Bukkit Tour Days Seventeen and Eighteen: Homeward Bound

Days seventeen and eighteen find us making our way home. While I was down in the lobby of the Country Inn getting breakfast and writing yesterday morning, Laela had gotten up and packed our belongings in the hotel room. When I had made it back up there at 10:15 she was ready to start putting things in the car. The parking garage was attached to our hotel and we were parked on the same floor as our room so it didn't take but a couple of quick trips out and we were ready to go. We bade Virginia Beach farewell and got going, but we had to make one final stop before we left.

We swung by the Food Lion grocery store on our way out. I was determined to relieve them of their 12 packs of bottled Yuengling beer since we can't get it in Ohio. They had ten of them in the cooler so we grabbed a cart and loaded them up. It took a little bit of Tetrising the Escape I was able to weasel them in. Stoked. Then we jumped back in and set out on our way. We stopped for lunch at noon time and ate at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I am totally a convert to that restaurant. They doubled up on the cajun love on my fries and they were fantastic.

It was around 3:30 when we arrived at Monticello. Monticello was the home of President Thomas Jefferson. He was the third President of the United States. You might also know Monticello as the "B Side" of the nickle. It is situated high atop on of the mountains of Virginia and the views are absolutely stunning. The grounds are vast as Jefferson was also a farmer with an impressive garden as well. We took the tour of the house but the standard tour only allows you on the first floor and into the cellars under the house. There are many gorgeous walking paths around the estate.

After spending a few hours at Monticello, we hopped back in the car and proceeded on our journey home. Driving through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia is certainly a feast for the eyes. Travelling through there on a late summer afternoon when all of the trees are a lush green with low hanging clouds dusting the peaks was breathtaking. Occasionally the rays of the sun would peek through the clouds and it would look like it was right out of a painting.

Nothing really exciting happened the rest of the way home. We tried to get a hotel near Parkersburg to stay the night but they were full. By the time we had gotten to the next area with a decent hotel we were only a couple of hours from home so I made the executive decision to soldier on. We arrived home close to 2:00am. We were all hyped to see Indy.

Apparently the house has been visited by Santa's elves while we were away too. The house is spotless, the front has been landscaped and been given patio furniture, and Miranda's bathroom has been redecorated and the tub area tiled and the plumbing has been repaired. We were totally floored. The place looks fantastic. I have my suspicions regarding the culprits but I'll wait for confirmations before calling them out. Know this though, if you had a hand in any of the household shenanigans, you have our complete gratitude.

We'd also like to take an opportunity to thank everyone who had a hand in making the Great Bukkit Tour 2010 possible. Again, the generosity of our family, friends and co-workers has been astounding. It was a great relief to Miranda, Laela, and myself to be able to put our challenges behind us for a couple of weeks and just be a family out exploring the country and enjoying each other's company. It has been the vacation of a lifetime and I'll cherish every moment of it.

This concludes my blogging of the Great Bukkit Tour of 2010. Thanks for coming along with us and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Bukkit Tour Day Sixteen: Virginia Beach Relaxation

Day sixteen was our decompression day. We've been on the go for weeks and were ready to just have nothing planned. The weather was about ten degrees cooler so it was much easier to spend time outside. We went down to the hotel lobby and picked up an information card for Rudee Inlet Jet Ski Rentals. It was just a couple of blocks from the hotel so it seemed perfect. The girls hadn't eaten yet so we decided that it would probably be best not to do that on an empty stomach.

Right next door and sharing the same parking lot was Big Sam's. We got out of the car and our second casualty of the trip occurred. Miranda's favorite flip-flops blew out. The first casualty was my sun glasses on day one. It was unremarkable "beachish" food. Laela chose the best by having the lobster BLT. I had a crab cake which was fair. I think the girls were happy with the choice of eatery. Due to it's close proximity to the jet ski rentals the view for the ladies was fantastic. There were lots of deeply tanned strapping young lads prepping the jet skis for the day's outings visible from the windows. We finished lunch and ventured next door.

It didn't take long for us to get to the jet skis. Quickly signing a few papers, putting on life jackets, and walking down the dock. They gave us a quick run through on the vehicle's operation. Safety strap, turn left, turn right, start, and stop. It was easier than riding a scooter. There were about five jet skis plus a guide in our group. Laela got her own. Miranda and I shared a jet ski. We idled our way out of the inlet and onto the Atlantic Ocean. It was fantastic! We were instructed to stay 100 yards away from all vehicles including other jet skis and we were given about a mile within which we were to operate. That was plenty of ocean. It was a little choppy and took a few minutes to get comfortable with the rolling of the ocean. I had to remind Miranda that it was like riding a motorcycle and that she was to lean with me as I leaned. She leaned into a couple of turns and we had water gushing over the side and were close to capsizing. We signed up for a one hour ride. About half way through, we met up with Laela and she had bragged to us that she'd had hers up to 48MPH. To that point I hadn't had ours over 30MPH. I took that as a challenge from Laela so we started looking for some smooth spots where we could open it up. It was right about then that the instrument gauge flaked out on our watercraft. I didn't think much of it at the time. I thought maybe some water had gotten into it and shorted it out. We got through the rest of our ride uneventfully and then were instructed to follow our guide back to the inlet. The inlet is a no wake zone so we had to idle once we got there. Not two minutes later our jet ski completely died. We were the last of the pack so we had to yell to Laela that we were dead. She then relayed it up the line until our guide heard. Meanwhile there was a yacht exiting the inlet out into the Atlantic that was headed straight for us. With our engine out and adrift, we were completely at the mercy of the current. Fortunately the yacht was able to change his course and go around us. Our guide came back with a tow rope and towed us back to the dock. Miranda was excited because it was "the cute one" who came to "rescue" us. Once we got onto the dock and met up with Laela she said all of the guides asked if we were on number 15 because they had just replaced the battery that morning. Gee guys, if you are having electrical problems with a watercraft, how about not sending customers out on it? It shouldn't be hard to fix. It's either the battery, voltage regulator, or the stator. Maybe I should have offered to troubleshoot it for them. I was a little miffed, but oh well. We got our ride in and made it back safely.

After the jet skis, the rest of the day's plan was to relax on the beach. We went to the $7.99 surf shop across the street from the hotel. We got a beach chair, a sunbrella, flip flops for Miranda, and body board. We went up to our room, changed and then spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach. Nothing but sun, sand, and surf. Miranda and I spent most of our time in the water. It was awesome just getting to hang out with her for a couple of hours while Laela read. It was such a good time. The shadow of the hotel creeping over the beach and onto the water let us know that our time at the beach was done for the day. We headed back up to the room and then went out to dinner.

