garage and headed to the Philadelphia area. We cannot believe that ANYONE would live in New Jersey and drive in that traffic. It would come to a complete stop off and on almost the whole way here. Dylan actually took a nap on the way here. Our room in the Philadelphia suburbs is about 3 x the size of our manhattan one. Location, location, location. Must be true. Miss you all. Please wish Janice & Gary a Happy Anniversary. Happy Birthday Andy (our card will be late but it will be postmarked from NYC).

The boys say I have written a BOOK! Love you all! -- Michelle

odd observation

Why do both the Harvard & Yale bookstores carry "... for Dummies" books?

post Boston

Whew! We are really wearing down. Boston was great fun. The last day we took a tour of Fenway park and the young lady that gave the tour was great. Fenway's and the Boston Red Sox new owners promise to continue to play in Fenway thru 2012 which will make Fenway a Historical Landmark and ensure that it will not be torn down. It is the 3rd smallest ballpark. In February they hold lotteries for individual game tickets (sets of 4) to sit on the Green Monster (the section names are actually Green Monster 1, Green Monster 2,...) or some outfield tables with wait staff. We think it would be fun to enter the lottery for the next 10 years -- see if we can win someday.

We went to Bunker Hill also and Brad and Dylan walked the 294 steps to the top of the monument. I decided that it was not a necessary experience for me. We also stopped by MIT and Harvard. MIT has T-shirts in the book store stating that "Not everyone can go to MIT, that is why Harvard was invented." :) Harvard is a really neat area and the edge of campus has 2 story buildings around the edge (i think dorm rooms) making the interior campus very peaceful even though traffic and street performers are creating lots of noise outside. We traveled miles on the Boston subway and felt very safe.

BTW - There are Dunkin' Donuts stores EVERYWHERE we go. I am laughing about it because every time we turn around, there is another one! We also have seen several Ben & Jerry ice cream stores but since I am the only ice cream nut, we haven't made a special stop for it.

I am sure there is something else I am not telling - we can feel ourselves slowing down. Today we are going to see Plymouth rock & the Mayflower II then go to Connecticut. We may stop at Yale on the way, then take in a movie before heading into New York.

Missing you all.

Cooperstown, Ticonderoga, & Boston

Hi Again!!!!!
I forgot to mention that Dylan had a unique experience in Canada. He was riding in the elevator by himself when a whole family started trying to converse with him in French. lol. I would have loved to see his face. He didn't say "I don't speak French" or anything - he just smiled at them. I wonder how long it took them to realize he didn't understand.

We have been going so hard and fast we are exhausted! We went to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was fun and interesting. Dylan loved the town because every store in town is a baseball store except for the restaurants. :) He said he has never seen so many baseball stores in one place! Cooperstown doesn't have much else in it but it is very quaint. If we go back we will stay in a bed & breakfast in town. They are all over town and the town is so green with a beautiful lake and lots of people walking and riding bikes.

We drove to the Adirondacks to camp out. Did you know that when you camp out in the Northeast that you camp 10 feet from the people camping next to you. Not much of wilderness feeling. How do you know when your campsite is TOO family friendly?? When you cross camp and see a man carrying a pair of boys undershorts on a 3 foot long stick towards the bathroom. That was pretty funny.

We went to Fort Ticonderoga. This fort is between Lake George and Lake Champlain and was fought over by the Indians, French, British, & Americans over about 100 years. They fired off a musket shot while we were there, we saw a pair of dueling pistols given to George Washington, lots of cannons built in France and taken to the Fort when the French built the fort to protect their trading there. The cannons were later transported from the Fort to Boston for George Washington to use them to fight the British in the revolutionary war. Also - there was some stuff about the USS Ticonderoga which happened to pick up the last 2 apollos ships from the ocean.

Then we drove to Boston. Our hotel has several Italian houseworkers and we spent the day in the Northern Boston area which is full of Italian restaurants and bakeries and the "Freedom Trail". I kept wondering if we were in a Mob area. (too many movies). We went to church service in the old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea). It was neat. Then we followed the trail. Saw a bunch of street performers, Paul Revere's house, Samuel Adams and John Hancocks resting place. We were exhausted and came back around 4pm. We figured out the trains pretty well. Dylan is pretty confident considering the last time he road a subway was when he was around 8 I guess.

Tomorrow we are going to see some more of Boston. Probably Fenway park, maybe JFK's museum. We are getting tired of packing up so frequently and are really looking forward to getting to Julie's for a while. :)

Day ?

