5 down 3 to go!

After getting a good night's rest at the Mudricks house we slept in a little, had a nice breakfast and then headed to the coolest museum in the world. I have been a huge fan of the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum on the Mall in Washington and loved visiting it. But this new one they built at the Dulles airport is the real deal. They call it an annex, but come on! The term is so dimunitive for what it really is. Its every boys fantasy collection of cool airplanes and spacecraft.

There is the epic SR-71 Blackbird, the Supersonic Concorde, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, and the Enola Gay. Thats just a few of the world-changing machines on exhibit. Yeah they don't have the Apollo Lunar module, but we all know that was only used on a sound stage anyway (hold on, my Aluminum Foil helmet keeps slipping over my eyes, I need to tighten the chinstrap.) Lance loved the jets and other planes, he was suprisingly fascinated by the smaller aircraft and helicopters. We later went up into the air traffic tower and watched planes take off and land at Dulles. A very cool stop on our trip.

The next stop was one I knew we would do from the time we decided to go. Arlington National Cemetary. I had not been since my Grandfathers burial in 1998, and wanted to show Ashlee how our nation honors those who served so faithfuly and at such a high cost. The story of Arlington its self is interesting and fitting. We were allowed to drive on site and go directly to the grave marker. Lance was too young to perceive what the signifigance of what all of the headstones mean but somehow he was reverent and somber. I was glad to see my grandmother memorialized on the back of my grandfathers headstone, I had not yet seen that. Later we went to see the tomb of the unknown soldier and witnessed the changing of the guard, Lance amazingly remained still and respectful. Ashlee was moved by the ceremony and magnitude of the whole site. I am grateful our country remembers those who protect it.

After closing Arlington down and being the last visitors to leave the grounds we headed to Georgetown. I love Georgetown, its beautiful homes and neighborhoods are a real treat to visit and see. We went to the Canal area and had some truly incredible seafood at Sea Catch restaraunt overlooking the C&O Canal. I have never had Scallops so good. We had to park a ways from the restaraunt as the area was really busy, and we even got a little lost on the way back to the car. It wasnt a help that it started to rain like mad. We decided to cut the night short and not head to the Mall area since the weather was not cooperating.

This early night gave us the chance to hang out more with Ben's dad, David Mudrick. He is truly the salt of the earth and we were so lucky to be able to stay in his home. Ben's mom, Pat Mudrick was on a trip to Boston visiting and helping a family member, so we weren't that lucky to meet and get to know her. David Mudrick has a unique hobby, he likes to draw cartoons. I find them and him hilarious and check on his site all the time. Click on me to get to the site. Everybody went to bed before 11 PM and that is still a record to be beaten in the Bruford household. We needed the rest though beacuse in the morning we were hitting the road to go south.

Jour Four

Waking up in sleepy little Gettysburg after leaving Manhattan was as stark a contrast you can get in American life. It’s like the first 10 minutes of the Wizard of Oz replayed backwards. Part of you wonders how the sprawl of such a huge place like New York City could possibly end, and sure enough 200 miles away there was no sign of Manhattan, no skyline, no noise, no smells, just some fields and farms and simple little buildings that make up a small town thrust into history more than seven score ago.

This was not my first time to Gettysburg, but I wanted to go back and show Ashlee. For some reason when I visited this place when I was 17, it moved me. I couldn’t fathom the magnitude of this battle in this quiet countryside hamlet. Sure enough it did happen, and it changed the fabric of America permanently. Ashlee read the Gettysburg address for the first time, and she was fortunate to do it in the exact spot where it was delivered. I think it moved her. In hindsight it was a great preview of what she was going to see in DC that very night.

We drove by the battlefields and went into the museum and let Lance play on the cannons by the cemetery. He really loved the cannons. Mostly because he knows that’s what makes the big noise in the 1812 Overture. Our stay was brief but purposeful. It reminded me of what I once felt about freedom and struggle and purpose. It opened Ashlee’s eyes to the fact that history does happen in real places to real people, not just in some mediocre textbook and on a chalkboard.

Our next stop was Reston VA, the home of the Mudrick family. This was to be our base of operations for the next couple of days while we visited Washington DC. Ashlee was thrilled to be able to help cook a meal and let the kids just play on the floor. We went grocery shopping with Ben’s dad, David. I avoided the temptation to purchase an authentic Virginia ham (another Blog entry for another day). We had a wonderful meal and headed out to see the Nations Capitol at night.

