A Tale of Two Cities -- and other stuff

It's been taking me a while to get around to updating. So I'll just try to get some stuff in real quick and then maybe throw up some pictures later!
In the beginning of October Carrie, Tasha and I went to New York. It took us 2 days to get on a flight, so that was incredibly frustrating. We got the know the SeaTac airport very well. (Not like I don't spend way too much time there anyway!) But when we finally were able to get seats and get out there we had a lot of fun! We stayed at a hotel right at Newark airport for the ease of the transportation and saving money. Manhattan hotels are ridiculously expensive. So we had 2 days to do a lot of sight seeing.
It's so far back now it's hard to remember what we did. We stopped by Ground Zero, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho, Central Park, the Empire State Building, we saw Chicago on Broadway, and went out to Ellis Island. Ellis Island was my top priority as I hadn't been able to do that last time. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I still thought that it was pretty neat! I thought that it explained quite well what it would have been like to enter the US through that port. It was in use a lot longer than I thought. Then they just abandoned it and fairly recently has it been restored and opened for visitors! While we were waiting in the airport to go out there I was watching the news and the ticker showed something about a John Lennon art exhibition that weekend only in NY. So we looked up where it was and went to see it. It was cool. I didn't really know that he also drawed and painted. I enjoyed it, plus it was free!
It was very good to spend time with them. Good bonding time. :-) I was a little worried that we were overworking Preggo. Especially when Carrie would be talking to us one minute and then asleep the next -- while on the subway. How do people do that?
Two weeks after that I headed of to Washington DC to meet Anna there. She was there for a conference for treating PTSD. Since everything was paid for, it was practically a free trip for me! No hotel cost, no flight cost, and all the museums are free. I just had to get food. Which turned out to be not so good it seems. My debit card number got stolen at a restaurant there and sometime tried to use it this last weekend. They did the same to Anna too.
We went by the memorials/monuments: Lincoln, Washington, WWII, Vietnam, the reflection pool. We went to museums: Natural History (for the Hope Diamond), Art Gallery (mostly for the impressionist paintings), Air and Space, Holocaust. The Holocaust Museum was on the top of my list; everyone has said that it's very good. It was very emotional though. I had to hold in a few tears. They had an exact replica of the crematory ovens at Mathausen (a concentration camp I've been to). I had to walk out of that area very quickly because it pulls up strong emotions for me. We saw the White House and the Capitol building. My friend Randy arrived at Quantico about a week before I went out for Marine training. The Marine sponsored Marathon was in DC that weekend so he came out and met up with us for a while. He went to Arlington with us and we tried to go over to the zoo, but it was closing early that day. Then we went to the restaurant where I think they stole my card. We went by Randy's cousin's grave at Arlington. It's over with the other graves where soldiers who died in Iraq are buried. So there were other people there visiting graves. It was hard to watch these people grieve.
It was good to spend time with Anna, I missed her. It was good to catch up and laugh and just be around someone you love, and make sure the Air Force hadn't brainwashed her. ;-)
About two weeks ago I went to see the Transiberian Orchestra. I loved the show. It has lots of lights and some fire. It was loud and it rocked. My parents came. I'm not sure my dad liked it a whole lot. I wanted to pump my fist in the air. They played my favorite song: Carol of the Bells twice.
Last week I had my first overnight in Flagstaff. The Grand Canyon is about an hour and a half drive from there. So I rented a car and drove out to see it. I never had and it has been very high on my list of things to do! I also got my first snow of the season there. It was snowing when we arrived. Fortunately the roads were clear the next day when I drove. None of my crew wanted to go with me so I went by myself. I think I probably enjoyed it more that way anyway. It was so beautiful. I could've sat and looked at it for hours. But it was really cold. Also I had to get back to go to work. I got to spend about 2 hours out there, but I definitely am happy I went. Even if it was for a little while. It's so big and the different formations are great to look at. It reminds me how God makes beautiful things for us to enjoy, that he is powerful, and good.
In the last week I read all of the Twilight series. They were ridiculously good. Why do I enjoy books written for teenagers so much? I could not put them down and I really did have a tough time sleeping when I was in the middle of one of them. My brain couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen. And even at the end of the first 3 she doesn't really give you any resolution. It's like you have to read all four to have some peace and completion. I've been living in that little created world for the last week and now I'm missing it! It's a good thing I get to see the movie tomorrow. I can stretch it out a little longer.
Now I need a new obsession, or something else to read! Other really good books I've read somewhat recently: The Time Traveler's Wife, The Kite Runner. The Witch of Portobello was an interesting one too. Not so hard to put down, but I still liked it.