gettysburg

This past weekend Benjamin and I set out on a journey across the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. (Seriously, they're gorgeous.) Our destination? Gettysburg National Park. And not only did we set out, but we set out with a game plan.

Learning from past experience (the 4 hour canoe trip where we baked in the sun, the 1 hour bike ride in over 100 degree weather when I wanted to die, etc.), we opted not to take the 4 1/2 hour ranger guided tour (but in all honesty, who would do that?), not to take the $30 bus tour, nor the $55 ranger guided tour where the ranger actually comes in your own car with you (for real?), rather, we chose the FREE, SELF-GUIDED, AUTO TOUR. (If you understood that run-on, read on.)

When we first got to the park, we bought tickets for the movie "The New Birth of Freedom," the Gettysburg Cyclorama (one of just two cycloramas in the United States!), and the museum. The movie was narrated by Morgan Freeman and told us about the causes of the Civil War, the battles of the Civil War, and some of the effects. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is, like, a giant diarama - do you remember those things we used to make in shoe boxes? It was huge and covered the walls of a giant, circular room; it lit up and made noise (like cannons and guns) to show us about the battles at Gettysburg. Cooler than we were expecting. ;) The museum was awesome and we had fun exploring together. :)

This is the only picture we took in the museum. They're buttons from different uniforms in the Union and we found it symbolic that Indiana and California were displayed together! :)

We spent about two hours inside the visitor's center and then we headed back to the car for the self-guided auto tour. The most important thing about this tour is that it is air conditioned, especially because of this:

Gettysburg is awesome! There were 16 different stops along the tour, each highlighting different, important places and events during the three-day battle.

I think this video will give you a perfect taste of our day in Gettysburg! :)

valley forge & center city

This weekend we stuck close to home and explored Valley Forge on Friday afternoon and Center City on Saturday.

Why, why, why do we always get ourselves into adventures slightly over our heads? Someday we'll learn. :) When we visited Valley Forge, our plan was to watch the short video in the visitors' center and then take the 40 minute ranger guided tour. After the movie, we went to the spot where you're supposed to meet the ranger. No one showed up. So, we decided to walk around the bookstore/mini museum until the next scheduled time and while we were inside they announced the next scheduled time over the intercom. Well, we went outside again and waited. And no one showed up. This time we went back inside and asked. They told us that the following tour had been cancelled due to heat and that the current one had probably been cancelled as well. Due to heat. Also, the whole Philadelphia area had in effect an extreme heat warning all weekend.

So ... we rented bikes!

As soon as we turned the corner away from the bike rental place, we started going uphill. And we kept going uphill. More uphill and more uphill!! I honestly try really hard not to complain about most things, most days (my parents might disagree :), but on Friday, I made it known that I was too hot and too sweaty and too tired to keep pedalling! Ben was the best husband and kept encouraging me to just keep up my momentum and keep going and then we would be back to the start. So, that's what I did!! Can you see me far in the distance pedaling as fast as I can? Haha.

Ben had the camera. :)

This is one of the (few) monuments we passed. It's kind of like a miniature Arc du Triomphe in memory of the soldiers that stayed at Valley Forge. Cool.

Bikes. :)

Our assessment of Valley Forge. It's kind of just like a giant park. Lots and lots of open space and a path that goes all the way around it for walking, running, and of course, biking. We feel bad saying this, but there's not too much to see! There are a couple of reconstructed huts like the one's the soldiers stayed in that winter and I can tell you that they look miserable ... but there's not much else! It's very interesting to learn about and we're glad we went, but we probably wouldn't go again. At least we were together - that's what really matters! Cheesy? I don't mind. :)

After I crashed on the bed as soon as we walked in the door, after dinner, and after cold showers, we went to a nearby park for an outdoor movie - Bedtime Stories. There happened to be another young and newly married couple from our ward there so I got to meet them and we all sat together! It was so fun!

We spent Saturday exploring some of the historic parts of downtown Philadelphia. First, we went to the Constitution Museum. We saw a short multimedia (I don't know what else to call it) presentation and then spent over an hour in the huge and extremely well-done museum. Honestly, it was awesome and I would recommend it to anyone! We had a blast, particularly Ben, who I am learning has an avid interest in U.S. History.

A proposal?

The great thinkers of the world.

Group huddle.

