Vacation Madness!

After much anticipation, I present to you a slideshow of our travels back east! We had an absolute blast. This vacation was kinda a spur of the moment thing, we had some time and funding for a vacation, and Steve's mom had a break in school and access to a timeshare unit that needed to be used by the end of March. The stars aligned with time off from work, and we made the journey from Utah to Baltimore to Philadelphia to Galloway, NJ (near Atlantic City) on March 12. The trip there was killer. We flew in to Baltimore because it was cheaper, but it was quite the experience getting from there to our hotel! We took public transportation all the way, and between missing a train and stopovers and a very run down and scary final train stop (in the dark, cold and rainy night) with an active 8 month old baby- we've decided that next time we'll just pay the extra $50 :p.

Our first day in town we decided to check out Atlantic City, a mere 15 minute drive from where we stayed. Unfortunately, the first 4 days of the trip we had miserable weather! It was so rainy and windy, there was flooding on the sides of the road and portions of signs being blown off, and we later found out that it was being called a mini-hurricane! Ugh! We got to look around the Pier shops at Caesars, enjoyed an awesome water show (like the one at Bellagio), and then stuffed our bellies at the buffet in the hotel/casino.

The next day we made the 2 1/2 hour journey up into NYC! It was Jack's and My first time in NYC, and we were both in awe of the huge city! We took the subway all around the city, seeing a bit of the museum of natural history, walking through Central Park, and having a fantastic dinner at the Carnegie Deli! They had the most humongous sandwhiches (which were 95% meat) and the best New York Cheesecake I've ever had in my entire life (how appropriate!). I'm usually not a cheesecake fan, but I think if I lived in NYC that would change!

Monday we drove down to a quaint little town called Cape May. They had some super cute little shops, a lighthouse, and fantastic seafood! The only thing that would have made it better is if the other 90% of the shops and the lighthouse had actually been open.... lol, it's quite the vacation town and everything was still in winter mode :P Heck, with that mucky weather I kinda considered it winter too!

Tuesday was when Chris and Kristen had their flight home out from Philadelphia. Since we only rented one car, we drove them to the airport, and afterwards decided to spend some time around the city. I really wanted to get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak, and after some internet research and some tips from Steve's cousin Calli, we headed into the ghetto of Philly for some sandwiches! We conducted a scientific study to determine which of two popular cheesesteak restaurants was the best- Pat's or Geno's. The winner? Geno's by far!! We then cruised down to Liberty Square to see all the historic sites! We barely made it through the tour to the last stop at the Liberty Bell before everything closed at 5! Afterwards we headed over to Calli's house to visit with her and her hubby, Matt, and their kiddos. Did I mention that Steve's license had expired un-noticed on his birthday and I had to drive after mom Clark left? Ya, it was fairly scary! I'm pretty impressed with myself though- I feel like such an independent woman :) Anyway, Matt and Calli introduced us to one of their favorite treats- water ice! Mmmmm, it's worth the flight out to Philly just for one of those! You get these awesome water ices at a little place called Rita's (http://www.ritasice.com/), and they are all over the states over there, so we had to get a few more after our original introduction to them! We really enjoyed our visit with Matt and Calli, and Jack enjoyed playing with their awesome kiddos! We can't wait till they are closer to us and we can join our effots to franchise a Rita's around here!

After getting home late from Philly on Tuesday night, we decided to play it easy and see a little more of close by Atlantic City. The weather had taken a dramatic turn for the better and we got to walk down the boardwalk and see all the shops, the beach, and the smokers. We kinda came to the conclusion that Atlantic City is mostly just a dirty Las Vegas :P Despite that, we had a lot of fun finding some Foakleys, buying amazing vanilla fudge, and shopping at the huge outlet center (the other most awesome thing in Atlantic City). That night we took another one of Calli's recommendations and went to the buffet at Harrah's hotel/casino. Although it was a little bit of a drive from the boardwalk, and we had to pay again to park, it was definitely worth it! They had a million cool stations, like a mongolian BBQ, seafood with great crab, and dessert with gelato and fresh crepes! After dinner we headed right back to the hotel to get to bed in preparation for an early start to get to NYC the next day.

We left at 8 AM Thursday (AKA 5 AM in our Utah time due to the recent daylight savings!), and arrived in NYC at 10:30. Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. The line for the ferry over to the island was a 2 hour wait, and they had already sold out of the tickets that let you climb up inside, so we decided to just enjoy the view from the shore and get along with our day and the list of places we had to see! We realized we were very close to Canal street (China town), which was on our list! Steve got to haggle for a couple of purses for me (which are super cute!) in Chinese, which he loved. We heard one gal buy a purse for $50, and a few minutes later got the shop owner to give us the same purse for only $25! My sexy Chinese speaking husband is awesome! Our next stop was a very exclusive one- a hot dog stand on the street corner for some hot dogs! :P I guess it's one of those classic New York City experiences :P As we ate, we walked through Central Park and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and made our way over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was amazing to see all of the art and ancient artifacts. Jack convieniently fell asleep during our walk, and remained so for a couple of hours in my Moby wrap, so we got to enjoy the museum at a nice slow pace! On the way to the Benash Deli for dinner (a recomendation from papa Clark), we happened by H&M where we both got apparel souveniers ;) The deli was delicious, and we got to enjoy another piece of cheesecake... mmmmmm! (I only gained 4-5 pounds on this trip....). When we left the deli, it was getting dark, so we decided to head to the Rockefeller Center and go to the very top so we could see the sites in the beautiful clear night! It was quite astounding to see the neverending lights and buildings- that is one huge city! We ended the day in Times Square. It's pretty crazy how it looks like daytime even in the late night with all the huge lights and billboards!

All in all, we had an amazing time in New York, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia and I think that we'll be going back soon. Our short visits in each place only wetted our appetite for more big city fun, and fortunately there is so much more to see!