And then THIS happened

Josh and I have been in California visiting my brother and, because they were also visiting my brother, one of my sisters and her family. Unfortunately, my brother hasn't been feeling well, so Josh and I went to Disneyland on Tuesday on our own. Supposedly Disneyland in April on a Tuesday is supposed to be next-to-empty, and while that wasn't exactly the case (we did still have to wait for 20 minutes to ride Space Mountain), we were able to have THIS experience:

We rode Splash Mountain 4 times in a row, and the third time the cast member asked us whether we just wanted to go through again (and the ShepAlders never say no to not standing in a line). The couple sitting in front of us were apparently done, and got out after a little fight, but Josh and I were able to get a picture with just us, ShepAldering it up on Splash Mountain. Awesome,

Also awesome? Josh and I are totally in the picture of some family who also mugged it up for the camera. We saw them buying the picture, so we are now a part of their everlasting memories, Josh making an "O" and me waving my arms around, smiling while simultaneously trying to avoid getting water on my face.

I'm in love with a dress

I love this dress:

And I'm thinking of buying it, except that I'm currently on a diet and hoping to be a bit smaller in a few months. So do I buy a smaller size and hope? I'm thinking this dress might be my prize for losing weight. 

Another question: t-shirt underneath or sweater over? Sometimes t-shirts bunch up and make me look middle-heavy (though, in all fairness, I can look pretty middle-heavy on my own), though sometimes it's too hot for a sweater (and sweaters don't always cover the scoopneck).

Our Last Day in NYC

We had a lot of fun, shared a few laughs, but, like all things, our trip finally had to come to an end. On our final day we had all sorts of plans, some of which fell through, which made room for new plans. When life gives you lemons, you eat those lemons with ice cream.

First plan of the day, to visit the Empire State Building:

From the ground, that's the Empire State Building

You know you're at a truly touristy place when people just stand around trying to hijack you with their little brochures and promises of city tours. It's the downside to doing touristy things, which is why I haven't been back to the ESB since 1997. In the meantime they have stepped up their security measures (just like everywhere in NYC after 9/11 it seems), so I was surprised by all the security measures. 

The lobby (and me!)

The view from the top

Sadly, a few days after Josh and I were there, a Yale student somehow hurled himself from the top. (I'm so glad we weren't there for that). 

What they sell in the gift shop

Everything was crowded, but it helped that we (Josh) bought our tickets ahead of time, so we could skip the huge line. We were in and out in less than an hour. Then we went back to the hotel, packed our bags, put them in storage, and went out on the town. Josh really wanted to take a tour of Rockefeller Center, where Conan O'Brien used to have his studio.

Of all the places we went, it was the least likely that Rockefeller Center tours would be sold out. They shuffle people through there every 15 minutes. However, when we finally found the tour counter (apparently we took the wrong entrance), we discovered that the tours were all sold out for the day (BLARGH!) Josh was sad, but I assured him that we could come back a different time, so we took pictures:

Josh chills at 30 Rock

Atlas

Then we went out on the town to see other things that we hadn't thought of seeing but for which we now had time. For instance:

Radio City Music Hall 

Trump Tower (Josh tells me, "You're fired!" for making fun of his desire for this picture)

Josh really wanted to get a picture of the inside of Trump Tower, and this fountain

Serendipity III

I suggested to Josh that we eat at Serendipity, since we had the time. Seriously, the wait was almost 2 hours because they only have, like, 15 tables. In the meantime we walked to Central Park and sat on a bench because Josh's feet finally started hurting (after walking nearly all day every day for almost a week). But, finally, we got a table, and gorged on sugar coma-inducing banana split:

Sadly, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and we didn't finish it, but not without making a serious attempt

We figured the ice cream was okay (even though I'm supposed to be on a diet), since we did such a ridiculous amount of walking, which looked a lot like this:

Finally we saw the one thing I had wanted to see but hadn't made the time for:

The New York Public Library!

I'm such a nerd, right? I was disappointed that the exterior was being refurbished, but we had just enough time to swing through.

