My big to-do back east

Here it is...the moment you've all been waiting for. Pictures of someone else's trip. Is there anything more boring? Please don't feel any obligation to read this post. However, I did have the time of my life and would like to send a big thanks to Jacob and Karina for being excellent hosts/tour guides/fellow Rock Band players. I loved it!! Karina is a great cook. I'm so glad I got to spend most of the trip with her! She was fabulous for putting up with my inability to figure out the public transportation and multiple pea brained schemes.
Anyway, back to the travelogue...
This is a picture of me and Jacob showing appropriate respect to the thousands of people who died in Vietnam. The Vietnam Memorial is very sobering. The names even disappear when it rains! We also visited the Holocaust Museum (no pictures of that, though). Both places are definite downers, but I'm glad we visited them. It's a good reality check and so important to learn about.



President Lincoln was a great guy. So are the hundreds of other people who wanted to visit his big statue and want to get in your picture.















The big ole Washington Monument. It's quite impressive, in fact. Jacob, who's trying to brush up on his gang-speak, called it 'missle niss'. Whatever that means.


























Remember the movie "The Dark Crystal"? We visited some of the Smithsonians (there are so many!) and there was a special exhibit for Jim Henson. It was really cool and on the way out, I took a picture of this dress from said movie which was a BIG NO NO. We were escorted out of the museum by three security guards for such a deliquent act. It was so funny! Leave it to me to get kicked out of the Muppet Museum.








I almost died. The heat/humidity was almost too much for me! I was a lobster and drank gallons of water. Don't worry, I pulled through.











Jacob and Karina had an office party at Dave and Buster's. It's a big arcade/restaurant/bar. Karina really enjoyed shooting things. This would be a good time to mention that she also likes chopping things... isn't she great?









Calling all pickle fans! (That would be Mindy.) There is a restaurant in Baltimore called Pickles Pub-right across from Orioles stadium. I knew I had to eat there, so I drug Karina down there. It was closed. I was so sad! We ended up eating next door, and I had a cheesesteak. Delicious!









Down don't get too excited-this is a hand dryer. You stick your hands in, they get blasted with hot air, and in 12 seconds Voila! Dry hands. It's really quite neato.









Monday was spent in Baltimore. We took a tour of the city/harbor called "Ride the Ducks". It's on a bus that goes into the water and automatically becomes a boat. They give everyone these quacker things and it is, in fact, quite humiliating. Very tacky. But the tour was really interesting. Baltimore is beautiful! And not nearly as hot as DC. I think we both really enjoyed it mucho mucho. My pictures of Baltimore turned out sort of stupid, so I'll spare the blog.

New York City!!! Times Square!!!
Karina and I stayed overnight at the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Lower West Side (Tribeca district). It was right on the subway line and very clean. Day one was spent on the double decker tour bus that went around to all the major sights of Manhattan. It's a pretty overwhelming place, but I love it. Great shopping, interesting people, lots of lights, yummy food, not to mention dirt, crime, and pollution. What else could you want? We spent a lot of time in Times Square this day.

Our second day in 'the city' was started off in Central Park. I think we both really loved it here. It's very pretty and you could almost take a break from all the people here. Almost. This is a tribute to John Lennon. Someone took a picture of me and Karina by the Strawberry Fields, but he did it wrong.
We saw a shooting of Gossip Girl, but neither of us had seen that show so we didn't stick around.

Also, the petting zoo was closed. sniffle.

Carrie and Kary, big city babes.

Question: What happens if you honk on 5th Avenue?

Answer: You PAY.

The Statue of Liberty! errrr......

More Central Park.

more park....(it's a super cool place, okay?)

I hauled Karina to Serendipity for a frozen hot chocolate. SO GOOD. But I don't think she's forgiven me yet for making her go there with me. (but it was tasty, right?)

Outside the shop/cafe.

Another thing Karina might not have forgiven me for-dragging her to Phantom of the Opera. It's been on my top ten list of things to do before I die-see Phantom on Broadway. I didn't realize how important this was to me until we were there. It was so good!! Karina got bad reviews from Jacob, who hasn't yet learned about good music or culture. But we'll let that slide. She was a trooper and didn't complain.

A terrible picture of the chandelier. If you're not familiar with the story, it's an important part of the musical. I think I could spend a week just going to Broadway shows. I love it so much!

Our trip was completed with bunny ears at the Toys R Us store in Times Square.

I had a little trouble figuring out the subway system towards the end of the trip. Oops! But what's a trip to NYC without getting lost underground?









I don't think anything could have spoiled this trip for me-I can sleep better at night now that I've seen the East Coast. Karina was the perfect travel companion/ sister/ friend. She has even better pictures that I hope she'll share. A few other highlights:

-Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike (you have to be a Simon and Garfunkel fan to understand)

-Sleeping through the night. Waking up when I was ready.

-Eating a New York pizza. And lots of other good food.

-A bouncer from Planet Hollywood asking us if we were leaving because we were underage. How flattering. He also said "You guys don't look like lesbians."

There are many, many more highlights, but I will spare us all! I still haven't recovered completely from our stomach flu, so it's time for bed. Thanks again, J and K. You are great! It took me a long time to convince myself that I should go, but I don't regret any of it! SO FUN!!