The NYC Trip 12 Years in the Making

Since I was 12, when my parents would ask where I wanted to go for family vacation and I would always say New York City.  I was always told that sometime just mom and I would go.  In high school, I went to NYC for band trip (with mom as a chaperone) but there was lots that we didn't see since we were with 300 high school students.  After 12 years of asking, the long awaited trip was planned.  We hit the big tourist destinations when we were there on band trip so we decided to focus mainly on museums while we were there (especially since these are things we would never have been able to do on a family vacation with my  dad and brother).

Mom and I drove out on Wednesday and back on Sunday leaving us 3 days in the city.  We stayed in New Jersey and made it to our hotel after about 12 hours on the road (including stops).  It has been a while since I had been on a road trip and I was out of practice.  Even with doing some of the driving, I was getting very antsy by the end of the trip.

You can't tell but this is Met Life Stadium.  I needed a picture from NJ.

Our first day we went to the Met after walking around Times Square and Central Park.  The Met was huge and full of art.  It reminded me of the Louvre with each turn revealing more art.  We were going to skip an area and then glanced in and saw some Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas so naturally we had to take a look around.  The highlight of the Met was a temporary Fashion exhibit, Manus x Machina.  They had many different designer dresses from 100 years ago up until this year.  Some exhibits focused on dresses made of plastic drinking straws or dresses made with parts of a 3D printer.

I told mom it was a good thing I already had my wedding dress picked out or I would want this.

After the Met we went to see Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.  It was amazing but I also love Broadway and Fiddler so I may not be the best judge.  Times Square at night was brighter than it was during the day and had even more people.  After a slight mix up on the way back to our hotel in Jersey, we got home late and with sore feet.  We walked a total of 8.5 miles on Friday and we weren't used to it to say the least.  (I realized numerous days later I somehow sprained my big toe with all the walking.)

Times Square as we left Fiddler on the Roof.

Friday we went to the Guggenheim museum and then to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  The Guggenheim was amazing architecture and contemporary art- not my favorite but I recognized a few artists after studying them during my study abroad in Europe.  The 9/11 Memorial Museum was very moving and well done.  That evening we had dinner with my mom's old roommate who lives in NYC and she went with us to make sure we got on the right bus which was very helpful.  Friday we took the subway since mom and I both had sore feet and I found out I am very comfortable navigating the subway system when I have my phone (with google maps) in hand.  Above ground, I am still relatively useless with directions.

Guggenheim Museum

Saturday was our last day in the city and we went to the American Museum of Natural History.  I love natural history museums but after spending a lot of time in the Field Museum when we were in Chicago two months previous and not wanting to send all day at the museum we were able to pick and choose some of what we saw.  

Biggest canoe I've ever seen.

We ended our trip with some shopping at the Macy's flagship store.  Some parts of the store had the original wooden escalators which were quieter than the new ones.  It had been a while since mom and I had been shopping together and we enjoyed looking at dresses I could wear to one of my wedding showers and then looked at some dresses my mom could wear to the wedding.  (I did find one and got the originally $100 dress for $35, which I used a gift card to pay for.)  We had a quick slice of pizza at one of the many restaurants inside Macy's before heading back to the hotel to rest up before our drive back.

Chicago pizza is better.

As we were leaving my mom said she would be fine if she was never back in NYC again.  I think I would enjoy spending a little more time there.  Chicago is my "big city" of preference but New York has it's own things to offer and as always when visiting some place, there is no way to see everything.

Chicago Again!

In May, Joe and I finally went on our first real trip together (we have been together for 4.5 years so it was long over due).  Our friend is in Chicago for an internship this summer so we knew we wanted to go visit.  As we compared schedules, we realized that Memorial Day weekend was the best time to do this so neither Joe or I had to take off work.  We decided to take the train down out of Battle Creek so we could leave after Joe got out of class on Friday.  Once again, I was on a train to Chicago with report cards around the corner so I spent my train ride to and from Chicago grading.  We overslept our first morning there but sleep was so nice, especially at the end of the school year.  After we figured out our bus pass, we headed to the Field Museum with our friend and her roommate.

Sue!