It is moving to see the Mall at night. It was probably my 6^th time being there at night and I love it more each time. Ashlee had never been and I could tell she was in awe. Especially with the Lincoln Memorial. It is truly a temple, a holy place in our nation. Lance was even reverent and in awe of the giant statue of Lincoln. Ashlee read the giant reproductions of Lincoln’s most important speeches and we sat on the top steps and took it all in.

We proceeded to head to a monument I had not yet seen, the World War II memorial. This is a very special place and a fitting tribute to those who served and sacrificed. We spent over an hour looking at the whole monument, and finally had to leave because most of the lights were shut off and the fountains stopped. Both Ashlee and I have grandfathers that served our country during WWII. We then walked back down to the Vietnam Memorial. Being there after midnight was a unique experience. I think I valued this visit to that memorial more than before, mostly because I have a greater understanding of that conflict than I did years before.

We finished our long walk in the perfect night air, got back into our mini-van and drove around the District some more. We saw the Capitol, the White House, National Archives, the Smithsonian buildings and many other buildings that make DC so unique. After getting lost looking at some of the cool neighborhoods we set the GPS to head us back to the Mudrick home 20 or so minutes away. We went to sleep very tired and very happy, glad that we were on this trip, glad to be seeing the sights, glad to be doing it together as a family.

Finally back to Day 3 of the East Coast Trip

Let's just ignore the fact that it has been close to 6 months since I have last posted about the trip we took in spring. Yes, moving right along... So it's Monday morning and it seems that NYC does not know the difference between a week-end and week-day, everything looked the same, it was just as busy, just as crowded and just as wonderful. Ashlee and I were kind of sad to know we would be leaving the big apple to continue our trip southward.

We decided to use our Double Decker bus pass to its full extent and grabbed the bus that went up the West Side of the island of Manhattan, then to Harlem and then by the Museums. Ashlee especially enjoyed this part of the bus trip because she was beginning to really appreciate the architecture in the city. She took a lot of pictures that I have been enjoying as a screensaver on my workstation. We passed Central Park again, kept going north and got a nice view of Grant's Tomb. Then we headed into Harlem where I saw the funniest Muslim friendly restaurant claim on the marquee that there is "no pork on my fork". About ready for lunch ourselves we got off the bus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yeah, that’s a bad idea on a Monday. Many Museums in NYC are closed on Monday (who's Sabbath is that?). So we started our walk.

We initially wanted to look for some food and just kept on walking and walking all over the Central East Side. Seriously we walked for several miles and we were getting sick of it. Especially because at my insistence we did not take the stroller, so we were carrying the kids. They became uncomfortable and so did we. We knew we had to go back to the airport and get the rental van before 5 but we weren’t sure how we would do it. It was a logistical nightmare. Our bags were back at the hotel and our van was in Queens. Plus the kids’ car seats were at the hotel as well. After some frustrating deliberation we took the subways and trains out to JFK and arrived in time to get our Van. We had to rent car seats because the Renee and Lance were obviously with us.

This was the part of the trip where I broke out the not so secret weapon of modern travel. The GPS. Oh yes, drive like a local even if you have never in your life been somewhere, you know as much if not more that the guy that has lived here for 30 years. I borrowed my dad's Roadmate 700, and have to mention that after this trip I purchased my own. I can't recommend travelling without one. So we headed back into the city to get all of our gear at the hotel on Times Square. Seriously driving with that GPS made what looked like a total nightmare seem really fun.

From there we went to get Sushi, which I admit was entirely selfish of me, But it was tuna night and I was getting a deal. This Place was called East Sushi. It’s a Kaiten sushi bar which means the sushi passes you on a conveyor belt. I think it would have been no big deal to eat there, but they were playing music like it was some European discothèque, and I could barely hear myself think. Let alone hear what Ashlee was thinking. We were seated after about 20 minutes, and ordered food for Lance and Ashlee and I just ate the stuff coming off the belt. Ashlee’s mood changed quickly as some lady made some weird comment to Ashlee about having a baby with her. It became impossible to communicate and we tried to leave as quickly as possible.

We loaded up the Van again and set the GPS to take us to Gettysburg PA. 210 Miles South East of Manhattan. We drove through the night and ended up in the hotel after 2 am due to a few construction delays. Something I hear newer GPS units will be able to warn you of. This was easily the worst day of the trip (still beats the best day at work), and we were glad it was over.

