My weekend

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

I had a great 5 day weekend!! The weather up here was wonderful so I got to do a lot of exploring.

Friday I went to the Museum of Natural History.

The place was HUGE!!! 5 stories of incredible exhibits and fascinating things to learn. Did you know that on Mars I would only weigh 56 pounds, while on any given Neturon Star I would weigh well over 2 trillion pounds!!!!!

They had one floor totally dedicated to people groups. It was awesome to see art work and read about different wedding tradition from around the world and throughout time.

(I am skipping Saturday and Sunday because some of my pictures won't show up - so I will try again on a later post)

Monday was SO beautiful that I had to go back to Central Park. I have found this great spot, Turtle Pond, that is quiet and peaceful. It is right behind the castle. So I spent the day relaxing, reading, tanning and just enjoying being outside.

I guess I ended up spending a little TOO much time outside, because I ended up with quite a burn on my back and arms. But it was so nice to be in a park (with REAL grass) enjoying what little nature the city has to offer.

Tuesday started out as a bust. I had planned to go out to Coney Island to see the International Hot Dog Eating Contest!!! Unfortunately, I got my times mixed up and the train took forever, and by the time I got out there, they were already tearing down the stage!!! I decided to try and make the best of it, thinking a hot dog and a little time on the beach would be nice. After standing in line for 45 minutes for my one little $3 hot dog (standing next to these people with absolutly horrid Jersey accents!!! They were driving me nuts!), I was disappointed at the pier when I couldn't even see the water!!! There was such an incredible amount of people on the beach that you couldn't see past the bright umbrellas and bobbing heads to actually see the water (or even really the beach for that matter). I decided to call Coney Island a flop and get on the train home. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I got off the train, it started pouring down rain!! So, I was stuck walking 7 blocks home in the rain with no umbrella.

Thankfully, the rest of the day didn't turn out as poorly. I had met a really nice family from India that is also staying in the Alma House. So the four of us met up together and walked down to the Hudson River Park (remember, fake grass...) to watch the fireworks. Turns out we had the perfect spot!!! From where we were, we could see 5 sets of fireworks!! We saw two from Jersey, one from the Statue of Liberty, and then the two Macy's productions. So all in all we had an hour and 15 minute firework show!! It was pretty awesome. Sadly none of my pictures turned out, so you will just have to trust me on how great they were!