To the East

The East Coast was the hot spot for us this month. The first week of February I went to Albany, New York to visit my friend Erika. She just moved out there this past November. Then, the second week, James left on business to the Baltimore-DC area. So, James and I didn't see much of each other for a few days :) Thank goodness for the technology of Face Time with the iPhone.

Albany was a spur of the moment trip for me. Erika and I had been talking about me coming out to visit but timing was important due to her being due (please laugh at my attempt to be funny). She's expecting her 3rd and her baby is due in June so we were trying to come up with a plan on when I could come and visit. Well, it just so happened that the doctor I work with requested the 3rd of February off leaving me 4 days with out an office to be at. Well hey, I thought. Four whole days without working, what ever shall I do with my time? Plane ticket to Albany bought 1 day later :)

Albany Day 1
I flew from Tucson to Albany with one stop in Atlanta. I liked the Atlanta airport. It was pretty decent to maneuver through. It also had this:

 If any of you have lived on the east coast then you've probably eaten at a Checkers. I think Checkers is great! Their fries are awesome! They're crispy and an orange-y color and have pepper on them. They're pretty much the best fries ever. I ate here of course while waiting for my plane to board. So de-lish!

This was my view coming into Albany:

It was dark when I finally made it out to Erika so my view of Albany at first sight was limited. I could see enough though (because they have street lamps on their streets unlike Tucson) and I liked what I saw. The buildings were beautiful. Every single one of them is different. You could see some that looked like a castle, with the bay windows and being 3 stories tall. You could see colonial style homes and brick homes. They were very pretty. We traveled down the main road, Madison, and we passed about 4 Dunkin' Donuts, a few CVSs and lots of college buildings. Those 3 things are ABUNDANT in Albany. People really need their coffee/doughnut fix I guess. The gas prices were high too. The highest I saw was $3.79. Erika said that that was lower than it had been. Yikes! When we got to her home I got the grand tour, dinner and dessert. Dessert was another fun east coast "used to" for me as well. It was Friendly's Ice Cream. We used to eat at Friendly's a lot in West Palm Beach.

Sooo good. Enjoyed the ice cream and watched NCIS while catching up. We stayed up pretty late talking but we didn't care. It was a vacation for us :)

Albany Day 2
Wednesday was kind of our sit at home day. We slept in a bit and hung out at the apartment. When we felt like we were ready to go out we got ourselves ready then. She took me around the city, which, during the day looked even more beautiful than the night before. She showed me down town (which is 5 minutes driving from her apartment), Sterling's PA school (which is a 5 minute walk from their apartment), their church building (a 3 minute walk from their apartment), the park (3 minute drive away), their library (another 5 minute drive) and some of the neighborhoods close by. They really found the perfect spot to live in geographically. Albany Medical is in their back yard, literally, and St. Peter's hospital is a 5 minute drive away as well so they are so close to what they need. There's a museum that is in down town that we went to (will show later), Cathedrals, and 3 different collages all right close by to them. They really did an excellent job picking out their place to live.

While at the library we picked out some movies to watch during the week for us and the kids. We came home and watched one right away. We played with the kids till dinner time and then when dinner was done and kids in bed we had a paint your toes party while watching another movie. That night we stayed up till midnight talking. Lots to say! We promised ourselves a better bedtime the next night.

Homes looked like this when you were closer to down town. They look like what you see on the movies don't they!

This is the kind of homes that are on Erika's street. They're called flats. You have an upper apartment and a lower one.

Erika's flat. The two pine trees mark her sidewalk and front door. Her apartment is the upper floor and the attic. The attic is the entire length of their apartment and is open. It's a great place for storage and the kids can go up there and play too.

Typical looking neighborhood looking into downtown Albany.

Birds-eye view of Albany. The square building on the lower end of the picture is the museum we went to. The cathedral just to the right of it is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. We went there too.

This oddity is called "The Egg." We asked a person walking by what is it and they said it was an amphitheatre. Pretty neat! We didn't go see it but it was a neat looking building.

Albany State Museum. We did this on Day 4 (Friday Feb 3rd) Lots of neat things in there!

Here's a picture of our toes that we did that night while watching a movie. So fun! Mine are red & hers are purple (you can tell because hers are cuter!)

Albany Day 3
Erika's ward is also that branch that the singles attend. So there is a senior missionary couple that teaches Institute for the singles on Wednesday evenings but they also teach "Kidstitute." The Elder teaches an Institute class to moms while the Sister watches the kids downstairs in the basement. I think that that is pretty cool. It gives moms a little break and some spiritual nourishment during the week. So we went. We learned the timeline of the coming of the Restoration - some of the things that happened or had to happen in order for the Restoration to occur. It was really neat. I enjoyed it. I kinda felt like I was back in my religion class with Erika our sophomore year at the Y :)

After Kidstitute, Erika took me to Walmart. Now, this was a cool Walmart! It was 2 stories! And there was an escalator for your cart! It was awesome!