While this was my fourth time in Chicago, I had not been to the Field Museum in 14 years.  I knew Sue was there but didn't remember much else until we were going through the exhibits.  We spent over four hours at the museum and loved all of it!

My favorite picture from the trip.

After we left the museum, we walked around Chicago and did the tourist stuff.  The Bean, Magnificent Mile, Pizza, etc.  It was hot and busy but definitely worth it. Joe had never been to the heart of Chicago before so he was enjoying it a lot (more than I expected him to).  

Just us and the hundreds of other people taking pictures with the sign.

A big condition of going to Chicago was that Joe wanted to go to a Cubs game.  He had been to one before but they weren't very good at the time and lost the game.  Our friend lived about a mile from Wrigley so we walked over there after breakfast.  It was really fun experiencing a game in an original stadium and the atmosphere is so different for games in different places.  The Cubs won and we were able to see the Blue W fly over the stadium!

I wonder where we are from?

Our train out wasn't until Monday evening so we had most of the day to spend in the city.  We decided to walk around Navy Pier and the Mag Mile some more.  The weather was great and we loved walking around and enjoying it!  Our weekend was a blast and I think Joe has caught a bit of my wanderlust as well.  Our next big trip together will be our honeymoon and I cannot wait!

Big Ten Stadium Tour: Purdue Edition

Even keeping up with a travel blog is hard, especially as a first year teacher. So, 8 months late, I present the post on the first stop of our stadium tour...

For anyone who doesn't know us well, Joe and I are huge MSU football fans.  We have had season tickets since college and enjoy going to games.  The Big Ten also holds a special place in our hearts and we decided that it would be fun to go to all of the football stadiums in the B1G.  I love traveling and Joe loves football so this is a great way to do both.  

We have been to many MSU games so before we even started traveling, we had one stadium down.  

MSU vs Oregon Game

After looking at the MSU game schedule (since we weren't missing any MSU home games) and other things we had planned on weekends in the fall, we decided to start our stadium tour at Purdue.  My aunt went to Purdue so we were able to get a few pointers before we left which was very helpful.  On October 10, we headed out before 7AM to drive down to West Lafayette, IN to watch the Purdue Boilermakers take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  

Purdue Union - it looks very similar to the architectural style of the MSU Union.

We got lunch and beer and spent time walking around campus.  It was cool to see the campus and compare the atmosphere on game day to that of MSU.  Downtown West Lafayette was similar to Downtown EL on game days.  People enjoying food, drinks, and good company.  

The atmosphere on campus was very different than at MSU on game days.  At MSU there are people EVERYWHERE on campus.  You can't walk more than 10 feet without finding a tailgate.  Purdue University doesn't seem to lift their open container laws on campus for game days so the only tailgating was in the parking lots around the stadium.  It was very different than what we are used to but it was nice to walk around a quiet campus and see the sights.

Outside the Stadium

This was something like our fifth weekend in a row at a football game and it was the BEST weather we had for a game all season.  It was 70 and sunny most of the day and there was not a cloud in the sky!

We sat in the front row!  Seating is so low to the ground that these were the cheapest seats.

There was a very different atmosphere at the stadium than at MSU football games.  The stadium was only about half-full and neither team playing was fantastic.  The atmosphere was very laid back and people near us were talking to the cheerleaders and mascots on the field.  There was also no security guarding the entrance to the field but I guess with about 40,000 fewer fans than at MSU (and a team that isn't nearly as good) it wasn't needed.

Purdue Pete- the creepiest mascot in the Big Ten.
He  needs a new head, part of his hair was taped on with electrical tape.

The game started at 3:30 and we stayed for three quarters before we headed out.  The drive was  about 4.5 hours so we planned on doing the trip in a day.  It made for a very long day as we spent about 18 hours away from home.  We decided that next time we will need a hotel for at least one night if we will be gone for that long.

Purdue was a great first stop on the tour.  While it is only a start, we were excited to get going on our B1G stadium tour.  We are already working on plans for the upcoming football season! 

Chicago for a Day!

As much as I considered making this more than just a blog for me to reminisce about my travels, I find it hard enough to keep up just for that purpose so for now, traveling it is.  

