What I learned

Well, While on Vacation I learned some new things both about me and my mom. I will just tell you what I learned about Me.


*I didn't know they still made 2008 cars without automatic windows and doors
*I enjoy driving much better then being a passenger
*I HATE humidity!!
*I LOVE Savannah Georgia
*I talk in my sleep (pretty funny!)
*I can be gone for 3 weeks and still not be home sick
*The older I get, the more I become like my Father
*I am a hotel snob and only like to stay in ones that are not 75 years old
*While on Vacation, I don't enjoy being on my Cell Phone
*I never knew a vacation could be so relaxing
*I only like to stop at bathrooms that i think are nice, and don't care how long the other person (my mom) has had to pee for. (I really wanted to see Niagara Falls!!) :)
*When renting a car from now on, i will ALWAYS make sure it has cruise control! Over 3000 miles and no cruise control....pretty crappy!
*Police men are very serious in N. Carolina
*The guards at the Canadian border don't think we are very funny!
*Having two different license plates from two different States on your rental car gets a lot of attention. (We were asked if its even legal, I have no idea. Is it?)
*I don't care much for flying, but after having several beers, you don't seem to care if the plane is dropping, life is great :)
*The food in the East is fantastic!!
*Tri-Cities is lacking serious restaurants!!
*They do yoga in the middle of the streets in NY...Only in NY is that okay!
*When it comes to killing bugs, Mom is apparently the one :)
*I will only drive 7-10 mph over the speed limit regardless if the semi truck is passing me going 20 over the speed limit, unlike mom who just wants to keep up with traffic
*When parking at any HUGE parking lot, ALWAYS remember the row number!
*When leaving the highway in NY, you have to pay a Toll. No matter what road your getting on
*The best part of Vacation is the random things you decide to do!
*You don't need a GPS to travel in unknown places, all you need is a laptop, cellphone with data cable, computer plug in into your lighter and map quest! 3000 miles and never got lost! :) And i'm even a blond!


I think the list could go on but I will stop there! What a fun experience!

Orlando International Airport June 2nd

Ok, we are sitting in the Orlando International Airport, we can start boarding in about 20 minutes. We went to the Kennedy Space Center this morning for a few hours and even saw a 3D movie we watched about outer space. I think we both had a completely wonderful time on this vacation but now that we are at the airport we can't wait to get home. I can't speak for Amy but I sure miss everyone!!! As we were walking through the airport Amy realizes she has lost her boarding pass! We decided to stop and ask someone what to do about it and he happens to have the darn thing in his hand, can you believe that! We thought this was a good time to stop and have a drink which tasted so good we decided to have another one. Ok, I guess we better get going so we don't miss our flight. See you all soon and thanks for following along with us on this awesome adventure!

Florida, July 1st

Well, for our last full day here in Orlando, we woke up late and had a relaxing morning. We decided that the weather was not going to be good enough to go to any water parks, so we decided on Disney's Animal Kingdom. Today was so much fun, we walked around and saw many animals from Asia and Africa, but we also got to go on a safari ride. You actually felt like you were in the jungle walking around, so it was only appropriate that for lunch we ate at the Rainforest's Cafe. We had some outstanding Mai Tai's, food and fun. I rode on the Mount Everest ride, which took us up a steep mountain, we came to a halting stop, rode backwards in pitch black, then went straight down the front of the hill and around several circles, some of the time in pitch black. It was one heck of a ride! Mom stood and watched...Chicken! :)

We made it back to our condo where we got all of our suitcases figured out for our trip home tomorrow and just relaxing. Tomorrow we will spend our last day and the Kennedy Space Center before hoping on the plane to head home.

Florida June 30

We knew it was supposed to be 60% chance of thundershowers today but we still wanted to go to Universal Studios and City Walk. It was still hot and muggy so we put on our shorts and tank tops and left for the 15 minute drive. It wasn't long after we were there that the ugly black clouds that had appeared opened up and started dumping on us. Oh my gosh, you would not believe the amount of rain that we got here today. It went on all day long. After coming out of the ride "twister" where we were to experience the rain and high winds like being in a tornado we saw what the real weather was like and it was definitely wetter outside. We decided to buy the classic poncho that all the other tourist were running around in so we could keep on going. Since it was about lunch time and it was still raining so hard there were puddles everywhere we decided to go to Margaritaville for a break and have some lunch. After lunch we went back to Universal to see how they did the make-up in horror movies. That was funny and gory all at the same time. We left Universal about 2:00 and we were both so tired we came back to the condo to take a quick power nap and clean up a little. We then went to a place called Wonder Works, where the house is upside down and has a bunch of imaginary exhibits inside. It was so crowded that we couldn't hardly get close to any of them, we left being disappointed in it. We found some cute shops close by to walk to. One of the little restaurants there was an old time place that served Shakes and Malts. We thought that would be the perfect thing for the rainy day blues. They were really good!! It was starting to get late but we weren't really ready to come back to the room since we had the nap earlier. We found a place called "Old Town" that had a bunch of little cute shops. In the parking lot of this place they had a couple of really scary rides. The one was like bungee jumping but they catapult you into the sky by some kind of elastic rope after being strapped to your seat. It went so high in the sky you looked like a dot up there. The other ride is where you are raised way the hell up there by some kind of rope and you drop and swing across the entire parking lot. We are hoping for better weather tomorrow for our last full day before going home.

