Nic Trips

2019 Road Trip, Stop #3 Washington D.C. Day 2 For the 2nd and last day in Washington D.C. I wanted to spend some time in the Smithsonian Museums. Once day, I would love to come to this city and spend an entire week or more readying every piece of information available in every single museum around the National Mall, but since I only had a few hours to spare, I chose two. National Air and Space Museum I started with the National Air and Space Museum. I have been here a few times in the past: once or twice on family vacations, and I think once on a school field trip. But it's really an inspiring museum, and since I didn't have enough time to see things in the depth I'd prefer, I figured I'd do something familiar. Unfortunately, almost HALF of the museums exhibits were closed for renovations at the time, but I still got to see some of the more famous exhibits. Of course the main floor full of space crafts, satellites, and lunar module was open. They town ove...

2019 Road Trip, Stop #2 Philadelphia, PA The next stop on my trip down the east coast was Philadelphia. Here I met up and stayed with an old friend from college, and since it was the weekend he was able to act as a bit of a tour guide and bring me around to see a few things in my short time there. Since I only had one full day in Philly, and his house was within walking distance of 2 popular attractions, it made choosing what I wanted to see very easy! The Philadelphia Museum of Art We started in the morning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The view from the top of the "Rocky" stairs on the southeast side of the museum looks down Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards downtown. The pattern of great weather and blue skies continued; hovering around 50 degrees and a little chilly with the wind, but the sun was shining and you didn't even notice the cold if you kept moving. I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because it feels weird to me to take pi...

2019 Road Trip, Stop #1 New York City, NY Day 1 I drove into the city at night around 9 PM on a Wednesday from Jersey to Manhattan to Brooklyn, where my cousin lives in Park Slope. There was NO traffic whatsoever. I highly recommend it as a good time to drive in if you want to avoid traffic! The next afternoon I had set to meet up with my host-sister from Japan who was doing a month long study abroad program at Pace University. We met for lunch right by her school and then took the subway north for the highlight of the day... The American Museum of Natural History There was a HUGE line for tickets when we walked through the doors. Apparently there is no set price for tickets, just a "suggested donation". All the signs at the entrances around the lobby say "admission ticket needed past this point", but none of the guards were checking tickets. We were really confused by this. After a few moments of standing in line, I noticed a sign that said tickets w...