Our final day was spent on Ellis and Liberty Islands. The

Statue of Liberty was neat, but I was disappointed
that we couldn't go in the crown. There were spectacular views though!
We were definitely exhausted and in need of better lodging at this point!
It's a good thing we stayed at the airport hotel after this day's excursions!
Ellis Island was very informative. The museum of immigration
is an invaluable experience. I learned a lot about not only what
people coming to a new country at that time had to deal with, but also
about the logistical problems the country faced when taking in
so many immigrants at once. One picture is the front of the museum
(which is the old immigrations building) and the other is a picture of
Daryl looking at an exhibit of all of the currencies that were exchanged there.
After we got off the ferry, we headed to Times Square in search
of a restaurant. Times Square is the scariest place I've ever been to.
Not a good place for people who don't like crowded areas! We ate
at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co (My absolute favorite restaurant- we
need to get one of these in Cleveland! Every other city has one!)
Look for Steve in the pictures here- turns out that we were in
exactly the same place at exactly the same time and didn't even know it.
That is how chaotic Times Square is!

"don't worry folks, in the event of a threat, NYPD knows
how to stand around and look important"
While we were eating dinner, the police came and did an
evacuation drill in the street right outside the window!
This is how we know that Steve was right there- he
was being pushed out of the street right next to the
army recruit center- where we were looking (under
the lit up sign that says "NASDAQ" on it) We probably looked
right at him and his friends without realizing it.
The Empire State Building was under construction
and the inside was disappointing. First of all, the elevators
that we took weren't golden. It looked nothing like the movies.
But then when we stepped outside, we were thoroughly impressed.
The size of the city becomes very real up there. City lights reached
as far as we could see... not just dinky residential lights, but
full-blown city lights. We couldn't see anything but! I'm so
glad we went at night! It wouldn't have been as impressive
during the day. What a marvelous way to end the trip. Finally,
we were off to sleep in a decent bed and (FINALLY!) take a shower!!!!!!

Hellloooo New York!

Daryl and I went to New York City a few weeks ago, and I thought I should post some pictures of the high lights. It's a great city, but I don't think I could survive there longer than a week. Maybe if we had stayed in a nicer hotel; the hostel was pretty gross, and didn't even have a kitchen (I thought it said on the website that it did) Note to everyone, stay away from Jazz Hostels unless you are really pressed for a place to stay- for what we paid, I was really disappointed! Although, we couldn't have gotten a better location. It was right down the street from all the museums, and next to Central Park!

Pictures!

This was the first stop, and by far my favorite.
The Museum of Natural History. We took a guided
tour of their dinosaur collection, which is the largest in the world.
Man those guys are cool!

The Hayden Planetarium is what made
the Museum of Natural History my favorite
stop. This is by far the coolest planetarium
I've ever been to. Unfortunately, there were no
star shows scheduled during our visit, but we
got to see an imax style movie about our universe.
The planetarium is featured in the movie K-Pax
if you want to see how awesome it is!

MoMA came in close second as my favorite. We got to
see several paintings that I adore. Starry Night was
one of them. We also saw Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie,
and several of my favorite artists' work! You can tell that we're both starting to look
exhausted in the pictures.
The reason for our trip to NYC was to hear The Dalai Lama speak
at Radio City. Rockefeller square is insane. So is Times Square. I highly
recommend that everyone see the Dalai Lama speak if they have the chance.
After hearing the Dalai Lama, we went on a harbor cruise.
We were a little upset at first because the cruise was terribly delayed,
and it was freezing on the deck of that boat
but then we got to see fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge!
Blogger won't let me put any more pictures, so I'll make this a two part post!

smell my feet!

I LOVE Halloween! I used to think that it was because of all the hayrides, bonfires, cinnamon apples, pumpkin pies, crunchy leaves, and the typical fall activities, but I've recently discovered something else to love about the holiday! I can dress my dog up like an astronaut, and no one looks at me like I'm as crazy as I actually am!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful, safe, harvest holiday!