We're heading to New York City and Washington D.C. for our family vacation. If anyone has any must-see's or must-do's for either city, can you let me know? Right now I'm sorting through guide books and various printouts and trying to plan what we'll be doing. We have 3 full days in each place. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
True confession -- I'm really scared about going to THE BIG CITY(IES). I've lived in the Sacramento area my whole life and as a stay-at-home mom, my world consists of a very small area that goes from my house to the kids schools to the grocery store to the gyms (fitness and gymnastics). I bought a geeky hip pack, because I'm terrified to carry a purse in either place.
To me, this vacation feels a bit like getting onto a roller coaster. We (the royal we -- I mean Tim, really) booked the travel and hotels a while back, so we've been sitting in the car with the lapbar down for a while now. But it's almost time for the roller coaster car to start moving and then there's REALLY no turning back!
7 comments:
Go and have a great time Leslie. You deserve it, for being such a wonderful Mother, and person.
:-) :-).
Matt
Color me green with envy!!! How fun!!! I lived in DC when I was younger. It was the best and I learned so much!!! I can't wait to take my son back there ... probably when he's 7 because that's how old I was when I lived there.
My favorite monument is the Iwo Jima Memorial, which I guess it really called the Marine Corps War Memorial. So pretty and I always went to visit when the Marine Corps band was performing. So many memories. Ack! Now I want to go with you.
Anyhoo, gotta see the Air & Space Museum, the three main monuments, and for sure, the coolest Smithsonian (after Air & Space) is the Natl Museum of American History. Oops, I just looked it up ... it's closed until next summer. Bummer.
For NYC, we took the ferry all the way around the island. Takes about three hours, but you get to see everything from the boat (Harlem, Columbia Univ, WTC, etc). We also took a double decker bus on one of the routes and got to see the Soup Nazi (from Seinfeld). Are you going to see a Broadway show? That's the one thing I regret not doing. Oooo, and horse rides in Central Park. I so wanted to do that.
Have fun and I can't wait to see the pictures and hear all about it. If I think of anything else, I'll email you.
Well, since we go to NY every few years and Rob was born and raised there, I can give you some pointers. First, the people are way cool and super friendly...if you are friendly to them. It's not like here, where people act a certain way and then talk about you behind your back. They are to the point and blunt...which I love. Smile and they will respond back the same ; )
You have to go to Madison Square Garden for sure and look at all the cool stores...the kids will love Toys R Us there...nothing you've ever seen! Take a horse and carriage ride around Central park...cheap, fun, safe. Night time is beautiful!!! I went to the Statue of Liberty, but wasn't thrilled with it (kids hated it...long lines!!) but just seeing it across the water was beautiful enough for me/us. Try to go up the Empire State building...you can see for miles around!! You have to eat the pizza..cheese only...the best!! Hot peanuts off the cart...wonderful! Hot dog off the cart...yummy! Knock off purses...hit and miss. China town is fun and big and there is nothing like a New York deli! Oh, you have to go to Stage Deli...the prices are high but the meat and cheese they put on it is amazing!! You have never seen anything like it. It's a must do (they have them in Vegas, but it is so not even close to the same).
I'll try to think of other stuff and email you.
We were in DC just last summer. You must take the boys to the Zoo which is a part of the Smithsonian and it's FREE. That knocked my socks off - FREE. We also took the sightseeing trolley to all the museums - you pay one price and can hop on and off as you please. Just remember what time the last one runs so that you can get back to where you started.
I've never been to NYC for any length of time so I can't comment on that one.
I hope it's not too humid for you! DC can get stifling in the summer time.
Once you are there you'll see it is not so intimidating. I used to really get freaked out by the idea of being in NYC alone (my brother lives there, so I've taken public transportation/cabs/driven myself, etc.) and was amazed at how comfortable I was - even when NO CAB would take me anywhere bc they were on a shift change and everyone was heading back to the garage and wouldn't stop.
grrr. That was from me - as always was signed into our work calendar which is under my business partner Jessica's name.
I think you will like Washington DC; I'm down in Orlando, FL and it's a city but not a big one yet I felt very comfortable in DC. The curbs are made of granite, there is granite and marble everywhere, tons of trees and grass--it was beautiful! :) My parents, two younger brothers, and I were there for about 2 days and we walked around and visited the various sites around Capital Hill. You don't even need an agenda unless you want to tour the Whitehouse (you have to book reservations and the tours were started in the earlier AM so we missed it). All you really have to do is take the commuter train into DC and just walk around. The commuter train is very nice and feels very safe--lots of well groomed people wearing suits, lugging around laptops and brief cases, plus a handful of tourists like us. The stations weren't at all scary either. I could very easily live in DC.
Now, NYC was another story. It's waaay too big for me. But then again I *hate* huuuge crowds of people and I have to see a lot of nature around or else I get irritable. The crowds made me irritable too, I hated the Subway (Oh! Grab onto the strap or pole in advance and brace yourself because I expected some sort of warning for when the subway begins to move but there was none and I fell back and knocked over about 5 grumpy NYCers pre-911--It wasn't a pretty site!). I do have to say that it was great to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (that's where my dad's side of the family came into the country a few generations back! :))--the boat that takes you out to those areas is nice too. Also, I went pre-911 and then again post-911 (1 year after) and I have to say that everyone in NYC was definitely nicer when I went post-911. Though it was depressing to see the site where the towers used to be--especially since the nearby buildings were still damaged from it even thoug an entire year had passed by.
Anyway, I think it's important for everyone who can to visit both DC and NYC. But I have to say that I enjoy DC much better than NYC. I've also been to Las Vegas and Boston and liked both of those cities better than NYC too (Vegas especially reminds me of Orlando and the theme parks here).
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