A big break in my Blog

Yeah I know it has been forever since the blog was updated and we are prepetually stuck on the second day of our vacation. But I had so much work to do after that vacation I still have not caught up, and being busy with work is a blessing and a curse at the same time. I am sure that due to this stagnation my blog fan numbers have diminished. I will get back to it soon, but in the mean time I am submitting a picture of Lance and his Grandpa. Lance is learning how to wink, probably because his charms are wearing off on mom and dad. A week from now Lance will be 3. If you want something else to look at, try my wife's blog, or the Bob Loblaw Law Blog. Don't ask how I found it I just did.

Day 2: What else can you do in a day?

After a late-night we slept in a little and had our second Jamba Juice in 8 hours for breakfast. Yes, knowing what we had for a late night snack and breakfast is important. We headed to Columbus Circle via the subway and emerged to all the fanfare that surrounds Earth-Day. How fitting, we visit Central Park New York on earth-day. Also being memorialized but less popular is the day Armenians remember the genocide by the Turks. We saw a ceremony for that in Times Square on our way to the park. Also across from the genocide commemoration was the infamous Naked Cowboy serenading all comers. Only in New York I can presume.

We emerged from the earth out into Columbus Circle only to be welcomed by HSBC employees trying to give away compact florescent lightbulbs. I didn’t want one because I didn’t want to break it hauling it around for 3000+ miles. But I watched the people beside me refuse as well, and they were locals I am sure of it, no cameras, maps, books or strollers with two kids in tow. You would think that in the epicenter of all things liberal, people would be carting off these compact fluorescents by the wheelbarrow so the Earth could be saved. It wasn’t happening, I watched for a few minutes and the only conclusion I came up with is if you want to hand stuff out in New York you need to put it in a bag and leave it on the corner. Or perhaps could it be that savvy urbane people never take something for free because nothing for free is worth having. So in this vein we preceded across the south side of central park to the east side. To what is some of the most expensive real estate in the world. 5^th Ave. Home of Tiffany’s Cartier and even Apple. Who would have thought even 10 years ago a computer store could ever grace a place like this, somehow they have pulled it off.

Our first stop was of course Tiffany’s Ashlee had to go, plus she was not as impressed by central park as she thought she would be. The trees weren’t full of leaves and the grass had not yet quite recovered from the ravages of winter. To her it was not as pristine and lush as the flagship park of Salt Lake City, Sugar House Park. In my opinion we just came too early in the year to give it a fair shake. But honestly I don’t think we could have had better weather. Low 70’s maybe high 60’s and lots of sunshine. Perfect for walking, and we did a lot of that on this day. From Tiffanys back across to 7^th avenue to the famous Carnegie Deli.

We had the most insane sandwich I have ever seen. It’s on the menu and it’s called the Woody Allen. Half Pastrami Half Corned Beef, and all heaven! It even came with two slices of Rye bread, but I’m not sure what they were for. Ashlee was amazed by the quality of the meat but she could not believe the cheesecake. It was truly decadent, Lance was thrilled by the platter of pickles they gave him and we were stuffed within 20 minutes of arriving. On our way out we were stopped maybe 5 or 6 times by restaurant patrons and staff all admiring Renee, people in Manhattan seem to adore babies.

So about a block away from the deli we had our first problem of the trip. A total blow out, and I don’t mean a tire. As I mentioned before we had Jamba Juice two times in 8 hours. There are consequences to theses kinds of decisions. Unfortunately, Lance paid dearly for those decisions. It was a total mess, I will spare you the details, but I will mention that the stroller did have to be dismantled down to its raw frame.

We had to walk all the way back to the hotel, and we made a full recovery. We set back out and caught the last Gray Line bus making the Downtown Loop. I am so glad we did. The guide for this trip was awesome, we learned so much from him and he was also entertaining, especially while he was showing off his French vocabulary so some of the other Eruopean tourists on the bus. He showed us the good and the bad and really conveyed his love of the city he calls home. We were in love with New York by the end of the Route. So much so that we stayed on the same bus and took the night time tour and saw the city at night. We got a little cold but were in good spirits. After 5 or so hours on a bus we were ready to get off and have dinner. We found a late night restaurant that was probably Ashlee’s favorite for the trip. A little French bistro that had a lot of atmosphere and great food. We walked back to the hotel for our last nights stay in the Big Apple and crashed… hard.

