Devo in the US

The four week Epicness begins! John and Kathrin arrived on Thursday July 12th with a bit of a flight delay and a bit of traffic delay on pick-up. None the less, we collected them and got to the beach in Stamford as planned for a quick dip and a first taste of my homebrew. With a stacked schedule we had plenty of fun ahead but with a empasis on 'chillness'. We quickly established a rule to ensure this relaxed vibe, that there were no rules! No dramas!!!

Yankee Stadium

On that Friday we headed to the new Yankee Stadium to see some baseball, NY Yankees vs L.A Angels. We sat in the outfield in the classic bleachers where the true supporters sit, sing and drink beer. We enjoyed an entertaining Yankees win with a tight finish after a few home runs late in the 7th inning. Slower than cricket, it was still an entertaining evening.

Yankees vs Angles

We boogied off the next morning to Philadelphia for the Roger Waters concert of 'The Wall'. An epic show, with a fantastic atmosphere in our second baseball stadium of the weekend, with the mesmerizing music of Pink Floyd. We were sitting at quite a extreme angle to the stage up high in the stands, but for the price, it was an event to remember. The sounds, lighting and effects were all amplified by the atmosphere of all the grey haired oldies grooving to the vibes around us. 

So far to the side we essentially had a back stage pass

Philidelphia

John with Rocky

We had a good little look around Philadelphia, first walking around the newer area of town, which is a very pretty area of fountains, statues and monuments and we even strolled up the famous steps Rocky Balboa does his 'Eye of the Tiger' training montage. We had a lot more to check out in the morning before heading off to Washington D.C as we discovered a whole other town, the old Philly, filled with lots of historic sites, building, lanes, squares and the Liberty Bell. We managed to have two authentic Philly Cheese Steaks in 24 hours as well! We had to return Amy to Stamford for work the following day, so she caught a bus to Stamford as we continued south to the capitol.

US Capital Building

So we had seemed to strike a good old heat wave as it was really heating up getting well into the high 30s C, which wasn't such an issue with all the museums in DC to cool off in, but made any outside activities terrifically exhausting. We did the whirlwind 3 days in DC seeing all the musts: Smithsonian Air and Space Museaum, The Museum of American History, observing the Capital building, White house, Lincoln Memorial, walking Arlington National Cemetery and plenty of others. After a day on The Mall we found ourselves at the local brewpub, Capital brewery. With fantastic happy hour specials we had wings and chips, tasty beers and Kathrin had a bottomless glass of American Lemonade.

Sunset at Delaware State Seashore

Hacky-sack by the Washington Monument

Being the hottest week of the summer, heading to the beach over in Delaware seemed like a great idea. After the last few nights of luxury in hotel rooms, tenting with the three of us in the small 2 person tent turned nearly unbearable. Our campground was in the Delaware State Seashore, but was far form the secluded paradise we were hoping. More of a trailer park, stuck next to a highway over a bridge, with not a speck of shade available within miles! We hit up the beach that afternoon, made the most of the fun shore breaking waves by body surfing, swimming and being away from the mid-day the sun.

Our "Campground"

After a sweltering night in the tent we called it a day early and headed back for Stamford. After the early wake up from the sun, we had spent hours at the beach already, so by the time we packed up the tent, it wasn't even 11am yet. Made some stops at outlet malls for Kathrin to get some shopping out of the way then headed for a stop on the Jersey shore. As we were just jumping in the water at Long Branch Beach, NJ we were denied by the lifeguards who were keeping everyone out of the water as there was a storm coming. And after a bit of some sneaky paddling and football throwing and getting back to the car, we were greeted by an amazing low rolling black bank of clouds and some wicked winds followed by the heavens opening up and some amazing lighting. Having to head back through New York to get home we decided we might as well give John a chance to try out his driving skills in downtown Manhattan. We took the Holland tunnel, our most expensive toll of the trip at $12, and ducked into Manhattan Island. We headed up the Avenue of Americans, ducked in out and around one ways and did a drive-by through Time Square.