I like Ike

Magnet #1320 - I Like Ike

So funny, without meaning to, last weekend, both my sisters and my parents from DC/NC and I from NY converged on the snowbound Pennsylvania - without meaning to. But we didn't meet up.

They headed to Gettysburg, while my friend and I went to Tannersville.

What kills me is that my friends and I have specifically gone to visit Gettysburg many, many years ago. But how is it, that we didn't stop by the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Historic Site nearby!?! For shame!

Looks like we definitely have to plan a trip back there. Especially since we went long before they re-did the Gettysburg experience. Before, we just drove around the sites, walked the streets of the small town, bought a copy of John Jakes' North and South, and that's pretty much it

But, I do love this magnet my sisters bought me, because I do, in fact, like Ike. When I was little, my dad and I did a research project together (I can't remember if it was for fun, or for school) where I learned all of the five-star generals of World War II, and their backgrounds. There's Ike, MacArthur, Marshall, Arnold, and then Bradley.

So that's why I nearly wanted to jump out a window when one of my 20somethings here in the office said, "Wait. President Eisenhower was a WWII general?"

I cringed at my desk, and without turning around, I said quietly, how do you not know this, (kid with political science background)? He said something akin to, I don't know all those historical facts!

Headdesk.

"Hellish banditti"

Magnet #1313 - Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve

Louisiana's Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve is made up of about six different sites - the Barataria Preserve in Marrero, the Chalmette Battlefield in Chalmette, the French Quarter Visitor Center in New Orleans, the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, and the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux.

Lots of places to visit, I'm sure it must take days. At least, I think, that's how long my friends who brought back this magnet for me spent down there!

Depending on who you ask, Jean Lafitte was either a pirate or a privateer, a smuggler, or a patriot, creating mayhem and havoc in the Barataria area of southern Louisiana back in the early 1800s. They say he had about a thousand people working with him, helping him smuggle goods and slaves throughout the region.

During the War of 1812, the knowledge of the local area and people came in handy for Lafitte, who actually started working with General Andrew Jackson, the very man who had dubbed him Hellish banditti. Together with Jackson's troops, Lafitte's Baratarians managed to win several key victories during the war, including the Battle of New Orleans. Their efforts earned Lafitte and his men full pardons from President Madison.

Of course, Lafitte totally went back to smuggling. I suppose after doing lots of crime, which he totally blamed on the government, it's hard not to go back to what you know.

But here's what I love. All that living and ne'er do welling, all that fighting and smuggling...and in the end, no one seems to know what happened to Lafitte! While there are some reports that he lived well into the mid-1800s, no one actually knows what happened to the guy in the end.

Talk about building a mystery.

What?

The shot heard round the world

Magnet #1152 - Minute Man National Historical Park

Massachusetts is one of those places with history lurking around every corner - our U.S. history. And I love it.

Seriously, I could probably spend months in this state and never run out of things to do, places to see, history to learn. One roadtrip, we managed to find Louisa May Alcott's house, drive near Walden pond, and drop by the Minute Man National Historical Park.

Ya'll know how I feel about walking where history took place, and North Bridge and the surrounding parkland is one of those places.

It was here, on April 19th, 1775, that the conflict between the British government and the colonists came to a head and according to Emerson's account, the first shots were fired and heard around the world.

Wow. I was totally gonna do the whole history lesson, but have I got something better. Someone's actually recorded the National Park Service ranger talk! Annnnd ya'll know I love my park rangers...

Part 1:

Minute Man National Park Battle Road Trail Walk Part 1 from Frank Breen on Vimeo.

Part 2:

Minute Man National Park Battle Road Trail Walk Part 2 from Frank Breen on Vimeo.

Library hijinx

Magnet #1076 - Adams Library

Gonna go see the Addams Family tonight. So I figured I'd use this magnet of the Adams family library to celebrate.

Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, MA, is cool in its own right. The National Parks Service site includes the birthplaces of both John Adams (our 2nd president) and his son John Quincy Adams (our 6th president) - so much history born within a stone's throw of each other.

But on top of that, you can also visit the Stone Library, which was built in the 1870s to house all the important papers and books of the Adams family.

I blogged a bit about this place before, actually, but didn't use this library magnet. During the quick tour we did in there, the space quickly became my favorite place ever. The medieval architecture was a departure from the colonial look and feel of the rest of the property, creating a whole world far removed from its surroundings.

