Back to My Roots!

Although I grew up as a Cali girl (with a couple stints in Utah), I was actually born back East and lived there for my first few years while my dad was working for Goldman Sachs on Wall Street (before he decided to work for CES). I love it so much that I moved back for a semester when I was 18 and always planned on working there after graduating... until I got engaged to Matt. Funny how boys can change your plans like that :-) Anyway, once the "moving there" plan was thrown out the window, I planned on taking my mom on a trip out there once I graduated. Well, 9 months later, we finally got around to it!

We planned our visit around my aunt Janell's birthday (she lives in NJ) and had a blast! Like the good ol' days, we rode the train into the city and tried to decide what we wanted to do that day. We'd already seen/done all the big things, so it was kind of nice to have that must-do-it-all toursity pressure off and just get to enjoy our time there.

We ended up choosing...

Times Square (always something new),

Central Park (always so beautiful),

and shopping (always fun in New York!).

We happened to choose to visit on a weekend with a tropical storm and were preparing ourselves for a torrential downpour, but we lucked out and just got rain.

Once upon a time when I lived in NJ, I had tickets to see the original cast of Wicked. I ended up moving home a week before and have been kicking myself for the three years since. So naturally, when planning this trip, the #1 thing on our to-do list was to see Wicked with Janell and Sidney. In fact, we bought those tickets before booking our flights.

It was INCREDIBLE, of course.

I know I could have seen the traveling show sooner, but I'm glad I waited to see it in New York.

There's nothing quite like a show on Broadway.

With item #1 complete, it was on to #2 (okay, there were actually only two things on the list):

Amish Ice Cream!

I fell in love with it during that same semester I took off. You haven't lived until you've eaten this ice cream. So we stopped at an Amish market in Princeton...

...on our way to Philadelphia, where we walked along the historic streets, ate Philly cheesesteaks, and took a picture at Independence Hall to commemorate our visit :-).

We spent the rest of our time hanging out with Janell, John & my cute cousins and were sad to leave. All I can say is that it's a good thing the Air Force is deciding where we'll live because I'd never be able to decide between my east and west coasts.