The Cleveland Indians game shown left.

Seagulls were swarming the upper decks where we were. I tried to get pictures of them. Notice the foul ball pole. (We sat in the cheap seats.)

I am so confused I should probably stop numbering. :)

Can you believe we are in Canada, eh? We decided to come over and see the falls from this side also. Yesterday we rode the maid in the mist - it was beautiful. Last night we walked along the falls - they light them up at night. Alternately white then colors. Ick on the red. No one wants to see flowing red stuff do they?

Anyway, some rubber stuff was coming loose on the van and we stopped yesterday to eat lunch and a nice New York glass guy fixed it right up for us. He didn't even want us to pay him (but we did). He had a strong New York accent but I can't reproduce it. So I am stuck only having fun saying 'eh?' to Dylan and Brad all evening last night until I am sure they were sick of it, eh?

Today we are going to the Cave of the Winds then to Cooperstown. We are uploading more pictures today off our phones. Maybe at Julie's we will take time to upload the ones from our camera.

Miss & Love You All!!

dylan's pictures

intercontinental ballistic missile: it was the shortest one

dog parachute: the dog that used it got over 2000 flying hours

Nuclear bomb

apollo 16 capsule

Day 3 & 4

Day 1 was really day 1 & 2. The days are already running together and we have lost track of what day of the week it is! :)

We drove to the Air Force museum. It was very cool. Air Force One's from Roosevelt to Johnson (the one Johnson took the oath of office from). In several they had mannequin presidential look-alikes. The first one we saw took us by complete surprise... kinda freaky. Now Dylan has a picture of a dead president in his cell phone -- also kind of freaky. The planes were much smaller than I expected - very narrow.
Also saw experimental aircraft from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Nothing newer. Lots of stuff that they flew into the outerspace and 'glided' back down. Nothing like gliding at 200 mph, huh?
Saw rockets also. HUGE. Lots of Wright brothers artifacts. They built their very own windtunnel for testing and could get 160 mph winds inside - isn't that incredible for 2 bicycle mechanics? Amazing. Also an old Apollo capsule.
Did you know one guy wanted to test a two stage parachute for jumping out of the atmosphere (w/ oxygen). He jumped from 110,000 feet. What was he thinking? Can't remember if this is the same guy who froze his eyeballs changing his oxygen so high up it was -96 degrees. Nuts.

Drove to Mohican State Park in Ohio. Hiked a trail to see the 'big' falls and little falls. Big falls is so named because it falls 4 stories w/ a trickle of water. Little falls has a lot more water but you have to hike down to the very edge to be able to see it. I declined. Dylan went closest, Brad took pictures of Dylan. It was beautiful countryside and the trail went for 5 miles. WHEW! Dylan built a really great fire that night so we were able to lounge around a bit before hitting the tent.

Day 4 we drove thru Amish country. Saw several buggies, great countryside, lots of silos and miles of farmland. If it was flatter it might have reminded us of Oklahoma. The barns in this area are much bigger than what we see in Ok. Is that because their winters are longer or because their farms are larger?? Not sure. Many houses had patio chairs outside facing their corn fields. :) Ate at a Dutch restaurant and had a HUGE breakfast of homemade bisquits, etc. The shops we stopped at were too commercial -- did buy some local cheese and maple syrup.

Arrived in Cleveland as it began raining and walked quickly into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Lots of fun. There was a movie that went through all the inductees and showed short interviews and lots of different music. Dylan has a new artist he is interested in. Some guy from the 60s or 70s. He sounds a bit country to Brad and I (don't tell him that). Dylan listens for guitar rythyms in music and picked him from that. :) There was a $45 poster for the band cream ( or creme?) that was only about 1' by 3'. Crazy. Dylan thinks it was from their last reunion.

Went to Cleveland Indians game and they lost :( to the Phillies. Exciting game but the Indians couldn't hold them. Got w/ in one point of catching up. We are heading out to Niagara today. Slight change of schedule from what I sent out. Need to fit in the Baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown. Why didn't we think of that???? :)

Hope you are all well - we are missing all of you but having big fun. If you have a miracle cure for bug bites - leave a comment :)

Michelle & Brad.

Day 1 Observations

There is a big difference between a campsite with showers and a campsite with showers and shower curtains.

Effingham is a terrible name for a city. (Just say it out loud a couple of times).

Dylan has nothing to add.

Went to see Cincinnati Reds vs. Texas Rangers and the Rangers beat them well! Dylan is pleased.

More later.