Sooo.... 12 hrs into the 20 hr trip to Boston, Mass. Kinda long to be in a van, but fortunately we brought a laptop so it wasn't too unbearable. Still a long ride though. Most sleep I've gotten in a long time... like the last family vacation. I was mostly unproductive the whole day, but I did make another stop action movie, and I am uploading it at the moment. Eight seconds of gum wrapper goodness. Hopefully i compressed it right and it will upload unlike my last one, which i still have to recompress and upload. Anywho, check it out and comment on how utterly pointless it is. I think I'll write a paper on it trying to connect it to some huge theme. That'll pass some time. Dont be surprised if you see that tomorrow.
Day 2
Woot! Boston! The longest ride is over, now it'll be just short trips. Boston is pretty cool. It has a very spacious feel to it, and I'm really liking the weather. I enjoy the cold, and the temperature up here is great. You hear that Boston is America's walking city and you can tell by the people. Let's just say there is a noticable size difference between people in Alabama and people in Boston. I wonder if there is a corrorlation (sp?) between population density and that? It would make sense. Traffic up here was horrible by the way. Crazy stuff. Apparently they don't line streets in Boston or use street signs or worry about running over pedestrians. Very different place for me. I enjoy traveling, but I have never managed to go very far. This is pretty awesome.
Strange things I noticed on the way up:
I-84 marks every tenth of a mile. Why?
At the Connecticut rest area (I think) there was a sign that said 'pedestrian walk.' I want to know what it was pointing out (I think it was just some walking trail) and what else a pedestrian does. Isn't someone who walks a pedestrian by definition?
The accent change never really hits hard until Massachusetts. Before we hit the state line, the accents were fairly neutral, but after... wow. Almost as bad as I had imagined. You can definitally tell you're near Boston when you here someone talk.
I'm sure that of the .0005 people reading this (I don't know how that works out), at least some of you have been here, so this all sounds kinda stupid... but it is pretty awesome just to finally go someplace you've been waiting to go for a few months now.
Tomarrow: the MIT campus and the Museum of Fine Arts (Dega and Picasso are there!)
PS. There is an awesome little Italian resterant just down the street from my hotel. Just thought I'd let you in on that.
MIT IS FREAKIN AWESOME!!! Several new experiences for me today (not all relating to MIT):
Making a waffle. The hotel I'm staying at allows you to make your own waffles. I learned a valuable lesson while making my waffle: when a waffle maker beeps at you really loudly, read the directions.
Riding on a subway. Kinda interesting that my first subway ride was on the nations oldest. It was pretty interesting in a could be mundane, but still halfway fun sort of way.Sorta like driving a car for the first time, it's really cool, but you know one day it could get kinda old or at least a little too normal. I hope that is the case for me.
Getting lost in Boston. Well, not really lost, just going to the right place in a different way than I thought I was. All those stories of people up North being rude and unhospitable? Completely against what I've been seeing. Everyone seems just as nice as back home.
Going to MIT. Wow.This still hasn't completely sunk in. Its kinda hard to comprehend visting this place after dreaming about this for so long. Everything was even cool than expected. You know you are in an awesome place when the guy you catch for directions inside the school has a heavy Russian accent. That is just classy. I'm pretty sure he was a professor, I wonder what of? Anywho, the admission information session was all stuff I already knew pretty much, but it helped sink in that I was really here. Just to look over out the window and see the common (albeit with thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of chairs, commencement is on friday, and I have never seen so many chairs set up for an event.) was really awesome. Then came the tour. Setting up for comencment took some away from the experience (I wish I could have come while school was in), but it couldn't keep me from being completely in awe of this place. Everything is so planned out. State of the art facilities, brilliant architecture (I'll upload some photos), and a sense of fun hanging in the air makes this place irrisistable. If I am able to walk the infinite corridor one more time i will be exstatic, if I get accepted, it will be one of the happiest days of my life.
Since I really can't put the experience of MIT into words, I guess I'll just skip over some. After the tour (which was AWESOME) we grabbed some lunch on campus. Really awesome sandwich. The first time I've ever had a bagel sandwich, and hopefully not the last from this shop. Then we went over to the MIT museum. It was kinda small, but it had cool exibits of robots and holography, and a really awesome little program I can't find. Something called Natual Interaction. It was a little app that translated sketchs into full fledged physics simulations. Really cool.
