WHO DEY!!

It's a big day in Bengals-land!!  Another showdown with the Steelers is on tap for today.  Always a great match-up.  Unfortunately, I'm stuck at work today...but I know one place in NYC that will be rocking when 1pm rolls around - Phebe's!!!

Chris had been promising to go with me to the only Bengals bar in NYC all season and we finally made the trip down to the Bowery last weekend!  I was amazing at the number of people there all decked out in their orange and black!!  Who knew there were SO many Bengals fans right here under my nose?!?!  Since there were a multitude of touchdown's scored (thank you, Browns!) I was able to experience the full-on insanity that breaks out each time six points is added to the scoreboard!  So fun with the whole TD song and Who Dey chant!!  And the food was super tasty, too!!  Definitely recommend checking out this gem...especially on a Sunday :)

Props to Chris for decking out in full Bengals gear - husband of the year for sure!! :)

How's your team doing this season?

There is plenty of room on the Bengals Bandwagon if you want to jump ship!!

Andrea :)

Saturday States: Alaska

Alaska

State Nickname: The Last Frontier

Year of Family Trip: 2010

Cities Visited: Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway

Can't Miss Tourist Attractions:
Tracy Arm Fjord, Mendenhall Glacier, Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, Totem Bight State Park, White Pass & Yukon Route Railway

After our big Hawaiian adventure in January, we were SO close to completing our goal of visiting all 50 states.  We didn't wait too long to cross off our final state!  That August, we all flew to Seattle where our Sapphire Princess cruise ship departed for Alaska!  It was more gorgeous, green, and lush than I could have ever imagined - a truly great trip!  In Ketchikan, we visited the Totem Bight State Park and watched the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.  Then, we spent time on Mom and Dad's balcony admiring Tracy Arm Fjord before docking in Juneau to check out Mendenhall Glacier and a salmon hatchery.  Finally, we made our way to Skagway where we enjoyed a trek on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway and saw some huskies up close.  The cruise also briefly landed us in Victoria, British Columbia, where we took a stroll through Craigdarroch Castle.  Of course, we had our share of fun on the ship as well!

A Birth Order Disembarkation

It was a moment we'd all been awaiting for quite some time.  Some longer than others.  It seemed only fair that Dad be the first one of us to set foot on Alaskan ground since he'd been on this journey the longest.  He and his mom (our Mamaw) drove all over the place racking up a number of states together before he began the process with all of us.  Once we decided Dad should go first, we figured it only made sense to just descend from the ship in birth order...and that's what we did!

Tic Toc's Totem Tales

Totem Bight State Park is a phenomenal and unique place.  We enjoyed checking out the various totem poles, but we quickly tired of Tic Toc's tales.  Tic Toc served as our tour bus driver for a portion of our time in Ketchikan...and we still aren't sure if she took one single breath for the entire time she spent with us. At least she kept things interesting...

Family Feud...and Other Cruise Fun and Games

Mom, Dad, and McKinley were first time cruisers when we set sail.  Each day, it was exciting to gather in Mom and Dad's room to figure out what activities or shows we wanted to check out on the ship.  We typically split up and did our own thing since interests varied, but on occasion we all ended up in the same place.  One of those times found us as participants on a cruise style Family Feud game show - we lost on a steal, but we had a lot of fun playing together!  My brothers and I also managed to work in a number of "training" runs for our half marathon scheduled the following month.  Those were exciting with the wind blowing us like crazy on the track atop the ship.  There was lots of bingo, some fruit carving demonstrations, and even a few craps lessons in the casino - something for everyone!  And the absolute best part of the cruise turned out to be our servers, Joel and Allen. They were part of the family before it was all said and done!

Wildlife Wins

One thing that Alaska doesn't run short on is wildlife!  We visited a salmon hatchery in the Juneau area.  And McKinley tried fish eggs - ugh!!  We also saw salmon jumping around in the wild several different times.  The other animal that proved never scarce was the bald eagle!  At Mendenhall Glacier, we saw a slew of them!  And then we managed a major wildlife win on our bus ride to Skagway - a black bear...and its cub!!  Everyone on the bus immediately produced a camera and scurried to the right side of the bus to capture the perfect photo!

Can You See Canada From Here?

Not only did we see Canada, but we also spent a bit of time in two different provinces - the Yukon Territory and British Columbia.  The Yukon was stunningly beautiful.  The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway was certainly a highlight of our trip.  The train was exciting and we learned so much about the area, too!  There was even an elaborate mail system that basically used graffiti as a tracking system!  We spent some time with Alaskan huskies and checked out the spectacular views before we ventured back to Skagway.  Later, the trip ended with a brief visit in Victoria, British Columbia - unfortunately, it was dark for most of our visit there though.

And Then There Were None

And just like that, we visited all 50 states!  We were in a bit of shock as we played cards and chatted about our adventures through the years while waiting on our return flights at the Seattle airport.  It was quite strange to not have another trip to plan in order to conquer our next chunk of states. Mom and Dad had spent the better part of 18 years figuring out the most efficient way to accomplish our family goal.  My brothers and I are certainly thankful for all the time, money, and effort that went into making sure we spent time traveling together - even though we fought like crazy all too often! We enjoyed learning about people and places that were different from what we knew back home. And now we have lots of fun stories to tell our future families on road trips across America!

Have you ever ventured to the lovely land of Alaska?

Andrea :)

Recent Reads

With the recent announcement of the ABC Reads Challenge that Mia and I will be hosting in the upcoming year, I thought it would only be fitting that I share a few of my recent reads with you today!  If you didn't get a chance to read about the challenge earlier this week, check out my post HERE for all the fun and exciting details!  Now that you are back, here are some of the books I have been reading lately...

 Paper Towns

by John Green

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...

My Thoughts:

I was hooked on this book from the beginning.  I loved Green's writing in The Fault in Our Stars and he won me over again with Paper Towns.  The story was interesting and engaging.  It was a mystery, but also a sort of coming of age tale, too.  It took me right back to my high school days where everything was SO important and dramatic.  I particularly enjoyed the portions where Q interacted with his parents.  Green did a great job of showing us the world through this high school senior's eyes.  A fun, quick read that I would certainly recommend to others.

Orange is the New Black

by Piper Kerman 

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424 — one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

My thoughts:

For quite some time, I have been intrigued by the whole Orange is the New Black movement.  I decided to wait until I finished the book to watch the Netflix series though.  After reading the book, I'm wishing I'd just moved forward with the series a couple years ago.  It's not that I didn't enjoy the book, but I found Piper to be a bit annoying.  I found the women's minimum security prison culture she described fascinating, but I kept thinking she just seemed so odd in the mix of all these other personalities.  And she seemed to have unlimited resources on her side.  However, I am glad she took the time to share her story and expose many of the major flaws in the rehabilitative portion of our US prison systems.  She provided a valuable insight that many citizens don't ever witness firsthand.

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend

by Rachel Bertsche

Here is the Goodreads Synopsis:

When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, she realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: Meeting people everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites, she'll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Not only were the techniques Rachel used to meet friends interesting, but she really made it fun to take part in this adventure with her. I loved how she continually added research based theories and facts throughout the story.  I found Rachel to be very easy to relate to and quite funny!  Making friends in a new city is no easy task - believe me, I speak from experience!  I had the luxury of being single and not far removed from college when I undertook the task nearly a decade ago when I moved to NYC.  It would be increasingly more difficult given Rachel's newlywed status though. For anyone that is new in town or considering a change in location, this is a must read!  And even if you aren't, it was still a great story about the bonds of old friendships and the building blocks of new ones.  I would suggest it to anyone!

What have you read lately?  

Andrea :)