9/30: NYC Statue of Liberty Edition

Before entering the craziness of NYC, we parked in New Jersey and took the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The New Jersey side parking is cheaper and more convenient than the New York side, so after much weighing of options that is what we settled on. The arrival to the parking was stressful because we were running late and didn't know how the ferry tickets worked exactly. Thankfully it all worked out because the time of the ferry ticket is just for the earliest ferry you can take, not the only time. Phew.

We had tickets to go to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty (we were too late to buy crown tickets :( ), so we had to get there before they stopped letting people in, but Ellis Island was the first stop on the ferry. Oh so confusing! There was a tour starting at Ellis Island, so we jumped on the chance for an overview. The park ranger did an amazing job of leading us through the process of when immigrants arrived at Ellis Island. We saw mainly the outside and the main processing room which left us wanting to explore more, but we had to get to the Statue of Liberty, so we hopped on the ferry. :)

There was a tour starting right as we arrived there too! We decided that going to the pedestal first made more sense, so that is what we did instead. ;) I had really wanted to go to the crown so I was disappointed to only be going to the pedestal. The view from the pedestal was pretty cool though--and it was Alyssa's first time there so she LOVED it!! We will have to go back to go to the crown. :) On our way down we attempted multiple pictures of the statue, but the angle made it difficult to capture all of her. We had a few good laughs at how impossible it was!

*View from the pedestal 

One of my favorite parts of the Statue of Liberty time was the museum. It shared about the history of how the statue was made and gifted to us. There were also pictures and explanation about the opening day. Did you know only men were invited opening day?? It was amazing to be close and personal to life-size models of parts of the statue's body. She is huge!!

Since we wanted to see more of Ellis Island, we got on the NY side ferry, going the opposite direction to return to Ellis Island. We then had the chance to explore more of the rooms and gain a better understanding of what life was like arriving there...it was hard. We are so thankful we were able to return for a little more exploring.

Overall the day was crazy, but absolutely worth it!

Help Us Finish All 50 States!!

Alyssa and I are both feeling so incredibly blessed by how so many of you have supported us on this trip. The joy that comes from the excitement those around us feel about trip is greater than either of us could have imagined! Thank you to those who have prayed for us, hosted us, listened to our stories, given us connections to families, or encouraged us to keep going when things have gotten hard. We are humbled by this support and grateful that God chose us for this journey which has been used to encourage more people than we can count. Thank you!!

Over the past few months God has miraculously stretched our money to last longer than either of expected! Our savings are indeed growing low. However, God has been faithful to provide for every need...and somehow we still HAVE money in our accounts. 

We would like to finish all 50 states and complete this quest! Here are some ways YOU can help us finish strong! 

Christmas Cookies:

This is a great way to bless other people with Christmas cookies without having to bake them! For $16/dozen, we will mail them to someone you love (or you!) and let them know you are thinking of them this holiday season. 

Go here to order your holiday cheer!

Greeting Cards:

For an $12 donation, you can pick one set of 3 greeting cards with a variety of pictures from our trip! Check out the options here!

Donation:

You can also donate via check or through our YouCaring account. If you have any gift cards you aren't using, those are always helpful too!

Thank you for considering these options! We can't wait to share more stories with you. :)

P.S. I am aware that this blog is very behind!! I (Nicole) have been working on graduate school application, so my focus was temporarily diverted. Catching up this blog is a priority now! Thank you for your patience. 

We are now on the west coast for the holidays. :) We spent a wonderful week with my parents resting and celebrating my birthday. Now we are in California to celebrating Thanksgiving!! 

10/1-10/2: NYC Manhatten Edition

The most adventurous part of NYC was probably the entry! We paid $14 in tolls to cross a bridge...FOURTEEN!!! Then we arrived at my (Nicole's) extended family's apartment and had to unload EVERYTHING from our car. Normally this would be an semi-easy task, but since we currently have our lives in our cars, it took two full bellman's carts to get it all up! The waiting chili made all of the work worth it ;)

It was wonderful to get to know people from my extended family who I didn't know before. :)

We spent one main day in NYC. But we filled it with as many things as we could! Our day started with a rush hour ride on the subway. It was exhilarating! We got off on Wall St where it began to pour rain. Thankful for rain coats and umbrellas! On Wall St we met in front of the Federal building where our Free Tours by Foot tour began. We learned how Wall St was named because of a wall that used to stand there as a defense for the city. Sadly it was a poor diffence because people ended up walking around it. :P The wood squares where the posts of the wall can still be seen!