After that, we went to the Ben Franklin museum, and then to his original post office to send some postcards!

By that time we were starved and made our way to Jim's Steaks for our first authentic Philly Cheese Steak!

(Manning Street)

Our assessment: DELICIOUS!!

After ice cream at Franklin's Fountain, we called it a night!

And on Sunday, we said "One month ago we were getting married and today we're teaching primary children that choosing the right makes me happy. Life is good!"

old spice: please watch me

this is why we go to BYU! :)

today's excitement

Ben and I were preparing to teach our 4-year-old primary class and look who the stories are about!

Ben works right across the street from a fabulous shopping center ... Borders, Talbots, J. Crew, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, and the likes ... and sometimes when I am early to pick him up, I browse.

Yesterday I found this precious little meal planner in Anthro and today I used my left-over Christmas gift money to purchase it! It's a pad of paper on a magnet we can stick on our fridge!

Ben is just as excited about So You Think You Can Dance as I am!

(At least he pretends like it.) What a great husband! :)

roadtrip!! ... to palmyra, ny

Ben got off at noon on Friday (thank you, honey, for working 9 hour days M-Th so we can have longer weekends together :) and we hopped in the car to drive the 6 hours to Palmyra, NY. We stopped in the ghetto of Syracuse for Wendy's and when we got back in the car it started pouring. Absolute downpour. All we could see in front of us were more heavy, dark clouds, and we were headed to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, which happens to be outdoors. Lucky us, right?! But no, it's all just part of the fun - we are here for the full program. :)

Once we arrived in Palmyra, we promptly stopped at the first (the only?) gas station and bought matching ponchos. If we had had a Sharpie, I would have written "just married" on our backs. That's how cute we were! :)

Thankfully, the rain let up to just a bit more than a sprinkle and we sat in our fashionable ponchos and munched on Skittles and Peanut M&Ms while enjoying the show!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go to the Palmyra temple. It was wonderful.

This is the temple...

And this is the Sacred Grove ... pretty cool, huh?!

We found a delicious pizza place in Palmyra, but it was so quaint and small that there were no chairs to go with our table! So, we sat in the windowsill and pulled the table up to us! It may sound uncomfortable, but we had a blast. Everything is fun when you're married to the love of your life. :)

The pizza was so yummy, Ben had to take a picture!

Then we walked around the sacred grove and took tours of Joseph Smith's log cabin and frame home. It was a beautiful day.

Along the pathway between the two homes, you can see the temple through the trees. An older gentleman tour guide was there taking pictures for people as they walked past. We had him "pose" us and snap a few and here is what we got. Hilarious, no?

Lastly, we walked to the top of the Hill Cumorah. It was gorgeous up there.

Then we jumped in the car and drove home! Doesn't our drive look oh so fun?

We had a great weekend. It was so happy and peaceful and wonderful. Hooray for Palmyra! :)

weekend of the fourth

We've been attempting to blog about our 4th of July weekend for several days now. And by that, I mean, I've been attempting to let Ben write about our 4th of July weekend for several days now because he is, by far, a much more funny writer than I. Alas, we always find ourselves with too much to do during our evenings together after work.. dinner, dishes, So You Think You Can Dance (GO KENT!), outings to Rita's for custard and water ice... busy, I know.

So, here I am, and here is what we did for our first married 4th of July:

The Pattersons (the directors of my study abroad) were staying in Wilmington, DE (about 40 minutes south of us) for the first week and a half that we were in Philadelphia. (Actually, we live about 30 miles northwest of "Center City" in a nice, little place called Malvern.) Anyway, last week the Pattersons invited me on two different outings - on Tuesday I went with the kids to Dorney Park - an amusement park in northern Pennsylvania, and on Wednesday I visited all of the Independence Hall and such historic/tourist attractions. Both days I was sad that Ben couldn't come with us, but on Friday (back to my topic of the 4th of July), we both got to go with the Patterson's to the Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball game, complete with hot dogs, Dippin' Dots, and post-game fireworks!

(Notice the board behind us - the player batting has the same last name as us! Myers!)

GENTLE BEN!!!