Goodness, what I wouldn't given to have some time and free reign to take a look-see through the more than 14,000 books, across a dozen languages and even more subjects lining those shelves, upstairs and downstairs.

It's always fascinating to see what ends up in private libraries - the books people collect say so much about them and who they are.

Once, in college, an elderly couple had donated their entire library to our undergraduate collection, so one fabulous weekend, we ended up trekking out to their house take inventory. It was amazing the books we were finding on their shelves - every subject, very old binding, books of poetry and literature. My favorites, though, were the very old, very loved, red Baedekers travel guides from the early 1900s, most of them having been lovingly inscribed by the couple to each other. Amazing.

That's why instead of listening whole-heartedly to the park ranger at the Stone Library, I edged my way to the back of the group so I could check out what the Adams family had in their collection. And right at eye level, and oh! so close! was Webster's dictionary.

No. Seriously. When I first started in publishing, we were all referring to Web10, Merriam-Webster's 10th edition. The Adams family? Owned the first and second editions. Whoa.

When I realized what I was looking at, I totally hid myself from park ranger view, so I could sneak a quick picture of them.

You'll see I succeeded in taking quite the blurry picture below...taken just in time for me to hear the ranger let us know how they finally had to install a state-of-the-art security camera system because of a break-in and theft.

Um, oops.

Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

Magnet #979 - Ulysses S. Grant (1869 - 1877)

Can't remember if I've used Grant before, and he's not showing up in any joy magnetism searches, so fingers crossed!

Anyway - I picked Ulysses S. Grant, our 18th president, for today, because this afternoon @Newyorkology reTweeted an @GrantsTombNPS Tweet about having an evening haunted tour this evening. I've lived about 30 blocks away from the General Grant National Memorial for 15 years, so I figured tonight was as good as any.

When I got there, I totally met a guy, waiting for the tour. Of course, he was old enough to be my grandfather, but he was the sweetest guy ever, and he shared his pix of his Germany vacation with me.

And? Because he volunteers at the Conference House and Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, I totally got a superinteresting history lesson, too. (For some reason, it totally escaped me that there was an actual peace talk between the colonists and the Brits before the American Revolution. On Staten Island, no less!) Must go visit those two sites soon!

When we all gathered for the tour, I immediately recognized the tour guide. In fact, he was the same guy that I dedicated this Zion National Park magnetpost to back in 2008! Holy smokes, this island's getting small! I told him why I recognized him, and about the trip we never went on. He asked why we didn't go and I reminded him of the $4/gal gas prices, which he pooh-poohed.

Anyway, so he began his Ranger talk, and then led us into a lantern-lit Grant's Tomb, which is the largest mausoleum in the Western Hemisphere. At the mention of that, I could feel the goosebumps pop up. Look. I don't know why I didn't associate Grant's Tomb with an actual, you know, tomb, but there you go.

So when I peered down at the crypt, at the giant red granite coffins of Grant and his wife, Julia, I was already a little freaked out. Dudes. I don't do crypts. Nope. No. Way. I totally backed away from the hole, as far as I could, without, you know, running screaming from the darkened room.

We had a couple of ghostly guests visit, to let us pay our respects to the general and his wife, and they made us throw flowers down at the coffins. Then, then!, the ranger walked us down. Into. The. Crypt. In the dark! The dark!

And left us alone, to roam the building, where he finally relented and turned on some of the lights. I made one quick trip around the crypt lined with busts of Grant's generals, and hightailed my butt back up the stairs. I couldn't move fast enough.

All in all, the memorial's a really cool tribute to a guy who likely wouldn't have wanted such pomp and circumstance for little old him. But, a million people viewed the funeral procession that took five hours to pass, and apparently, 90,000 people donated $600,000 to help build it.

It's a pretty impressive building, and a good tour, one that's worth the trek up the Upper West Side to visit. In daylight, if you're a fraidy cat.

Knock on wood

Magnet #913 - Adams National Historical Park

The whole point of the roadtrip was for my dad's eye surgery in Boston, and so here I sit in the car in a torrential downpour, waiting to go into the small waiting room, magnetblogging away.

True to form, my parents and I managed to find some fun along the way here - and even more true to form, presidential fun, no less, with the Adams National Historical Park being one of our stops.