After dinner we just strolled up and down the Virginia Beach Boardwalk (which is actually cement) and onto the pier. I think I got some good photos on the pier but I haven't checked them on the computer yet. On the pier we got ice cream and then decided to walk the beach. Eating ice cream with a cookie duster as long and luxurious as mine is quite the exercise in futility. I was a mess. We went onto Atlantic Avenue afterward. We rode some of the carnival rides like the Ferris wheel and went onto the Captain Cline's Pirate Adventure ride. Miranda and I also went into the Nightmare House, but after the pirate ride turned out to be haunted house which freaked Laela out she sat that one out. That essentially wrapped up the evening and we retired to the hotel.

And so ends the Bukkit Tour. Today we'll head off in the direction of home and arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to see everyone!

Bukkit Tour Day Fifteen: Last Stop Virginia Beach

Day fifteen of the Bukkit Tour brings us to our final destination, Virginia Beach, VA. We packed up our room in the morning and loaded up the car. We couldn't check into our hotel at Virginia Beach until 4:00. Checkout time at the Holiday Inn was 11:00 so we had five hours to kill. We decided to hit up Colonial Williamsburg to see if there was anything we could quickly visit before making our way to the beach. We parked the car and started walking around and what to our wondering eyes should appear but Boy Scouts. Scouts as far as the eye could see and now they were armed with Snap-N-Pops. There's nothing more annoying than dozens of teenage boys throwing Snap-N-Pops at each other. We quickly sought refuge in a local eatery.

It was a fine restaurant, but it just wasn't our lucky day. We got the no-confidence n00B waiter, Laela received the wrong sandwich (which ended up being tasty), and I got a bowl full of cucumbers. I hate cucumbers. Since we were in the south, Laela also ordered a mint julep. The bartender filled must've filled up the glass 3/4 of the way with whiskey because it was STRONG. You could smell it before the waiter put it down on the table. Needless to say, there wasn't much of that consumed and it was actually the most expensive thing we ordered (more than our entrees). After lunch we went over to the visitor's center to see if there was anything of interest and didn't really find anything. So we made our way through a few gift shops and then set out for the beach.

For the most part, the ride to the beach was uneventful but there was one memorable moment. About three cars ahead of us there were a pair of ladies riding metric cruiser motorcycles. Traffic had slowed down to a crawl. The next thing you know, someone jerk in an automobile cuts the two motorcycles off and the second one ended up on the ground. The first bike didn't see the second bike drop, nor did the RV they were travelling with because it was up front. Traffic stopped and I threw on my flip flops and hopped out of the car (Laela was driving) to go and make sure the lady was okay. She seemed to be fine but she was shaken up. She was also incapable of lifting her Vulcan 900 off of the ground. I stood the bike up for her and helped her and her bike over to the side of the road. The motorcycle wouldn't start after being on it's side because there was no gas in the carbs. By then the The RV had pulled over and the other rider she was with came over and started yelling at her. They were both of Eastern European origin and not speaking English. I asked them if they wanted any help getting the bike started but they waved me off. So I hopped back into the car and we arrived shortly thereafter at Virginia Beach.

The Countryside Hotel we are staying at is kind of a dump but it's the only hotel that had a "suite" available during the time we were booking. It's got a great ocean view though. We really just hung out in the hotel room, went to the beach for a little bit, got cleaned up and went out to dinner at Otani, yet another hibachi restaurant.

After dinner we performed a Behler family vacation ritual and found a miniature golf course. It was Pirate's Paradise Mini Golf. It was just like any other mini-golf in a tourist trap town, but the best thing about this was it's proximity to an AWFUL lounge band playing at an adjacent bar's outdoor patio. They were singing all of today's top 40 hits but the singer couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle on it. It's made all eighteen holes painfularious. Got a couple of good photos with the "pirates" and then left. While we were leaving we got to witness yet another auto accident. A stupid woman was trying to text and light a cigarette at the same time, ran a red light and got slammed into by a mini-van. There are cops all over the place at Virginia Beach so it wasn't but one minute before one had showed up. We drove back to the hotel afterwards and went to sleep. Looking forward to an uneventful day sixteen.

Bukkit Tour Day Fourteen: Busch Gardens, VA

Started off day fourteen of the bukkit tour after a refreshing night's sleep at the Holiday Inn. The girls and I took our time and got ready for the day and packed up the room. We figured it was going to be a hot day requiring lots of energy (the forecast called for 106 degrees Fahrenheit). When we pulled in on day thirteen, we thought to ourselves "What luck, there's a pancake and waffle restaurant right next door." So that's where we ate. Just as advertised, they had pancakes and waffles. The girls both had an order of apple pancakes and I had pigs in a blanket. Mmmmmm...blaaannket covered piiiiigs.

We walked back over to the car and started it up and the temperature reading was 97 degrees in the shade at 11:15. Laela and I were convinced that the day was going to be miserable and weren't looking forward to it at all, but this was the one thing that Miranda asked to do while we were on vacations so we were determined to make it happen. We had to rearrange our schedule a bit. Busch Gardens was supposed to be the very last thing that we did before coming home, but a tiny hotel issue had occurred which necessitated rearranging the schedule and I'm glad we did. Finding it was easy after leaving the hotel because we were so close to the park that all we had to do was follow the signs. I was really surprised by how expensive the tickets were. King's Island and Cedar Point are just a little over 1/2 the cost of Busch Gardens. The turnstiles to get you into the park aren't very efficient either, there was quite a line to get in which had me feeling very dubious about the rest of the day.

We hooked up a fast pass so that ol' wheezy McGee didn't have to swelter in the lines all day. There was a really nice older lady that helped us out with the pass. She set it up for four people and told Miranda that she should find some lucky fella to round out the four and that if she saw a bachelor in his seventies to toss him her way. It was really funny.

So we were all excited about the park, grabbed a map and started trying to figure out which rides to ride. Much to our chagrin, there are only four roller coasters in the whole park. I guess we're a little spoiled in Ohio with Cedar Point and King's Island. We rode the following: The Griffon, the Alpnegeist, Apollo's Chariot, and the Loch Ness Monster. All of them were fun steel coasters. The Alpnegeist was a foot dangler similar to the Raptor at Cedar Point. The Griffon is kind of odd because they seat you 10 across and if you are on the end during the ride, you don't see any track under you especially if when the stop you at the top of the 90 degree drop and let you dangle for a few seconds before they let you go. An interesting historical note on Apollo's Chariot: On opening day 1999 Fabio was in the first car on the first ride. As it plummeted down the hill a goose struck him in the face. When he exited the ride he was covered in blood, fortunately (depending on your point of view) he only suffered a cut on his nose.

