New York Last Two Days

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Did not have a chance to post the last couple of days so will wrap it up here.

We arrived into Chicago where we had to wait a few minutes before getting into the First Class lounge…

We boarded the Texas Eagle and departed right on time. Right before the first station stop, a truck hit a bridge we go over so we had to stop and wait for a bridge inspector to come. So the trip started 2 hours and 15 minutes behind. Oh well. We are on a train.

Our first meal time on the Texas Eagle…

I had enough points to get us all in the larger bedrooms. We were able to open the wall between two of them.

It was nice to have the extra room.

We stepped of the train somewhere to take a pic…

Right outside of Dallas, there was a fire where they had the fire hoses running over the tracks so we had to wait about an hour for that. We arrived into Dallas about two hours late. Stephen and I took an Uber to the parking lot at Love field to get the car and then came back and picked everyone and luggage up from the train station. Drive home was uneventful and arrived about 9:00pm.

So that is it. For me, this was a very tiring vacation. So much walking and so many stairs. It was freakin awesome, but now I need recovery time.

Will this be the last post ever to this blog? Who knows. I have no other plans but I love having the memories stored here. Only time will tell.

New York Day 6

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Today was not that eventful. We stayed at the hotel until 11:00 and then checked out and walked to the fairly new Moynihan Train Hall that is next to Penn Station.

We checked our bags with Amtrak then spent the next four hours waiting for our train in the very nice Metropolitan Lounge (for sleeper car passengers and other 1st class). They had complimentary food and beverages so we even ate lunch in there.

Our train boarded around 3:15 and pulled out right on time at 3:40. We have two smaller roomettes and I surprised Stephen and Shania with a larger bedroom on this train.

We went to dinner around 5:30…

After dinner we pulled in to Albany where they combined our train with another from Boston. We got to step off for a bit.

It is now dark outside and everyone is settling down for the night. Tomorrows report will come from a different train.

New York Day 5

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Our last full day in New York City began going to the USS Intrepid…

Had lunch at Gotham West Market, we took a long subway ride to the Transit Museum in Brooklyn…

Went back to the hotel for a bit of rest before getting a quick dinner and some New York desserts…

Then, of course, we did an escape room. We were successful with 6:32 time remaining…

After that, the kids went back to the hotel while Vicky and I ran to grab a quick picture…

FYI, that is the diner that was used for the exterior shots in Seinfeld.

Tomorrow we will be boarding our first train that will take us to Chicago. Hopefully I will be able to post before going to sleep on the train tomorrow night.

New York Day 4

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Here is a pic I forgot from Michael and I going to Harry Potter…

Very sore today. For the reason why, see yesterday. We slept in a bit and then headed to the Natural History Museum…

And of course, Stephen with flamingos…

Then we walked across Central Park to the zoo…

Stop by some tech store…

And then Chelsea Market for dinner.

One more full day in New York tomorrow. See you then.

New York Day 3

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Yesterday, I thought I was going to die.

We started by taking the subway to the south tip of Manhattan to catch the ferry…

Yep, to the Statue of liberty. That is where I felt like I was going to die. We climbed all 1 million steps to the crown of Lady Liberty!

For someone my age and body type (pleasantly plump??). IT WAS DIFFICULT! Here are the stairs when going down…

Some pictures while we all had jelly legs…

We ferried back and went by the hotel. Grabbed some lunch at an empanada place then headed to The Met.

Some dud pained this…

By the way, The Met is huge. Not great after your legs are toast.

We then went back to the hotel for a short rest. The we split up. Vicky stayed in at the hotel (her choice), Stephen and Shania went and had an anniversary dinner, Michael and I went to the Harry Potter play!!

It was a very impressive production. Unbelievable some of the things they were able to do LIVE. It is 3.5 hours so we dd not get back to the hotel until 11:00, hence the next morning post.

Now getting ready for day 4. Later.

