New York City
Our adventures in the East started at 4 am in the surprisingly long security line at Hobby Airport. We boarded JetBlue Airlines, while we watched the beautiful sunrise over New York City. Once we landed, we discovered that my luggage got completely destroyed. It was very unfortunate and looked anything but New York chic. After getting that squared away, we stood in the infamous taxi cab line and rode into Manhattan. It was my first time to the city and I was completely overwhelmed. We began to walk up and down Times Square, and we felt like we were in a movie. For lunch we grabbed pizza by the slice and shortly after we bought tickets to ride the double-decker bus around the city. This was one of the best decisions that we made considering it allowed us to see ALL of the Big Apple within our short time frame. We drove past Times Square, the Financial District, the Fashion District, Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, 5th Avenue, and the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. Once we hopped off the tour bus, we were back in Times Square for the Transformers 3 premiere. They had the red carpet lined up with all of the stars present- Shia Labeouf, Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy), Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Megan Fox replacement… the new girl), Will Smith’s kids, and many more. The set was awesome and the crowd was enormous. I sat on top of Lauren’s shoulders to get better pictures of the stars… that was an unforgettable experience! Shannon was bummed that she didn’t get to see anything; however, our visits to M&M and Hershey World made up for everything! In the evening, we rushed back to our hotel through the packed streets of NYC to get ready for “The Ride”. The Ride was a 75 minute trip around mid-town Manhattan that was filled with amazing performances, fascinating facts, and non-stop excitement inside and outside of our makeshift party bus. It was situated with stadium seating that faced the streets of New York and it was led by two entertaining tour guides. While we waited in line to board “The Ride”, we filled out a survey. Little did we know that we would be a part of the act! Lauren’s shout out was from a huge white guy that rapped for her graduation from UT and my graduation shout out was from a small town girl that sang Katy Perry’s song, Hot and Cold. Other performances that we watched were… the New Year’s Eve guy, a UPS break-dancer, a tap-dancing banker, a Broadway wannabe girl, a set of ballerinas near the fountain, and many more! The best part of our “Ride” experience was watching the random pedestrians’ reaction to us. We could see them, they could see us… It was hilarious! After “The Ride”, we ate dinner at Shake Shack. We had the Great White Shake, juicy seasoned burgers, and crispy crinkle fries. The food was absolutely amazing and the line was extended out the door. Shake Shack started as a trailer in Manhattan Park and quickly grew in popularity. This restaurant wins best burger EVERY year for the area and I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting NYC! On our walk back to our hotel, we met the one and only, Robin Williams. He didn’t exactly look like the Mrs. Doubtfire that I remember! This concluded our first day in the Big Apple. It’s true what they all say… If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!
Day 2 in NYC: We woke up around 8 am and had a complimentary breakfast at our hotel. Immediately afterwards, we hopped back on the double decker bus for a tour of Uptown Manhattan. We had an 80 year old cranky guide that led us around the Upper East Side. She kept yelling at “Claudio”-the driver and was threatening tourists off of the bus if they chose not to whisper. Despite our interesting tour guide and her long pointless stories, we saw Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum, the Trump International Hotel, the apartment where John Lennon was shot, the United Nations building, the Museum of Natural History, the Apollo Theatre, the Cathedral of St. John the Devine, the Lincoln Center, and we hopped off at the Plaza Hotel. We went inside the Plaza and it felt like we were in the movie Bride Wars. Outside of the Plaza was CBS’s Summer Concert Series with Darius Rucker performing live! We went into FAO Schwartz, the Apple Store, and plenty other stores on 5th Avenue. It was very uppity… considering it is the most expensive avenue in the entire world!!! We visited the marble bathrooms in the Trump Tower, explored the five-story Niketown, posed at Tiffany & Company, and actually bought something at H&M. I ate a red velvet cupcake from Magnolia Bakery and Shannon finally got her hot dog and pretzel from a random street vender. After we walked nearly the entire 5th Avenue, we went to the Top of the Rock. The Top of the Rock gave us the bird’s eye perspective of the most amazing city on earth. We could see EVERYTHING! Shannon was slightly afraid and caused quite the scene, but we got some amazing pictures anyways. Now on to our Subway experiences… keep in mind- we are not city girls and we are not used to public transportation. We had trouble purchasing four Metro Cards and we had issues navigating between Uptown and Downtown. We swiped our cards on the wrong side of the street, but needless to say we got much better as our adventure progressed. We finally arrived to the infamous Central Park. It is way more beautiful and magical in person compared to the typical movies and pictures. We walked around admiring the scenery, relating everything to one of our favorite movies, and watched all of the people surrounding us. We rode the Subway back to Times Square and got all dressed up for our first ever Broadway production, Wicked! We were in a major rush, so we grabbed a quick bite at Famiglia. This restaurant is known as the official pizza place for the New York Yankees! There were hundreds of pictures of celebrities who had eaten at the exact same table as us! Wicked… words cannot even begin to describe how amazing this show was. It was absolutely unbelievable from beginning to end and it was by far one of the highlights of the trip! Wicked told the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Galinda (later Glinda), the Good Witch of the North. The plot began before and after Dorothy arrived from Kansas and tied several pieces together from the original Wizard of Oz. My Mom and I decided to wear high heels to the show, which was a big mistake!!! We had to walk over a mile to the theatre in the crazy hustle-bustle of NYC. It was beyond painful… at one point I even opted to walk barefoot in the disgusting streets. After Day 2 in NYC, I realized two things: (1) That people from the south are typically much friendlier than people from the east and (2) There are only two types of people in the city: Tourists and New Yorkers.