Such a great way to spend a couple of hours. It starts out at their nice visitors center - truly our tax dollars at work - with screenings of the History/Discovery channel videos of Adams (x2), and then you get a fun, if slide-y, trolley ride to the two sites.

First, you get a house tour of John Adams' house when he was born (that's the house on the right), and then the house on the right, where his son, John Quincy Adams, lived growing up. Then the trolley takes you down to where John and Abigail lived during their time in the White House. Called Peacefield, it was really considered the summer White House, a really cool house museum, where the majority of the collection is authentic to the Adams family.

Which is crazy, cuz when you walk through the house, it's as though you've stepped back in time to the late 1700s, with wallpaper you're not supposed to touch, artifacts and paintings you're not supposed to touch, and furniture...you're not supposed to touch. Mind you, the Adams descendants are free to roam about the house like it's theirs (I mean, technically, it is, right?), which sounds pretty damn cool.

Though, I'd love to roam around the standalone library built off to the side of the house. It's two stories, with shelves and shelves and shelves of books. And on his giant table (which was supposedly brought down to the White House and back), there were several Bibles, including one presented to John Quincy Adams by the Mendi people, the folks he defended over L'Amistad.

But, that's what I find cool about Massachusetts, between this park, Bunker Hill, and Minuteman Park - it makes the birth of our nation come alive. It puts our history into context, and it gives us a sense of what those rabblerousing colonists were up to.

Speaking of rabblerousing...remember that no touching rule? I nearly smacked my dad's hand when he started lightly knocking on a couple of the wooden bureaus in the house. It's what he does. Anywhere. And everywhere. He knocks on wood. I mean - wood beams, joints, furniture, casings - everything. Being a pretty good carpenter himself, he admires the handiwork, and I think, there's a part of him that connects with history whenever he does it. So sorry, NPS.

Mind you, I'll confess to having taken a picture or four in the library. I was just hiding from the tour guide to surreptitiously take pictures for a librarian friend of mine. But, from what I heard from the guide, that Bible from the Mendi? It was stolen several years ago...leaving them to install security cameras. Ummmm, oops? No, really, so sorry, NPS.

But, dudes, the Adamses had a Webster's Dictionary. Volumes ONE. And TWO!!! Whoa!

Just remember the Red Bus valley

Magnet #610 - Glacier National Park Red Bus

Ya'll know how I have a habit of going to places, and missing the biggest things to do there? Like when I went to Dublin, and missed the Guinness tour? Or went to Philly and missed Benjamin Franklin's grave? Or when I went to New England and missed well, Vermont?

Yeah. Glacier National Park. Didn't do the Red Bus to travel the man-made, superamazing Going-to-the-Sun Road. I do kinda feel like a cheater with this magnet.

But, we did drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road - even saw a goat along the way. And a bear that was really a cow! But, we opted not to do the Red Bus. Mainly because we had rented a car (from the tackle shop!) for that part of our cross-country trip. So we skipped the Red Bus. Sigh.

And instead, ended up like 35 miles away from Canada, and making our way back in twilight and dark on some of the scariest (and most beautiful) roads ever. Scary. Especially when you're in the passenger seat with nothing but sheer drop-off to the ravines and canyons below.

It almost made me regret fulfilling the promise I made my grandmother years ago, about vising Montana before dropping everything and moving there.

Not too much regret though, because I did love Glacier Park Lodge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Great Northern Railway built the lodge a century ago, when the west was still expanding, and people needed a place to stay along the way. Makes you wonder who else traveled the same rails. In our case, it was the same Amish guys on their rumspringa who shared the ride from Chicago, stayed in Montana, too, and then we saw them in Seattle (so. weird.). But I digress.

The Lodge. Loved it. The lobby was amazing, with its giant open atrium, and supercool gift shop where I bought one of the first magnets of this collection. The rooms were small and bunky. No television. The dining room and the food was terrific. Truly, this place was everything you'd expect from a lodge in Montana.

Well, I suppose if I did have to improve anything about the lodge...maybe have a television in the room. That's just unnatural right there.

Island of lies

Magnet #598 - Shakespeare's Macbeth

Last month, Scouting NY, one of my favorite bloggers blogged about The Archaeological Dig at Governors Island.

The second I saw his fabulous pictures, I was totally intrigued. A whole underground city that was buried? How could I not know about this? Why weren't more people upset that a whole city was just buried away? Why would it be archaeologists from Belgium digging up the sand? Why?

