East Coast Vacation

Well, we are back from our MUCH needed vacation!!! With the stress involved with buying a house, finding jobs and moving more than 2,000 miles away, it was wonderful to kick back, relax and enjoy each other!!! Ryan was fortunate to have Thursday the 3rd and Friday the 4th off from his job training. I do not start work until August 11th, so it was great to get to spend some quality time with each other.

The first part of our vacation took us to Connecticut. We left Indy Thursday morning and had a layover in Washington D.C. (which btw is only an hour flight from us). We arrived to Connecticut an hour later, rented a car, and drove to Boston. On our way to "Beantown," we drove past the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. Check it out:
We arrived in Boston soon after. What a neat city!!!


We checked into the Back Bay Hilton in downtown Boston, washed up and headed out to the Capital Grille to have dinner with my Aunt Kathy (Jared and Sarah's mom). She is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at UMASS and has lived in the Boston area for several years. Our dinner was fabulous...I honestly don't think I have eaten a better meal in my entire life!!! After dinner, she walked us around Boston Commons, Gardens and past the State House. It made for a spectacular evening!!!
On Friday, (the 4th of July) we celebrated "America's Favorite Pastime" with a tour of...you guessed it- Fenway Park. It was awesome!!! There was so much history about the Red Sox and the ballpark itself that we learned. Did you know Fenway is the oldest of all current MLB stadiums? It was built in 1912!!! Now that we've been to Wrigley and Fenway, we are considering making it our goal to visit all of the MLB stadiums at least once in our lifetime.





After Fenway, we hopped on the subway and headed over to the Museum of Science where...Suprise!!! They were having an exhibition entitled, "Baseball as America." We were able to view all kinds of artifacts from the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Babe Ruth's jersey, Jackie Robinson's fan mail from the 40's, a bat from Ted Williams....the list goes on and on!!! I wasn't able to take any pictures, as the museum wants to preserve the artifacts to the best of their ability. However, that was an experience we both will never forget!

After the baseball exhibit, we saw an IMAX presenation about Pluto in the planetarium. I did however manage to get some pictures of Ryan in the museum checking out other exhibits on Mathematics and you guessed it...Science!!!





So all and all Ryan had his dream day...Fenway....Science Museum....it was only fair that I throw a huge tantrum and demand that Ryan take me to see Boston Commons and the Gardens! So we spent the remainder of our afternoon walking through downtown. I cannot even begin to tell you the level of patritoism we saw. I was so refreshed to see people waving American Flags, wearing Lady Liberty hats and shouting from the streets, "God Bless America!" It was so uplifting and in my opinion, how America should be appreciated! We LOVED Boston and will definitely be bringing the kiddos (which are non-existent at the moment) back that way in the future.


On the evening of July 4th, we drove to Little Compton (not that Compton), Rhode Island and met up with our friend Meagan (who I worked with for the last 5 years at Bear Valley) to have a "Clam Bake." It was awesome!!! We hung out with 3 of my fellow teachers from Bear Valley , their spouses and all of Meagan's friends and family from the east coast who were out for Meagan's wedding taking place on on Sunday, July 6th.

After the Clam Bake, we checked into the Swansea Holiday Inn in Swansea, Massachusetts. We spent the next day hanging out with our friends Eric, Kelly, Mike, Michele, Ryan and Mindi (all friends and spouses of people I taught with in California). We drove to Newport Beach (not that Newport Beach) Rhode Island and walked on the beach and had a fantastic lunch!

After we ate, we drove over to Bellevue to check out one of the mansions. It was gorgeous. Then later that night, we drove to Providence to eat at Alforno (Eric and Kelly read about it in Wine Spectator and were eager to dine there). It was absolutely delicious as well...so as you probably guessed it...Ryan and I are both on diets for the remainder of the year!!! We ate soooooooooooo good this trip!!!



On Sunday, we went to Meagan's wedding in Fall Creek, Massachusetts. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. It was on the sea, and everything was decorated in a beach theme. Our friend Ryan married Meagan and Sted which made the ceremony even more special. Meagan was a beautiful bride and we were so happy we were able to be there to see her walk down the aisle!




We flew home Sunday evening. It was a fantastic trip. If you can ever make it out to the east coast, I would absolutely 100% recommend it!!! We had the best time- but were excited to get back to the kids!!! :)