Our last half-a-day in NYC: We woke up sharply at 5 AM for the Today Show and packed up our entire luggage at the hotel. At 6 AM, you could find all of the Engle girls in bright colors, signs in hand, standing in line at Rockefeller Plaza. We even got complimentary cappuccinos and breakfast from a Gluten-Free van! At 6:45 AM, we got released to our front row position. We tried to get next to the black guy named Lenny with the attorney sign (since he is there every single morning and gets plenty of airtime); however, those spots were taken by the family that arrived at 3:45 AM! We saw all of the lead anchors of the Today Show- Al, Ann, and Matt. The Engle girls each held a sign that spelled our “Texas Girls <3 NYC!” We stood out there nearly all morning with no camera time… until 8:30 AM. We finally got out close up shot and then jumped up and down behind the anchors while they did one of the weather segments. You couldn’t miss us! We got our 15 seconds of nation-wide airtime and it felt AMAZING! At 8:45 AM, we went across the street to the NBC Experience Tour. We saw Dr. Oz’s daytime set, the Late Night with Jimmy Fallen stage, and the Saturday Night Live studio. We even toured the NBC broadcasting control room, saw how they do the make-up and create the masks for SNL, and Shannon was chosen to be the mock weather girl! The next part of our journey was taking the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We took a bunch of pictures and walked around Liberty National Park. It was such a neat and symbolic experience with the Fourth of July right around the corner. We had a quick visit of the statue and hopped back on the ferry to make it to our 2:11 PM train ride to Philadelphia. I sprinted through Bryant Park, found a Texas fanatic-Mini Drivin’ taxi man. We barely make it in time to Pennsylvania Station to board our train, but somehow the Engle girls did it! We grabbed our tickets and hopped on the train. That concluded our action packed 50 hour adventure to New York City. It was totally overwhelming, exhilarating, and memorable. Our appearance in the Big Apple felt very surreal and still feels like a whirlwind of an incredible dream. New York ought to be a separate country. Everyone thinks differently and acts differently there. It is where millions of people pursue their dreams and tourists flood the streets. NYC is like no place I have ever been before and I loved every second of it!