I knew I had to visit. My sisters agreed, and we planned it for Open House NY, the last chance we'd have before they closed for the season. Everyone was excited to go.

Then, very late Friday night, after everyone was asleep, I went back to Scout's blog, and stumbled on this story he posted a couple days after.

Gasp!

I quietly freaked out, while the rest of the room snored away in ignorant bliss. As I posted on his site, I realized I had a choice. I could tell everyone with me the truth. Or keep my mouth shut to see if they were taken in. So funny, because I started second-guessing my sister, wondering (enough to ask) if she'd read Scout's follow-up story. She hadn't.

So, off we went. We took the ferry across the way, and joined a really good National Parks tour with effervescent and green Gummy-bear-like Ranger Lisa. Then we headed off to The Archaeological Dig on the west side of the island.

We were excited, reading the interesting and very well-designed and -branded signs and articles leading up to the ticket booth.

We were more than happy to fork over the $5 to the girl who giggled when I said the branding/identity was really well done.

We were thrilled at the idea of getting to wear branded gear - supercool hard hats and superbright fluorescent safety vests!

We paid rapt attention to the pretty nicely designed exhibit space, where we learned about the town of Goverthing.

We were grossed out to learn that Goverthing was overrun by superscary birds with uncontrollable and excessive bowel movements - enough to make a tin-umbrella'd fork and a scrotum-protector necessary.

We were horrified when we learned that the threat of an electrical storm might ignite that excessive bird droppings build-up was the reason the town was evac'd and sanded over.

We were freaked out when we got to visit the dig itself - with its partially excavated snowglobe factory, gas station, chimneys and church steeples.

We ran around from place to place, pumping water from the half-buried water tower, ringing the steeple bells, spinning the windmills to beckon the birds.

We quizzed the volunteers about how big they thought the houses were, and other bits of history.

And finally, when we left, with a $7 snowglobe and $2 duck-caller in hand, we read the final batch of corporate sponsor signs.

As we walked away, I looked suspiciously at DCsis and STWsis and STWfiance, because I couldn't tell if they'd fallen for it. Though toward the end, they started to see through the lies (questioning the soil levels, the chimney sizes, like why a weird statue that was supposed to be at the top of a building, had a hand you could shake to upend the snowglobe in his other hand), but they didn't ever really catch on that it was an art installation.

When I told them it was a hoax, they didn't believe me.

They couldn't believe that they'd been lied to in such a manner - by the Dig and by me.

They felt cheated, that they'd been made to care about this little lost enclave, with its oddly rich history of snowglobes and military evacuations, and torrid affairs with scandalous outcomes and missing songbird mistresses.

As Scout says, they never break character anywhere, admitting that it was an art installation rather than an actual dig. I almost wish I hadn't known, because it would have been interesting to see us all get hoodwinked. I wonder how long it would have taken before we learned the truth.

But, you have to admit there's something deviously clever about taking in a bunch of folks, some of whom are probably telling their friends and family about the cool dig over there.

Man. The three of them were so pissed and disappointed.

Yeah. I totally paid for that little excursion to the Island of Lies. Probably always will.

Who are those guys?*

Magnet #218 - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

A giant in the industry has passed. I woke up today to the very sad Paul Newman news. Man, will he be so missed. I loved that guy. I'm sure everyone else will do fitting tributes to him, so I won't even go into it here.

Instead, here's another giant of his own industry.

The Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks are home to the Giant Sequoia General Sherman, one of the tallest, oldest and largest living trees in the world. It's something like 2,300 to 2,700 years old! And it's about 10 feet shorter than the 22-story Flatiron Building here in town. Amazing.

I went to visit during my Woman on her Own Roadtrip a few years ago, and the park was just something to behold. There's a certain sense of quiet in the forest as you walk around, and you can almost feel what it's been like for these big trees hanging out in the forests these thousands of years. I would bet money that the people wandering in shadows of these trees have provided absolutely years of entertainment...for the trees.

*Obvi, from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. One of the best movies - ever. Never seen it? Here it is in a nutshell. We used to use this clip in our new business branding presentations. Awesome.

People all over the world...or just UT today, I guess - GAR Day #14

Magnet #97 - Salt Lake City, UT

So today we were to drive from Arches over to Salt Lake City, for a quick pit stop on our way into Idaho for the night.

