by JiaYing

New York City!

NYC day 1: The Public Library, Central Park and the Met.

First time in the city since Before Kids, and I have missed it so much. Standing in sweaty strangers' pits on the subway and all!

Ancient Egypt in the Met. When we left, the ticketing line wound around the stanchions, through the lobby, out the door and down the front steps.
From this angle, the ancient Roman wing looks like the game of giant wizard chess Ron plays in Chamber of Secrets.
The best part of the city is always people watching.
George Washington's handwritten Farewell Address, 1796, in the NYPL's special collections.
Walked by St Patrick's Cathedral and it was all decked out in flowers.
Rainbow bagels!
And so many kinds of spread.
We settled on rainbow bagels with lox.
Hot dog and art vendors.
People were clustered around taking a photo of something, so I figured it had to be good. It was… a squirrel. Wildlife much, New Yorkers?
Joseph wanted to hit all the playgrounds in Central Park. Ha! We worked our way from 49th up to 86th before he admitted defeat. It's a BIG park, with 21 playgrounds in all.
16 more playgrounds to go.
Central Park
by JiaYing

Thomas Edison’s lab in West Orange, N.J.

When Thomas Edison was 7, his teacher called him "addled" and kicked him out of school. So his mother homeschooled him. Today he might be labeled ADHD or autistic. And he became America's most famous inventor.

We spent a day at his West Orange lab complex, where Edison perfected his phonograph and developed a rechargeable battery, among his 1,093 patents.

Photo op with Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.
The West Orange lab closed after Edison died in 1931, but reopened as a museum in 1948.
At one point, a part of this room was portioned off for Edison's secret experiments.
The heavy machine shop was used for making and repairing machine parts.
Kids can earn a Junior Rangers badge and patch!
This three-story building holds a library, machine shops and rooms for experiments.
The National Park Service had to go through and remove some of the more dangerous ingredients like mercury and some explosives, but otherwise the chemistry laboratory is pretty much the way Edison left it.
Edison standardized color-coding the pipes in his chemistry lab.
The drafting room, where rough sketches were turned into measured drawings.
Thomas and Mina Edison's Glenmont Estate is located in the first gated community in the U.S., Llewellyn Park, founded in 1857. You have to get a special pass to get past the guard. It's 12 miles outside Manhattan, but it feels like a secluded forest dotted with bajillion dollar mansions. The Edisons are buried in the back yard.
Edison worked on his inventions into his 80s. His final project was finding a domestic source of rubber. He hybridized goldenrod and grew 14-foot specimens. It would have been ok in a pinch, but ultimately synthetic rubber came along so the goldenrod rubber didn't catch on.
It looks like brains in the jar, but it's crude rubber made from goldenrod.
The tools in the precision machine shop were used to build prototypes for smaller inventions, like the phonograph and rechargeable battery.
The first time someone recorded sound and played it back was on this phonograph.
When you're the boss, you can sleep on the job. Edison took naps on this cot in the library.
Edison had a photography studio! Lots of documentation of his work.
by JiaYing

Newport, R.I.

We stopped in Rhode Island to see the famous Newport mansions. So much fun gawking at the lavishness of the Gilded Age!

The Breakers is the biggest and most ostentatious of the Newport mansions. This was the Vanderbilts' "summer cottage," modeled after an Italian Renaissance palace. It has 70 rooms, including 48 bedrooms.
The music room, decorated in French Baroque style. The room and furnishings were designed and built in France, then shipped to Newport.
The dining room features alabaster columns, chandeliers made of French Baccarat crystal, and fruits, vegetables, snakes, writhing bodies covering the walls. EVERY SINGLE SURFACE was oozing with ornamentation.
by JiaYing

Goodbye, Boston

It seemed fitting to wrap up our Boston trip by finishing the Freedom Trail and picking up a box of Mike's for the road. Goodbye, Boston!