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Once we arrived in Philadelphia, Aunt Penny and Uncle Chuck were waiting for us in the center of the train station. We loaded up in their car and headed to the downtown area for more sight-seeing adventures. They led us to the view the Liberty Bell and the old City Hall. We took a tour of Independence Hall, which was very interesting. We stood in the room the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and countless other American heroes sat in that same exact room centuries ago and organized our country. Our tour group consisted of approximately 60+ summer camp students in green shirts that knew every single answer. I even went to school with one of the girls in that group- it really is a small world! After wandering downtown Philadelphia and exploring a few other places, we went to get Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner. We went to a place called Pat’s Steaks which is directly across the street from their major competitor, Geno’s steaks. These infamous places have been seen on the Food Network Channel and mentioned in countless magazine articles. Some say Pat’s is better, but they are both equally famous. When we arrived, the Phillies baseball game against the Red Sox had just ended and it is tradition for the fans to get cheesesteaks afterwards. The streets were packed with hungry fans and I loved all of the excitement! Penny and Chuck treated us to dinner and let us stay at their riverside house for the evening. We picked up our rental car from the airport and endured the rush hour traffic leaving Philly to the suburbs. Shannon fell asleep on my lap since our day seemed never ending. My aunt and uncle live in an older community on a peaceful river, but across the railroad tracks is the location of one of the top 10 wealthiest communities in the United States. We drove past those enormous homes and they were breathtaking! Anyways, they refer to the people on the other side of the tracks as the “River Rats”, which I found very amusing. One of their neighbors and fellow River Rats, told us about Philadelphia’s Country Club firework show that would be happening on the golf course right around the corner. We all loaded up in the car and snuck into this expensive golf course. There was our group and several other families with lots of little children swarming around like little ants. As soon as we arrived, I saw the hills on this awesome golf course and knew we had to roll down them. Being the brave little kid that I am, I opted to go first. I laughed the entire time down the hill and rolled and rolled and rolled some more. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard. All of the kids followed my lead and we were all having a blast. Then this 5 year old little girl decided to sprint down the hill, and all of the adults held their breath because they knew this would end badly. She successfully did it not once, but twice, and Shannon followed her lead. Shannon ran down the enormous hill successfully as well, and I thought this looked promising. I looked at Lauren, whispered “Time me,” and took off running. I guess my center of balance is not perfect and gravity had other plans for me, because I completely face planted near the end of the hill. My foot slipped and the rest is history. Lauren and all of the other adults busted into laughter and thought we would be visiting the hospital that night. I laid there in pain, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Lauren says it was the funniest thing she’s ever seen in her life and wishes more than anything that she would have recorded it on video. I stood up with a few bruises, but nothing major. I was the hill warrior! We situated ourselves on the top of the golf course and watched an incredible firework show. I have never seen such an amazing display of fireworks. This country club is reserved for very wealthy members, but we felt like they put on a private show for all of the River Rats! The fireworks were another highlight of our adventure to the East Coast! We woke up the next morning and Lauren and I went for a jog throughout the beautiful Philly suburbs. We ate breakfast by the riverfront and went canoeing for most of the morning. We had so much fun in PA, but it didn’t last long considering we began our journey to Maryland around noon!
Maryland
The whole reason for our adventure to the East Coast was based on a family reunion in Maryland for the Fourth of July weekend and my cousin’s baptism. With that said, we arrived at Patrick and Rebecca’s house. They have a HUGE estate on the water- complete with two houses, a pool, a private beach front, a dock with two boats, a huge yard with hammocks and lawn chairs… everything you can imagine. We met up with our family which consisted of Peter, Chantel, Allie, Emma, Aunt Diane, Aunt Penny, Uncle Chuck, Chantel’s extended family and many more. The whole idea of visiting family at a rural and beautiful estate reminded us exactly of the movie The Proposal with Sandra Bullock. If you can picture that scenery (huge estate, family reunion, breathtaking view, and boat rides), then you can picture our adventure in Maryland. On Friday (the day of arrival), we hung out by the pool side and relaxed out on the dock all afternoon. We made plenty of small talk and got caught up with most of our extended family. Every night at the Caldwell estate, also known as Lucy’s Lane, we ate dinner on picnic tables by the beach. Pat and Rebecca prepared great food and all of their hospitality was much appreciated. We watched the beautiful sunset and reminisced on past memories. On Saturday, I woke up for an early 7 mile run through the country-side. I loved each and every second of it! We ate a full course breakfast at Lucy’s Lodge and went out for a boat ride on the Sassafras River. On the downside, the boat had spiders everywhere and we didn’t ride very fast. On the upside, the boat took us to a little town where I FINALLY had cell service. Visiting a rural community = ZERO contact with the outside world. Baby Allie’s christening was at 2 PM at an old Catholic Church in town. She is my 9 month old cousin and she is just adorable! This was a big day for her and her family. I hope she has a blessed life and I can’t wait to watch her grow up throughout the years. After snapping a couple of pictures, we made our way back to the house. I found myself the best reading/napping spot at the estate. The hammock was situated in the shade with the best view of the river and a slight breeze. I LOVED IT! After my afternoon nap on the hammock, I had a heart to heart with Lauren about our futures, our family, and much more. You gotta love that unbreakable sister bond! On Saturday night, Chantel’s family prepared dinner for us. They are from Louisiana and they know how to cook! We ate fried rice, pulled pork, and corn on the cob. It all had incredible flavor and was super tasty. We ate out by the beach, watched the kids play in the water, wrote messages in the sand, and kayaked into the sunset. Shannon acted like a little mom to baby Allie all day. We began to call her “BH”- Baby Hog. My cousin Emma is the funniest little kid ever. She was so cute and loveable! Pat and Rebecca were the best hosts. Rebecca is the CEO of the Pew Foundation, which is the best job ever. They give away over $250 million dollars a year in grants. She's met so many awesome people and she was given the flag that was flown over the Pentagon on Sept 11, 2001... What an honor! She is a very important lady in DC and I felt honored to be in her home- apart of her family!