We also took in some other rides, notably the water rides. There were three of them: your standard log flume, Roman Rapids your standard whitewater tubing ride and Escape from Pompeii which is a combination of King's Island's Adventure Express and Congo Falls. The water rides were fantastic for cooling us off and certainly made the day's oppressive heat more bearable.

Other park notables: We had dinner at the Festhaus. Guinness on tap plus "authentic" German food. There was a big gazebo in the middle of the hall and I said to Laela, the only thing we need is a polka band. 10 minutes later we had a polka band and dancers. It was silly fun and we enjoyed the entertainment. After dinner, Miranda and I rode the Alpengeist and Griffon coasters again, we stopped by the fudge shop and went back to our car. I took about ten minutes to unwrap my "meat toes" as Laela calls them. It was good though, an once of prevention (individually wrapping each of my toes before we left for the day) is worth an pound of cure and my digits were no worse for wear when we got finished.

So we make it back to the hotel and there is a tour bus parked in front of our parking spot from last night and it is filled with Boy Scouts. Let's take a moment and discuss the invasion of scouts on the Bukkit Tour. Once we had gotten to Washington, DC there were Boy Scouts everywhere. Apparently there was some kind of Jamboree in the DC area. They did not call us in advance and clear that with the Bukkit Tour coordinator. So everywhere in DC we went there were throngs of scouts. We figured we were finished with that after we left DC. Not true. Busch Gardens was also packed with scouts and of course a bus full of them were staying at our hotel. Now don't get me wrong, I was a scout back in my misspent youth. The problem is, I was a scout back in my misspent youth and I know what kind of shenanigans will be wrought by clusters of teen age boys traveling in packs. Ever since we arrived in DC, I've had a crick in my neck because I've had to strain it giving the evil eye to young men gawking at my daughter. Our favorite thing to do when we get to a hotel is to go and take a dip in the pool. Guess what? Full of scouts causing a ruckus. So we look over at the hot tub. Full of scouts. We got in the pool and huddled in a corner for about ten minutes and I got sick of it. I told the girls "Watch me go clear out the hot tub and then follow me." I walked over to the hot tub and there were about nine kids in it (small tub so it was packed like sardines. Scowling all the while I took the last seat available on the bench and three of them immediately hopped out. The "leader" of the last six saw Laela and Miranda get out of the pool and start walking over and said to the rest "Why don't we get out and make some room for them?" Walrus powers ACTIVATE! We relaxed for a while went back up to the room and got cleaned up.

We had bought some fudge, chocolate covered Oreos, and candy fruit slices at BG but we didn't have any milk. Laela and I Froggered our way across the street to the 7-11 and bought some milk, came back to the room and snacked with Miranda while watching the Boondocks on Adult Swim.

So that was day fourteen of the Bukkit Tour now in the books.

PS: No stickers have been found at Busch Gardens or any other stores in Virgina to apply to the Bukkit :(

Bukkit Tour Day Thirteen: Farewell DC on to Virginia

Friday was our last day in Washington DC. Laela and I got up early, went downstairs and had breakfast by ourselves while we let Miranda sleep. It waas nice to sneak away for a couple of minutes on our own. It was one of the few times that Miranda's habit of sleeping late didn't drive me bat sh!t crazy. We got French Toast take out and delivered it to Miranda so she could have breakfast too. We packed up the room and had the hotel come get the bags and bring the car around. We hopped in and started making our way towards our last Washington, DC site: The Arlington National Cemetery.

Getting to the Arlington National Cemetery required us to travel the DC streets in a direction we hadn't gone before. One would think that when the United States declared it's independence from Great Britain that we'd have have left some of their more stupid ideas on the other side of the pond. Case in point....roundabouts. Roundabouts are the absolute stupidest means of traffic control for more than six simultaneous cars ever created. We had to pass through four of them before we got across the river into Arlington, VA. Fortunately I was was able to successfully navigate all of them but the other drivers had a little more trouble. Accidents were avoided.

Once we made it to the cemetery, we set out on foot. Let me state for the record that I'm glad we only had one activity today because it was super hot. Our car's outside temperature thermometer actually hit 103 at one point today. We didn't know what to expect or have a real plan. We walked through the visitors center and then onto the footpaths. We visited the Kennedy Eternal Flame, saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier, visited the Arlington House, the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia memorials. It's tough to put into words the patriotic feelings that swell while walking through the cemetery and the profound respect and honor for all of those who have paid the ultimate price for defending the freedom of the United States.

I had the foresight to program our into the GPS destination before we left so that was helpful because we didn't have to give AT&T Navigator ten minutes to figure out where it was. So we left Arlington and proceeded onto I-95. I thought I was doing great. The traffic was kind of slow and the highway split into carpool lanes and normal lanes. The car pool lanes seemed to be going much slower so I didn't even bother to try to get over to them. I stayed on the "normal" lanes. I was passing all kind of cars in the HOV lane and was getting a little smug about it. Big mistake. Before I knew it we were stuck in a huge gridlock and what should have been a quick two and a half hour jaunt ended up turning into a five hour ordeal. About two and a half hours in my nerves were frazzled and Miranda was hungry so we got off the highway for a quick bite to eat. We stopped at McDonald's and went inside. After a quick meal we were starting to head back out onto the highway when Laela spied a Border's Book store. Surprisingly, Miranda has been reading quite a bit and had exhausted her literary supply. So we stopped and got her restocked. I got quite tired after eating so I relinquished the wheel to Laela and she guided us safely to our hotel in Williamsburg, VA.

We got into the Holiday Inn, got our stuff settled, and then went across the street to the 7-11. DC had been so go go go, that I wanted to have a couple of beers tonight and then enjoy the hotel's hot tub and swimming pool. That's exactly what I did. Laela, Miranda, and I went down to the pool around 9:00 and stayed until a little after 10:00. So here I am, cranking out today's blog entry and getting ready to go to bed. Forecast calls for 106 at 3:00PM tomorrow (feels like 116), so it's going to be a long day trudging around Busch Gardens.

Bukkit Tour Day Twelve...and the Rest (guest author Laela)

Hi Everybody, it's Laela, I'm guest blogging today. I know I am no Rob with the crafting of the words, but please give me chance. Here we go......

