After taking a year off from keeping you all up to date, I am back. I have my son home, one daughter coming back in May, and another leaving in June. Just when we thought we would all be together, we are going to split up again. I am excited for Melanie and Taylor and Grace and their opportunity in North Dakota, but I will miss them terribly, especially my sweet Melanie. Hopefully, it won't be for too long.
Last summer, I had the privilege of driving across country to take Carly back to Washington DC for her last year of law school. We had a blast, just like the first year we went back. She insisted on a quick trip to New York City, which was fabulous.
Top 5 Baseball teams seen on this trip
5. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Minnesota Twins
2. Kansas City Royals
1. New York Mets
In my lifetime quest to see each major league team once, the top 4 on that list were first timers for me. This leaves only 4 teams left for me to have seen all 30. (Florida, Tampa, Toronto, Cleveland). Here are a few pictures for proof:
Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City and the famous outfield fountains. A beautiful ballpark.
Carly and I at the brand new Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. Like most, I don't usually like photos of myself, but I want that one to be on my obituary.
We also went to Nationals Park in Washington, but I don't have any pictures - beautiful park though.
Top 5 things we visited or saw on our trip across the country - (New York and Baseball Excluded)
5b - The Gateway arch in St. Louis - just caught a glimpse driving by, but really cool.
5a - Liberty Jail - quite a reverent place. The building is reconstructed, but you get a sense of how awful the prophet's incarceration was, and it puts a whole new light on those sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.
4 - The US Marine Corps Museum in Virginia - great museum, only had about 90 minutes, but a very fine exhibit and the Marines running the place are top notch. Carly was very impressed. A fine looking young Marine greeted us with "Welcome to our Museum."
3 - Churchill Downs - loved this more than I thought I would. It is a lot smaller than it looks on TV. Also, it is very close to downtown Louisville which was quite surprising. They had a beautiful retired horse there - I had no idea how much different a thoroughbred looks than your garden variety horse.
DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2 - Eisenhower Museum - I love Presidential museums, and this one was great - only had about one half hour, so it was the speed tour. Half devoted to his war years, half to his presidential years. The coolest item was a desk given to him by the Shah of Iran.
1 - Truman Museum - Just a mile or so from the Temple site in Independence Missouri. We got there 10 minutes before closing. Talk about the speed tour - coolest thing I managed to see was his desk plate that says "The Buck Stops Here".
Due to the speed nature of my Presidential library visits, there was no time for pictures.
Anyway, it was a fabulous trip and I am sorry I don't get to drive Carly home. She will be riding with the new man in her life - Spencer. They will be coming home from their cross-country honeymoon.
Next post, I will tell you all about our 31 hour trip to New York. Here is a sneak preview:
After that, we can discuss Peru.