Flordia June 29th

Well we woke up this morning to another hot muggy day with condensation all over our windows! We could not even see out our living room! I knew we were going to be in trouble. We headed to Epcot first thing and spent the first couple hours riding some of the rides and walking around. We did the space ride (in the big globe as you enter Epcot) which was pretty crazy. At the end of the ride, it opened you up to where you felt like you were floating in space. Pretty amazing. The second part of our day was spend walking around the different Countries. Some of the Countries had rides in them, and others were just stores and food from that Country. We ate some lunch in Japan, where we sat at a table with the grill in front of you, and got a performance as we ate! The food was outstanding! After lunch we decided we needed dessert, so we wondered into France and got some amazing food. Mom got the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and i got something i don't know how to say, but its a sugar coated pastry filled with vanilla cream!! It was so yummy!

After leaving Epcot, I had found in a pamphlet an Air boat ride. So we drove to Cypress Lake (about an hour from our hotel) and got on an Air boat for an Hour long ride. It took us all over Cypress Lake, but we went through all the weeds and swamps. The boat goes in just inches of water. At some points i thought we were going to hit dry land, but there was always just enough water there to keep us going. We saw several Alligators (one up close that was about 6 feet) and some others that were swimming near by with one being around 12 feet! We saw many bald eagles, cows, and birds catching there fish for dinner. It was such a fun and beautiful ride!!

After a long day, we decided we both needed pedicures. So on our way back towards our condo, we stopped and got a deluxe pedicure (which we both desperately needed!) As we were getting pedicures, we watched a really nice thunderstorm pass overhead, thankfully the rain/hail had stopped before we left. On our way home we hit Ihop for dinner and had some breakfast! Another fun filled exciting day in Florida with only 2 1/2 days to go!

Florida June 28

Today was our first full day in Kissimmee, Florida. After settling in to our beautiful condo last night we were sitting around relaxing after getting ready for bed. Out of the corner of my eye I see this black thing moving across the tile floor in the living room. It was some kind of huge bug, Amy described it as a small reptile. We both freaked out, I jumped on the couch but she didn't do anything so I grabbed my flip flop and smacked it hard and ran!! It took me a minute to go back to get my flip flop, I wanted to make sure the ugly thing was dead. I have no idea what the thing was but I haven't seen another one since and I hope I don't. This morning we went to Sea World. It was unbelievably hot and humid, we were just dripping with sweat. Amy saw this new kind of roller coaster that looks like a sting ray and you sit facing down and move kind of head first. I refuse to go on it so I played the photographer. She really liked it but there were a few times she thought she might mess her pants. Thank goodness she didn't. We went on to see all the animal shows and of course we loved them all especially the dolphins and Shamu. We were slightly disappointed though. After seeing the SeaWorld in San Diego I don't think this one was as good. We finished about 3:00 so we came back to clean up and change clothes and went to have a dinner show at the Arabian Nights right here in our complex. The food was awesome and the show was also really good. The horses were so pretty and graceful, I just love watching them. We each had two large drinks called Princess Passion in tall glasses that we get to keep. Wow were they good!! We could have had more of those but didn't want to have a hangover tomorrow since we have another big day planned. Having a great time and can't believe it's almost over:(

Florida June 27

We left Savannah GA this morning after driving around the cute little city. That is the one place we would both love to go back and spend some time at. It was like an old city kept extremely neat and clean. The streets are skinny and the blocks are really short but packed full of cute buildings. We drove into Jacksonville for a short break and toured the Budweiser Brewing Co. It was really fascinating, we even learned that they buy the hopps from Washington State! We got to taste a couple of beers in the hospitality room and then took off to our final destination. We arrived in Kissimmee Florida about dinner time and one of the last things on my "to do" list was eat at a Benihana's. We found one about 7 miles from our Condo so we went. We sat around a large grill with 6 other people while the cook did his show while cooking. We visited with these people who were all from Florida and they all had to give us ideas of places to go and things to do. It was alot of fun and the food was good too. We are staying in a one bedroom condo, courtesy of Jennifer Schnieder and her husband. This place is beautiful!! We both grabbed our cameras the minute we walked in the door, it's like a really cute furnished large apartment, complete with a jetted tub. This complex is huge and even has 5 large pools. We stopped by the store after dinner and picked up some milk, juice, coffee and cereal for breakfast. I think we both miss our cereal. We are relaxing tonight trying to decide what our plans will be for the next few days while we are here.