Yesterday while walking about town we saw a bike tour and a Segway tour. (D.C. is not really set up for walking around like the other cities we've been to.) With Rob's meat toes we wanted to do the Segway tour, 'cause when else would we get a chance to ride around on those thing, but D.C. has a law you must be 16 to ride Segways. So after some poking around we found a bike place that had tours leaving at 10 a.m. If you've been reading this blog, you know that Rob has complained and complained about his girls sleeping in (what he doesn"t tell you is that we haven't been getting to bed until 1 or 2 am each night), and 10 am is EARLY for us, but we got up and made it over there. What the site didn't say was to call and make reservations, and they were booked. However, they did have day rentals of the bikes without a tour. Turned out to be the best idea EVAR.

First spot we rode to was the International Spy Museum. I am highly recommending this if you travel to D.C. It had interviews from former spy's, and all these cool little gadgets. We spent almost three hours going through there. It's a little off the beaten path, but there were plenty of people there. It is not free, like the Smithsonian, but we got our moneys worth.

We took two steps out the Spy Museum and started debating lunch. This has become a daily chore, because we never know what's close, or what's good, or what Miranda will eat, and what we'll eat want. Miranda hates trying new things, and Rob and I just want to try all the local foods. The two visual choices were the Spy Cafe, or Gordon Biersch. Gordon Bierchs had beer so it won out. Miranda got out of her comfort zone and ordered some stir fry. I was so proud of her.

After lunch we visited a bunch of places on the bike real quick, please keep in mind that it's summer and nothing is open to the public. We saw the Capital Building, the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. There is a fantastic fountain outside of the Library of Congress. I made everybody stop so we could get our picture taken. (I still think the Worthington Library is better, cause the people who work there are The Best.)

We then took the Behler show over to the Museum of Natural History. Miranda was really excited to visit here. It had some cool/gross stuff all over the place. From there we rode over to the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Each Memorial is awe inspiring in their own ways. The Jefferson is classic, but the FDR is modern, and makes you contemplate the issues FDR had to deal with. Ann told us not to miss it, and she was completly right.

We made two more stops before we turned the bikes in. We visited the Vietnam Memorial and the White House. The White House looks so small from Pennsylvania Avenue. There a police everywhere around the street. The police are friendly and will let you hang on the rails (just in case you were wondering).

Here is the portion of the show where I tell you that the bikes rocked. It's the only thing that worked out around here. The metro, while easy to figure out, has the weirdest paying system, and I'm sure we WAY over paid for the amount we used it. Not to mention the metro stops are few and far between, and the escalators were never in working order. I know your thinking "what a stupid thing to complain about" but if you're with Rob it becomes an issue. I also want to say the people here are either SUPER rude, Über snobby, or overly helpful. The city may be clean, but it's not my favorite.

So we've called it a night. Everyone has taken a shower and are relaxing on the bed. It has been very hot everyday we've been gone. We are headed into Virginia tomorrow. I think we are all looking forward to getting to the beach before we head home. In case you haven't heard, we miss you. It would have been great if everybody could have come along for the party, but life doesn't always give us what we want.

Thanks for reading, I'm sure Rob will post his regular scheduled Blog later.

Bukkit Tour Day Eleven: Smithsonian Institutes

Sorry for the lateness of the day eleven blog. We got an early start on day twelve and I didn't have time to write it. So without further ado, day eleven...

We got going for the day at noon time. Since we wanted to start taking in the sites as soon as possible we had brunch at the Chartwell Grill & Lounge. That is the restaurant in the hotel lobby. It was decent food but nothing to write home about.

Driving in Washington, DC kind of sucks and all of the parking around the museums is one or two hour so we decided that we'd take the Metro rail. There is a stop in DuPont Circle which is about five blocks away from the hotel. We'd managed to figure out the trains in Boston and New York so we figured that DC wouldn't be any more difficult. (In the interests of full disclosure, Anthony was always with us in New York.) The first thing we tried to do was purchase tickets in the same method that we did in New York. Put all of the money on one ticket and pass it between us. Guess what? That doesn't work in DC because you have to pay when you get on and when you get off. As soon as you scan your ticket to get on, you can't use it again until you scan it through the exit turnstile. When we asked for an explanation of how it worked, the Metro transit worker just got pissed and let all three of us through the handicapped gate. Of course that didn't do anything to help us out when we got to our destination. Fortunately, the one nice public worker we encountered in DC was working at the exit. He took us over to the machines and split the money we had put on the one ticket into three tickets.

We got off of the train and started making our way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I was so excited! I'd always wanted to see the Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, Glamorous Glennis, and Apollo 11 Command Module in person with my own eyes. Being that close to history was truly an awe inspiring event. I didn't realize that there was another hanger in Virginia which houses many other historical air and space vehicles. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to go there, but the only thing I really would have wanted to see would have been the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Honestly, the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force base is a more impressive museum. The problem is that it the experience at Wright-Pat always felt cheapened a little bit because the actual history making vehicles weren't there. That's how I got the bug to go to DC and see the actual vehicles. We spent a good deal of time there and saw a movie in the planetarium about stars. Bonus, it was narrated by none other than the air and space pioneer....Whoopi Goldberg!?!

We left the museum and stopped at one of the snack carts because it was H.T.B. outside. Walking around in 94 degree heat all day gets exhausting. The girls each got ice cream treats, but it seemed like the most logical choice was the lemon frozen ice. That's what I got and it was the big hit between the three of us. We consumed our frozen goodness while making our way over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Now, I'll be honest with you. The big reason for going to the Smithsonian Museum of American History was to see the popular culture exhibit. Aside from Fonzie's jacket and Kermit the Frog, it was a bit of a letdown. The exhibit was contained in one rather small room and was kind of underwhelming. The rest of the museum was awesome and I enjoyed seeing the items pertaining to the American Revolution and the presidents themselves.

This would be day two of trying to find decals for the bukkit, but no souvenir shop seems to sell stickers. We started getting worried that we wouldn't be able to find any because all of the gift shops are almost exactly alike.

We got on the subway to make our way back to DuPont Circle with no hassles this time until we got to DuPont Circle. The up escalator was out. I'm not normally one to be complaining about climbing steps because it doesn't bother me. I prefer it over elevators, but the tunnel to get down to the subway is almost straight down and a LONG climb. Given my current condition, I really had to stop when I got to the top because I felt really winded. Check out the photos of Laela and Miranda on Bukkit Tour Day 11 album on my Facebook page to see how steep the subway stairs are. I finally caught my breath. We were really hungry at this point because we hadn't eaten a meal since noon and it was now after 9:00. We went to Five Guys Burgers. Holy carp, that was a good choice. The burgers taste just like they would on the backyard grill and the toppings are excellent. They also give you a mountain of fries when you order them. I got the fries with the cajun lovin' spices and I was stoked!

