For the third year in a row, we spent a week of our summer taking a mega road trip and covering more distance than some people cover in a lifetime! Our goal this year was to see (most of) the major cities out East.
Day one was just a lot of driving. We had a jam packed car, with three adults (TiTi came with for the first few days), one teen, and three kids. We left on Saturday afternoon and broke up the long drive by staying along the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. We got up early on Sunday and hit the road again to pass through Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Our stop for the night was about an hour outside of New York City and was also the (current) home of one of our favorite former Slammers players - Alfredo. We spent the evening at the Somerset Patriots game and enjoyed getting to watch Alfredo play again.
Day two we ventured into NYC. It was a challenge getting into the city, but once we were there, we parked the car and left it until we were ready to head out the next afternoon. We spent the entire first day taking a bus tour that allowed us to hop on and off as we wanted. We covered a lot of ground and it was awesome getting to see so much of this infamous city! We ended our day visiting the 9-11 museum and memorial, which were absolutely amazing.
Day three started with an early wake up and a ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was breathtaking to see the Statue of Liberty in person. We also really enjoyed seeing Ellis Island and wished that we could have had more time there (perhaps without whining kids) to explore. There's something so remarkable about walking on the same grounds that our distant relatives might have stepped foot on when they came here for a chance at a new life! After our morning in NYC, we packed up and headed for the peaceful shores of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Along the way, we made a stop at Yale University...since I have an odd fascination with Ivy League schools. Plymouth was a beautiful, old town that looked just like a quaint New England town is portrayed in the movies. We were able to walk to the beach and Nyla was able to put her feet into the salty ocean water for the first time in her life! Leah, who normally LOVES the beach, did not like the fact that this beach was filled with tiny crabs. After our visit to the beach, we headed into town for ice cream and a visit to the infamous Plymouth Rock. It was just that...a big rock!
Day four started with a trip to a really awesome reenactment village called Plimoth Plantation. We got to experience life as a Native American and a Pilgrim. There was so much to learn from the experience and, more than anything, we learned that we'd have a really hard time surviving in those days! After our journey back in time, we headed north to Boston. Our first stop was to see Fenway Park. We took our own walking tour around the outside of the park, and that was enough for our hot and tired crew. Sadly, a big storm came through the city that evening, so we didn't get out to see as much of the city as we had hoped to. Tyler, who had been to Boston for his two week training when he got hired, gave us our own driving tour in the rain. We got to see a lot of the main highlights of Boston and, of course, took a detour to see the campuses of Harvard and MIT.
Day five was a looooooong day. It started with a really neat tour of Boston that went along part of the infamous Freedom Trail. We opted to take this tour because it was a bit shorter than the normal Freedom Trail tour and was geared towards kids. Our tour guide was phenomenal and made it so interesting for the kids and adults. Despite the cool temps and constant drizzle, we loved the experience and would recommend it to anyone visiting Boston with kids! After our tour, we hopped back into the car and began our journey to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good way to get from Boston to Philly. We chose to take the route that had us going straight through NYC and we REALLY regretted making that choice. We spent a ton of time just stuck in standstill traffic. We finally made it to our hotel around 9pm that night and we were all toast!
Day six was spent with a few hours in Philadelphia. We started by going to the US Mint. We all really enjoyed the self-guided tour. After the mint, we walked over a couple blocks to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Sadly, we missed out on being able to get tickets to take a tour of Independence Hall, but we did get to see the Liberty Bell. Afterwards, we headed to the home of Betsy Ross and took a tour. Leah was the most excited about this, as she did a wax museum biography project about her in second grade. We wrapped up our morning in Philly and headed west to Pittsburgh. Along the way, we made a detour to see the Flight 93 Memorial. It was a breathtaking memorial and we are so glad that we took the time to visit. After our slight detour, we got back on the road and headed into Pittsburgh. We took in some of the best views of the city by riding on the Duquesne Incline. It was a great end to a jam packed day.
On day seven, we woke up and began our trip home. We made a short stop in Grandpa Ron's hometown of Beaver Falls, where we (of course) had to stop for donuts. We also visited the cemetery just outside of town to see Tyler's Grandpa and Grandma. It was a wonderful way to end our whirlwind of a trip. We covered so much ground and just scratched the surface of all the magnificent history that is tied to this part of our country. We would certainly love to go back and explore more of what these amazing cities have to offer. Each one of these cities could be explored for several weeks, and we only spent several days there! Regardless, we are so thankful for another year of safe and memorable travels with our family.