We proceeded to walk around lower Manhattan on our tour. We enjoyed getting to know our fellow tourists who flew in from England and Scotland. :) This included Chinatown (where we bought a yummy stuffed bun!) and Little Italy. We learned history about immigration in the city as well as how different neighborhoods have changed over time. We stood in front of a church that had a breath-taking view of the One World Trade Center. This church was the only building not affected by the crash of the twin towers in 2001. Because it was spared, the rescue efforts were based there. God's hand of protection and provision are everywhere...even in the midst of the worst of tragedy. 

After the tour we went to the 9/11 memorial. Here is what I posted on Facebook right after we saw it: 'The 9/11 memorial right next to the One World Trade Center. One of the most humbling experiences of my life. As we walked here a man stopped to look up at the One World Trade Center. He said he's lived here his whole life but still it takes his breath away. He said he has worked at 2 world trade centers. I can only imagine what his 2001 story is. It puts this into perspective. 

Here so many lives were lost and our country faced attack. Yet they have transformed it into a tranquil oasis. Beauty from ashes. I cannot help stop and remember where I was that fateful day. #neverforget'

Then we hopped back on the subway to go to Times Square! It was surreal to actually be IN Times Square!! Alyssa first noticed the ball that drops on New Year's. We wandered around for a bit taking in all of the sites. 

Before we left that area we stopped by Radio City Music Hall to check it out. :) We are both are fans of America's Got Talent so it was fun to see where it takes place, even if it was from the outside. 

Then we walked to Central Park to conclude our day. Our legs and feet were tired but we enjoyed the views all the same. Incredible that a park like that could exist inside a city! We loved it!

Our last stretch was to walk back to the apartment where we were staying! This brought our total up to nearly 11 miles that day! We arrived exhausted but happy. It was an incredible day! 

9/26-9/29: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was mainly about the people. My cousin lives near Harrisburg, so we went to visit her and her family! It was amazing to be able to spend time with them. :) 

Her daughter has Krabbe's disease which is a terminal disease that will likely take her life before she turns 2. This was the first time I was able to meet her...and it was such a joy! She is such a precious girl. <3 Time with her also made me even more passionate about advocating for newborn screening that can save children with this and other leukodystrophies! 

We had the chance to go to church with them. They had some visitor after church, so we hung out and talked! 

Truly, it was a special time of being together. 

*Photo credit: Lesa Brackbill

Gettysburg was our tourist destination for Pennsylvania. We were disappointed to find out that our National Parks pass wouldn't cover the museum...or even give us a discount. We opted for the free battleground! Our first and favorite stop was to the cemetery. There was something powerful and humbling about seeing the number of graves, especially those unknown. And these were only the graves of the Union soldiers!! We had an amazing talk with the volunteer ranger who was on location. He showed us the dent the bouncing cannon ball had made in the metal cannon and told us where we could see the grave for the only civilian lost during the battle (bullet went through the doors of her house and killed her from behind while she was baking bread :( ). He also pointed out the tree that witnessed the battle of Gettysburg and is still around! We then proceeded to tell him about our trip. He was very interested in our story--and we enjoyed telling him about it. :D If you are reading this, know that we greatly enjoyed our conversation!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

*Back there is the marker to honor the only civilian killed in the battle and the location where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address!

*it was haunting how many unknown graves there were!

Before we left, we (actually Alyssa) made delicious pumpkin muffins! :D

We left Pennsylvania with many memories! <3

9/23-9/26: Ohio

Our first day in Ohio was full of driving! The first stop was to meet up with one of Alyssa's friends who she knew in California. She treated us to an amazing lunch at a local restaurant in Columbus! We then walked around the city and caught up on life. It is fun to make reconnections along this journey!