Savannah GA, June 26th

We left Myrtle Beach this morning and headed south, we went through Hilton Head SC but was very disappointed. The resorts were beautiful, but the only way to get to the beach was by either staying at a resort, or parking and walking a few blocks. Since we couldn't see the beach, we decided to keep driving. While leaving Hilton Head, i got caught in a southern thunder storm! All sorts of lighting and thunder, rain and hail so hard that even with my wipers on super high, i still could not see more then 10 feet in front of me! Everyone was driving really slow and with their flashers on! That was an experience!! While driving, Mom got some reservations at the Marriott in Savannah. We checked in, and for some reason got the 8th floor (the top) that you have to have a key to use in the elevator to get here, its the conciser floor. We have a HUGE room with our own little dinner area for the floor! We decide to take a walk down River Walk which is just absolutely the cutest street. A trolley runs right down the middle of the street, the street is made of cobble stone (well sort of, not sure what to call it), and the river is on one side, with all sorts of shops and restaurants on the other. The street went of for blocks, so we did some shopping (of course) and the best part, you can walk down the streets with your beer!!! All of the people are so nice and friendly!!! I wish i could get that Georgia Accent, but i don't think it will come to you in a 12 hr period. We are sitting in our room right now with Margaritas and relaxing before our final long day of driving towards Orlando.

Myrtle Beach SC, June 25th

Well today there was not to much excitement, other then Mom getting pulled over (which by the way I'm still chuckling about!). We drove through North Carolina and didn't find anything to exciting to stop at, but enjoyed the beautiful trees and flowers! We were not tired (and i started driving) so we continued into South Carolina and decided Myrtle Beach would be a good stopping point. It is so beautiful here! Its hot and muggy, but after the rain we have been having, this is wonderful! We got a beautiful Hotel with a Ocean front room, 4 pools and 2 lazy rivers! These places are amazing! We walked down the beach 15 blocks to the pier,(which we were surprised to find how warm the water was!) we bought a beer and walked out to the end of the pier (which they said was a mile out and back, but it didn't seem that long). We started getting hungry so we walked up to the street and started walking back towards our hotel, when I saw some shops that i needed to go in. We shopped for a little while and then went to a cute little Bar and Grill and had some amazing Salmon with pesto sauce! We are looking forward to relaxing on the beach tomorrow morning before we have to continue to head south.

Virginia NO NO

Ok, I have to put this out there before Amy gets the chance to blog before me. I want to tell my side of it because Lord knows what she would say. We were pulling into a small town in Virginia to find a bathroom and get something to drink. I was driving and I was exiting 95 S and the off ramp was like going around a complete circle. As we were coming to the end of this circle I was looking to the left over my shoulder as I was merging with the traffic in town. I did not see the darn stop sign on the side of the road and the next thing you know there were flashing lights behind me!! Amy was laughing at me but I was just shaking. The cop asked me if I saw the sign and of course I said "no". I think he was in shock. He asked for my license and noticed that we were from out of town and it right back to me. I think the whole incident took less than 2 minutes. Luckily he was nice and told me to be more careful, that I could have killed someone. Well I think it was good of me to have been looking for traffic that I was merging into rather than some dump stop sign. I just have to get Amy to quite laughing at me!!! I don't want to speak to soon, but I am 50 years old and have never had a ticket. Not that I never deserved one.
We also want to thank everyone for the comments, we love reading them!!

Washington DC, June 24th

We found our way into the heart of DC this morning and got on the Double Decker bus tour. It was so nice because they made 30 stops, you could get off the bus, or stay on and when you got off, you could stay off for as long as you wanted and caught another bus 20 minutes later. Because we are so used to rain this trip, we were not prepared for the beautiful sunshine we had today, and got burned!!! I guess we should be careful what we wish for! We didn't have much time so we choose a few highlights we really wanted to see. First was the US Capital Building, then it was the White House. We got to see the Oval office and rose garden (through fence post of course). We went through Embassy Row which was really cool to see. We went through Georgetown and saw the Smallest house in DC, which was 9 feet by 13 feet!! We got off at Georgetown and ate at a cute little place called Mr. Smiths Garden Patio, where we sat outside and enjoyed more of the nice weather. We went to Arlington National Cemetery which we walked around for a while, and made it to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We made it just in time to see the "Changing of the Guards". That is so impressive to watch. What a commitment those guys make! We drove around and saw lots more and learned so much, it was a very cool way to see D.C. We then headed into Chinatown where we met up with Gretchen's Brother and Sister-n-law where we had drinks and enjoyed a great dinner at Bar Louie. We enjoyed visiting with them, but then headed on out of D.C to get out of traffic for our morning drive. We ended in Fredricksburg VA for the night and will continue moving South tomorrow.

