Going Home.....

We woke up SUPER early today so we could drive to the airport, turn in our rental car, catch our first flight to North Carolina, then catch the second flight to Phoenix, pick up the boys at Carlie's and finally drive home....  :I  I think we were both ready, the vacation was GREAt, it was relaxing and the scenery was AMAZING!  But I know we were ready to come home, the routine, that's what I missed, and of course my family and friends!  ;) I took these pictures from the airport, as we were ready to land...  so pretty!!  :)

....FINALLY in North Carolina...  we just barely made it our of there before the hurricane hit and all the airports were closed.... 

..... and we were off on our second flight...  Phoenix, here we come!  :) 

Nothing like flying above the clouds!

We made it to Phoenix, stretched our legs a little, picked up the boys, packed the car, chit-chatted with Carlie for a little bit, and then we were on our way home!!  :)  we switched off the driving duties, so I made Jaime take the pictures of the sunset on the way home for me!!  ;)  pretty cool huh??  ;)

I seriously DON'T know what it is with me and sunsets...  I LOVE them though!  :)

we finally made it to Jaime's around 9:30ish PM, I dropped them off, and drove home...  I wanted nothing more than to get home to my own bed, and sleep, it was a LONG day of traveling for us...  :)  But it was a GREAt end to a wonderfully relaxing vacation!!  :)  Thanks again Jaime and Grandma Virge...  I can't wait until next summer!!  :)

Yesterday!!

awwww....  Yesterday!
Yesterday I realized that my vacation is almost coming to an end...  I also went to Cooperstown, the home of Baseball's Hall of Fame!  :)  It was something I had wanted to do last year when I was in NY and never got to do...  so this year I thought I would make the drive out there...  Having a rental car helped!!  ;)  so I woke up early, got ready and left with GPS in hand...  :)  after a 3 hour drive, I finally made it there...  :) 

Did you know it's possible to drive for 3 WHOLE hours and NEVER see a Starbucks?  Yeah I didn't know that either...  I did however see 3 McDonald's, a Walmart, a few subways, a Burger King, and at least 87 cementaries along the way...  oh and LOTS and LOTS of corn fields..  who knew??  not me!  ;)  The drive was definitely beautiful....  :)

I explored the Hall of Fame museum for about 3 hours, I will write a separate blog for that when I get home!  ;)  But I did get to explore, read, learn, and take pics...  :)  all of my favorite things...  I eventually found my way out "on accident", and thought about going back in, until I noticed the MILLION of other people trying to do the same...  Oh well all that was left was the gift shop, and I was surrounded by those outside...  So I walked around some, looking for a small memorable souvenier, then I spotted a pizza restaurant...  suddenly I was STARVING!  haha!  I went ahead and treated myself to this yummy treat....  :)  It was just as good as I remembered it!  ;)  Mushroom Pizza....  One of my favorites! :)

The little restaurant it came from!  :)

After looking around for about an hour, I decided it was time to start the drive home...  hopefully on the Hwy somehow??  and off I was...  I was an hour and a half into the drive when I accidentally went the wrong way...  E instead of W, ugh I soooo need to learn my directions...  :(  and the next off-ramp was 11 miles away...  REALLY???  grrr....  and wouldn't  you know right after that off-ramp, I saw the "Starbucks" lady...  sooo off I went to "catch her"....  as soon as I passed "my" exit, the GPS lady recalculated....  OH NO!!!  and the next off-ramp was....  you guessed it, 19 miles away!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!  needless to say I was frustrated with the Hwy system, and MAD at myself for "needing" to follow the starbucks sign!!  :( At least I got my starbucks though....  :D and the scenery was AMAZING!!!!  :)

I was greeted with blue skies, FULL of fluffy BIG white clouds for the whole drive....  :D

.... then I got back "home" after a LONG day and had a dinner party with some of the loveliest ladies I have ever met!!  :)  They were so excited for our home cooked meal, and our cocktail party.... ;) and we were excited that they got to join us!!  :)

Our Feast!! 

Pasta, mozzarella stuffed meat balls, garlic bread, watermelon, grapes, and some wine for the ladies, and a yummy apple cider type of drink for me and Jaime!!!

