Trip out East!

The nice little gap between this post and the last is the result of a wicked awesome vacation! :) It was a refreshing break from real life and was great to see Tim's parents again. They always treat us so well and make sure we have a good time. Not very many people can say they enjoy being with their in-laws, but I can and do, it was an absolutely great trip!

I got about a bazillion pictures, but narrowed it down to just a zillion for you. :) I've always been a shutterbug but especially so when I have beautiful, gorgeous scenery around. I'm trying to get better at my picture-taking skills and get better photos...not all are great, granted some were taken in a train and car, so maybe they would've if we stopped.

Here's my tour of our vacay in 4 different states!

Bruce & Terri were kind enough to watch Faith for us while Tim and I went to experience New York for the first time. We took our first real train ride and in a couple hours there we were....tourists lost in New York.

The Statue of Liberty was amazing, I think I took pictures from almost every angle. ha

That picture of Tim frowning is him pointing to the national debt clock. ha I would've never noticed it; leave it to him to find something like that. :)

I never saw the World Trade Center in person, but I sensed the sorrow and calamity that went on those many years ago. I can still remember the day that it happened....

For Dinner we decided to check out Little Italy and Chinatown area. Chinatown was Tim's favorite, and of course Little Italy was mine... now I just need to visit the real Italy!

They had a whole load of street vendors everywhere and we found some good deals on scarves I liked and hats for both of us! But man those people sure know how to bombard you with temptations to buy their stuff.

I think being on top of the ESB was my most favorite....you know I'm a sucker for pretty scenic views. It was UH-MAZING! I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was and I couldn't believe how stinkin' cold it was! Tim stayed in most the time while I forced my frozen hands to keep taking pictures. I'm glad I did. There's nothing else I can say other than WOW!

Next day we started off by getting us some warmer jackets. I've always wanted one of those long black ones so when we found a sweet deal, we jumped on it. Now we're starting to look less like tourists and more like New Yorka's....right? ;)

Then we took a jaunt up to the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty sweet, all those ropes around gave it an interesting look.

If you've been noticing all these pictures of birdies.....it's because when I'm resting my feet, what else am I supposed to do besides snap some shots of these feathery friends. I almost got dizzy just by watching the pigeons' heads go back and forth like a chicken. :)

That other sign Tim is pointing to says "No horn honking. $350 fine" sheesh! You could make bank if that were your job in that city.

Another one of my favorite places....Central Park. Like Tim said, it was cool to be in such a calm, open space amidst a crazy, fast-paced, smoke-smelled city. Seriously I about died from inhaling all that smoke, I have zero tolerance for that smell. We didn't get to go too far into the park, we probably barely nicked the surface, it's gigantuous.

We were able to see Times Square lit up at night on our way back to the train station. That was pretty cool lookin' too. That's a lot of electricity. I could imagine what a difference it was during that blackout.

We ventured into the M&M factory and got a dispenser thing for Faith, she loves those. It was a pretty fun store, but I couldn't believe how expensive their M&M's were! We waited to get to Walmart to buy some to fill up the dispenser. :)

We didn't really get to see the main part of the train station when we got there, so we were quite surprised how beautiful it was in there!

I thought it was just a movie-thing when cabs would nearly run people over, but nope it's for real. They're crazy I tell ya, crazy, they wait for no one. :)

Needless to say, after two days of walking non-stop all around we were dead tired. The first day my upper legs cramped up so bad towards the night, and the second my feet were just throbbing...I haven't walked that much in forever and probably won't again until forever. :)

Amazingly enough we weren't incredibly dead the next morning, so we took up the offer to go to Rhode Island for a bike ride. We went 13 miles on a beautiful trail surrounded by amazing fall leaves! I loved it!

It was Terri's birthday, so we went to eat at a nice restaurant after. It was a great day! From the looks of the last picture you can tell we were pooped out after.

There's a Butterfly Conservatory in Massachusetts that I just loved! It was so cool to see all these butterflies fluttering around some stunning flowers and vegetation. My favorite was the green and black one, but it would not cooperate and stop for me, so I had to chase it around trying to get a good shot.

Check out those fuzzy pink thingamabobs....aren't those totally awesome?!? I bet you didn't know those were my favorite. :)

More gorgeous flowers and butterflies.

I didn't see this happen, but Tim said with a sad face that a butterfly landed on his back without him knowing and he sat back and SMASHED it! Faith said 'Dad you smash the butterfly?" hahah I couldn't help laughing, it was sad but kinda funny too.. :) So that one pic is the butterfly guts on his shirt... He didn't want me to take a picture and be reminded of that..lol

He's the one who smashed their friends yet they all flew on him, I only got one on my purse. I was thinking maybe the blue one liked Tim cuz he felt he was being camouflaged.....maybe a little too much, careful there lil guys. :)

We stopped by the Yankee Candle Co after. That was a fun place! I got some yummy smelling candles for the holidays. I love the smell of candles burning in a warm, cozy home. ahh :)

As always, vacation went by way too fast. We had a very nice time!

The ride home was rather looooong. 6 hours to Vegas and 1 1/2 hours to SLC. I'm done traveling for a while. At least we got seats by each other this time. On the way there, we were delayed, therefore late to our connecting flight and there were not 3 seats together. I told Tim I'd sit with Faith, so he took a seat while I scouted out a place for Faith and I. Nothing. All these one-seaters. So the flight attendant asked over the speaker if someone could move to provide seats "for a mother and her child". I felt beyond awkward. Not only were we making them wait from our delay, but now we're making them move seats. No one even jumped up at first...I was thinking 'Oh come on people, what is the matter with you?!' Finally after what seemed like forever, a guy got up and moved. See, it wasn't that hard now was it. :)

I love riding home when the sun's setting, you can get some cool shots up in the sky! I also loved how thick the clouds were, they are some of my favorites.

While Tim was snoozing Faith and I had some fun with the camera. :)

I tell ya, having an iPod on that trip was a life saver!!! It kept Faith entertained the whole trip, it was definitely a good purchase.

We came back home to freezing cold and snow! NO, not yet!!! :(
If you haven't been over East, you need to go, it's so gorgeous over there!