As usual, I had a million things on the docket for this town - main street, Mormon Tabernacle, etc., etc. I've never been to SLC, but I was so planning on doing the most comprehensive drive-by, ever. That's one of my specialties - drive-by tours...I mean, it was a few years before I actually stopped the car to see the Liberty Bell - and even then, it was only because they moved it from that glass-encased building you could see from the roadside, into its own facility. Look. It sounds Clark Griswoldy, but sometimes, that's all you have time for.

One thing I was looking forward to visiting on this day (and definitely will at some point) is the Golden Spike National Historic Site - Promontory Summit - where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met, making the transcontinental railroad dream a reality. I mean, dudes! They re-enact the final spike being driven into the ground! How freakin' awesome! What? We've already discussed my love of trains.

GAR Track of the Day: Love Train. (Or, what Sarah Larson's no longer on. Yes, I'm still celebrating the George Clooney/Sarah Larson break-up. I might declare it a weeklong holiday, in fact.)

Well, it's no 40 days or nights - GAR Day #13

Magnet #96 - Zion National Park

...but today we were desert-bound - finishing up Zion, and then taking the scenic route to Arches.

And by scenic, I seriously was planning on us getting up superearly (like see the break of dawn over Monument Valley early), heading to Monument Valley, Four Corners, the Trail of the Ancients, Canyonlands, and finishing up with sunset at Arches National Park. Yes. All in one day. What?

And before you wonder whether or not we're big hikers, the answer is...two of us might be, and two of us could be. I'd like to think that we'd have been rambling all around these parks and trails. The reality is, I probably would have been sitting in the car, trying to convince the roadtrippers that we could just do the scenic drive...with strategic stops at the gift shops. (I mean, that's how we did Zion, last time around.)

Truth be told, I think this day was one of the ones I was a little wary of. It's the part where they caution you to carry one gallon of water per passenger, just in case your car breaks down. Holy moly! Really? And, like what if we'd gotten stranded out in the boondocks of nowhere, and had to walk somewhere, and tie our shirts around our heads and what if we got stuck out in the cold desert night and had to figure out how to make a fire! I mean, I know I learned a lot from watching TV, but honestly? Making a fire would be iffy for me. So yeah, I'm kinda happy I'm typing this post from my air conditioned desk.

I'm dedicating this particular blogpost to the fabulous NPS ranger at the Teddy Roosevelt Birthplace national park. The TR birthplace is right around the corner from work, and I wandered in to see if they had any NPS paraphernalia, and this guy took about half an hour to walk through my little GAR itinerary. He even tried to talk sense into me that this day wasn't going to work, and that we needed to split the day in two.

Three weeks later, my friends and I went to visit the birthplace, and he remembered me, and handed me a Canyonlands map. This ranger's probably one of the few reasons I regret not going...or, at least why I'm avoiding going to the birthplace again (so I don't have to tell the guy, who was very intrigued by this weird not-quite-cross-country trip, that we didn't actually go).

GAR Track of the Day: Desert Rose


eta:
I just wanted to add a bit of happy news on this momentous day. George Clooney and THATwoman Sarah Larson have broken up.

Good.

Wild, wild horses - GAR Day #12

Magnet #95 - Bryce Canyon National Park

So today, very early, we were to check out of the Wynn, and continue our Great American Roadtrip through to Bryce Canyon National Park.

This national park is just the most awesome park to ever park - it's like almost 60 square miles of gorgeous canyons and nooks and crannies, and towering formations called hoodoos, that formed horseshoe-like amphitheatres and other natural wonders.

I visited with my sisters a few years ago, and we ended up doing the half-day horseback ride through the canyons. Amazing. Seriously. Also, seriously painful. I had a horse growing up, so of course, I used this to parlay myself into a real horse, while the two younger sisters ended up on donkeys. Not sure it was the best idea I've ever had, but I sure enjoy lording it over the other two.

We were only allowed to have our cameras out at certain points during our trip - but they should have taken away the cameras, like when the Warner Bros tour guides locked our cams in our little golf cart. That probably would have helped - at least my cowpoke, anyway - he was the one who had to go back and retrieve my disposable both times I dropped it.

