There are so many things I've been doing, it's incredible. First of all--Philadelphia. The first thing we did was take a tour of Independence Hall. The capital of the US used to be Philadelphia. I had a real Philly cheesesteak sandwich from Pat's King of Steaks and it was literally one of the best things I've ever eaten. After that we saw the Liberty Bell, and unfortunately I learned nothing about it. We saw where Ben Franklin's grave and the place where he worked and ran up the steps from the movie Rocky. :) We were all yelling victoriously at the top. We drove through Amish country in a town called Intercourse... We had a lot of fun toying with that name... I did learn a lot about the Amish but I have too many other things to talk about. Gettysburg was the last place we went to in that area. It was very cool, and again, too many other things to talk about.
After ariving back in DC, my grandpa had to go straight to the hospital for emergency eye surgery. He had a retinal detachment and couldn't even see out of his right eye. He had a cataract surgery abnout 30 years ago which, for some reason (we don't know why), can cause a higher risk for retinal detachment. They put a gas bubble in his eye to push his retina back against the supportive tissue. (He had us research it so we'd know all about it.) We had planned to do a few more things in DC but he couldn't drive. He's doing better now though.
My dad, brothers, and I left for New York on the 5th and met my aunt and uncle there pretty late at night. But time doesn't really matter there, so we were out 'til like 3 in the morning. We went to Times Square and got peanuts and a big pretzel from some carts. It was sort of mesmorizing just to see everything there. I feel like I should be more used to seeing tall buildings. The next day we went to the top of the Rockefeller Center and got a great view of the city. At FAO Schwartz we played the Big Piano and actually got to see a couple of the employees there perform a few songs! We all got animal puppets. We walked a very tiny bit into Central Park just to sort of get the gist of it. While looking for a taxi at the hotel (we needed two for 6 people), my dad got us a LIMO! The driver (Adelson) took us where we could see the Statue of Liberty from a distance and the Bodies Exhibit by the seaport. That was very interesting...There's a bunch of real (dead) people that are all cut open and have no skin. They somehow replaced all the water in the organs and things with silicone...something silicone. They were all just stiff, out in the o[en, in different action poses. There were a bunch of different sections--skeletal, muscular, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, reproductive, and there was a separate room for fetal development. I couldn't stand to look in any of the bodies' eyes...it made me realize that they were real people. And they just looked pretty weird. After that we went to Ground Zero...It was very emotional. We had dinner in Little Italy. It took us a long time to leave the next day. We took a subway just for the experience and it got delayed. We were going to go up the Empire State Building but we kind of got that experience at the Top of the Rock, so we just hung out at a restaurant at the bottom for a little while.
That night, my aunt and uncle took us up to their house in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. On the way there by brothers stuck their puppets out the window and talked to people with them. They got an elephant and a hippo; mine's an alligator. It only took 35 minutes to drive through Rhode Island. The next morning we went to the beach right next to their house. The Atlantic is way warmer than the Pacific and it's calmer but the beaches are much rockier. We also went down to Rhode Island for some nicer beaches and other things to see. We looked at some big mansions that people use in the summer and it was totally the Great Gatsby setting. We drove out to a (private) beach and enjoyed the waves for a bit. The sand was much nicer there. It started pouring down rain and the waves picked up a lot, plowing me over several times. It was extremely fun though and one of the best times I had on my whole trip. The next day we went to Boston. First thing, we took a Duck Boat tour of the city. After that we got a tour of Fenway Park! Most of the people there were Yankee fans. :P Boo. Red Sox all the way. That evening I slurped an oyster for the first time, and it wasn't bad! I put cocktail sauce on it and it just tasted like the sauce. Why is it you're "not supposed" to chew it? The next day we went to another beach and we swam in the ocean a bunch. This was a very rocky beach and I cut my foot. It hurta a lot more now but hopefully it won't be infected. That salt water burned. We went to Boston again the day after that and walked the Freedom Trail. We saw Paul Revere's house and grave and did a lot of shopping. That evening we went to a restaurant and I had lobster for the first time too! I'm kind of a pro at getting the meat out...no big deal... But I'm pretty sure I prefer crab to lobster. We took a plane back to DC. It was so fun to go there and I'd really love to come back some day. :)
Today in DC we went to the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. My grandpa was actually in the Vietnam War but he was stationed in Japan. He knew a couple guys that died in the war and we found their names on the wall. While we were there it started DUMPING rain and we all got totally soaked. I'm going home the day after tomorrow! Jake is going to Europe tomorrow with my dad. I'm so jealous. He'll have so much fun! A few days after I get home I'm going to Seattle. This summer is sort of great I think...besides my stupid foot, that is. And now I'm sick.