Arlington VA June 23d

Well today was the most stressful of all our days of the vacation so far, and parts were the most funny too. We had the worst ride possible from our Hotel in New York to the airport to pick up our car. First of all the man could hardly speak English and I don't think he had any idea what the white dotted lines going down the middle of the road meant. He was all over the road, on both sides and even drove down the middle several times. We almost got in a couple of accidents, one of them really scary! We were driving really fast on the highway and he decides to change lanes without looking and about ran some car off the road. The guy honks and our driver just puts up his hand and yells back. Our side mirrors were almost knocked off the van several times. Poor Amy was almost in tears and I was laughing so hard I had tears, I have no idea why! Well we finally get our car and thankfully Amy drives us to Arlington. It was touch and go getting out of New York with all the traffic and thousands of exits and on ramps but we did it. We had difficulty finding reservations in this town because of all the conventions going on and everything was booked up. We finally found one (last night) and reserved it. When we arrived today we were both very sceptical of the hotel from the outside but knew that it was slim pickings right now. After getting into the room we both started laughing. First of all there were no ramps anywhere in the hotel so all our luggage had to be taken up several steps to even get to the elevators that were 100 years old and slow. Getting to our room we discovered it had swamp coolers and old pink tile in the bathrooms. It smelled really old and musty. We were hungry so we dropped our luggage off and left to find something to eat. While eating I could tell Amy was just not in a good mood and very concerned about our room so I suggested we go back and check out and she instantly cheered up. We loaded everything back up into our little jeep and heading to Washington DC to sight see and possibly get a room. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial and Korean War Memorial. We drove around close to the White House and all the surrounding buildings but it was starting to get dark so we thought we better start looking for a place to stay. Everything was booked in DC too!! We drove and drove and drove some more. Poor Amy was getting a major headache. We finally found a Marriott that was originally booked solid but had a cancellation for tonight so we grabed it!! While checking in I asked the man what town we were in because they don't believe in signs in the East. He tell me we are in Arlington!! I just started laughing, we didn't realize how big Arlington was. It is now about 10:30 and we are finally relaxing. We don't have reservations tomorrow either so I hope it goes a whole lot smoother!!

New York June 22

For our last day in New York I had a couple of things left on my "to do" list that I had to get done. First was to ride the subway. We went to the World Trade Center to see them working on the memorial for the twin towers. Everything was fenced off so we couldn't see to much but we still got a couple of pictures. We walked all around Battery Park, took a picture of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We also happened to be there at just the right time to see 5 black men with red and white tights on putting on an acrobatic show mixed with a lot of comedy. They were really good at what they did and even used 5 tourist that were watching as part of their last act. He did a flip over the five guys bent over. It was pretty amazing. After coming back to Time Square on the subway we accomplished the second item on my "to do" list. We stopped at a street vendor and had a hot dog! For 2 hot dogs and 2 bottled waters it was 7 dollars. It really wasn't that great, not a lot of flavor but it was fun to do anyway. We found a Ripley's Believe it or Not and decided to check it out. It had some pretty weird stuff in it. We shopped around Time Square for a little while and then went to Bubba Gumps for dinner. The hot dog was really small and it was about 3 hours earlier. We literally walked all day long except for the few minutes we were on the subway. I have blisters on both my baby toes but it was worth it. We had much better weather today, no rain!!! It was overcast part of the day but we actually saw sunshine. We are ready to leave NY and have decided to go to Washington DC and stay in Virginia the next 2 nights.

New York June 21st

After sleeping in this morning we decided to walk around the very busy streets of New York. I can't believe how impatient these drivers are!! The very second the lights turn green they are laying on their horn and by gosh, don't dare get in their way! Since Amy has been here before she showed me the Library, Empire State building and the Chrystler building. They were all fascinating but my favorite was St. Patrick's Cathedral. Since it was Sunday we happen to get there in time for the first song of one of the services. It's is absolutely gorgeous and huge! There were lots of candles in the back of the church if you wanted to light one for someone and of course I just had to light one!! It was all so beautiful. We then went to a play at the Gershwin Theater, "The Wicked". It's about the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. The story tells her side of what happened. It was really good, we both loved it!! After leaving the play we headed for Ruby Foos for dinner. This was recommended by a Dr. I work with, it was awesome chinese food. Of course we had to do some more walking to work off the good food. By this time it started raining really hard and we got soaked, again!! I have to say most of the day was nice weather though. We are both tired and ready to just sit in the room and relax tonight. We are having a great time but miss everyone.

New York City June 20

Well we finally made it to the Big City. I don't really know how to put it into words, it's crazy here!! There are more people walking on this one street than there is in the whole Tri-Cities. We walked the city last night looking at all the street vendors and found some cool souvenirs to bring back but we also had to buy umbrellas. We were tired of getting soaked! The rain has been unstoppable but we don't let us stop us from doing what we want to do. Last night we put on our dresses and heels, got a taxi and went to the World Yacht Dinner Cruise. It took us around the city of NY at night where we could see the lights of the city. Even though it was cloudy it was still beautiful! When we went by the Statue of Liberty (very slowly) they played some beautiful songs that took your breath away. God Bless The USA was one of them. I love that song!! The food was awesome and the DJ played some beautiful songs for everyone to dance to. I have to admit it all reminded me of the cruise Jim and I took and some of those songs killed me!! When we got back to the pier we were trying to find a taxi to get us back to the Hotel but everyone else had the same idea so we kept walking down the street to look for a taxi somewhere else. The next thing you know, we were back to our Hotel, we walked the entire way in our dress and heels in the rain at 11pm. I wished we had our umbrellas with us. We looked liked drowned rats with blisters on our feet but we just laughed about it. We are excited to tackle another day in NY today.

