NEW YORK {part 4: the city..again}

at last, here it is. the Grand Finale section of these vacation posts. after this post, I can start blogging about....other things! and by other things I mean tennis. since I've been back from vacation, everyone's been asking me, "are you excited to go back to school?" and I say, "well, I haven't seen my friends for a while. but I'm really excited for tennis season." and then they're just like, "oh yeah, you're quite the tennis player. have you done anything else this summer?" and I reply, "well, I did go to New York City, Palmyra, Niagara Falls, and Philadelphia."

to pick up from where I left off, we headed back to New York City. but for most of the day, we were actually in New Jersey. I've lived a pretty good 16 years and until now, I didn't know that the Statue of Liberty is actually in New Jersey. (sorry to burst your bubble, folks.) we went to Liberty State Park (in New Jersey) and took a ferry to Ellis Island (also in New Jersey). but we had a great view of New York.

 the classic "Mama Castle's white sunglasses and closed eyes Merm" shot

 again, my eyes are closed. Justin looks pretty good, and Wesley is making a normal face for once.

 the Immigration Museum. this place is where all the immigrants to the United States would go before they could live here. now, it has been converted into a museum all about immigration. it tells different stories about how people would immigrate to the US and what they would have to go through. it was a huge sacrifice for them, to leave their home country and come to a new country with a different language, different food, different lifestyle, and a completely different culture. having lived in a foreign country, I know how hard it is. but it must be harder to have to leave everything permanently. it was very interesting to learn all about immigration.

 the audio tour guides have made a return. one of the many highlights from England.

we took another ferry to the Statue of Liberty (which is also in New Jersey). Justin announces as soon as our boat is docked, "the Statue of Liberty is a gift from Fronce, right?" another thing I had no idea about. my brothers are getting smarter than I am. we only went to the pedestal, but we still had a great view of New York (and New Jersey). inside the pedestal, there was a museum where we learned how the statue was made. Justin was right; it indeed was a gift from France (or "Fronce" as Justin says. who knows why he does that. when we watched the World Cup, he was cheering for Fronce, he wants to go to Fronce, he calls my tennis coach "Froncis"...it's pretty funny.) During the French Revolution, France thought that if they gave us a present to symbolize liberty, then it would show France that they should get liberty too. so, the statue was designed in France (the guy who built the Eiffel Tower even helped with that), built in France, taken apart in France, shipped to America, and rebuilt in America. I swear, this blog could turn into a History Fact Blog. but much more interesting than a history textbook. 

after the Statue of Liberty, we drove our rental car to Guttenberg, New Jersey. we learned from London that our family does much better when we rent apartments than staying in hotels. I love hotels, until you try to cram all 5 of us in 1 room. apartments are a lot more spacious, and they have their own kitchen so that's a plus. we rented from a small Chilean man named Victor, and it was a great deal. only a 20 minute bus ride away from Manhattan, which was close compared to everything else we did on this trip! and we got an amazing view of the city from where we were staying. after getting settled and making dinner, we took the bus to Manhattan. (so I guess we thought we were in New York City all day, but in reality, we weren't in the city until the evening.) we walked around Time Square, and it is nuts. lights everywhere, people dressed up in costumes, so many shops, theaters.....it's crazy. I don't know if I could live there, because the traffic is crazy!

of course, we got one by my favorite store. not so much Justin's.

we got all excited when we saw all the people dressed up. Mom and I got this really stupid idea to take pictures. we didn't know that Mickey was going to ask for a tip! all my mom had was $5. great. $5 for a crappy picture in Times Square with a fake Mickey Mouse. Dad got so mad at us, but too bad. we didn't know!

