Hawaii by the numbers
* Four nights, Five days in paradise.
* One dog we saw wearing sunglasses and croakies hanging out of a driver’s window. We weren’t quick enough for a picture but the mental picture still makes me laugh.
* 2:45 am – that’s the time we left the hotel Thursday to drive up a mountain to see the sunrise. 3 hours of sleep once we got home before we hit the beach.
* 6 “free” mai-tais we enjoyed as part of the resort/parking fee.
* $166 – extra money we paid to have a convertible for the week. 100 – percent cooler I felt because I was driving a convertible in Hawaii.
One turtle we saw while snorkeling, one turtle that totally out swam us as we tried to keep up with it.
18,672 – grains of sand found in my hair after my sister took me out in what could only be classified as the most ungraceful exit from the water ever. (Ok, this one might not be true because really, who’s going to count grains of sand)
60 minutes of heaven during helicopter ride.
10 – number of hours spent driving the road to Hana and stopping at the beautiful waterfalls. 6.5 – number of hours it rained. 2 – number of times one of us slipped and almost fell off short but scary cliffs (slippery when wet)
19.5 – total number of hours in the air – 4 flights and 1 helicopter ride.
It was an amazing trip 
Things I learned at the Beach – Part 4
In case you’ve missed them: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
1. 15 girls and a few guys to help and still no one will be able to get the outdoor speakers to work – yes, the volume on my speakers is terrible, but at least I had some
2. Hot tubs probably work a lot better if the owner of the house tells you there is a charge to heat it beforehand instead of informing you that’s why it won’t work when you call to ask how to work it – Hot Tub Fail!
3. Kathryn makes delicious fish tacos and Samantha makes amazing French toast.
4. It might be possible to play a drinking game based on how many times Beau says totally or chug (this one is courtesy Amy and definitely something we should try next year)
5. No matter how well you think you plan there will have to be a few beer runs throughout the weekend, and oh yeah, why aren’t we drinking mimosas – we need to get stuff for mimosas…
6. Thanks to Elisabeth, I learned that there is such a thing as a dress that requires a DVD because there are about 20 different ways to wear it. Thanks to Summer, she was able to wear it even though she forgot the DVD.
7. I will only wear 1/4 of the clothes I pack but will have to wash them all because everything within a five mile radius of my suitcase will be covered in sand.
8. There are many spellings of Lindsey/Lindsay/Lyndsey and having four of them in one place will get confusing – even if you try numbering them because everybody has a different #1.
9. There are a million ways to get to Grayton Beach, going through Montgomery both ways this year and somehow managed to mix it up some between there and the beach.
10. Alabama has many fun little towns: I don’t remember the name of the town, but the tagline “Front Porch City” was true to its name (except one house, who may or may not get invited to town functions); Seeing a sign that says Welcome to OPP will immediately make me start humming O.P.P and being really sad that out of 3454 songs on my iPod there is not one by Naughty by Nature; some girl named Lisa owns almost a whole town – true story.
A weekend in Chucktown
The highlight of the weekend was definitely getting to see the bride and groom getting hitched, but here are some other great memories from my weekend in Charleston…
* On the drive down there, ECW was giving me a hard time because I said I probably wouldn’t get married in a church because it would be too formal for what I want, but then later in the trip was talking about the Chris Brown song church entrance video and then gave me a hard time because I said that it was stupid.
Let’s get things straight here – it’s kind of not ok if I don’t get married in a church, but if I do, it is ok if I do something completely and utterly ridiculous like this. For the record, if I do end up getting married in a church, I will not be entering to a Chris Brown song. I don’t think it would ever be an issue though because I’m pretty sure Peachtree’s rules do not allow for this sort of thing…
* This picture of MF and her boyfriend EC Friday night. When first posing for the picture, he was being silly and ignoring her with his pose so then when he tried to get serious and kiss her cheek she timed it perfectly with the picture to dodge his kiss. I was greatly amused…
* Everything KA and JLaw said on Saturday night.
* Sitting in a bar with everyone after the reception and making videos including one of all of us girls doing our window washing dance, but while sitting at the table because our feet were killing us. If I ever get a copy of this video I might add it below, but for now, just imagine the most awesome dance ever done by the coolest girls ever.
* After having the rickshaw driver stop for us to get pizza on the way home from the bar, JLaw, her husband SLaw and I sat in the hotel bar and ate our slices so I wouldn’t have to share mine with my roommates. It was closed, but we were thirsty so JLaw went behind the bar to get some water from the fountain. SLaw kept trying to get her to see if the beer taps worked, but we stuck with water. While refilling our waters I made some comment about being surprised no ones come over to see what we are doing since we are probably being kind of loud and going behind the bar. JLaw then says, “Whatever, we are the most honest people ever. I mean we’re only stealing water”
* In the morning while dividing up the hotel bar this exchange took place. For as tired as KA was Sunday morning, this was very funny.
