Patriotism in NYC

This past weekend I chaperoned a band and chorus trip to New York City. I am a high school science teacher, and I was big into band in high school. So when the band director offered to have me chaperone, I was excited! We did tons of stuff. The kids got to have workshops with Broadway pros, see Sister Act on Broadway (with Raven Symone which the kids were very excited about), go to the Wax Museum, and take a movie sites tour. They got to see all the sites of NYC, including all the delish food vendors.

My favorite parts of the trip were the lunch cruise and our visit to the 9/11 Memorial. The lunch cruise left from Chelsea Piers. The boat was huge and the kids had a taco buffet, desserts, and a DJ. I spent most of my time on deck. There were fabulous views of the city skyline, from the Empire State Building to the Freedom Tower. The Freedom Tower is really starting to take shape. It looks like it will end up being a really cool building. On Monday it became the tallest building in New York City!

The cruise also took us down around the Statue of Liberty. A bunch of the kids had never seen the landmark. They were very excited and amazed they were able to see it from the boat. I found a flag at the back of the boat and got some really great shots.

I love how the flag is perfectly unfurled to show all the Statue.

The 9/11 Memorial was next on our itinerary. Unfortunately the museum was closed, so I will have to make sure to go back when it is open.

I was nervous about going to the memorial. I had never visited Ground Zero before. The significance of the site brings back memories from that day. 9/11 remains, as it does for many, the one day that I remember down to the last detail. I was a sophomore in high school with a French exchange student visiting. My principal came in to French class to discuss something with my teacher. After he left, she let us know about the attack. The whole day everyone in school was engrossed. No one talked about anything else. One girl came into English to tell us the towers fell and we didn’t believe her. No one could have fathomed such a thing happening at the time. Even now it is hard to believe.

The other thing that made me nervous about visiting the memorial was that my students were 4, 5, 6, or 7 years old during 9/11. They just don’t remember it in the same way that I do. Of course they understand that it was, and is, horrible. But they don’t seem to have the same connection with the day that other generations do. It makes sense. How could a 5-year-old really understand what happened? I had some anxiety about the kids behavior because of their age. However, the kids were great and very respectful. I talked to them about my experience on 9/11 and they responded with what they remembered. The memorial was important to everyone, no matter their age.

I love the way that the memorial was done. Two fountains flow in the footprints of the old towers. In each fountain, water drops from ground level into a large pool, and then into a smaller pool that seems to be never-ending. The names are not engraved, but cut all the way through the metal. Each letter creates a hole through which you can see the water. The holes that the names create allow flags and flowers to be placed into them. It creates a poignant image that adds a level of emotion to the memorial. If the wind hits just right, water also shoots over the top of the fountain and sprays you with water. Be careful if you go!

Definitely visit if you get the opportunity. You will be reminded of the huge impact that event made on all of our lives. The patriotism that was felt just after can still be found at the memorial. It is a nice change after all the political arguments and protests that we see every day on the news.

Have you all been to the memorial yet? What did you think of it?

-Carolyn

…Road Trips

Everyone has a road trip story. Whether its a great one with lots of interesting events or a horrible one when nothing went right, we have all had those in car experiences that will never leave our memories. Even the phrase “road trip” brings certain pictures to mind. A group of girls in a convertible singing along to an old song, boys in an RV going a little nuts, a family with kids yelling and asking “Are we there yet?” I can even picture that old movie with Britney Spears (Crossroads). I’ve been on a few road trips myself, the most recent being a trip to West Virginia with my church youth group (of which I am a leader). My all time favorite road trip, however, is a throwback to when I was ten. My parents, sister, and I took a month long trip across country in the summer of 96. There is really nothing I can say to emphasize what a great trip we had that summer.

Our trip was planned in the days before Google Maps and the ever pervasive cell phones we have now. My parents set out a card table in the middle of our family room with a map of the US on it. We all put post its on the places we wanted to go and that was how we planned our route. Then my parents went to Triple A and had them help map out the best route. We had a cell phone with an under-seat case that was a 1 foot square. Looking back, I can hardly believe that we had basically no tv or phone for over a month. I think because of that, I have so many memories from that trip that I still think about almost 15 years later. Here are some of the best highlights from the trip of a lifetime:

• At a campground in Oklahoma (yes we camped, but in a pop-up) we had the best dinner ever! We had home made pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, and peach cobbler. And fifteen years later I still remember how good it was. My sister was a vegetarian until that point in the trip. When she saw our food she was done with that!
• Crazy hand driers in Texas that made the skin on the back of our hands move around. We have them here now, but back then it was a great amusement.
• Driving to the campground at the Grand Canyon. There are no railings on the road up and my dad was white knuckling it the whole way (for good reason… there was a cliff right next to us with a huge drop off).
• Standing at Four Corners and being in four states at once.
• Mesa Verde. I had just done a project on it for my fifth grade class and I got to actually go! It is such a cool place. Its amazing that people so long ago were able to create buildings out of the rocks.
• Spending time with my family in California. We only get to see them every so often. I remember it being so much fun and it was great to reconnect with them all. Lately we’ve had more opportunities to see them (because of weddings, mostly) and its been really nice.
• Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. I would say these two places are even prettier than the Grand Canyon. Definitely go see them if you ever get the chance. It is worth it.
• How poor Native Americans are out west. It is hard to imagine it here, since Native Americans around here own some pretty successful casinos. But out west they really have nothing. The reservations we went to were basically dirt and nothing else. It was such a big change from what you see here.
• Some of the coolest lightning storms ever. It is so flat that you can see lightning from miles away. Cloud to cloud lightning was so clear that we could see the actually bolts. It was awesome!
• Custer State Park in South Dakota. This place was one of the best parks we went to. There were curly horn sheep, herds of bison, prairie dogs, and gorgeous stretches of land. Again, definitely go there if you get the chance.
• When our camper broke near the Mall of America. It wouldn’t pop up anymore and for the last two days of the trip we stayed in some pretty interesting motels. The thing I remember most about that part of the trip is that my dad was NOT in a good mood (which I can totally understand looking back).
• My sister was being mean to me while we were swimming in a pool one time (where we were I can’t recall). We were playing and she must have said something or snapped at me. So my dad started reprimanding her. He was trying to say “Don’t treat your sister like a dog” but instead he said “Don’t treat your sister like a doe-g.” I think we made fun of him for the last two weeks of the trip. We still say the phrase every once and a while even now. So if you ever hear us say it, you know where it came from!

One of the coolest things that came out of this trip is that I have been to almost every state! I have had to list them before as an icebreaker in different classes and I always win. I would love to take my kids on a similar trip when they are old enough. And if anyone out there is thinking of doing a cross country road trip, you should definitely go for it!

-Carolyn