When you come from a city that wanted to preserve a 1960s Denny as a historic landmark, you can't even wrap your brain around a house that was built in 1680. A few supporting beams have been added, but the house is still standing on its own with its 342-year-old wood. It was considered a mansion when it was built because of its high ceilings and many rooms. When Paul Revere bought it, it was already 90 years old. It's not just Paul Revere's house; it's downtown Boston's oldest residence.
That's Paul Revere's armchair in the room. It's been reupholstered, and given to the museum by his family. Paul Revere had 16 children; 8 with his first wife (who died in childbirth) and 8 more with his second wife.
Copp's Hill Burying Ground was the last stop on the Freedom Trail for us. Across the street from the cemetery's gate is this tiny little house. The car parked in front is wider than the house. I was curious so I looked it up: 44 Hull Street last sold for $1,250,000 on Sept. 16, 2021.
by JiaYing

Boston Harbor whale watch

I splurged on a whale watch and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's an experience we won't forget. We got RIGHT in the middle of seven humpback whales diving around their feeding grounds 25 miles off the coast of Boston. Their tails are as unique as fingerprints, and the on board naturalist identified some of the whales we saw: Etch-A-Sketch, Nine, Mogul, Freckles and Tripod.

Another whale watching boat.
I would be soooo nervous to be on that little fishing boat with all the big whales diving around.
Plane coming in to land at Logan.
I wasn't going to leave lunch up to whatever the ship galley had. Packed the world's best whale watching picnic.
I LOVE cities. This is the first time I was disappointed to see a city skyline, signaling the end of the whale watch.
by JiaYing

Boston lights

Christmas in August! We usually go see WildLanterns at Woodland Park Zoo over the holidays, but at Boston Lights is held during the summer. SO PRETTY.

Going midweek and thunderstorms forecasted (that never showed up) meant we had the place to ourselves.
Lots of interactive features.
The lanterns are pretty in the daylight…
…and gorgeous all lit up at night.
Boston Lights featured three of our current obsessions: planets, butterflies and so many pandas!
More pandas!
Even more pandas!
So many pandas!
Zodiac animals.
Smoke bubbles!
by JiaYing

Can you find all 5 Seattle-area trolls?

The Bainbridge Island Troll is here! Pia the Peacekeeper is the first troll in the Seattle area; next up are West Seattle, Issaquah, Vashon and Ballard.

We were sworn to secrecy in exchange for watching Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo and his crew finish the build. The secrecy is part of the game, so you can go on your own troll hunt!

Here's a link to my story on Seattle's Child.

The crew busting out some dance moves during cleanup.
Thomas read a poem he'd composed an hour ago on his phone.
The last step: installing the pupils.
These birdhouses are placed at the park entrance; it's a clue to finding the troll.
Thomas installing the troll's shell necklace
by JiaYing

Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II

This was a one and done for us. At the end of the day, Plymouth Rock is... a rock. We went aboard the Mayflower Il, where 102 passengers and their livestock crowded in the tween deck. One woman even gave birth during the voyage; imagine the lack of privacy!

Mayflower II is a full-scale reproduction made from descriptions of the Mayflower in primary sources and period shipbuilding manuals. So, their best guess.
The replica was built 65 years ago and was gift from England to the U.S.
There it is, Plymouth Rock.
There are a couple of million dollar homes perched on the long sandy spit across Plymouth Harbor. It's a bumpy gravel road in, and you're on generators, well water, septic. Bonus: no through traffic. Downside: one big wave and your million dollar home is very wet.
by JiaYing

Plimoth Patuxet

Plymouth, Plimoth? In the 17th century, spelling was whatever you felt like. We visited the Plimoth Patuxet Museums and saw a 1627 New England village and Wampanoag village. The kids loved meeting "Pilgrims."

Inside one of the one-room homes. It's a studio apartment!
The first Pilgrim we met was Goodwife Mary Winslow. Of the 120 people who arrived on the Mayflower, half of them died that winter, including both her parents.
Some of the onion was left to go to seed. All the plants in the gardens were brought over from England.
The boys got invited to help saw firewood. They were terrible at it.
A real black bear fur and the Wampanoag version of a baby Bjorn.
Inside a wetu, or a winter home. The beds lining the walls are covered in furs.