Day 1: The Red Eye

We booked out flights with JetBlue, which I believe is the best bang-for-your-buck value out there. The only JetBlue flight to NYC leaves SLC around midnight which has its pros and cons. Pros are: You aren’t wasting a whole day at the airport. You can sleep on the plane. You arrive very early before the rush at the airport. The flights are cheap. Cons are: You waste a whole night of rest. Nobody can sleep on a plane, no matter how much legroom you have. There is always a rush at JFK airport. Flying is always expensive. In fairness the JetBlue flights are the next best thing to business class flights. We paid less than $280 round trip. The bummer is we did have to buy a full price ticket for Lance, but at least we got a whole row of seats to ourselves.
We arrived at JFK and I had arranged a private driver to shuttle us to Manhattan from the airport. We had 10 bags and the kids car seats so we needed more than a taxi. He took us to our hotel that was truly in the heart of Times Square its called the Renaissance Hotel, and my neighbor friend Dave hooked me up with a sweet deal. This hotel was awesome! We were on the 24th floor and had an awesome view. We checked in our room and went to the hotel restaurant on the lobby floor and had breakfast, then we went back up to our room and slept. We didn’t really want to but we were too tired to enjoy ourselves.
We woke up at 2 and went downstairs and got on the Grey Line bus. This is truly the greatest way to see NYC for the first time. Our first tour guide was the low talker from Seinfeld, so we got off the bus early and checked out Greenwich Village. We ate a late lunch at a little noodle shop and walked around for a few minutes. Then we got back on another bus and headed down to Battery Park.
We decided to get off at the World Trade Center site. I was not prepared to the emotions I had while I was there. It was truly moving, and the reality of that tragic day hit me again more powerful than any time before. Happily they are starting the construction on the new Freedom Tower, maybe our next trip to NYC will be for the opening of that new tower that is to stand 1776 ft tall, I anticipate the triumph, jubilations and sorrow of that future day.
From the WTC site we walked to Battery Park and looked out on the harbor at Lady Liberty. I had wanted to do that ever since I was 7 years old. It was beautiful and as the sun went down on the first day of our trip I felt like the trip and expenses were already worth it. To see the same sights my grandparents saw when they immigrated to America from Switzerland more than half a century ago was priceless.
We then proceeded on a long walk to the South Street Seaport, which was beautiful but ultimately disappointing. The first restaurant we went to seated us immediately but we did not see a waiter or even a bus boy for water for over 20 minutes, even after a request after the first 10 minutes. We got up and left and went to another café a block or so down. The food was mediocre at best comparable to airport counter food.
We finally got a hold of our friend Kirk that was going to meet us back at our hotel. So we headed back to Times Square via the NYC Subway. That’s a load of fun with a double wide stroller and two infants. We had to look like hayseeds, and that’s mostly because we are. Times Square at night is truly a sight to behold, we walked around and finally indulged Lance with a trip to the Toys R Us store, which was really the coolest toy store I had ever seen. Kirk met us there and we walked back to out hotel.
While we were at the hotel Kirk told us all about his personal thoughts on the city. He had a great insight he shared with us. I cant remember verbatim but it was something to the effect that although while you are in the city you are never more that 20ft. away from someone, you can feel absolutely alone and lonely. The anonymity of walking around so many people you don’t know, who don’t know you, can drive you insane. And some people snap! They want others to notice them so they yell or do something weird, and sure enough people notice you. I guess that could feel good to someone who is desperately lonely. It explained to me the crazies we saw riding around the city yelling, waving, dancing and freaking us out. They just wanted us to look at them, and we did.
We followed up Kirks visit with a half block midnight run to Ray’s pizza which was just incredible. Then we went to bed ready to see the city again.

We just had to get out of Dodge.

So me, Ashlee and two kids decided to take a trip. Using my powers of persuasion we came up with the destinations of New York City and Washington DC. The real reason for the trip was to visit my sister who is currently living in Charlottesville Virginia. Her husband Ben is graduating from The University of Virginia Law School. They will be relocating to Rochester New York in September. I wanted to visit them there because I love Virginia and Ashlee had never been. So rather show up for Ben's graduation and get lost in the scheduling of that major event we decided to make a little trip out of it for ourselves and see some of the sights. I have been to the DC area a few times myself and I really thought Ashlee would love it. I wanted her to see a few of the things that I think make our country great. We chose adding New York to the trip because we just don't ever get the chance to visit that part of the country and if we didnt make the effort it would never happen, plus we missed out on the trip my parents took to NYC with my siblings in 2005 (Ashlee was pregnant with Lance). So the next few posts are going to chronicle the trip we took.