We finished dinner and started making our way back to the hotel with one quick pit stop at the liquor store. I wanted to get a beer to have back at the room. I went in and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but Yuengling Lager! I grabbed a sixer, we went back to the room and I enjoyed a couple while we got cleaned up from the day's adventures. Finally turned in at about midnight. What a day.

Bukkit Tour Day Ten: Welcome to the nations's capital

We had another leisurely start to the day on day ten. The girls got up about 11:15, we packed up the room, and got the Escape loaded up for our 12:00 check out time. When we finished loading up the car, we went back into downtown Philly because Laela had seen a breakfast/sandwich shop about four blocks away when we were out walking the night before. It is called the Corner Bakery Cafe'. Laela had a salad, I had eggs/bacon/toast, and Miranda ordered French toast that was an explosion of awesome. It was a mini cinnamon raisin loaf of bread that had been rolled in egg batter and pan fried. It was then sprinkled in powdered sugar and came with a cup of syrup and bacon. I was immediately jealous. Fortunately being the svelte young lady that Miranda is, she was unable to finish it and I was able to reap the benefits. (Truth be told, she shared it while she was eating it but that doesn't make for as good of a story does it?) We left the restaurant and proceeded to pass the giant clothespin sculpture above a subway station. We had walked past that sculpture on three separate occasions and each time there was a different crazy person standing under it screaming obscenities at no one in particular. Gotta love the big city!

Miranda has been reading quite a lot while we've been travelling and had exhausted her supply of books so we needed to swing by Borders to replenish her stock. I made a quick phone call to the place where my motorcycle came from to see if the oil leak was fixed. They said it was still on the lift. Hopefully it'll be finished by the time I get back. After that we made our way back to the car and got on the road to Washington, DC. The GPS said it'd be about a 2 hour and 50 minute drive, but there was an awful accident on the interstate which ended up adding an our to our trip. We finally made it to DC a little after 5:00. We got up to the room and settled in. We're staying at The Churchill Hotel. After settling in we drove down to the national mall to have a look at the sites. We took in the Washington Monument, the World War II memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.

I was kind of disappointed in the upkeep of the area. The grass looks awful, there are footpaths worn into the sides of the Reflecting Pool, and duck poop EVERYWHERE. The monuments themselves are all massive and do a really good job of making you as an individual feel very small. I think I'd like to go back and re-visit the Vietnam memorial today because I'd like to see it in the daylight. It was tough to see after the sun went down even with the soft lighting.

After we'd finished site seeing, we went out to dinner at an Italian joint called Bertucci's. It was really good food, but I think they were pissed to see us walk in at 9:30. We didn't realize they closed at 10:00. I had a fantastic calzone with pepperoni, onions and sun-dried tomatoes. Got back to the hotel at almost 11:00, got caught up on things and went to bed. We're going to try to organize things a little better today and are going to give public transportation a shot because driving in DC sucks.

Bukkit Tour Day Nine: City of Brotherly Love

When I parked my car in New York City on Friday, I had parked in front of a school. It was nice because I wouldn't have to move it until Monday Morning and it was only two blocks from Anthony's house. That was great for Saturday and Sunday, but Monday was the day to pay the piper. That particular school has summer school hours and as such there is no parking in front of it M-F. Cars have to be moved by 7:00. Well, I overslept and didn't walk out of the apartment until 7:45. Oh well what are you going to do? Anthony and I made our way over to t the car just as the parking enforcement officer was getting out of his car and there was another vehicle in front of me. We hopped in and moved it before I got a ticket. Phew...awesome, right? I drove over to Anthony's street and there was one hour parking starting at 8:30 right in front of his building. Sweet I can park here (it was a couple of minutes before 8:00), not have to pay until 8:30 and then I'll have an hour to pack up the car and get out of the city. I parked the car, went up, packed bags and woke up the girls. Went down at 8:25 go feed the meter and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A bright red parking violation. I had failed to notice the no parking between 8:00 and 8:30 sign above the one hour parking sign. Meh, what're you going to do. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the cockamamie parking meter business and I even flagged down a meter maid. She said, "You must be the guy from South Carolina, right?" (the rental has SC plates). I responded "How'd you guess?"

Anyway, short story made long I paid for the parking and got the ride packed up before my hour ran out. We all made it down to the car and plugged in the address to the hotel in Philadelphia. I had to reboot my phone to get the GPS functioning. The GPS function is nice when it works but the AT&T Navigator application locks up constantly. Not a fan. The GPS guided us right in to Philly but when we got close to our destination the highway we needed to take was blocked off. No biggie, we got off of the highway and started navigating the streets and got to the hotel. There we found Philly's fines blocking entrance to the parking garage for the Sheraton. Parking the car in the street, the girls and I walked to the hotel lobby to try and figure out what was going on. Apparently Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden were in the hotel for a fund raiser. We ended up being able to park in the garage a little later. We checked in and made our way up to our room, took a minute to crank up the A/C and get settled in. Laela acquired a few travel books for the cities we're visiting, so we grabbed the Philly book and started out on foot.

I think that Laela said it best when she mentioned that everything about Philly reminds us of her brother Nick and his girlfriend Sam. I think that of all of the big cities that we've visited Philadelphia is our favorite so far.

Our trek to the Liberty Bell took us right through the heart of Chinatown. Miranda loves going to Chinatown in each of the cities that we've been to and Philadelphia was no different. We went into a couple of shops and she picked up some trinkets. We then walked to the visitors center, got oriented, and stopped in the gift shop (had to get a decal for the bukkit).

We then walked over to the Liberty Bell. It's really humbling to stand in front of a piece of American history like that. After visiting the bell, we walked over to Independence Hall and got the express tour there. You get to stand in the same room where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and then ratified. I'd amazing to think that you're standing in the same room that the founding fathers stood in.

After getting our American history on, we walked to South Street to experience some of the local flavor of Philadelphia. My intention was to go have dinner at Tattooed Mom, but their 21 and over policy put a stop to that. We ended up walking down the street a little bit and stopping to eat at Jon's Bar and Grill on 3rd and South which is apparently the birth place of Larry Fine )of Three Stooges fame). Since we were in Philly Laela and I had cheese-steaks and I had my first couple of Yuengling Lagers of the trip. I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed Yuengling. The bar had the Phillies vs. Cardinals game on (unfortunately it was played in St. Louis or we'd have gone to the game). While sitting and eating a wicked thunderstorm came through and we thought for sure that we were going to have to take a cab back to the hotel. In a fortunate turn of events, the storm was short lived and by the time we had finished our meal we were able to go back and walk on the street.

