Empire State Building

We didn't really have any plans on our last day in NYC.  Ross got a shave--and looked so different without his scruff that I almost didn't recognize him--then we decided to go to the Empire State Building.  I had been with my mom, but Ross had never been.  Because it wasn't summer we didn't really have to wait in lines.  We also took the stairs between the 80th and 86th floors, which helped us bypass more lines. The weather was perfect and visibility wasn't limited at all.

I'm so glad we decided on the Empire State Building.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for it.

Bucket List: National Archives and WWII Memorial

The day after we went to Philly we went down to DC to visit the National Archives.  It was nice not to have to wait in line or anything.  We saw the Constitution, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and  the Bill of Rights. They were larger than I had imagined, and the writing was so tiny.  I was especially fascinated by the copper script plate that was made to run copies of the Declaration of Independence. I have no clue how they did that--I think it took a couple of years.

After the Archives we walked to see the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.  I don't know how I'd never seen the WWII memorial.  I liked the wall of freedom.

The plaque reads: The Price of Freedom: Freedom Wall holds 4048 gold stars.  Each gold star represents 100 American service personnel who died or went missing in the war.  The 405,399 American dead and missing from World War II are second only to loss of more than 620,000 Americans during our Civil War.

Wow.

I think we walked another 3 or 4 miles that day.  Tired feet.

Bucket List: Liberty Bell

When the move became official we came up with a bucket list of things to do before we left the East coast.  I wanted to see the Liberty Bell.  I have no idea why--I just did.  We headed to Philly one Friday afternoon and saw the bell.  The whole history of the bell as a symbol for freedom and equal rights is interesting.  After we saw the bell we went to the Reading Terminal Market.  I got a Guinness whoopie pie.  Then we walked to the Famous 4th Street Deli for some pastrami and cake.  Stuffed we were, oy!  I mapped it out and I think we walked like 4 miles or something!