Wallingford CT, June 19th

Well last night after spending some time in our Hotel Room, we noticed a constant drip of water coming from the ceiling. We put down a towel, after about 20 minutes it didn't get better. Mom kept saying we needed to call the front desk because the water will ruin the floor. I was telling her, just put down a bigger towel and we will worry about it in the morning. We were in our Pj's, and i knew they would either want to move us, or work on it! Well, mom finally called and they wanted to move us to another room! I was annoyed but didn't have much of a choice. WE walked into our new room (after the guy kindly loaded all our shit up for us and moved it) and it was HUGE!! We both stood in awe! he then told us it was the Handicap room...like i care! i loved that room! The shower was huge and you could just walk straight into it, not like the tub/shower. WE even had a bench in the shower, i would like handicap rooms all the time. :)

WE decided to check out one of the only WW2 boats still around in Albany before leaving town. WE got to tour the USS Slater. This particular boat was a destroyer with 250 men on board. It was up in Greece during the war. We got to see where all the guys got to eat, sleep, the bathrooms, where they drive from and all the guns plus much more. The guy giving us the tour was an older guy who was in WW2 but not on that boat. We both enjoyed the tour. Its amazing how many guys it takes on a boat that size to make everything run the way its supposed to. We left Albany NY, went through Massachusetts, and into Connecticut. We are staying in Wallingford CT tonight. If you wondering what we are doing here, there is not much! We asked where we could get a pedicure, and no one knew of a place! But we also had ticked to see John Edwards (physics Medium). The show was about 2 1/2 hours and was amazing! We both loved it! We are both excited for our journey tomorrow towards New York City!!!

Thanks for all your comments! We enjoy reading them!

Albany NY June 18th

Well not much exciting going on today. We left Canada (which by the way, the guards at the border don't think much is funny!) around 11. We drove in pouring down rain all day long into Syracuse. We went to a UPS store to ship a bunch of crap home, drove around the city a little and headed on to Albany. Albany is a cute little town with lots of beautiful buildings. It was raining tonight, so we drove around a little and will try to check out the city more tomorrow. We plan on having a relaxing morning tomorrow with a late start towards Connecticut.

Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario Canada June 17

We made it out of Pittsburgh and on to Canada. We checked into our Beautiful Bed and Breakfast Called The Georgian . It is owned by a couple from Scotland in their mid 40's. It is an 1818 Mansion that is almost all the original wood. They had 3 absolutely gorgeous suites we got to choose from, each one had a king size bed, bathroom, sitting room with a wood fireplace and TV's. The one we stayed in also had a dressing room and a Jacuzzi tub. It was decorated so amazingly with the old fashion dressers and decoratives. After taking a look around the place, we decided to head up to Niagara Falls. It had been raining most of the day, so it was no surprise that at the top of the falls, it was pouring! We walked around and took some pictures and did some shopping. We decided not to do the boat near the falls being that it was already raining, we didn't want to freeze. After a few hours of shopping, we were shocked to find everything was closing! 6:00 in the evening all the shops and closed down so we headed back towards our B&B. We crawled into our very comfy bed and both had a good night sleep. Our breakfast was a 3 course meal that was to die for. First we walked into the dinning room with glass of fruit and some orange juice. Then she brought out Egg's Benedict with homemade buns, and sauce. It was amazing! After we had finished that, she then brought out a homemade banana bread soaked in Caramelized Carmel and Grand Mariner. The sauce was so good, we could have ate that with just a spoon. We enjoyed a nice visit with the couple and made our way out to the little town called Niagara on the Lake, which is just a cute little cottage town with little shops and boutiques. We shopped for a couple hours, but it had been raining all morning, so we decided to head out. We are off towards Albany NY.

Pittsburgh June 16

This morning we went through the Amish Country stores to buy some souvenirs. They do such beautiful work it was hard to decide what to buy. We were there a little over an hour before we had our arms full. That is absolutely beautiful country!! We then crossed through the tip of W. Virginia into Pittsburgh PA. we are not very impressed! We were told to go to Station Square for lots to do so we checked it out. We had a great lunch at Hard Rock Cafe but all the other places we walked to were nothing but eating and drinking establishments. We also decided to cross one of these bridges into downtown Pittsburgh but we didn't see much there except very crowded skinny streets with more taverns and restaurants. We wanted to buy something with Pittsburgh on it but everything we found had Champions of either Hockey or Football on it, so we didn't buy anything. We did go to the Strip District which is like a huge sidewalk sale but Amy was uncomfortable so we didn't stay very long. Ok, so they were also getting ready to close. We are both tired since we didn't sleep well last night so I think we are going to go to bed early tonight and leave before the morning traffic. We are excited to get to Niagara Falls tomorrow.

Berlin Ohio June 15th

So we left Chicago, found our way back to the airport to our rental car. We ended up with a 2008 Jeep Patriot, Nice huh...... Well it looks nice but we have no automatic ANYTHING!! Did you know they still make cars where you have to hand roll your own window up and down? No cruise control or power locks. So after about 10 minutes of laughing, we decided we better hit the road. We Made our way out of Chicago without getting lost, through Indiana and into Ohio. Mom has always wanted to go to an Amish country, so here we are in Berlin known to be one of the biggest Amish countrys in Ohio. As we were driving out, Mom found a nice Hilton to stay in outside of the Amish country. I thought, No, if you want to go to an Amish place, then we have to stay there as well. So we continued on our way. About 20 minutes into the drive, we hit gravel road and horses and buggy's. So i said, "Yeah your right, lets go back to that nice Hilton we passed". Mom then decided it was to far back and she wanted to stay in the Amish County. I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect. Let me tell you, I was happy to see lines on the road again :). We ended up finding an absolutely beautiful hotel and suites! We stayed in a beautiful room with a balcony overlooking a nice patio and green field! We enjoyed the pool and hot tub and layed in bed watching our 46 inch plasma TV. There was no Phone service here so we had to drive a couple miles away to let people know we were OK. The pool was nice, although on the side of the pool it said 8 feet. I was thinking man this is a deep pool, but sure doesn't look that deep. So I held my breath and tried to touch bottom, as i went down, i stopped before my head was under water.....yep it wasn't 8 feet, only 5! Oh, well we know for next time. I would highly recommend this hotel if anyone wants to stay in an Amish Country. We are going to spend a few hours shopping, and head to Pittsburgh PA later today.