Being out of college, this is the first year I didn't take some sort of service trip for spring break.  I had wanted to do some sort of community service this spring break and spent 2 days with my grandma who broke her hip this winter; if that doesn't count as helping those in need, I'm not sure what does.  My family had told me I would need to store up my patience for taking her on errands and to appointments but she really has nothing on 90 fifth graders.  

Since I knew that I would not be taking a spring break trip in April, I jumped on the opportunity to go to Chicago with some friends from high school.  Since many of my friends are graduating this May, they wanted to take a spring break trip that didn't take all week.  While everyone else took the train down Friday morning, I had to work on Friday and found it worked best for me to take the train out of Battle Creek leaving at 9pm on Friday.  This was my first time taking a train in the US, and let me tell you, Europe has rail transportation figured out much better than the US does.  By the time the train got to Battle Creek it was 45 minutes late and we ended up in Chicago an hour later than scheduled.  The only train rides that bad in Europe were in and out of Paris.  The delay did give me some time to grade papers (two days before report cards went out).  

Otters: the main reason we went to Shedd Aquarium

Saturday we started the day at Shedd Aquarium and meet up with another friend who lives in Illinois and took the train up for the day.  I hadn't been to an aquarium in years and hadn't been to Shedd since I was 10 so I really enjoyed it.  We walked 2 miles in the aquarium alone (part of the 11 mile total for the day) and got to see some awesome aquatic life.  They also had exhibits about sustainability in the Amazon and the Philippians which made my museum-nerd self happy.  

This leafy sea dragon was posing for me

After the aquarium we did the normal Chicago stuff, the Bean, pizza, cheesecake, and a brief stop in the American Girl Place to make my ten-year-old self happy.  After resting (and grading for me) at the hotel for a bit, we went out to find a bar.  Despite finding a bar that made a delicious milkshake martini, I was starting to feel like the old person in the group (even though I was the second youngest).  Up until midnight two nights in a row was a stretch during college so now with 6am wake-ups it was especially challenging.  The 6:30am walk to the train station came all too early, more so for everyone else as I found I was the only morning person in the group.

No trip to Chicago is complete without Pizza!

I love every opportunity I get to travel, even if it is just a day.  I find that every opportunity I have to travel is kindling for my wanderlust fire that I hope will never go out.  

Family Vacation 2014

This years family vacation was the first joint-family vacation that we have taken, and it started purely by coincidence.  One of my cousins started in May as a park ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Colorado has been on the list of possible family vacations for many years so it was our chance to go.  It just so happened that my aunt, uncle, and another cousin were planning on going out there the same week.  Long story short, we got a vacation house for the week and ended up with 9 people in the house most of the week, including my grandma who turned 84 a few days after we got back.

View from the porch of the vacation house

My immediate family drove out to Colorado, stopping in Iowa the first night to see family friends and stay the night in a hotel.  We have had lots of practice with long car rides but this was the first one in 12 years we traveled in a sedan.  At 5'8", I'm tied with mom for the shortest person in the family so the Fusion got a bit cramped at times.  Mom got The DaVinci Code on audiobook so we listened to that on the way out and I spent a lot of time knitting both there and back.

We spent most of the time there in the park.  Monday we drove to Alpine Visitor Center and did some short walking trips and turnouts from there.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  The altitude and I weren't getting along very well, especially the first day.  My ankles swell at high altitudes which is unpleasant when you want to spend most of the day on your feet.  Luckily that went away after the first day.

On top of the world!

That night we all went back into the park and walked around Bear Lake.  We went late enough that the sun was just starting to set and there were very few people there.  

Bear Lake

Tuesday we did some hiking to a few of the various lakes in the park.  With 2 families worth of people we were able to split up and do longer route for those interested.  I went on the longer route and the only reason I was the slowest person was because I'm uncoordinated and there were lots of rocks and tree roots I needed to not trip over.  We ended up hiking about 7 miles (with the last half mile being all uphill).