Me: Ok, so it’s going to be $120 each, well I guess if you want to get technical, it would be $121.10 each. I can cover the extra two cents.
KA: Good, then I don’t have to give you mine.
Vermont and New Hampshire
Today was a pretty yucky day, it rained the entire day. I started early this morning and visited Dankin Farm in Vermont to learn about Maple syrup, but it was pretty lame and was really just more of a country store. Next I head to Rutland to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum. I thought it would be more about his life, but it was really just a gallery of all his illustrations. I enjoyed this, but they didn’t have any of the original paintings, which was disappointing.
I left Vermont and headed to New Hampshire, where my first stop was Enfield to visit an old shaker community. I don’t think I could do it. They were crazy. Most of the Shakers in this particular community started leaving during the Industrial Revolution so the remaining members moved and joined another community in northern New Hampshire. Next I headed to Hanover and went to the Hood Museum of Art and Dartmouth. It’s one of the oldest and largest college museums in the country. It had some neat exhibits. After I wandered around the museum, I ate lunch at one of the campus places. It was a nice campus. It’s weird seeing the differences in these old schools versus Kansas Sate, etc.
Finally I head farther east towards Mt. Washington. It was a gorgeous drive through the White Mountains National Forest, but since it was rainy, I couldn’t see the entire mountain. The drive as also closed so I couldn’t go up it, so I just wound my way through the forest some more and headed on over to Maine because it was still early and there were no hotels.
Once in Maine, I was getting antsy to get to Auburn and find a hotel so I was going a little fast – until I got stuck behind someone actually going the 55 mph speed limit. While I was stuck behind them, an SUV came up behind me going pretty fast and also was now stuck behind this guy going slow. Anyways, about 8 miles later there was finally a straight place to pass with no oncoming traffic and I was able to pass. I thought it would be helpful if I went fast enough so the other guy could get around him too. I’m sure you can see where this is going… Luckily the Maine Hwy Patrolman that was behind me did not give me a ticket for going 75 in a 55. He just pulled me over and told me to slow down and be careful. I bet the guy I (we) passed got a good laugh.
Northern New York
Today I started off at the MLB Hall of Fame and Museum. It was pretty cool. Lots of information and items from baseball’s history. I focused mainly on The Royals and The Braves stuff since these are my teams. I liked it a lot.
Next I headed into the Adirondacks. It was a gorgeous drive. I stopped along the way at the Adirondack Museum and learned about the people and times of the area. There were some original rustic cottages and buildings also.
After leaving the museum I headed farter north and east to visit Ft. Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. It was originally built by the French and was taken over by the British is 1759. Then in 1775 Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold converged on Ticonderoga, giving America its first victory in the Revolutionary War.
After I left the fort, I crossed Lake Champlain and headed into Vermont. I’m staying in Burlington tonight and plan to head east through Vermont and into New Hampshire tomorrow.
Connecticut
Today was a very geeky, yet enjoyable day. I wound my way through Connecticut by visiting museums. First I went to Bridgeport to visit the P.T. Barnum Museum. I was somewhat disappointed by it. There was less stuff about the circus than I thought there would be and more stuff about his contributions to Bridgeport than I cared about. There were a few good displays, but a lot of it was just stories on the wall.
On my way back north, I stopped in New Haven again and visited the Yale University Art Gallery. I got in too late last night to go, so I went this morning. I spent some time wandering around the museum and then grabbed some lunch. Eventually I made my way north out of New Haven.
Next I head to Hartford to visit Mark Twain’s House and museum. It was a pretty awesome house. They lived in Hartford for 17 years and the house had a lot of things that were new back then – central heat, a speaking tube (intercom) system throughout the house, 7 bathrooms, etc. etc. I visited Hannibal, MO (where he grew up) when I was little so it seemed fitting to come visit here as well J
Finally, I headed a little farther north to see the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum in Windsor, CT. I thought this would be right up my alley, but unfortunately nowhere on line did it tell me it is only open Thursdays-Sundays. Seriously, don’t these people know that I’m here now?
To end the day, I wound my way on some smaller highways through Connecticut and Massachusetts towards Cooperstown, NY so I can start my day tomorrow bright and early and the MLB Hall of Fame before heading back to the east.