We ended up walking up South Street to Broad and took Broad through downtown back to our hotel. It was awe inspiring to be standing below some of downtown Philadelphia's nicest buildings as they lit up the night sky. Once we made it back to the hotel Laela and I made a few phone calls and then Miranda and I went and swam in the hotel pool. It was very relaxing. When we finished we went back to the room, got all caught up online and went to bed.

Bukkit Tour Day Eight: Yankee for a day

Day eight finds us still in the Big Apple. Saturday was pretty exhausting so we were happy to not have anything to do Sunday morning. It was also the day that I was going to get to see Yankee Stadium. I was really excited to get to see what it was going to be like. We left Anthony's apartment a little over an hour before game time. NYC was already sweltering. A short walk to Union Station found us on the subway bound for the Yankees game. The subway was PACKED full of people headed for the game.

The train made it through two stops before a passenger was injured on the train and pulled the emergency brake. About ten minutes after the conductor announced that the emergency brake had been pulled she then directed everyone to disembark the train because it was now out of service. That makes two days in a row that I somehow managed to take a vehicle of mass transportation out of service. I guess I'm just good luck. So there we are an entire train full of people displaced back onto the platform waiting for the next train (along with all of the other people who had previously been waiting on the platform). The next train eventually makes its way to the platform and of course it's already full of people headed to the game. The doors opened and it was a mad dash to hop onto it and grab a spot. The conductor came on the loudspeaker almost yelling at the passengers that not everyone would fit on the train and some people would have to wait. Fortunately for us, we made it on and although we were packed like sardines we were going to make it to the game.

Anyone who knows me and has ever talked baseball with me knows that I have no love for American League "baseball" and even less love for the Yankees. That being said I couldn't very well walk into Yankee stadium and not root for the Yankees. That'd be akin to rooting for the Russian hockey team in the 1980 Winter Olympics. So I figured, I'm in NYC, I'm seeing the home team, so there's no reason that I shouldn't root for them. I can be a Yankee fan for one measly day, right? There's no harm in that. As soon as we descended the subway platform to street level to get to Yankee stadium we walked into the souvenir shop. Like any dutiful Yankee fan, I bought a Yankee cap and Laela got a Yankee visor. The street under the subway had many shops, much like Yawkey Way did next to Fenway park, but the shops only lined one side of the street so it wasn't quite the immersion that I experienced when at Fenway. While on Yawkey Way before the game, you can "feel" baseball coursing though each nook and cranny of the street. It seems to ooze off of the walls. The street next to Yankee stadium, while cool in it's own right with a distinctly New York flavor had much more of a carnival like atmosphere.

We crossed the street and I got my first unobstructed view of Yankee Stadium. It is certainly a 50,000+ seat monster. Having gone from the second smallest park to the fourth largest park in three days I was gob smacked by the size. As we were walking around the front of the stadium, I could hear the national anthem playing. Although I couldn't see what was going on on the field, I removed my cap and placed it over my heart. You can't help but get choked up in NYC while the anthem is playing (although I get choked up EVERY time I hear the national anthem).

We wound our way through the bowels of the park and made our way to our seats which were amazing. We were in the first and second rows about two sections into fair territory in right field. Had I wanted to spit on Ben Zobrist or Nick Swisher, I could have. The seats were also padded! It was really comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that I didn't move from my seat from the time I sat down 2/3rds of the way through the top of the first until I heard Frank Sinatra sing. It was awesome getting to see Jorge Posada, Andy Petite, Joba Chamberlain, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera get to play ball. They hype up Rivera like mad. It's almost a five minute ordeal. He finally took the mound with two outs in the top of ninth with the Yankees up by four, throws one pitch and the game was over. Yankees over Rays 9-5. We went to the gift shop on the way out and I got a sticker for the bukkit and a banner for my stadium wall.

The subway ride back to Anthony's was uneventful. We went inside, rested for a bit and then set out about town to go get dinner. We ate at Totonno's on 2nd Ave. The pizza was delicious, but I did blow it ordering beer. I got a pitcher of Sam Adams (but I didn't hear the waitress say it was the Summer Ale). I hate beer that tastes like fruit. Sam Adams Boston Lager is one of my top three favorite beers but the Summer Ale tastes like someone poured Lemon Pledge into it.

For our last site seeing trip in NYC, we went to the Empire State Building to go to the observation deck. One would think that at 9:30 on a Sunday night it wouldn't be that crowded, right? WRONG. It took us 45 minutes to get to the elevator that took us to the 80th floor. The observation deck is on the 86th floor. It took another half hour to get there. It was ridiculous. The view from the observation deck was fantastic and makes one feel really tiny and insignificant. All I could think of was the amount of man hours and how many years it took to build all of those buildings. After we got finished on the observation deck we got back in line to go down and were finally finished at 11:30. Had I known it was going to take that long and that I was going to feel like herded cattle, I may have chosen another activity for our last night. But what's done is done. A short cab ride later we were back at Anthony's and turned in for the evening.

A very special thank you goes out to Dr. Anthony Fischetti for putting us up while we were in New York and for being an excellent tour guide. Not to mention one of my very dearest friends. Thanks for the hospitality Anthony, it meant the world to Laela, Miranda, and myself.

Bukkit Tour Day 7: Coney Island

Wow, day 7 already! I can't believe that we've been at this for a week and aren't even half way finished yet. Saturday was another busy day packed with good times and touristy attractions. We started the day simply by having bagels and hanging out at Anthony's apartment waiting for vampire kitty (Miranda) to arise from her slumber. I don't think that I've mentioned this in any of my travel logs yet, but Miranda has been wearing her cat ear hair barrettes everywhere we go on vacation. Combine that with her purple hair and she's quite "noticeable.". I find myself having to evil eye every teenage boy (and some not-so-teenage-males) that lays eyes on her.

Laela, Miranda, Lauren, Anthony, and I finally left Anthony's and hopped on the subway to make our way to the Staten Island Ferry. We really just wanted to see the Statue of Liberty with our bare eyes and not via pictures. There was no need to wait in line for the tour or have to walk my sickly ass up to the top. We just figured we'd ride the ferry past the statue, stay on the boat once it reached Staten Island and come back. Unfortunately, when the boat got to Staten Island it was taken out of service so we were compelled to disembark. Since we were the first to board the vessel we were the last to get off and just missed the boat back to Manhattan. So there we are at 3:00, stuck on Staten Island, and the concert we wanted to go to at Coney Island started at 4:00. We needed to make an executive decision. Do we wait for the ferry to come back or do we find alternate means for transportation? We ended up leaving the ferry terminal (which by the way is just like an airplane terminal) and hailed a cab to take us to Coney Island. I had not even realized that was an option. I figured that if there was a boat to the island that there wouldn't be a bridge off if it. I was wrong.