After that everyone was pretty much collapsed so we grabbed some ice cream and headed for the hotel. This brings me to even more new experiences:
Nearly getting ran over a bus. It missed obviously.
Watching the full length of a bad game show. There apparently is an awful litttle show on Discovery called Cash Cab that my sister was watching. Unfortunately, my other sister had the computer which left me with nothing else to do.
Watching a movie on HBO. Star Wars Episode III. Awesome fight scenes, but not the best made movie in the world. Hopefully someone will redo the entire series to its best in a few years.
Not talking about nearly getting hit by a bus but, instead, talking of what I watched on TV. Kinda pathetic, isn't it?
Well, that isn't near all that happened today, but I really can't put the rest into words.
Days 4-6
Sooo... Long time no type. I missed a couple days there, oh well. I'll try to catch up. Hmmm... I guess I should start with my second day in Boston.
It rained. And rained. And rained. It kinda sucked and ruined our plans. So, we went to the musuem of fine arts. It was pretty cool. I got to see some Picassos and other junk, but the coolest thing was the Egyptian exhitbits. It is one thing to see pictures of 6000 year old objects, but to stand right next to them. Kinda creepy to think all those statues were of real people who lived thousands of years ago. That's a LONG time. The rest of the museum was pretty cool, but nothing was near as awesome as that.
We tried to make our way over to the USS Constitution, but Boston streets are confusing, and we didnt'. So we stopped and got some clam chowder and left. I'll miss Boston, but hopefully I'll be back in a year.
Now on to yesterday: New York City. I had a mix of expectations about this city, and they were mostly right. The vibe there is a bit uncomofortable to me. I'm not sure what it was, maybe just the sheer number of people and the loudness of the area. But,it was also as interesting to visit as I hoped it world be. The first thing we did was visit the Statue of Liberty.. no... the first thing we did was try to park, which is apparently not possible in New York. I think they line the streets with cars that nobody owns just to give tourists trouble. So, we wandered around for a good while, and eventually my dad just dropped us off and told us to have fun. So we got to stand in line. The weather was still not great, but it worked in our favor as the line wasn't too bad. We were in it for maybe an hour and then onto the ferry. That's where we got our first good look at the statue. Wow. It's really odd (and has happened to me a lot in the past few days) to see something in real life that you have only seen in pictures for years. The fact that you are really there is kinda hard to comprehend. But it was awesome to be there. I tried to take enough pictures to make a stop action movie, but the pictures didn't turn out so well, but I will upload it anyways.
After the Statue of Liberty, we dropped by Ellis Island, but mostly only because it was the next stop on the ferry. It was sorta interesting but not much more. The coolest things were some graphs that showed how immagration changed over the history of US and some empty rooms. The only reason that was any good because I knew the history behind the place.
Next, we got drove around. That was probably more interesting than Ellis Island. We passed through Chinatown and Brooklyn and even over the Brooklyn Bridge. We eventually found some place to park and went to Wendy's. Generally that's not all that interesting, but when you are on the corner of 35th and 6th in New York, it is. Good thing, too, because that was probably one of the worst Wendy's I've ever been to (and I've been to many). Inside, it was burning up and the food was all room temperature. Fortunately the next building we went into was much better. Most people have heard of it. I'm pretty sure its called the Empire State Building. That place was awesome. I didn't really do anything except walk around in the lobby, but it was a cool place. I wish I could have taken the ride to the top, but we were pressed for time. Next we drove around some more, most notably a little place called Times Square. I'm at a loss of words for Times Square. There was just so much energy there. We passed through at about 10:30, and it was lit up like it was day. Not much to say except for WOW.
Now the whole time the three of you have been reading, you should have noticed a key word several times: drive. Let me say (type) right now that it was a very bad idea. Our original plan was to park at a subway and ride in, but the staff at the hotel we were staying at just out side of New York suggested we just park in town. Don't listen to staff in a hotel (or at least this one, every other one has been helpful). The reason for not driving in New York goes way beyond the fact of crowded streets, the traffic wasn't unbearable. The problem lies in the fact of the cab drivers being mental. Let me say (type) that again to get the full effect across: the cab drivers are MENTAL. There is no other way to put it. We were cut off so many times it wasn't funny. What was funny, though, was a cab that had a bumper sticker that said "Don't Tailgate." It wasn't like the cabs didn't do that themselves every, oh, .5 seconds. Needless to say, my dad got out of town as quickly as possible. Oddly enough, one thing I notice about New York: there were no dents in the cabs. How that is, I will never know.