We did some more driving around town and movie watching when we got home. That night we had an M night. We had Munchies, Masks, and Martinellies! It was magnificent!

Albany Day 4
We were busy bees on day four! We went exploring on this day! We went and saw two cathedrals and a museum. And the kids did awesome! The first cathedral was The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It. Was. Gorgeous. Gorgeous! The architecture was absolutley beautiful. I had a funny thought that I wanted to be in a wedding dress and walk all the way down the nave with a long train following me. Kinda silly huh :) We were the only ones in there for a while but then we saw a caretaker woman cleaning the prayer candals and there was also a piano tuner there for a little bit. He hit one note for a long time but then he finished up with a beautiful number and it made the church come alive a little bit.

the kids were so cute on these (are they called prayer stools?). Austin actually got on and folded his arms and closed his eyes as if he were praying. It was adorable! He wouldn't let us take a picture of him with his eyes closed though. Too cute.

We hit the musuem after the cathedral. We didn't take too many pictures inside. It was a neat museum though. Lots to keep you busy. I saw lots of people there just to walk. They would breeze by us at a brisk pace in their sneakers and look like they were in extreme concentration. It was funny. I've seen people walk malls but not museums. The highlight of the museum was the Carousel! It was free to ride and went every 15 minutes. We rode it three times and ate lunch in between. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it.

There was a NYC exhibit so we explored a Subway car. Cami heard the ocean in a sea-shell. Austin learned the state's symbols (bird, flower, etc.). Family pic in front of a pic of Albany foliage in the fall.

Riding the carousel!

The last cathedral we went to was a little older. An Episcopal church owned it. It was kinda dark and creepier than the first one we went too. It got darker as we went in. I much prefer light. Hmm, I'm sensing a segway into a gospel related subject? Prefering light over dark? Well, I'll hit that segway on a different day I guess. For now lets just look at pictures.

The organ was pretty cool in this cathedral. My sister-in-law says this is called a Trumpet Pipe organ with how the pipes stick out like that.

We were pretty bushed after that day. So after the kids were in bed we watched Unstoppable and ate Oreo balls that we'd made earlier. We also had the rest of the Martinellies that we'd purchased. Nice way to end the day.

Albany Day 5
What vacation would be complete if there wasn't shopping??? Day 5 was devoted to the said occasion. Sterling was fantastic and let Erika and I go out for pretty much half the day while he watched the kids. We got back just in time to eat pizza, put chilrens to bed and relax with hot chocolate and a movie - The Blind Side.

Day 6 - Travel
It was a LONG day. But the airports I traveled through were really cool looking. I had a stop in Detroit and Atlanta before finally arriving in Tucson. The plane from Atlanta to Tucson had some maintenance issues so we sat at the gate for a good hour before finally taking off. I was SO glad to arrive in Tucson. Sitting on an airplane for 5 hours isn't as enjoyable as it may seem. I had a great time though and I was happy that I'd been able to go and see Erika. It'll be harder as the time goes on to see each other so I feel blessed to be able to have such luxuries in my life at the moment.

James and I got one night together before he was off to Baltimore though. That takes us to his trip now.

Baltimore/DC Day 1
Travel day. Upon arriving at the airport, James went to the rental car area and was given this baby to drive. It's fancy aint it!

He then made his way down to Kensington, Maryland to go here: (so lucky!)

James' temple experience was pretty interesting. On a Tuesday evening there was pretty much no one there! James was the only male in the session that he attended! Males were in high demand that night :)

Baltimore/DC Day 2
Kind of boring day. Meetings. But hey it snowed! He didn't do much exploring. Just stayed close to the hotel.

Baltimore/DC Day 3
Meetings all day again. But the weather was much nicer so James decided to hit up DC that night. He got some beautiful pictures of the National Mall. He also saw the motorcade that he thinks had the President inside! He's very proud of the fact that he walked six miles in the frigid weather ;) His pictures are gorgeous though - totally worth it.

Washington Monument

Captiol Building

Jefferson Memorial (from across the Tidal Basin! iPhone doesn't have too terrible of a zoom eh?)

Lincoln Memorial

The White House (it's so teeny! It looks much bigger on TV)

The Treasury Department

View of the Captiol looking down Pennsylvania Ave.

James' 6-mile walking trail. He's so proud of himself :)

James came home on Day 4 and I was soooo glad! I missed him! So happy to be together again.

One other thing that I forgot to mention: while in Albany I had another first besides the two-story Walmart. My other first is receiving a calling via Face Time on the iPhone! I was called by Brother Iverson via Face Time as the Ward Camp Director for my ward! I'm nervous for this callinig. I've never been in such a position of leadership like this before so it's definitely going to bring me out of my comfort zone. But I'll be working with great ladies so I'm only slightly less nervous :) But yea, isn't technology amazing? Getting a calling via Face Time. What next?