Chicago June 14th

Well once again, we both slept very good and didn't get up till 9:30 :) We were very happy to open our curtins to find lots of sun shine! It was a beautiful day with no wind at all. For being the "Windy City", Tri-Cities is MUCH worse! We made our way to a local Cafe where we enjoyed a coffee and muffin for breakfast. We walked past Chicago River Walk towards Theater District and decided to get tickets to see Marry Poppins at the Cadillac Theater. We sat on the main level in Row M, right on the isle, so we had an amazing view! Man what an awesome show that was! Both Mom and I enjoyed it tremendously! We both had smiles on our face the entire time. The music, lights, costumes and actors were all amazing!! After the show, we made our way back towards the hotel and decided to eat at a highly recommended pizza place called Giordano's. We of course had to get the all famous deep dish Chicago Pizza. With that we each enjoyed a beer (or two). We asked for some garlic bread, but after finding out we got the entire loaf of bread, we decided to pass knowing that pizza would be more then enough. After Dinner we walked Michigan Ave a little more and then decided to call it an early evening being we are leaving early in the Morning. We sat in the Hot Tub for a little while and are now enjoy the wonderful sounds of sirens outside our room for the past 20 min! Chicago is a nice place to visit, but ready to move on to the next adventure. Please feel free to leave coments with your names so we know who we are responding to!

Chicago June 13

We both slept REALLY good last night, woke up to our alarm going off at 6:25 but we both went back to sleep until about 9:00. I think the massage did the trick! However we were dissapointed to look out the window to lots of rain, yuk! We didn't let that stop us though, we put on our tennis shoes and headed out to Michigan Ave to shop and sight see. You should have seen us, we looked like drowned rats running into the stores for a break from the rain. We decided to take the city bus to the field museum that was down by Soldier Stadium. Neither one of us were real excited to go to the museum but was told by many people that we should go see it so we did. You should have seen us, it was so funny!! We both looked like children being forced to do something they didn't want to do. We thought " lets just take some pictures to prove we were here and get out". I think we went through the museum in record time! By that time the rain was clearing up so we walked about a mile to the naval pier. That was really cool. There was tons of shopping and restaurants. We decided to go on a an architecture Cruise on the "Seadog". It was a huge jet boat that took us on a speed cruise first on Lake Michigan and then through the locks down Chicago River to learn about all the buildings. We came back and ate dinner on the Pier then took the trolley back to town were we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a great day, had lots of fun and laughs! Hoping for better weather tomorrow. We haven't even had shorts on yet.

Chicago June 12

Well we finally made it to Chicago after starting our day at 3:00 am this morning. Our landing in Denver was a tad bit rough but the one coming into Chicago was horrible! We dropped several times, you could hear people gasping. We had the map of our trip in front of us to watch and we were at 40,000 feet and the next you know it said 27,500. It wasn't windy so I don't know why it was so bad except we were going through the clouds. We were on a huge Boeing 777. We decided to use the "Go" shuttle service to get to our motel. Well, we learned why it was called "Go". Holy cow the man went from 0 to 60 at every stop sign and red light. I think we got whiplash on the way here. We walked around the Magnificent Mile looking for a place to eat and found a really cute sidewalk cafe called "Rosebud". We were right on a very busy corner with cars all around us and most of them honking. The food and Columbia Crest Washington wine were great and we went walking and shopping afterwards. Because we both had headaches that I am sure we got from the whiplash we decided to splurge on a massage here at the Motel. That was the best I have ever had!! Amy and I waited for each other by sitting in the Jacuzzi so it has been a very relaxing evening!
We are having a great first day and looking forward to tomorrow.

2009 highlander

So this past weekend I got my car I have been looking at for quite a while! I spoiled myself with a 2009 Toyota Highlander, will all the additional options! It has so many buttons that i have not yet figured out how to use them all! :)
It is such a nice car, easy to drive, comfortable to ride in and will last me many many years!! I couldn't be happier with my new HUGE purchase!