Now for today. It's around 2, and we have been driving for most of the day to get to our condo that is outside of DC. What is really killing me is that the World Cup opener has already come and gone, and I don't know the scores. Fortunately, that was voluntary, because ESPN is re-airing the games tonight. I can't wait to see! The only thing else I did today was stop in a little town called Hershey, Pennsylvania. The actual town though. We forgo-ed a tour because everybody is tired and wants to get to the condo. The area smelled really good though, and there was a good restaurant that we ate at.
Day 7
Sooo... long time no blog. Well, I just uploaded my last one, but i wrote it a few days ago. Apparently the condo I am staying in doesn't have wifi like all of the hotels. I'm gonna have to use *shivers* dial up whenever I go back there. But I am in a hotel right outside of DC at the moment, so all is well on the internet front. Anyways... what happened today?
I woke up at an ungodly hour, 5 or something (maybe six, I'm not sure). That was kinda unpleasant, but our condo is two and a half hours from DC, and my Dad wanted to go to church at the basilaca. We were late. Oh well, but it was pretty cool. Really big, too. REALLY big. It had a tower outside (I'm assuming for bells, though I did not see or hear any) that was several hundred feet tall. Anyways, it was big. Inside, there was plenty of art/mosaic/things as you would expect in any cathedral/basilica/thing, and the biggest organ I have ever seen was in there as well. So, after mass, we toured it, took some pictures, and visited the (very bright) crypt. Yay. All fun.
Anywho... we left and got lunch, I had a ruben. It was interesting. I've never had one of those before. Then, we went to the zoo. Not much there. Some animals that didn't move much, but now I can say I have seen a live giant panda. woot. It was a bunch of walking, and somehow all of it was up hill. But eventually we left.
Then we went to the museum of natural history. Now that was pretty cool. Dinosaur skeletons (I was huge into dinosaurs back in the day, aka pre-3rd grade), stuffed animals (more interesting than the live ones at the zoo, and earthquakes. Well, the earthquake was in Japan, but they had a real-time seismograph hooked up, and as soon as I walked up to look at it, a 6.3 started off. It was pretty interesting, and I'm sure I will hear something about it on the news tomarrow. It was great timing on my part (I hope no one was hurt, 'cause I'm talkin about this a little two casually considering it was such a big quake). Anywho, it was cool. I saw a bunch of nifty junk, took a few pictures, and walked around some more. I still have to say that the Egyptian exhibit in the Museum of Fine Arts has been about the coolest thing so far, but the dinosaurs were just as good.
So, with feet aching, we left the Smithsonian (two more to hit tomarrow), but we decided that since we were already in the area, we'd go ahead and knock the White House off the list. So we walked some more, took a few more pictures along the way (one of 13 1/2 St.), and passed by a ton of security guards. Then, there it was. Almost exactly like as every picture I have ever seen of it. Except I was further away from it. It had to be removed at least a few hundred yards from the fence, but we were still close enough to be able to make out a few people (snipers?) on the roof. It was okay, but just one of those things you can say you have done. Definitally not a life changing experience.
Weeellllll... thats about it for the day. One day I'll upload pictures, but probably not for another week. Sooo, thats all folks.
For the vacation anyways. Now for the world cup. It's been going pretty awesomely. High average goals scored, only one goaless draw (Sweeden vs Trinidad, it wasn't even a bad game. Plenty of attacking.). It is definately going good. Unfortunately, I've not been able to watch many of the games (only the ones on Saturday), but after tomarrow I will catch them all. It looks like this will be a great display of attacking football, and I can't wait to see many of the teams underway. Jaw dropping moments:
1st goal. WOW. Catch a video of this stunner from Germany. Goal of the tourney and it is the first one. I wish I could have seen it live.
Beckham's free kick. Nice. I love the fact that it is an own goal from the guy who was talking smack (two minutes in!). I'm generally not a Beckham fan, but it was an okay performance from him.
Sweeden -T&T being nil-nil. This really floored me. Not only that Sweeden didn't score (they should have many times), but also the quality of T&T's play. Hislop was a giant, and I can't say that I'm sorry that it was a draw. I like to see the underdogs pull though, and this was definately a win for the Soca Warriors.