The table!!!  :)

Here's to a wonderful day that left me

• Wondering how people get by with Hwy exits that are 10-20 miles apart....  WHAT IF THERE'S AN EMERGENCY???  :/
• Wondering how people drive 55 - 65 MPH hour ON PURPOSE....  I feel like telling New Yorkers...  You know if you raised the speed limit just A LITTLE it will take less time to get there....  ;)
• Wondering how it's possible that it took me 8.5 hours to find a starbucks along the way....
• ....Yet it allowed me to enjoy the scenery and the sites the whole way thru.....  :D

1000 Islands..... Day 5

August 22nd, our fifth day, our vacation was quickly coming to an end...  :(  So I decided that today would be a good day to go to Cooperstown and see Baseball's Hall of Fame Museum...  I had wanted to go last year when we were in NY but it was a little too far...  Sooooo I woke up early, left the cottage at 6ish I think and got to Cooperstown right as the museum was opening at 9am...  I AM so GLAD that I left that early, because it was easy breezy getting thru the museum, and there were hardly any people there...  Can't say the same for when I left 3 hours later!  :/  So come join me in my tour of Baseball's Hall of Fame!  The home of so much history about a GREAT sport that I don't really think I took it all in!!  ;)
Baseball's Hall of Fame

The standings scoreboard was right outside the doors...  Standings looked good!  ;)

I spent a REALLY long time reading about Babe Ruth, I learned a lot of information about him...  he was DEFINITELY one of baseball's GREATEST!!  :)

Babe's "stuff", a little piece of history!

haha!!  don't worry I ended up finding someone who would take my picture!  ;)

the story of the "Black Sox" scandal

Black Sox stuff...

The Brooklyn Dodger's...  :)

...and like it or not the Yankees Franchise is Famous...  ;)  So I couldn't leave them out..  BUT I still don't like them!!  ;)

I call this the "baseball wall of words,"  ;)

....and what's a baseball museum trip without the oakland A's??  ;)

Time for team lockers!!  ;) 

LA Dodgers

San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants!

....and the Oakland A's

...and finally something Angels related...  the locker!

Fun Angels facts...

Me.... at the ballpark!  ;)

....and in front of the Hank Aaron wall!!  :)  Another one of Baseball's GREATEST!!

One of Hank's famous quotes...

some fun facts about different players...  Carl Ripken Jr. has played the most consecutive games so far!  ;)

at 383, Nolan Ryan had the most strikeouts....

...and Frankie Rodrigues had the most saves while playing for the Angels... 

The World Series Trophy, The yankees have won the most!

The world Champion "winner's" wall....  This year it belonged to the Giants....

Tommy Lasorda...  One of Baseballs greatest coaches!

...Look it's me again!!  ;)

these were outside in the courtyard..  I think the catcher is my favorite!  ;)

...and the pitcher...  too bad I forgot to strike my pitching pose!  ;)

Look at this American flag made all out baseball bats..  cool huh?? 

Cooperstown is a baseball town..  this was their main road..  every store/ restaurant here revolved around baseball!   AWESOME!!!

My cousin and his wife live in Cooperstown, and that was part of the reason I wanted to go there...  We weren't able to get together, but I had a great time...  I'm really glad that I ended  up going anyway..  :)  It started raining shortly after noon, and I was just about ready to go back at this time...  :)  Unfortunately the ride home wasn't nearly as smooth as I would of liked it to be..  let's just say that it was full of adventure!!  ;)  I wrote a blog about that already, so you can feel free to go read up!!  ;)

the one good thing about the ride home was that I got to take my corn stalk picture...  Now the trick is to get it uploaded to the site!!  ;)

there were corn fields FOR MILES!!!  if you look closely you can see a little corn growing on these!!  ;)

Getting lost wasn't so bad...  at least the views were nice!!  LOOK at this wonderful BLUE, and full fo clouds sky!  :)

It felt like I drove ALL day, today, and I think I did....  But I did get to go somewhere I had REALLY wanted to go...  One more thing to cross off that cucket list!!  ;)

....and when I got back we got to have another dinner party..  some more of grandma Virge's friends...  :)