We hiked to Alberta Falls

On Wednesday we went to visit some of my mom and aunt's cousins in Boulder.  This was especially exciting for them since we didn't tell them until the night before that my Grandma (their aunt) was also going to be there.  While they caught up, the rest of us walked around University of Colorado-Boulder's campus.  It was gorgeous; nicer than MSU (and that's a tall order!).

Different Ivy covered halls

Thursday we drove to the other side of the park to Grand Lake. While we were there we witnessed the weather change faster than in Michigan.  It went from rain to hail and back to sun in the matter of an hour.  Once things dried out a bit, we went to a waterfall.  Even Nana made it up to see it.  We also saw more wild-life on this side of the park which was nice, especially for Nana who hadn't been out west much/at all before.

Just Stunning

My family headed out Friday morning so we could stop a few places along the way and make it back on Sunday.  We went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and saw some pretty cool rock formations before heading back through Kansas.  Kansas has a whole lotta nothing for a really long time.  I couldn't decided if Kansas, Nebraska, or South Dakota were more boring to drive across.  I was at least able to get some reading done in the car, something I normally can't do.  In Kansas we stopped at Flint Hills Discovery Center and learned about the tall grass prairie.  I got my museum fix in and we didn't stay long enough to make Pat verbally complain so it was good for everyone.

Check out that root system

 Saturday night, we stopped in St. Louis, Missouri to go up in the Gateway Arch and have dinner.  I am always aware how fortunate I am to have so many experiences to travel but was reminded when I realized I was the only member of my family to have been to the Arch before.  While we were waiting in line at the Arch, we heard the family in front of us say they also were coming from Colorado.  This family of 6 had spent 20 days together and were still talking to each other, a feat I don't think my family is capable of.  Further discussion revealed that they were from the same area of Pennsylvania my parents lived for a while, most the kids were born at the same hospital I was, and the dad worked at the company my dad used to work for and knew many of the same  people.  It really is a small world.

  

Night view from the Arch

As a whole, the trip was great!  We got to spend time with lots of family and see some amazing sites.  I had never been to Colorado or Kansas before so that checked two more states off my list (and put me at a 70% completion status).  As we were leaving that first morning, my family came up with a hastag to use for our vacation.  If you want an insight into the day to day occurrences during vacation, check out #frahmlyvacation14 on twitter.

Everybody

Summer Travels and such

This summer was the first summer since I was 16 that I have had less than 40 hours a week of work/school commitments.  After the first few weeks of stir-crazy boredom, I got used to a more typical college summer.  Working only one job with very flexible hours gave me the opportunity to do many things that I normally wouldn't have time to do.  Around the area, I went to the East Lansing Aquatic Center and the Potter Park Zoo for the first time ever (and we managed to go to the zoo on a promotional day so it was only $1!).  My roommates and I also went to a 60's Music Concert in the Park and a Lansing Lugnuts game.

I spent most the time at the aquatic center reading

Lansing Lugnuts vs West Michigan Whitecaps

Joe and I took a short trip to Battle Creek in June for two good friends wedding.  It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and reception!  Plus this was the first time Joe and I had taken (part of ) a weekend together that didn't involve staying with family.  We took the time to have lunch on both Friday and Saturday at Michigan Micro-breweries.  Gotta show the Craft Beer Industry some love!

And then I spent the next day figuring out this pic-stitch thing

This summer I was also able to go on the annual camping/canoeing trip for the first time in 3 years.  We had to wait til Joe got out of class at 9pm before driving up there but it was worth it to see everyone and go camping.  Many people kept saying that being in a canoe together for 5+ hours is a big test on a relationship but we were still talking by the end of the trip (which is a good thing since I was able to introduce Joe as my fiance to people I haven't seen since Joe and I have been together).

I was also able to do some traveling with friends this summer.  My roommates and I finally made it up to Frankenmuth (finally for all of us being there together, I had been home 10 days earlier) to have a tourist day/sleepover night at my parents.  It was nice to walk around town on a weekday and know that I didn't have to serve chicken dinners later in the day.  The pre-planned trip ended up being perfectly timed as I was able to see my parents and grandparents the day after I got engaged.

This is the only picture I took in Muth.  Didn't feel the need to take more; something about living there...