Well, that's all for all for now. Email or message me if you want to get a hold of me (not sure why you would), and support our national team tomarrow versus the Czechs. I won't, but I wish I could be.
Day 8
Ah yes. It was a dark and stormy morning. Seriously. That was kinda a bummer to wake up to after my second day in Boston. At least we had plenty of stuff to do inside, and the forecast said it would clear up (and it did).
So... we went to the subway and rode and rode and rode and rode. Something like 11 stops later we got off. (If you can't tell, I'm not sure what I did, I'm just running through the day in my mind). Then we got off (hope I didn't surprise you there), and went to the place where they make money to get tickets for the tour. We got them, then to my favorite museum: the national air and space museum.
That place was awesome. Easily the best. I'm one of those guys who have always wanted to be a paleontologist or astronaut, and the Smithsonian has really appealed to me. My astronaut side was going crazy. The first thing I saw when I walked in was the actual apollo 11 capsule. Real. Sitting there. It was freakin amazing. Then I looked up. SPACESHIPONE!!!! I didn't know that was even there. That was even more amazing. For those who don't know what spaceshipone is, look it up in wikipedia. Then you will understand. I just walked around for a few minutes in awe at all of this great stuff. Then, for the thrill of the vacation, I got to fly an F18. Naturally, it was just a simulator, but I was in control! That was a dream come true for me. I literally could not stop smiling during and after that. The list of amazing stuff there just went on and on. A moonlander (albeit one they didnt use), the wright brother's plane, spacelab, a V2 rocket. It was all amazing. The only thing they didn't have there was a Saturn V, but I get to marvel at that all the time when ever I go to Huntsville. Kid in a candy shop moment all of it. I can simply not convey what it was like for me to see all of that.
After we left (alas, all good things must end), we walked over to the American history museum, but not before i could make a stop action movie of the capital building.
Initially I wasn't impressed with the American History museum as it portrayed the US's history so simplistically (something I hate after taking AP History), but on the second floor, there was some cool stuff. There was a nice exhibit of the presidents, I freaked some people out with a very robust portrayal of JFK (there was a 'be the president' station where you stood in front of a screen and read a famous speech, mine was 'ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country). It showed the all of the facets of the office quite well, I think. Sadly enough, it also displayed the ignorance of some people. There was a poll station where you could vote on the most effective president. Let me say something very clearly: neither Bill Clinton or either Bush should be in the top five! FDR was clearly the most effective president, and you could argue Lincoln, Jackson, and Jefferson, and the Progressive presidents (Roosevelt, Taft (i think, i always forget), and Wilson). Maybe Washington, but even he did very little in office. In fact, he was trying to set a precedent of presidents who didn't interfere too much. Just clearing that up that no recent (read post-regan) president deserves to be in the top 10. Sorry for the rant.
Anywho, it was a pretty cool exhibit. Another cool exhibit was the culture one. I got to see the muppets and mister Rogers's sweater! After that, I had to rush through the war exhibit. That was the most interesting one of this museum. I can say now that I have seen every weapon used in every war by the US, and by several of its enemies, and I took pictures of most of them. I also got a shot of the USS Constitution (I think, it was some old destroyed gunship), the underside of a wwii jeep (there was one hanging from the ceiling), and a huey (I think, it was in the 'nam section). Yes there was a full scale huey inside of this place. The cold war area was pretty cool, but I had to rush through it, because by this time they were closing.
After catching all of the Smithsonians, we saw some of the monuments. The Washington monument was big. Really big. A lot bigger than I expected. After that we hit up the WWII memorial, that was pretty cool. Then we walked over to the Vietnam Memorial. That one was... wow. Every name a person. It hit hard. I managed to get a really good shot of it (it was amazingly fitting), I will upload it.
After that we hit up the Lincoln Memorial. It was okay, but not the same impression factor that the others had. Then I ran a mile to try to catch the tour for the money making place. We didn't make that one. But we did make it to the Jefferson Memorial. That was pretty good. I liked the quotes on the wall. Then we headed back.
Overall, I have to say I liked DC. It would be cool to live there for a while just to see everything, but I didn't like it near as much as boston either. I'll post another blog with my overall reaction to my trip in a day or so. It's still sinking in.
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