And, as we wended our way down the canyon, we had to ride single-file on the trail. What they told us, as we were literally hugging the canyon walls, was that they train the animals to walk - on the outside of the trail. Closest to the edge. The edge of a million feet with no safety net or guard rail. So. Freakin'. Scary. I mean, you look over your knees, and you don't see your foot, your stirrup, or the horses' hooves. You see canyon. Far. Far. Below.

So, while you're desperately clutching the horse's girth with both your knees, you're locking them up, and in a constant state of pressure. After a while, that pressure starts to take its toll. You begin to lose feeling below the waist, and then when you have that one bathroom break in the middle, you're limping to the restroom. Assuming you can even get down. I have never - ever - been in that much pain in my entire life. Whoa. And then, when we got back to the corral, middle sis was pretty much the most ashen I've ever seen a Filipino girl look. Heh.

On the other hand - I have to say, that canyon ride was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done, so it was well worth the pain and the scariness. Surrounded by all the natural beauty - unhindered by concrete and tons of people - Bryce makes you realize that humans really are just a speck on this planet.

GAR Track of the Day: Wild Horses

Luck be a joy tonight - GAR Day #10

Magnet #93 - Sinatra in Vegas

So, today was Grand Canyon day on the GAR, and then driving into Vegas tonight.

We did the Grand Canyon when I was 12, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Well, to some. My grandmother nearly drove my mom crazy when she told mom that it was just a big hole in the ground. Whoops. Mind you, this was after we'd crossed the desert in a 4-door sedan with three young kids, a grandma...and yes, that priest.

Anyway, I'm using Sinatra in Vegas today, in honor of my dad. The fam dropped by for the weekend to do some sightseeing. But, instead of seeing the city today, my dad, a big Sinatra fan, literally spent about 6 hours reading the Easy Listening Music Choice channel.

What? He likes the artist trivia. So, MusicChoice channel programmer - if you're reading, take heart - someone actually reads that stuff to float across the screen!

GAR Track of the Day: Luck Be a Lady Tonight

Joy and sisterhood in Las Vegas

Magnet #75 - Las Vegas
Pictured left to right: baby sister, me, middle sister

So, a few years ago, for my baby sister's 21st birthday, middle sister and I decided to take her to Vegas. She was finally of legal age to drink and debauch!

It wasn't til we got there that we found out that she doesn't like to really do either.

So what do three of-age girls do in Vegas?

Gamble. That's when we realized we weren't so much table gamblers. Still aren't. But we do like to play the slots. And, man, did we play them. At almost every casino along the strip. Middle sister has a history of winning a couple hundred...so any kitty we managed to accumulate went to the next thing on this list:

Eat. Buffets. At Excalibur. At the Bellagio. I'm sure I'm forgetting somewhere else. Plus, we also used our casino winnings to eat at the nicer restaurants...nothing more decadent than blowing money you didn't earn on a 5-star meal.

Pamper ourselves. Yeah. No spas here. But, we did opt to stay in the Bellagio for two nights. And, there's nothing like being on the casino floor, needing to use the restroom, going to one and seeing the line...and then saying to yourself - Wait a minute!!! I'm a guest! - and running upstairs with your keycard. Awesome. Plus, props to the Bellagio for making us feel like we were superduperwealthy...even though we totally aren't.

Sightsee. I know, feels like all there is to do in Vegas is get drunk and gamble. But, honestly? We managed to do quite a bit of sightseeing. In town, we went to most of the major casino shows (the freakish animatronics at Caesar's, the weird pirate show at Treasure Island, the tigers exhibit at MGM?), and we of course did M&M World, and that weird gaming complex (baby sister climbed the rock wall like a little spider monkey). We even had time for a little art - there was a Fabergé Egg exhibit at the Bellagio art gallery. I know! It's like Julia's art gallery in Ocean's 11!

Roadtrip. We went to Hoover Dam and did the tour. We went to Lake Mead (pictured here), and just roamed around. Then, we also did a side trip out to Utah, to assuage the outdoorsiness of baby sister. Bryce Canyon and Zion, and a couple of state parks...lots of early mornings and late nights.

Ride horses. Well, ok, technically, that was in Utah, at Bryce Canyon National Park. And even more technically, only two of the three of us actually liked it. Baby sister loved it, I liked it (even though I've never been in so much pain in my life), and middle sister nearly passed out. (Yep, there's a magnet for that story later on.)

There are definitely more silly stories...but there's more silly magnets. Wait til you hear about Napi the moose.