So here it is 3:20PM, our show starts at 4:00PM and we're getting in a cab. I'm thinking to myself that there is no way we make it on time to the concert. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to be behind the wheel when in a car and don't do well when someone else is driving. Especially when the someone else driving is a complete stranger. I was white knuckling from the moment we sat down in the cab. I finally had to just close my eyes which worked out to my advantage, because I ended up falling asleep.

We made it to Coney Island at 3:55PM. I was amazed that we had made it. The Village Voice was hosting a music festival called the Siren Festival at Coney Island. This dovetailed nicely with our touristy plans to ride the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel. John Reis' (Speedo of Rocket from the Crypt) new band the Night Marchers was playing at 4:00. They don't tour much outside of southern California so this was a rare treat to be able to see them in action. It was especially important to Anthony because he's had an opportunity to see them two other times and missed them both due to jacked up circumstances. I thought for sure that our Staten Island debacle was going to be another of these. The Siren Festival had two stages where bands were playing. We got out of the cab in front of the stage where the Night Marchers were just walking onto stage. It was absolutely perfect timing. There were lots of bands playing at the festival so the sets were short. The second song they played was I Wanna Deadbeat You which happens to be my favorite song by them. The crowd was hyped! The 40 minute set was short but it was a lot of fun. John is a consummate showman, know how to work that crowd, and could make watching CSPAN entertaining. When the show was over, we meandered up to the Boardwalk just to kind of take in the sites and sounds.

The Boardwalk is a huge carnival like atmosphere and it was packed with people on a hot July afternoon. As we were walking we heard a carnival barker calling people over to "shoot the freak." We went over to see what it was all about. There was a platform above an empty space between two buildings. There are lots of barriers and obstacles underneath and there is a guy down there called "The Freak." For a small fee, you can try your luck at shooting paint balls at the freak. So Anthony, Miranda, and I each got 25 paint balls and attempted to shoot the freak. It was a blast. Anthony and Miranda did great, but that wily freak managed to dodge all of my attempts at splattering him. When we finished shooting the freak we got lunch at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on the boardwalk, another New York tradition. Honestly, it was just fair. I mean how much can you really hype up a hot dog? Sorry New York, I'm about to blaspheme but the Fenway Frank blows Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs out of the water. There are a couple of staple rides at Coney Island. The Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone both of which we wanted to ride. The group split up at this point. Anthony and Lauren went to watch Ted Leo play. Laela, Miranda and I went to ride the aforementioned rides. The Wonder Wheel is a Ferris wheel, but it has cars on the inside of the wheel These cars are on roller tracks so as the wheel goes around the cars are rolling on the tracks too. I am not lying when I say this, but the janky old ass Wonder Wheel was WAAAAYY scarier than anything I rode at Cedar Point. The Cyclone is an old wooden roller coaster that has been in operation since 1927. Those that I had spoken too about it before going to New York had regaled me with tales of how it would shake my fillings loose and how rough of a ride it is. The Racers or the Beast at King's Island are way rougher than the Cyclone. I was expecting to be pounded into submission by it but it wasn't bad at all. In fact it was quite a pleasant ride and much longer than I had anticipated. Once off of the ride we met back up with Anthony and Lauren. It just so happened that Ted Leo was walking off of the stage as we got off of the Cyclone. All told, we only were at Coney Island for three hours, but it felt like we were there all day. It was a really good time. We rode the subway from Coney Island all the way back to Anthony's and it was really nice to be in an uncrowded air conditioned subway car.

After freshening up a bit, we went out to dinner. As soon as we descended into the subway station, we no longer felt fresh. The subway stops, nay, all of NYC is hotter than balls in July. We went to Tony Di Napoli's Italian Restaurant on the Upper East Side. Laela had been wanting italian food for two days and it just never seemed to happen so I wanted to make sure that she got a good Italian meal while we were in NYC. Tony Di Napoli's did not disappoint. The entrees serve 2-3 people so we had the following dishes: Caesar Salad, Fettuccine Alfredo, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Marsala. It was all delicious. We finished our dinner at about 11:30PM and were just wiped out from the days events so we decided to call it a night. Little did I know, one more adventure awaited....

After dinner we hailed a cab for the ride home rather than trying to navigate the subway since we were now on our own. Having never been in a cab in NYC at night I had no idea that I was boarding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The cab drivers are absolutely out of control, not just ours but all of them that we saw. There was no regard for turn signals, lane lines, traffic signals, or pedestrians. It was harrowing. I ended up just trying to watch the flat panel TV that was in the back seat because if I didn't I was afraid I was going to soil myself. I had sat in between Laela and Miranda on the ride home and I think that they still have indentations from my fingers on their shoulders.

It was a great end to a great day. I was happy to get back to Anthony's and get some shut eye though. All three of us were plum tuckered out.

Bukkit Tour Day 6: Boston to New York Travel Day

This entry wil be short going to be short because it was a rather uneventful day. We got up in the morning and I had to go to the front desk at the Colonnade to petition for a late checkout. Fortunately I was able to get that extended until 1:00. We packed up the room and headed out to grab lunch at McGreevy's. The bar was fantastic with lots of old Red Sox memoribilia on the walls and the food was good too.

After we wrapped up lunch we made our way back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare. We got the car packed up and then had our wallet raped by the parking garage. Back out onto the street we went, but the GPS locked up and we were unable to get a signal. I didn't have printed maps so we wandered about the city until it was working again. Driving in Boston is a little nerve wracking. Once we got on the highway things were much better but traffic into New York city on Yankees game day sucks! The drive took about two hours longer than it should have. Fortunately for me Laela piloted our vessle to our destination like a champ. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to be the navigator, I prefer to be the pilot.

We made our way to Dr. Fischetti's casa and got situated. It was a nice relaxing evening hanging out with Anthony, Lauren, and Chris. We went and had dinner at Old Town Bar at around 9:30. Everyone but Miranda had a burger and they were delicious. We were pretty tired out after our day of travel so we went back to Anthony's and got some shut eye. We've got a pretty big day planned today so look for a huge post tomorrow.