A couple days after our Frankenmuth trip, we went camping in another roommates backyard.  It was a lot of fun even if it rained almost all night so everything was damp and it got windy enough to pull a pole out of the key and collapse part of the tent.  The great thing about camping in someones backyard is you can go and sleep inside!

The final "friends" trip I took this summer was going down to Bloomington, IL to visit a friend from high school who had moved there this summer.  Since many of my other friends from HS didn't have big people jobs yet, we were able to have a car-full (4 of us total) driving down there which made the drive a lot of fun.  We had a fun day in Bloomington and hanging out together.  It was just like a girls night in high school only we were in a different state.

Lunch from a Double Decker bus in Bloomington.
I didn't want to be a super-tourist and take a close up picture but then we took a group pic in front of the bus

That just about sums up my summer thus far, with the exception of family vacation that is!  But that post will have to wait for another day.

Another Work Trip!

I was fortunate enough last week to go on a work trip to Washington, DC for Coalition for National Science Foundation to raise awareness of projects funded by NSF.  While it was a very short trip (I was only there for about 36 hours), I had a great time.  While I have a lot less travel anxiety after making my way through Europe, I was still a bit anxious about driving myself to the Lansing Airport (and flying out of an airport I've never been to) and having to take a Taxi from the airport to the hotel in DC, I managed all of that without any issues.

Since we didn't book a hotel til about 10 days before we needed it, we ended up staying in a very nice hotel in the Georgetown area.  The hotel was so nice that I felt very, very out of place on our Gold Club floor (my boss booked the rooms and is a member of the Gold Club).

The bathroom at the hotel, complete with slippers and a bathrobe

On Wednesday, we arranged for a driver (again, it was a very nice hotel) to take us from the hotel to the MSU office in DC and met with one of the MSU relation directors who showed us around for the day.  We had 5 meetings with two UofM professors who also had NSF grants.

Our first meeting was in the senate office buildings and we got a staffer from Senator Stabenow's office to take us on the tram in the tunnel that connects the senate building to the Capitol Building.  He then took us through the first floor of the Capitol and then back to the tunnels to get to the various house office buildings. It was really cool to be in the tunnels connecting the buildings and I was glad we got to go through the Capitol, however briefly.

I didn't know the schedule ahead of time, which was fine, until I had 2 hours of free time in the middle of the day and the only shoes I had were my pumps.  (But the other shoes I had at the hotel were flats which I won't have been able to wear without ruining my suit.)  My boss had a few more meetings so I decided I would walk the National Mall for a bit.  We were right by the Capitol and the MSU relations office was close to the capitol so I figured why not; what was the worst that could happen?

Suited Selfie in front of the Capitol

It had been 5 years since I had last been to DC and I forgot how far everything was away from each other.  I walked from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, in light rain for part of the way, wearing a suit and pumps.  My feet were killing me by the end and I think I had about 10 blisters at one point (and busted the heel on one of my pumps) but I couldn't just sit around while I was in DC!  Walking around in a suit apparently gives you an aura that you know what you are doing.  Lots of people moved out of my way and two guys asked me for directions to one of the Smithsonians; I had just walked passed it so I was able to tell them where to go.

I walked over a mile to get this picture- then walked all the way back

That evening we had a poster session where legislators, staff, NSF people, etc. came and talked to the various organizations presenting.  My boss was, for lack of a better phrase, showing me off  to anyone that came over as an undergrad that had been doing research for 3 years.  NSF has a push for undergrad research which is one of the reasons why I got to go on the trip in the first place.

At the poster reception

After a very long day we took a cab back to the hotel and were passed by the Vice President's motorcade.  The next morning I decided to split a cab with my boss on the way to the airport even though she had to be there an hour before me.  It gave me time to read and the opportunity to see a plane full of Korean War Veterans and their families arriving at the airport to a standing ovation (that lasted for over 10 minutes because it took a long time to get everyone off the plane).  I also finally finished Feast for Crows which I started on my way to Europe over 10 months ago.  Apparently I need to travel more because that's when I do the most reading.

This trip was a nice start to my summer.  I hope to have many more adventures (maybe with more appropriate footwear).