We got home around midnight and were up again at 6 a.m. Saturday morning to meet the Patterson's for a trip to The Barnes Foundation. You can find more information about it here, but in short, it is one of the world's largest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art. It was amazing, and tour we took only made the experience ten times more amazing. Ben said it really "brought the art to life." :) The collection will be moving to downtown Philadelphia at the end of next year, so we feel very lucky we were able to see it in it's original set-up.

That afternoon, Ben and I decided to be bold and adventurous and head into Center City with no game plan other than we knew that the Philadelphia Orchestra would be playing at Penn's Landing at 7:30 followed by fireworks at 9:30.

Well, what else would you do on America's birthday besides wander through Chinatown? I had an absolute blast in Chinatown! Two main reasons: 1) I am reading the book Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and it is SO good. So, I am feeling a little obsessed with all things Chinese right now. 2) Ben speaks both dialects of Chinese so he can talk to everybody. He loves it. And I love watching him! I love watching him get so happy and exciting talking to the Chinese people and I love watching their reactions to this tall white boy ask them for bread in their native tongue and then continue to carry on a conversation with them! It is so fun and I absolutely love it. It's something I really love about Ben.

These are the ladies that were working in the bread shop (that had a French name under the Chinese characters, might I add). Ben was looking for his favorite kind of bread from his mission which apparently turned out to be not quite the same, but the other kind of bread we got - pineapple bread - was uh-may-zing! When we went back in to take a picture, everybody in the restaurant took notice and started talking to Ben in Chinese, then they pushed these two little girls into the photo, too! Look at the one on the right's face! So funny, so cute.

This shop was packed full of fish - live fish, dead fish, eels (alive and flopping around), crabs, lobster, and all kinds of shelled fish. It was so gross and so unsanitary and Ben said it was so authentic! Haha.

Because of my current obsession with the Chinese, I had to try these two things on. If I had a place to wear a cheongsam (the dress), I would totally own one; they are so gorgeous!

This is where we sat on Penn's landing for 2 hours, (not really) listening to the orchestra and then watched the fireworks. It was packed. Seriously, there were thousands and thousands of people sitting everywhere on the cement landing for hours! I couldn't believe it! It was crazy, but it was fun. The best thing about it was how there was only one entrance/exit. Can you say mad-house? Haha! The fireworks show was honestly one of the best, most well done shows I have ever seen! It was fantastic!

Ben had the day off on Monday and we had quite the adventure! We did have a little bit of time for Ben to blog about it:

The whole day really began the evening before. It is the 4th of July weekend and Karin and I are living in the birthplace of our nation, so we decided to be both patriotic and a little adventuresome on Monday. I had talked to some of my coworkers about fun things to do in Philadelphia and one of them suggested canoeing down the historic Brandywine River. (My interest was picqued as I wondered how it compared to the historic Monon Trail of Carmel, IN. Love me some Bub's.) Wanting to get the full experience, Karin and I even researched the Battle of the Brandywine.

And that's as far as we got. Back to me. We rented a canoe for the "2 1/2 hour trip" down the Brandywine. This is a little taste of what it was like:

Ben: Paddle right! Paddle right!

Karin: Paddle to the right or paddle on the right?

Ben: Paddle on the right!! Ah! Watch out for the branches!

Karin: Ben! Help me paddle left! I need help on my side or we're going to crash!

Ben: Okay! I'm helping!

Karin: Oh no! There's a rock! Back to the right!

Ben: (noticing Karin is not paddling) Karin! Paddle! We're headed for a log!

Karin: (peering over the side into the water) Wait..I'm looking at the rocks and shells...

Ben: Karin! Paddle! There's a log!

Basically, we paddled to the right side, we paddled to the left side, we paddled to the right side, and we paddled back again. I'm not sure we ever went straight, and I know for certain we got stuck in the shallow water at least 30 times and one of us had to climb out and pull the canoe to the deep. Twice we went through rapids backwards because we couldn't straighten out the right way, and the saddest was when we were stuck on a sand bar, facing each other talking, and a bird dropped a big one on our bag of snacks in between us!

The "2 1/2 hour trip" took us an extra hour (calculating our paddling to be less than 2 mph) and suffice it to say, we are the world's worst canoe-ers!

Hilarious!

Ben put his life jacket on and promptly said "This supposed to save me?"

Bus ride upstream.

Happy canoe-ers!

Stuck canoe-ers!

It was a gorgeous day and the river was beautiful! A very funny trip.

Happy Birthday, America! :)