Out East

5 states, 7 days, 1 big Potts family and 2 grandpas.  Our trip out east was full of new sights and cities, lots of traveling on trains, planes and automobiles, a few naps and lots of calories - both consumed and burned! My pictures always tell the story better so I am going to let them do most of the talking...

We flew into NY and began our trek up the coast to see our friend Emily.  We took a van to Grand Central Station, got on the train to Milford, CT and headed in the car to Windham, NH - the home of miss Emily Potts. 

Our first day we headed into Boston, MA. It was a cloudy, rainy day but we had a great time. Boston is home to the the original Duck Tours so we had to start on the Ducks. Our Duck was named "Fenway Fanny".

 We covered a lot of Boston on Fenway Fanny - both on the streets and in the Charles River.

 Boston is also home of the famous Cheers bar, where the TV series was filmed.

 No one actually knew our names - that's a lie. :)

In our quest to get as much Boston culture as possible, we went to the popular Pizzeria called Pizzeria Regina for a delicious dinner. While we were there, the news broke that Whitey Bulger (the head of the Boston mob) was apprehended after years of hiding. It was major news to everyone working and quite a scene to watch them all talk about it.

 After dinner, we wandered over to Mike's Pastry where I had the best pistachio macaroon EVER! Mikey brought some plain maracoons back to NH but I don't think they lasted long. It was delicious.

 We went back to NH and with another rainy day, Emily took us out on the town to see a little local culture in Windham. We had our first experience with candlepin bowling, which is the greatest version of bowling EVER. The pins are thin (as you might be able to see) and the balls are much smaller, with no holes. You get three throws instead of 2 so the scoring is a bit different as well but it is super fun.

 After bowling, Emily took us to a movie theatre called Chunkey's. It's also a bit different. You sit around tables in old car seats and you can order food/soda while you watch. It's lots of fun. We saw the movie Bad Teachers, which we do not recommend bringing young children to.

 The next day, we headed up the coast of Maine to see the beautiful landscape. It was one of my favorite sights - the granite, the ocean, the cottage styles homes...it was gorgeous. It reminded me of a place I'd like to take my entire family to go on a different type of vacation. Hopefully someday we'll return...

 On our way back to CT, we stopped at Harvard University to check out the campus. Here, Mike & I are sitting on the steps of the Library...hoping to get a little bit smarter!

 We said goodbye to Emily after an amazing week with her and her family and headed off to NYC to see my grandpa Ed and his husband Joe. We spent our days in the city and took the train to North White Plains to visit with them in the evenings.

 We took the Hop On Hop Off bus tour, which was the way to go. We toured around the city and saw only a fraction of the Big Apple. We spent the first day touring around the Downtown Tour seeing the World Trade Center memorial, Times Square, Wall Street, Trinity Church, The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and so much more. It was awesome!

 This was a fence near the World Trade Center memorial site that a bunch of school children decorated with buttons in remembrance of everyone lost that day. This picture doesn't do it justice but the fence went on and on and it was really neat.

 This is the new World Trade Center they are building, which will be 1, 776 ft. tall by the time they are done with it - representing the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

 Day 2 in NYC was spent on the Harlem tour seeing all different parts of Harlem, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grant's tomb (one of Mike's highlights), Columbia University, and lots more!

It was a fantastic trip - one, for many reasons, we will never forget. We will definitely be back out east someday.

Em - thank you SO much for being such a wonderful and gracious host. We enjoyed our time with you so much and we cannot wait for you to come out to MN so we can return the favor.  Let's go on that April break!!! :)