Day Twenty-Three: Favorite Vacation

Favorite vacation... hmm -- this is a tough one. I've taken some really awesome vacations with my family, and we always have some amazing stories afterwards. You can say that we're kind of like the Griswolds... crazy times, but absolutely hilarious. My favorite vacation was probably our trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when I was in elementary school. It was my first time to see the ocean and our first BIG family vacation. 

There are so many jokes from that trip -- our hotel was supposed to be "right on the beach... you could throw a softball and hit the water." I just remember checking in, going up to our room and being across the street from the ocean with other hotels blocking the view. My dad's response was "What the hell kind of softball player does that lady think I am?!" Also, the toilets flushed faster than anything I had ever heard or seen before... and since the resort was brand new - literally brand new - we heard construction and workers bright and early every morning. Casey also spoke his famous line, "Follow that limo" that ended with us getting very lost. I also lost my disposable camera our last day there and cried... until my parents found it in the van under the seat. 

The bad part is that I have no pictures on my computer from that trip. I have plenty that are printed, but I have no clue where they are and no way to get them in this blog soon enough. 

SO -- instead, I decided that I could post pictures from my 2nd favorite vacation... our trip to New York City when I was in 11th grade. 

Our family had lived in the City for the first part of my life for my sister's bone marrow transplant -- so I felt like I was experiencing a "homecoming" of sorts when I got to visit there again at 17 (btw - Ryan has promised me that we will go to NYC for one of our upcoming anniversaries since it will be decked our for Christmas... I'm already excited). 

We got to do SO many things while we were there. 

Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, Empire State Building, Chinatown, 5th Avenue, Battery Park/Soho, Julliard/Lincoln Center, Ground Zero, Central Park, Metropolitan Opera, Lion King & Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Trump Tower, Times Square, NBC Studios/SNL/Conan set, American Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller Center, Bronx, Harlem... TONS of places and things! 

Once again, I wish I had more pictures... I just had a disposable camera and our video camera back then. But here are just a few that I could find. 

Me and the Statue of Liberty.  

"You're fired." 

in Trump Tower - we are so happy.... 

Times Square with brother 

i'm the statue... obviously 

 i had a thing for Usher... 

Memories from this trip: running late while eating cheesecake in Little Italy with Casey - running to catch a bus with leftover cheesecake, out of breath, out of shape, hilarious. Calling the Hogs in NBC Studios for the tour guide. Meeting French people on top of the Empire State Building and getting to talk with them (since I was taking French at the time)... and my dad constantly talking very loud and slow in English so they could "understand him better." Taking video in Times Square and almost getting run over in traffic. Buying knockoff designer purses out of a trashbag in Battery Park. Acting like the Statue of Adam in the museum while Casey took a picture - think we got in trouble for that one. Plane rides before sunrise and getting to watch the it come up on the plane :)




i love that i have all these memories with people i love SO much. Blessed to be able to see beautiful and unique places of the world at a young age because of my parents' willingness to budget and provide for us! Means so much now. 

im thankful.

carrie anne

P.S. Here's a funny little graphic I found - this is my kind of humor.