Public Library Lions

Unfortunately, the pictures from the inside were kind of blurry, but there was this:

Moses and the Ten Commandments

We took the Megabus back to Boston, then flew back to Portland the next day, thus ending our wonderful (and exhausting) Spring Break adventure.

Settle an Argument

Josh thinks that Lady Liberty's face resembles that of actor Jeff Goldblum. What do you think?

Date Night in NYC

Josh was excited about our whole trip, but the thing he talked about the most, and the thing he bragged the most about to other people was taking me to a Broadway show starring my favorite actress:

My favorite story about my love for Angela Lansbury, and the story Josh kept referring to whenever he told people about why we were going to see her on Broadway, is something that took place when I was a senior in high school. My friends (affectionately known as "The Girls") and I were hanging out with what I guess might have been the male equivalent of our group. These guys were in several of our classes (a couple of them sat in front of us during AP Bio, and next to me during Calculus). One of the guys worked at Berg's Ski Shop and was the lone guy from our high school on the ski team, so we had a little bit in common. We must have had the same free period, because he invited me over to his house for some reason I can't remember now. It absolutely never occurred to me that it was because he liked me, because after a few minutes of hanging out I realized that I was missing "Murder, She Wrote," which was replayed on A&E at the time, made an excuse, and went home to watch it. A week or so later the same guy called me and asked me to prom. So now I get to tell people that I once walked out on what was apparently a date-type situation in order to watch "Murder, She Wrote." It was totally worth it, too. (Not that the guy wasn't nice and not that we didn't continue to date throughout the summer, but I was so clueless about the whole situation it wasn't until we broke up that I realized I was his girlfriend in the first place).

Anyway. . . this brings us to present day. Before going to NYC, Josh and I talked a lot about which Broadway show to see. One day, after coming home from school, Josh said, "We absolutely have to see 'A Little Night Music.'" I was a little wishy-washy about it since I absolutely hate the song "Send in the Clowns." But then he told me that Angela Lansbury was starring in it. So we had to go.

It also starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was magnificent.

This is a billboard in Times Square

I think that, as time went on, Josh was more excited about it than even I was (though when Angela Lansbury came over the loudspeaker before the performance to remind us to turn off our cellphones and unwrap our candies, I got a little teary-eyed). The whole experience was excellent (but you kind of expect that of a Broadway show), and Josh wants to buy the soundtrack (afterward he said he had Catherine Zeta-Jones' version of "Send in the Clowns" stuck in his head). We bought a poster and then carefully transported it back to Boston, then back to NYC (by plane) then all the way back to Portland. 

The show was at the Walter Kerr Theater (we came back later for more pictures):

One more picture:

It's nice to have a husband who indulges my eccentricities. And now I have seen Angela Lansbury in person! 

Ellis Island

After our voyage to the top of the Statue of Liberty, Josh and I took the ferry to Ellis Island, which I had never seen. It was interesting (but slightly boring). Here are some highlights:

The sign at the entrance

The main building and museum

Me, pac-manning the Native American tribes from Oregon

(I was trying to show Josh which tribes I saw most often at NARA)

This flag includes images of faces. Depending on where you're standing, you can see more faces or more flag. 

A map representing Spanish Americans in the US.

Only 75,772 (417 in Oregon), and Josh is one of them!

We went outside to see the wall with names of immigrants, and saw the dilapidated wing of the main building. Later, we discovered that this was used to house baggage.

Interestingly, neither Josh nor I have relatives (that we are aware of) that came through Ellis Island. My people came over with the Mayflower-era immigrants, and Josh's people were conquistadorrrrrrrrrrrs. (That was me rolling my "r"s). It may have been more powerful if we had been able to find names of our relatives on the wall of immigrant names, but we still had a good time.

Upstairs, the people-sorting room.

A dorm room. Those are beds(!)

There was an extremely interesting exhibit about the restoration of Ellis Island. This is some of the furniture that was found (a piano?) It is amazing to me that something so historically-relevant like Ellis Island could just sit vacant, but it happens all the time.