Saturday was our last day in New York. we only had 3 things on our agenda: Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. there were a lot more things I wanted to do, but I don't plan the vacations, Dad does. so I really have no say in things. a new family moved next door to us, all the way from Canada. our families have become pretty good friends over the summer. the mom was telling us about how in their family, they have a respect system, and if any kid feels disrespected by another sibling, they get points taken off. once a certain number of points is gone, that sibling has to become the other sibling's slave. well anyways, on Monday, Mom and I wanted to go to a bagel place, but of course, Dad goes along with Justin's idea of just getting food at a convenience store. we did it all the time in Japan, we did it in England, so why not New York? but I didn't want anything there. I told Mom I wasn't feeling respected, and she said, "well, Dad does it his way." and I said, "well, no one ever listens to me. if Justin and I wanted completely different things, you would go along with Justin because he's the youngest, and you can never say 'no' to him." that shut her up for a while. 

(she didn't even deny it, like most parents would! they would say, "oh no, I love all my kids the same!" she agreed with me.)

anyways, enough complaining. we started off our day in Central Park. I had no idea how big it was until I went to the real thing. what a great place. I loved walking around and seeing the teeny little portion we saw. next time, I will bike around the whole park and ride in a boat. 

we walked around for a bit, and ended up at the American Museum of Natural History. we didn't really take a ton of pictures, but it was awesome. we learned about dinosaurs, ocean life, and historic people. we couldn't go through the whole museum, because it's huge. but we did as much as we could without getting tired. we finished around lunchtime, so we tried the foodstands in Central Park. Dad got mad because I made him pay $3 for a Diet Coke. I argued that it was worth it. the only places I could find Diet Coke on this vacation were in Philadelphia and New York City. everywhere else just had Pepsi. and let me tell you, Pepsi is completely different. it's nasty. but I convinced him, and we ate some New York gyros on a park bench. when we finished, we let the boys run around for a bit and scare some pigeons. we walked through the park again to go to the next museum, which was my favorite part of the whole vacation:
the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I promise, we did go to the Met. again, we took no pictures, because.....it's an art museum. maybe we don't want our pictures taken in front of famous paintings. or, we were too focused on the paintings to take pictures. my favorite is the European paintings, especially the French artists. I just love the color they use, and the tone of their paintings. someone told me that "Starry Starry Night" by Van Gogh was at the Met, and we looked everywhere. we saw a few Van Gogh paintings, but we couldn't find "Starry Starry Night." we later learned that it was at the modern museum of art. not the Met. and the rest of my family was very impatient and would probably not want to suffer through another art museum. but I enjoyed every minute of it. I also loved the Modern Art section. I don't know why I love modern art so much, but it's just so....weird. but it's definitely unique. too bad the rest of my family hates it.

we walked through Central Park once again, we got lost, and I saved the day, and got us out of there and on the subway. once we got back to our apartment, our parents went into "crazy packing mode" so that's what we did. pack, pack, try not to sass the parents, try not to kill the brothers, and pack. as soon as we woke up on Sunday, what did we do? pack, sass the parents, get lectured, and drive the rental car back to the airport. after what seemed like ages, Mom, the boys, and I flew back to Salt Lake, and Dad flew First Class to Boston for a chemistry conference.

so, there ya go. another Castle family vacation. done. I still can't believe I not only got to go to London, but New York as well! now, I have to make a new bucket list of places I want to go! don't worry. I've already started. France, Italy, Germany, Hawaii, Florida, Costa Rica, China, San Francisco (my dad still owes me a trip there because we were going to go there instead of Yosemite, but again, because I have no say in things, the rest of the family decided Yosemite would be a better idea) and England (again) are on it so far. have the best summer, and if you ever get the chance to go to New York, you should.

(not) NEW YORK {part 3: Philadelphia}

so, this little adventure is kind of following the England pattern of posting, where parts 1, 2, and 4 are in England, but part 3 is NOT in England. (I'm sorry, I always connect everything to England. that was seriously the best week of my life. but this one comes really close.) so part 1 and part 2 were both in the state of New York (even though Part 2 took an illegal turn to Canada for a few minutes), and now, Part 3 is not in New York! but really, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York all look pretty much the same when you're driving on the freeway and both sides are blocked by trees. everywhere you look, trees. 