Bristol-Newport-New Haven
Today I left Massachusetts and head towards Rhode Island. I had to make a detour to Best Buy and Circuit City on my way because I somehow managed to break the car charger for my Garmin yesterday (sorry Jim, but don’t worry, now you have a new one). I didn’t realize it until the battery low signal popped up last night. Luckily I was close enough to my hotel that I knew where to go J
I started in Bristol, Rhode Island, where I visited the Herreshoff Marine Museum and America’s Cup Hall of Fame. It was pretty neat. I was able even to climb aboard some of the sail boats. It wasn’t very busy, so the old man that sold the tickets walked me around and told me all about the Herreshoff brothers and how they started their company, etc.
Next I headed over to Newport and walked along the cliff walk there. Its 3.5 miles long, but I only walked about 1 mile total. I wasn’t really up for a 7 mile roundtrip walk. Next I drove down to Bellevue Avenue to check out the Newport Mansions. Wow, they are nice. I only toured the Marble House, which was built by some Vanderbilts. Most of the mansions are right along the cliff, so their backyards have amazing views. After checking out the mansions I was going to go to the Museum of Yachting at Fort Adams State Park, but it was closed for Columbus Day, so that was that.
I headed into Connecticut and drove for awhile along the coast before jumping on the highway to New Haven. It was starting to get dark when I got into town, so I just walked around Yale for a little while and then found a hotel for the night. Now I’m going to call it a night and watch Gossip Girl and Samantha Who.
Plymouth and Cape Cod
Today I started my morning with an hour long line at the rental counter in Cambridge. It was ridiculous. After I got my car I headed down to Plymouth to visit the Pilgrim Hall Museum and Plymouth Rock. I didn’t spend too much time in Plymouth, pretty much just walked along the shore after I went to the museum, saw the rock and then ate lunch.
Next I continued south to Cape Cod. I drove all the way to the tip to visit the Pilgrim Monument at Provincetown. It is the tallest all granite monument in the country. It was really tall. At first I wasn’t going to climb it because my legs were still made about the 588 stairs yesterday at Bunker Hill. However, it was mostly ramps all the way up, so I decided to go for it. It was very beautiful up there – so pretty I actually put quarters into the binocular things so I could see farther away.
On my way back inland, I stopped at a few lighthouses and looked at a few beaches. It was a nice and relaxing day. I’m staying in Boston again tonight because I couldn’t change my hotel room, so even though it was a long trip there and back, it will save me time tomorrow as I head to Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Boston
Last night to start my very first trip traveling by myself, I decided to try another first – riding a MARTA bus somewhere other than the Braves Shuttle. Realizing there is a bus stop about 50 feet from my front door that is on a route to a MARTA station was a very convenient discovery. I hopped on the bus and grabbed the train to the airport. Once, at my gate, I made a very inconvenient discovery – I forgot my camera.
That brings us to today. Early this morning, I ran across the street to CVS to pick up a new (cheap) digital camera and memory card. I rationalized this because the amount of disposable cameras it would take would cost about half as much but take up about 9x as much room in my suitcase. After getting my camera, I jumped on the “T” and headed into Boston.
I started my journey by following the Freedom Trail. This is an idiot proof way to get to all the touristy spots in town – a brick path that leads through the city. Kind of like in the Wizard of Oz, but it’s red instead of yellow. My first stop was Faneuil Hall, an old market building where town meetings were held during revolutionary times, by Sam Adams and the like. Next, I stopped off at Paul Revere’s house and then followed the path to the Old North Church. This is where Paul Revere rode to warn of the British advance.
I then crossed the Charlestown Bridge and walked up to Bunker Hill. Since the hill wasn’t really all that bad, I decided I go ahead and climb the 294 steps to the top of the monument. That’s a lot of steps up and back down. The views of Boston were pretty cool from up there though. Next, I went down to the Navy Yard to see the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides”. I also stepped aboard the USS Cassin Young, a war ship from WWII. However, I’ve seen quite a few of those, so it wasn’t anything new…
I headed back toward town and Faneuil Hall to catch the other half of the Freedom Trail. I took a break for lunch and then went to the Old State House, the location of the Boston Massacre. Finally I followed the trail to its end (or its beginning) at Boston Common, the first public park in the country. Along the way I passed the Old South Meeting Place, the Old Corner Bookstore and the Granary Burying Ground. On the other side of the park I went to Cheers Boston, the inspiration for the TV show. It was originally call Bull & Finch Pub, but I guess the changed the name for recognition.
It was only about 3 at this point, so I decided to take the “T” out to Cambridge and walked around Harvard for a while. Then I went to the Harvard Science and Natural History Museum, where I got the heebie jeebies from some bugs…
and then met some new friends…
I walked around Cambridge for awhile and grabbed some dinner. I was pretty beat by this point so I just jumped back on the subway and headed back out to my hotel. Tomorrow I’m picking up my rental car and heading down to Plymouth, Provincetown and Cape Cod. I think my tired feet will appreciate the driving instead of the walking all day, at least my left one anyways J