50 things you may not know about me

I got this as an e-mail and decided to post it on here as well:


1: My first job was working at a Coffee Shop (Espresso World)
2: I have been working for 10 years and only on my 3rd job
3: I love driving my car with my window's down
4: If you ever pass me on the road- i will most likely have my music cranked up and rockin out! I like to sing VERY loud in the car when no one else is with me
5: I can't sing one note in tune- but that still doesn't stop me in my car :)
6; on my list of things to do before i die, i want to shave my head
7: also on that list is to ride in an ambulance (as a patient) but not seriously injured. I want to be able to remember everything
8: In 7th grade i won an award for best girl track star
9: i am slightly claustrophobic
10: I love the ocean
11: sometimes i wish i was not so stubborn (got it from my dad)
12: Not a day goes by where i don't think about my Dad and Miss him every day
13: I'm happy to say I am unmarried, because if i was married right now, i would have just been settling
14: i don't really like animals
15: at this point in my life, i think i could be REALLY happy not having kids, but i also think i could be REALLY happy having kids
16: My niece and Nephew are the world to me
17: In Track my favorite event was the 4x100 and disc throw
18: as a kid I wish i had brown hair so I didn't have to hear the blond jokes anymore
19: i love the color green...
20: waterfalls
21: and the rain
22: i truly believe my Dad still lives in the house with us ( i feel he is here) i still have not erased his phone numbers from my phone, or deleted his e-mail address
23: have a house by yourself is much harder then i would have thought
24: i have never ever done any type of illegal drug or smoked cigarettes in my life (and never plan to)
25: I like drinking Bud Light
26: the older i get the bigger fear i have of flying
27: if i looked at a chart for height and weight, i would be obese :)
28: i am happy most days
29: if i am not smiling, its not because i am unhappy- its just cause my face hurts from smiling all the time :) and needs a break
30: i like getting my hair cut cause i like my head being rubbed
31: i wish i could get a massage weekly....having my butt and calf muscles massaged is the best
32: i hate taking pictures and being in pictures....but i do it anyway so i can look back later in life and reminisce
33: i have my eyeliner tattooed on
34: got my first tattoo at the age of 25
35: i only went to one dance all through high school- my senior prom, at the Moore Mansion
36: I believe in God- but don't pray as much as i should :(
37: I don't make new years resolutions...i think that's just setting yourself up for failure
38: all the things my dad did to drive me CRAZY, are the things i miss the most
39: i would love to go out of the country- but the thought of sitting on a plane that long makes me freak out
40: i would love to live somewhere where its warm 394 days of the year....it can be cold on Christmas, thats it!
41: I love doing silly random things with my friends...it never gets old
42: i have never been on a diet
43: I don't know what i want to be when i grow up
44: i would either like to build a nice big one story home someday, or live in a condo.
45: i will try almost anything once (almost being it has to be safe)
46: if i'm really tired and busy at work and i need a 5 min break, i go to the bathroom (even if i don't really have to go :) )
47: Although the Tri-cities is pretty boring, i will most likley never move away- i couldn't stand being that far from my family
48: i believe "everything happens for a reason!"
49: i wear a necklace with my dads fingerprint 24/7
50: i truley enjoy getting up on the weekend, eating breakfest, and going back to bed for a couple hours! :)

The "Flu"

Well this past week I for the first time in my life got the Flu. I have always thought that having the flu consisted of some throwing up, a little diarrhea, body ache's and pains for 24 hours, everything is over and done with and life moves on! That is SO not the flu!!

In years past i have never received the flu shot cause i always thought, i can handle a little stomach bug i don't need a shot. Well after this week, i will most likely get the flu shot every year! It started Sunday night where i was a little light headed, dizzy, felt like i got hit by a truck sore. So i just took it easy and went to bed early thinking i would wake up and feel fine. Monday morning at 4:00am i woke with i thought was a little head cold and body aches and pain. After about 2 hours of just laying on the couch cause i couldn't sleep, i decided for fun that i would take my temperature. I figured i could still go to work if don't have a temperature. At 6:30am i am yelling at my mom to find out if our thermometers are accurate cause I had a temp of 99.6. Which isn't much but for me who is usually at 96.8-97.2 and can't remember the last time i had a temp. So i figured i would not go to work and for the first time in 4 1/2 years, called in sick.

By Monday at about 11:00 am, i thought I had been hit and drug by a bus! I started feeling so horrible! Tuesday I have a temp of 101.6 so i stayed home again. By about 12:30 Tuesday, I was pretty sure I was hit and drug by a train, my jaw was becoming detached from my face, i didn't have enough energy to sit up, i could barely breath and i thought my life was going to end. I was pretty sure i was going to die!!! I have NEVER felt so horrible in my life!! My mom calls from work and i told her i didn't think i was going to live...(which made her a little nervous) so she came home. My Asthma was pretty bad so i went to the DR to get a new inhaler. My chest was so tight i could not cough, so when i did it hurt so bad and would almost throw up! I got tested at the Dr and sure enough it was the flu virus (which by the way that was not a fun test). I have never felt so drained and sick in my life! I finally made it back to work Thursday for only 6 hours before i had to resume position on my couch again! Man what an expierence! I will now reccomend everyone gets the flu shot from now on!! In the mean time, i hope no one i know gets this crap!! Oh what a week- at least tomorrow is Friday and our office is closed! So I'm happy to say i worked 6 hours this week :)

Happy 50th Birthday Dad!