Washington D.C.
Lauren, Mom, and I left Maryland at 7 AM to spend the day at our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. We drove to New Carrolton to board the metro into DC. I love the East Coast for the public transportation alone! We arrived at 9:30 AM and walked to Capitol Hill. Along the way we saw multiple Fourth of July festivals step up on the streets of DC. Our first official stop was the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum. This museum maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the technology of aviation and space flight as well as a variety of several other topics. It is the most popular Smithsonian, and I have to say that it was very interesting! The Engle girls jumped onto yet another double decker tour bus; although this time we were viewing the District! We hopped off at the Lincoln Memorial, which is a lot bigger than you’d expect. We were slightly disappointed that the Reflecting Pond was currently under construction. That is the water that is situated between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. After a slight wait, we hopped back on the tour bus and saw the Jefferson Monument as well as the Holocaust Museum. Our next stop was the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. This way our favorite museum! The highlights consisted of Julia Child's Kitchen, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, the collection of First Lady's beautiful inauguration dresses, the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, Lincoln's black top hat, and much much more!!! All of the Smithsonian's were breathtaking and we were amazed to see so many incredible museums within walking distance at NO COST! We grabbed a quick lunch at the Stars and Stripes Cafe! We felt it was appropriate considering it was almost the Fourth. We ate burgers, wraps, fries, and cookies! After our much needed lunch, we walked to the White House. This was a huge disappointment because we couldn't get very close at all. The house was beautiful like we had all expected, but it was scorching hot and we felt like we were miles away. We hopped back on the DC tour bus and traveled the yellow route. We saw Ford's theatre (where Lincoln was assassinated), Embassy Row, Georgetown (a very quaint and adorable college town), the old post office, the WWII Memorial, the Washington National Cathedral (the world's 6th largest cathedral, and many more historic sites. We left out of Georgetown on the Metro- completely dehydrated and exhausted!! Washington DC was one of the coolest cities that I’ve ever been too and it was one of my favorite stops on our East Coast Adventure! It was exceptionally clean and had breathtaking architecture, unique food, and rich history. DC was the place to be.... especially the day before our country's birthday!!! With so many festivals, events and patriotism this is a must see destination. I had an absolute blast with Mom and Lauren on our day trip to the nation's capital! We made it back just in time for dinner in Maryland... Gotta love the East Coast and their modes of transportation!
The Fourth of July
We arrived back Pat and Rebecca's house in Maryland from DC just in time to celebrate Emma's 3rd birthday with crabs and cake out by the river! We were wiped out from our day trip to DC, but we told them all about our adventures in the District. The next morning we woke up to a Fourth of July breakfast and the traditional parade in Kentmore Park! The Kentmore community gathers every year and has a competitive golf cart decorating contest for the Fourth. Pat is the Grand Marshall leading the parade off with his red Chevy truck and all of the decorated golf carts follow right behind. We saw SO many awesome carts… these folks in Kentmore Park go ALL out!!! The theme this year was a memorable moment in American History. There were pirate ships, hippie clans at Woodstock, and even the first man on the moon! In my opinion, the parade was the highlight of the holiday. I loved seeing a bunch of little kids all decked out in red, white, and blue with a flag in hand! While we were in DC, we bought Shannon, Emma, and Allie matching tie dye shirts. I took a couple of pictures of them together and later in the afternoon a few of us went into Chestertown. I could NEVER live in a small town. If you have to drive 20+ minutes just to make a call, pick up a gallon of milk, or get rid of your trash… that is way to rural for me. The highlight of our trip into town was stopping at a local custard shop and getting an ice cream treat! For the rest of the Fourth, I laid out on the hammock and read my book- Love the One You're With! Our family festivities began in the evening with dinner out by the beach. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, beans, and fries. Everything you think of when you think of our nation’s birthday! Once the sun went down, we sat out on the dock and watched multiple firework shows. There were too many bugs out and I was too exhausted to enjoy the firework display. Spending the Fourth of July in the East Coast was memorable and very symbolic. I loved seeing my extended family and spending time with them. I wish more than anything that Jason and my Dad could have come with us on all of our adventures. The Engle Girls took on the East Coast- NYC, Philly, DC, and Maryland. We all had the time of our lives and this has to be one of the best trips that I’ve ever been on!