we arrived in the City of Brotherly Love around lunchtime. we were kind of on a tight schedule, because our tour of Independence Hall was timed, and we could only stay in Philly for a few hours. so all we did was Independence National Historic Park. but it was awesome. we began our trip in the visitors center. we saw a guy playing an instrument that looked like a harpsichord, and I was curious and asked what it was. he said it was called a dulcimer, and it was popular in the late 1700s. I was very impressed, and he asked if I had any song requests. I said, "play the Star-Spangled Banner!" Before he did, he explained the history of the song. we all credit Francis Scott Key to writing the song, but he actually didn't. he wrote the poem, and his brother in law suggested that it be put to music. so, they took the tune of a popular drinking song from London, and set the words of the poem to that tune. The guy who played the dulcimer played The Star-Spangled Banner but sang the words to the drinking song. I had no idea that our national anthem's tune was originally a British drinking song, so that was really interesting. but I love the words of The Star-Spangled Banner, and it is a pretty powerful poem itself. but because I connect really well with music, it is even more powerful as a song. so, Francis Scott Key: thanks for writing such beautiful words. and to his brother in law, thanks for finding the perfect tune, even though it was originally a drinking song.

the first thing on our agenda was the Liberty Bell. the line was like 500 miles long, so we had Mom hold our place while Dad took the boys and me to get Philly Cheese Steaks. there were literally 3 stands right next to each other, so they weren't hard to find. I have eaten a few cheap fake imitation cheese steaks, but as I found out, it's not nearly close enough to the real thing.
PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS ARE THE BEST SANDWICHES I HAVE EVER EATEN.
real Philly Cheese Steaks, that is.
in Philadelphia.

I cannot describe how good it tasted. but man, it was delicious. I felt like I died and went to cheese steak heaven. I probably was in cheese steak heaven. after we finished our food, we got out of the hot, hot sun and went inside to see the Liberty Bell.

 brotherly love in the city of Brotherly Love. I'm not part of the family.

fun fact: on April Fools Day in 1996, Taco Bell announced that they purchased the Liberty Bell to reduce the country's debt and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell".

our next stop was the Benjamin Franklin museum. in 5th grade at Rock Canyon (the beloved elementary school that Justin and I attended since Kindergarten, and Wes attended through 3rd grade), the big project is the Wax Museum. You pick a historical figure (or an influential celebrity), do a report on them, and dress up like them. the whole school takes turns going down to the gym and looking at all the "statues" of these famous (and mostly dead) people. Justin was actually the only kid out of the 3 of us to end up doing it. I read every book about JK Rowling on the face of the Earth, made sure I knew every detail of her life, threw together an A+ quality power point, even got props and everything, and BAM, I wake up that morning, puking my guts out. Wes was at the gifted school from 4th-6th grade, so he missed out. Justin chose Benjamin Franklin because they had the same birthday. he had a wig and glasses and everything. so, of course, the only place he cares about is the Benjamin Franklin museum. but we were all good with that, because in London, I freaked out over everything because I had just learned about it in AP World History. so this time, it was Justin's turn. this place had every fact known about Benjamin Franklin. it was pretty cool, and we learned a lot. Benjamin Franklin reminds me a lot of Wesley, in that they are both very curious about how things work, and they have their own ideas. they also don't like being told what to do. we didn't take any pictures, but Justin enjoyed it the most. we learned that they do not share the same birthday after all. Ben Franklin was actually born on January 6th, but because the British changed the calendar, it says that he was born on January 17th. but it was close enough.

the next stop was...... Independence Hall!

we got a tour guide of this neat little place. this is the building where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. if what happened in this building.....didn't happen, we would still be under British rule, and our government wouldn't work the way that it does now. it was really cool to see it. I took American Studies in 8th grade, and I am taking AP US History this year, so it was good to refresh my knowledge for this year!

 the governor's council chamber

 the very room where both documents were signed

 Wesley is still in his goofy 13 year old boy phase, where he doesn't cooperate with...anything. someday, that kid will have a girlfriend and she will look at all these pictures and think," this is the kid that I am dating?" if he ever does get a girlfriend. also, nice shirt choice from 4th grade baseball.