Well, We all made it through yet another hard day! Sunday March 22nd was my Dad's 50th birthday. I think by the grace of God, we all made it through, and was even able to have a Chinese Dinner (something he really enjoyed) as a family. We lit his Candle that we got at the funeral, and hung out at home and had a relaxing day. This is something so new to me, i never really know what to expect or how to handle things as they come up, but some way, things get handled and mostly more smooth than i would have thought. I am finding that I miss my Dad at random times, for instance, I missed him so much the week i was having a lot of trouble with my ex/boyfriend, the week prior to his birthday- but on his birthday i did much better then i was expecting. Whenever i am having a bad day, I'm usually not the only one who is having a bad day/week. I think those are the day's he's closest to us. I'm sad to say that going through this has changed me and I don't think all for the good, but in the mean time i also lost a close friend. The pain i was going through was to hard for her to see, so she will no longer contact me or have much of anything to do with me. Although it hurts, i have to know that this is my new life and i have to move on. In the end, I am learning so much more about myself, family and friends then i ever knew!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WITH ALL MY LOVE!

I'm getting old!

So I have started to realize how old i think im getting!
*On most Friday nights I'm in bed by 10pm, cause i had to get up and go to work that day and I am exhausted,
*when i do go out, i like to just sit at the table and talk (unlike most of my friends who are constantly trying to get me to dance),
*I think all the new techno/rap/dance music is ALL CRAP,
* I'm so tired of the bar scene! I wish there were better things to do, and places to meet new people. (Any ideas? )
*I wake up every morning hurting (which i think is not supposed to happen till at least 40),
*I'm waking up BEFORE my alarm goes off (which has never happened till just the past couple months),
* i am already talking about retiring and being tired of paying bills.......
* I can't figure out any of the new technology anymore (something i used to always be good at)
* I can't handle being around kids for longer then a couple hours
* I say things adults used to say to me when i was little for example " Do you ever have school anymore, it seems like your off a lot". or "Man look at you, you are getting so big, you sure have grown a lot", "I can't believe how fast time flies" (as i kid i never thought i would finish school)
*I want to get rid of my very fuel efficient compact car for something bigger, more comfort and better for my back......


I think the list could go on!
All this and I'm only 26! I can't even imagine what its going to be like when i am 40!

Ethan

This is my conversation with my almost 4 year old nephew while laying on the floor cuddling:

Ethan: Hey Amy, you know What? I really love you!
Me: well Thank you Ethan, I love you
Ethan: I love you more
Me: I love you even more
Ethan: I think that's not possible (something i used to say all the time to him)
Me: I think it is
Ethan: I think its not
Hey do you want to bite my finger?
Me: No i don't want to bite your finger
Ethan: You can be gentle
Me: No i don't want to bite your finger
Ethan: Ok, then can i bite your chin?
Me: No! I don't want you to bite anything on me...you just picked your nose and i don't want to bite anything on you either. Do you know what love means?
Ethan: yeah, its something you feel in your heart.
Me: That is so cute!


Oh man how fun it is to be with a 4 year old. We are sitting in the DARK cause Ethan wanted it to be like a movie theater while watching Wheel of Fortune.

The Shack part 2

I just finished reading this book today and absolutley loved it! It is a very thought provoking book with a great story and lots of inspiration! Theses two quotes are my second and third favorite quotes in this book. Although there were many others, these were the ones that stuck out the most to me!

".....Nobody know what horrors I have saved the world from 'cuz people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choice of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone that I love, those who follow me and those who don't. If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forces in no love at all". -God



".....Paradigms power perception and perception power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception- what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perception, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms- what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doens't make it true. Be willing to reexamine what your believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don't want to trust them more then me." -God

Starting again

Hello All!!! It's been so long since i have written anything but i would like to start again. Although all of you know, I had a rough year last year and haven't felt like writing much. Although I should have been writing all along, it may have been therapeutic for me, I choose not to. On August 2nd, 2008 I lost my Dad in a motorcycle accident. My mom was on the bike as well and she came out almost unharmed. With a few minor scratch and bruises she has healed and is doing well. December 1st, I lost my Grandma (my Dad's Mom) to Emphasize, COPD and everything that comes with it. She was a strong lady and I will try to model my life after hers. With my family all doing healthy and well now, Mom and I are taking a 3 week, yes THREE WEEK trip in June! We will be leaving the Tri-cites and flying to Chicago. We will spend 3 days there and head up to NY and all down the East Cost to Florida. I will be trying to blog on this page everynight while we are gone so you can also enjoy the journay with us. I will send out an e-mail as time gets closer to remind eveyone.

THE SHACK

"........evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word
darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life. Both
evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not
have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no
darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will
plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from
me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated
yourself from me: Life."
-God


This saying is one of my favorite's in the book i'm reading called "The Shack" by WM. Paul Young.

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't to interested, but the further I got, the more I started to like it. This story is based off of true facts, and is placed in Wallowa, Orgen. Even more, they talk about Imnaha Highway, wich for thos of you who don't know, is where my parents accident took place. They talk about driving through the George and all the mountians and even Mutnomah Falls. This book is so absalutly amazing and would recomend everyone read it! I don't want to go into detail about the book becasue I don't want to spoil any of it! If you do get a chance to read it, I would love to know what you think of it :)