Bukkit Tour Day 5 - Fenway Day

Wow, I don't even know where to begin to describe our Thursday in Boston. It was an amazing day. The morning slipped by pretty quickly and we really didn't get rolling until 11:00 or so, but it's vacation. Right? To start the day off we dined at Brassiere Jo. It is in the lobby of our hotel the Colonnade. I think that it is the first time I've ever eaten at a French restaurant. The omelet I ate was as big as my head, I couldn't even finish it. I felt bad that I didn't have my yellow and black checkered slip-on Vans because the guys at ODJFS used to tease me and my 'stache about being a French Taxi driver when I'd wear them on casual Friday.

When we finished lunch we hit the street. One of the nice things about the hotel is that it is close to everything that we wanted to do in Boston. It was a short walk to the ball park. The girls and I arrived at 12:45 so we could go on the Fenway Park tour. There were no tickets available to the 1:00 tour so we got tickets to the 2:00. The Red Sox offer tours of the ballpark every hour between 9:00 and 4:00. This gave us time to mosey around outside for a little bit and visit the gift shop before hand. I wonder if they do that on purpose (the gift shop is where the tour originates).

The 2:00 group was so large that we had to be split up between two tour guides. Our tour guide Steve navigated us into the park and up on to the sun deck in the right field. There we all had our photos taken by Red Sox staff photographers and learned a little bit about the history of the park. From there, we went back inside and went past all of the luxury suites and press box. The hallways are lined with memorabilia. Every style of uniform since the club's inception, the hall of fame plaque wall, commemorations of all of the Cy Young winners, every cover of Sports Illustrated that's ever had a member of the Red Sox on it, and my personal favorite. The foul pole from game six of the 1975 World Series. The one where Carlton Fisk waves the home run ball fair as he's trotting down to first base. They don't talk about game 7 of the 1975 World Series in Boston, but I felt that it was my duty as a Cincinnati Reds fan to remind the tour who won game 7. From there, we went and sat in the seats on "The Green Monster" and after that we went to the grandstand section behind home plate. Those seats are the oldest in use in major league baseball. They were installed in the 1930s during the first renovation of Fenway Park. They are wooden seats and are not, shall we say, suited for the average modern American. The Red Sox can't replace them due to modern fire code regulations because they'd lose about 6000 seats and they're already the second smallest seating capacity in the Major Leagues with under 39,000 seats.

When the tour had concluded we walked over to the park where there are bronze statues commemorating the Caldecott Award winning children's book "Make Way for Ducklings." It was a pleasant walk through the park and the girls had their pictures taken with the ducks. It a big photo opp and was a beautiful day so there were lots of people waiting to take photos. Afterwards, we walked through Chinatown so that Miranda could experience that. She picked up a couple of souvenirs. We then got on the subway to go back to the hotel. The girls when up to the Colonnade's rooftop pool, while I took a quick nap. Before we knew it, 6:00 rolled around and it was time to leave the hotel and go to the ball park again for the Red Sox vs. Rangers game.

There were throngs of people making there way to the game, it was tough not to get separated. It got even worse once we made it onto Yawkey Way. That is the coolest sporting atmosphere I've ever been immersed in. It's all foot traffic and it's wall to wall people who are super hyped to go see the Red Sox play. We made it to the ticket window at Gate A got our tickets, and proceeded to our seats. The truly amazing thing about Fenway park is how crammed with people it was on a routine Thursday night game. It's a shame that other major league cities don't get the fan support at the games that the Red Sox get. The game itself ended up being not very eventful after the Sox starting pitcher Tim Wakefield gave up six runs in the top half of the first. Just being at Fenway was awesome enough and it was truly an experience being a Red Sox fan for a day.

In the middle of the fifth inning on the center field John Hancock scoreboard, there was a huge greeting that read "The Red Sox welcome Rob Behler." We were so busy enjoying the sites and sounds that we weren't quick enough on the draw to get a picture. During the top of the ninth, a representative of the Red Sox organization came to our seats and presented us with a photograph of the scoreboard. I was absolutely stunned. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been a victory for the Sox.

After the game we made our way back to the hotel anxious to share all of the photos on Facebook and then crashed because we were exhausted. There are a couple of things in Boston that we didn't get to do, but I think we could spend weeks here and not do everything. I'm looking forward to New York city today and getting to visit my dear friend Anthony Fischetti!

Bukkit Tour Day Four: Travel/Boston, MA

Day four found us waking up in Westfield, MA which is about an hour and a half outside of Boston. We started the day with "brunch" at the Friendly's which was next to our hotel and then got on the highway. Aside from some drizzle the drive was pretty uneventful until we got off of the freeway into downtown Boston. Driving downtown is nuts. Our hotel was right by the freeway exit so I ducked into the nearest parking garage trying to avoid driving around as much as possible. Well, that was a mistake. After two laps around the garage, no unoccupied spaces, and $9 later we thought we'd try our fortunes elsewhere. I decided to pull up in front of the hotel and unload our bags (and the girls). Of course the bellhop directed us to the Colonnade's garage which is right behind the hotel and I had no problems parking. Oh well, live and learn.

We went up to our room and it is ridiculously swanky with a great view of the city. So far we've had great luck with hotel rooms. The Colonnade was a Travelocity "Top Secret Hotel" so we got a four star room relatively inexpensively. It is one of the nicest rooms I've ever stayed in and it is really close to lots of sites in downtown Boston. More importantly it's within walking distance of Fenway Park!

After we settled in, we rested for a bit and organized our things. It was raining and we didn't really know what to do so we took a Boston Duck Tour which was really the only thing other than Fenway that was on our list of things to do while we were here. The photo above is the three of us in the rear view mirror of our duck, the "Red Sox Nathan." The "Red Sox Nathan" was the lead vehicle in the 2007 World series parade when Boston won the championship. Our guide, Captain AL (Amazing Lee) Courageous was the driver in the parade. The duck tour takes you by all of the historic and interesting locations in the downtown Boston area and being an amphibious vehicle, goes out on to the Charles River. It launches into the water right by the site of the forthcoming Charles River Skatepark (but we all know how that project has stalled out). Both Miranda and I had an opportunity to drive the duck while it was in the water. Of course I was the only "adult" to volunteer.

Later on that evening, we went for a walk up and down Boylston St. in search of dinner. We wanted to eat at McGreevy's but they are 21 and over after 8PM so we're going to try to have lunch there today (July 15). We ended up having dinner at Legal Seafood in the Prudential Center on the recommendation of Dan Michalec and he did NOT disappoint. The food was spectacular. Afterwards, we retired to the Colonnade for the evening for some much needed rest.

Today is Fenway Day, so I'm anxious to get out and get to it.