next, we toured Congress Hall. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States for a while, so this building was like the White House. and it has been standing since 1789. pretty cool, right? some of the furniture was original, but we weren't allowed to touch that.

here was chamber for the House of Representatives. it accommodated 16 states. our tour guide asked if anyone knew what the 14th state was, and Wesley yells out "Tennessee!" the tour guide says, "close" and immediately, Wes yells out "Kentucky!" she says, "still not correct, but still close. finally, someone else yells "Vermont!" and Wes looks all embarrassed.
then, she asked what the 15th state was, and Wesley yells out "Tennessee!" again. and he was incorrect. again. the answer was Kentucky. Justin probably kicked Wes and told him not to answer any more questions. but at some point, our tour guide was talking about the Bill of Rights, and Wes said something about the "right to remain silent." that's not even in the Bill of Rights, kiddo. but 2 points for trying.

 the senate chamber

unfortunately, that was all we had time for. as much as we wanted to tour all of Independence National Historical Park, we simply couldn't. but it was great to learn some American history and see important sites! we drove to Lumberville, Pennsylvania, to stay with the Borzilleri's, some friends that my parents knew in San Diego. I guess Bob Borzilleri, Chris Boyce, and my dad all went to grad school together in San Diego, and their jobs have taken them different places: Chris works for a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey (I think, I am probably getting this completely wrong), Bob does research to find drugs to kill cancer (also in New Jersey, but he lives in Pennsylvania), and Dad is an Organic Chemistry professor at BYU in addition to doing research. The Borzilleri's left San Diego before I was born, so Bob has only met us once when he came to Provo years ago, and we hadn't met the rest of the family yet. they have 2 kids: 13 year old Sophia (who is actually Wesley's age but quickly became friends with me), and Mark, who is almost 11. they live in a really nice house in the Pennsylvanian countryside, right off the Delaware river. the backyard is a full on forest, complete with a zipline. there was so much room to run around and play. my brothers immediately became friends with Mark and Ky the dog, said, "see ya", and made a beeline for the forest. they had the time of their lives playing in the river, riding the zipline, and playing with the dog. when I was younger, I was terrified of dogs, and I still don't like them, so we have never had a dog. the boys, however, love dogs. (Wesley kind of hates me because apparently it's my fault we don't have a dog.) 

 J got in the river, so his shirt is pretty wet.

 Wesley, Mark, and Justin all slept together with the dog. wait. I don't think any sleeping took place!

we spent the night there, ate a delicious breakfast of waffles and real maple syrup, and the time came for us to say goodbye to the Borzilleri family. they were excellent hosts and it was definitely the best place we stayed the whole week. but it was time for us to drive to our next part of our vacation, which was.....

BACK TO NEW YORK!

(see? I am following the England pattern with these posts! part 1 starts out in the big city, part 2 is still in the same state/whatever England is but not in the big city, part 3 is in a completely different state/whatever Scotland is, and part 4 is return to the big city!)

stay tuned for part 4.

I'm actually getting through these posts a lot faster than I thought I would.

NEW YORK {part 2: Palmyra & Niagara Falls}

so, if you haven't read Part 1 first, you probably should. so, I will pick up where I left off from. we left our friend the Boyce's house in Flemington, New Jersey to drive to Palmyra, New York. the drive was about 5 hours long, and the 3 of the Castle kiddos were crammed in the back of a rental car. driving in the East is exciting for about 5 minutes, but there's only one thing to look at: trees. trees were everywhere. even in New York City, there were trees on the side of the freeway, and that's all you can see. so, after driving through trees all morning, we got a bit restless. finally, we made it to Palmyra, one of the most historic towns in the restoration of the Mormon church.

 the whole family outside the Sacred Grove, where Joseph Smith prayed to ask which church was the true church. if you aren't familiar with the story, God and Jesus appeared to him in this grove of trees and said that none of them were true, and he had to translate the Book of Mormon and restore the Gospel. and I am so grateful he did that! otherwise, our family wouldn't be at this grove of trees!