Other outbuildings (not part of the museum)

Here are some more pictures from the Statue of Liberty that I neglected to post:

The original torch

Josh next to a reproduction of Lady Liberty's face (only 8 ft tall)

Now that I've discovered my huge neglect in posting about our trips to Texas, SoCal, and Utah, expect a surge in posts about past adventures. 

Boston to NYC by MEGABUS

Josh is a great traveler. He plans ahead (which is how we've been able to see the upper levels of Monticello, the basement of Mt. Vernon, and climb to the crown of Lady Liberty), he does his research, and he never complains. Because of Josh, we were able to get to NYC and back from Boston for a total of $20. No joke.

How did we do this? We took a bus. But not a gross bus (I am a very high-maintenance traveler), a double-decker Megabus with an observation window on the top for premium building-gazing. Apparently the sooner you book your ticket, the cheaper the ticket will be, which is how Josh was able to get the tickets for such little money.

I highly recommend it as a way to travel. Even Josh, who has taken countless Greyhound trips, said that it was way better than anything Greyhound has ever had.

Unfortunately, on our way to NYC we had to leave super early. Thankfully, the bus was so empty, we were able to sit in our own rows. I celebrated by sleeping the whole way.

Salem, Mass

I have always wanted to go to Salem, probably since reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond in middle school, then reading The Scarlet Letter in high school, then again in college (neither of which take place in Salem, but both focus on witches). In my past visit to Massachussettes, we just went to Lenox, Concord, and Boston, but not Salem, so I told Josh that we absolutely had to go there. I wanted to see a witch museum!

Unfortunately, I had no idea that New England closes down from October to May (my guess is it's because of bad weather and few sightseers), so we didn't have many choices of things to see.

But we still got to go to the Witch Museum:

Interestingly, the museum was in an old church:

It also didn't have anything authentic to the period of the Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693, a surprisingly short period of time), and wasn't much of an actual museum, but it did have an interesting, 45-minute animatronic presentation about the events, including a creepy, fake devil with glowing red eyes. 

We had lunchon the waterfront. Josh ate tons of fish. I had a salad (*sigh*) and some pasta. Also, I stared at this ship:

Josh absolutely had to see this:

It's a statue of Samantha Stephens from "Bewitched." We had a hard time finding it, and an even harder time parking in order to get there (apparently people in Salem don't know how to not block intersections and/or leave parking spaces in a timely manner). It was extremely cold and wet, so I stayed in the car.

That was the sum total of our trip to Salem, aside from the dude who asked us where to buy "trinkets and knick-knacks" (we pointed him toward the waterfront and quickly walked away).

The JFK Library and Presidential Museum

On our next day (Tuesday the 23rd) we rented a car in order to visit Salem (which I was excited to see) and the temple, but then also decided to see the JFK Library and Museum on the UMass Boston campus also, since we've been to the LBJ Library in Austin. We figured we'd be fair.

The JFK Library is gorgeous and right on the Dorchester Bay. The building was designed by IM Pei and was opened to the public in 1979. I recommend it just for the view alone (though it was pretty foggy and rainy when we were there). There's an introductory film that talks about JFK's life prior to his run for senate, then the bulk of the museum focuses on his political career, specifically his short time as president.

We took way too many pictures to include them all, but here are some highlights:

The Presidential Seal in the lobby

Oregon voted for Nixon (the shame!)

The whole Kennedy family (9 kids!!!)

The main hall of the museum, which slightly resembles the White House

The cameras and other equipment from the infamous, first televised presidential debate

A letter from a kid thanking the First Lady for her televised tour of the White House

(apparently his father would have preferred "Maverick")

From Jackie Bouvier's yearbook, it reads: "Ambition: Not to be a housewife"

Interestingly, she became the ultimate housewife.

The main hall, with the Dorchester Sound through the windows

Interestingly, there was basically nothing about JFK's assassination, which was strange for us after having been to the Sixth Floor Museum (about which I am realizing now I've neglected to post). If you want to know more about the JFK Library, you can go here.