Then we drove to meet up with Steve and LeeRoy from Needle2Square. Steve is on an amazing journey to bring funding to Uzima Outreach which is an amazing operation that his buddy started in Africa. They help kids whose parents have been addicted to drugs by giving them food and schooling. There is more to the story, so I encourage you to check it out at www.uzimaoutreach.org! To bring funding and awareness Steve is walking across the country with his goat LeeRoy and talking to people along the way. We spent an incredible 3 hours with him, talking about the journeys we are on. He was an amazing encouragement to both of us!! (Update as of now: LeeRoy passed away from some sort of illness; please pray for our brother in Christ as he has begun walking again with a grieving heart and a new goat named Miles.)

From there we drove across the state to Cleveland where we spent the next few nights. We stayed with the aunt of one of Nicole's friends. She had been a Facebook friend for quite awhile, but now became an real life friend along with her family! It was a delightful place to spend our Ohio time; we loved being a part of the family for a few days. :) 

Alyssa and I decided that going to a National Park sounded wonderful after a long stretch of not going. Cuyahoga National Park was only 30 minutes away from where they lived! We walked along the Ohio & Erie Canal and learned about the canal history. 

During our second full day there we went to the Cleveland Art Museum with the person we were staying with. The art was cool, but the guards were...interesting. They followed us everywhere. You couldn't even check your phone for the time without them coming closer! I've never felt so watched and mistrusted before in my entire life!

*The armory was the best part!

Following the rather uncomfortable visit to the art museum we went to a beach on Lake Erie to enjoy our lunch! It was beautiful.

Our last day we spent at Wigs for Kids. It was one of the highlights of the trip! We were sorting through ponytails that people had sent in. We made sure they were in good condition, long enough, not colored, and didn't have too much gray. Then we rubber banded them so that they would stay together when shipped to manufacturer who makes the custom wigs for kids with hairloss. The people who we were volunteering with were also a lot of fun! :) Great end to our time in Ohio!!!

9/18-9/23: Reroute

(This was written awhile ago, so some timing details are off!)

Our expected plan and our actual plan did not line up at all for these 4 nights! It is the biggest re-routing we had to do since the start of the trip. We were supposed to be at one of Nicole's good friend's house. However, the day before we were supposed to arrive, ringworm entered the picture. It had spread to more than one person/animal, so the risk of picking it up in the house had increased. Therefore, we decided that we should postpone the trip. 

However, that first night we had plans to attend her son's birthday party. We decided that keeping that commitments de sense, especially because it was outside the house. I am so glad we did! It was so fun to connect with everyone during the celebration. It meant getting in late to our night time stop, but it was 100% worth it!!

So instead of with friends as planned we ended up back in Illinois and Indiana. It's not all bad; we had the chance to catch up on things like post cards, blog posts (ha!), and other misc things. AND we had the chance to relax and play games. :) 

Tomorrow we get back on the road to continue adding to our state count!! 20 down. 30 to go! 

9/15-9/19: Michigan

The Our entrance into Michigan was inaugurated by a stop at Honda for an oil change and front brake replacement! Fun fun. 

The next two nights were spent with a stranger who quickly became a friend! All three of got along so well!! We are already talking about the next time we can get together. Here is us next to a concrete sculpture that you can write on! We found it during our walk one night. :)

*of course we grabbed some chalk and left our mark!!

One of the main focuses during our time in Michigan was going to see Alyssa's grandparents gravesites. We had an amazing time of reflecting while we saw the graves and the farmland where her grandpa grew up. We bought two roses to lay on the graves along with leaving 2 notes she had written to them. What a special time!

That afternoon Heather (our new friend), Alyssa, and I went to the Turner-Dodge House. We learned a lot of history about two powerful families during the founding of Michigan. The private tour of the house was a nice perk too (and free candy!). 

Then our stay there was over (leaving Heather with a strawberry stain to clean out of her carpet...sorry!) and we headed to the Upper Penninsula for a couple nights. 

On our way to the U.P. as it is called, we stopped by Bronner's which is a HUgE Christmas store. They even offer a map upon entrance! I loved looking at the Christmas villages and dreaming of one day having my own. :) They had so many ornaments too!!! It was mildly overwhelming. Outside they had a nativity and verses about the true meaning of Christmas. Love. 

The next day we toured around Marquette with our host couple as our tour guides. :) We learned about the history of mining there as well as seeing beautiful views of Lake Superior. My favorite moment was standing with my feet in the tan and black sand on the beach by the water!