 because Provo is pretty much Mormonville, USA, a lot of people noticed the boys' shirts and said something like "Go Cougars!" or "I've been to Provo" or "I have family down there!" or pretty much anything related to BYU. good choice, boys.

 unlike my brothers, I was not sporting any attire that screamed "I'm from Provo!" Dad convinced me that it was going to be cold, so he made me wear leggings instead of shorts. well, turns out he was completely wrong because it heated up really fast! but I was grateful for the leggings because the Sacred Grove is a popular place for mosquitoes. I already have several mosquito bites covering both my legs, and I didn't want to add to the collection! I hope Heavenly Father protected Joseph Smith from all the mosquitoes when he went in to pray! that was never mentioned in the story!

after the grove, we went to Joseph Smith's log cabin, barn, and some other house his family lived in. our missionary tour guide has a great fashion sense. someday, if I end up serving a mission, that will be me. but I will have to grow a foot. or two! (I am definitely considering the possibility of a mission when I am 19, but it all depends on the circumstances. it's not a definite decision yet, but I have a couple more years!)

 after we saw the log cabin, the barn, and the print shop where the first Book of Mormon was printed, we went to the Hill Cummorah Pageant. last year, for youth conference, I went to the Manti Pageant, and I liked it, but it was super long. this one was a lot shorter, and it focused mainly on Book of Mormon stories. I really enjoyed it. before the pageant, there were a lot of protesters outside, yelling at the top of their lungs. they stopped as soon as the pageant started, but as soon as it ended, they were up and at it again. we decided to make our escape and drive to Victor, New York to find our next hotel.

the next day, we drove from Victor to...........

 NIAGARA FALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Wes's version of either Magnum or Blue Steel from Zoolander. Sometimes I regret letting him watch that movie with me, but it's fun to have someone who can at least quote half of it with me.

 now, Wes thinks he's a hand model.

this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I have seen so many pictures of Niagara Falls, but it is sooooooo much more spectacular in real life. we did the "Maid of the Mist", where we got on a boat that went right under the mist of the falls! we got to wear these stylish blue ponchos, and we even entered Canada illegally! while I was on the boat, my phone vibrates and I get this text that says "Welcome to Canada! please turn off data in order to avoid charges" or something like that. it was quite funny. so now, I've been to the USA, Japan, the UK, and Canada! but then again, I've never set foot on Canadian soil, so I probably shouldn't count that.

 the mist up close!

 "take a picture of my arm hair!"- Justin. guess it didn't turn out the way he wanted!

 I won't even say anything anymore about Wesley's faces.

next, we turned in our blue ponchos and did the "Cave of the Winds". we got some really ugly sandals and some yellow ponchos. we walked in the caves right by the falls, and we got sooooooooo close. the spray felt sooooooo good too!

 the Family of Bananas.

we were literally getting a shower from the waterfalls. 

my brothers loved the sandals so much, they took them home as souvenirs. unfortunately, our time at Niagara Falls had to come to an end, and we got back in the rental car to drive towards Philadelphia, our next stop on our trip! we drove to the Whitmer Farm and took a tour of it, and saw the same missionaries we saw at Palmyra! my brothers enjoyed playing the computer games at the visitors center. 

we got one picture, and a bonus thumb in front of the lens! the first church meeting was held here, I think. I don't quite remember. pretty sad.

after our quick stop, we drove to Binghamton, New York to sleep for the night. we were not very impressed with the town, which looked like it had seen better days. my brothers were probably not the most courteous guests at the Holiday Inn there, because they enjoyed riding up and down the elevators and jumping out and scaring people. I spilled my lemon water all over myself. good job boys. 

well, I had a great trip, and I promise Philadelphia will be up pretty soon. I was at girls camp all week, so I couldn't get this up as soon as you probably wanted. just kidding. not that anyone even checks my blog anyways!