New York Day 2

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Wow. I am tired. We started the day at the 9/11 Museum and Memorial. I found it very moving. No pictures from inside but here is one of the falls where one of the building stood…

Walked around the financial district a bit…

Saw an actual New York City rat in the subway…

Went by Grand Central Terminal (ate lunch there)…

Then we went next door to the Summit…

Walked down to St. Patrick’s Cathedral…

R

Then back to the hotel to rest a few minutes. The we broke in to two groups. Vicky, Stephen and Shania went to the big Macy’s nearby and Michael and I went to the Harry Potter store.

Now I am hoping my legs get a good nights rest cause tomorrow will involve a lot of steps! Until then.

New York Day 1

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

So yesterday, Saturday, we drove to Dallas and checked in to a hotel near Love field. We met some friends for dinner…

 

Then we did an escape room (we got out)…

 

Went to bed after so we could get up and fly to New York City…

For simplicity, we hired a car service to take us from the airport to our hotel in Chelsea. After a trip to the store for breakfast food and waters, we grabbed a quick dinner. Then walked up to Times Square…

These two are celebrating their one year anniversary today!

Now back at the hotel to rest up for our first full day tomorrow. Until then.

We’re Back!

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Well, hello there. It has been a while.

The Mashburn’s are taking off on another adventure. I debated if I would do the blog for this trip. Decided I would do one more since this may be our last full family trip. This trip was suppose to happen back in 2020, but we all know how that year went. Since then, Stephen has gotten married and Michael has graduated college and working full time. I was fearful that there was no way we could coordinate 5 peoples schedules to do another trip together, but it worked!

We are headed back to New York! We went back in 2009 so it has been a while. The big difference now is there will be five of us! Our awesome daughter-in-law, Shania, will be going with us. They say you never really know someone until you travel with them, so hopefully she will still like us when this is over.

Here is our plan…

  • Saturday, April 15 – Drive to Dallas and spend the night
  • Sunday, April 16 – Fly to New York City
  • Monday-Thursday – Explore New York City
  • Friday, April 21 – Depart Penn Station on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited
  • Saturday, April 22 – Arrive Chicago Union Station, change trains to the Texas Limited
  • Sunday, April 23 – Arrive back in Dallas and drive back to Amarillo

We are only doing the train one way to save time. In the one week that we had, would not have left enough time in New York.

No idea if the email notifications will work now. It has been years. Hopefully!

Day 9 & 10 London trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Yesterday was quite the day. Our first flight was suppose to be from London City Airport to Edinburgh, then to Washington DC then to DFW. We got up early and left for the airport (on the opposite side of London) at 6:15am. We get to the airport to find out the first flight was canceled. No problem, they put on on an earlier flight. We get to the gate and they tell us the flight is over weight (it was a propeller plane) so we do not get on that flight. Get our checked bags back and head to the check-in desk. They put us on another United flight,  but it leaves from Heathrow on the other side of town! So they paid for a cab to take us. It took over two hours cause they do not have freeways so we had to drive on regular streets right through the heart of London. This drive also made me glad I did not have to drive in London. There are just so many unique things they do, not to mention being on the wrong side of the road.

Well, because we took so long, we missed that United flight. United said they did not have anything until maybe the next day. So we went to the Flybe airline desk (they were the airline that canceled our flight). They kept looking and looking, made a phone call and got us on a direct to DFW American flight. Oh, and it was in BUSINESS CLASS which are little pods with lay flat seats!

Oh, it was at a different terminal so we had to hike to that with all of our luggage. After getting checked in with American, the agent said we could go to the Admiral Club and wait for our flight. (because we were in business class). It was awesome. We were able to eat a full meal in there since it was now around 2:00pm and we had not eaten since before 6:15am. Then we went to our flight to enjoy the awesome seats.

 

It was as enjoyable as a flight could be. We were fed like kings. I ended up not sleeping at all. Really never wanted to and I thought it would help with the jet lag to just wait.

After landing, we took a shuttle to terminal C where we parked the car. If you have ever seen the Seinfeld episode where they cannot find their car in the parking garage, that was us. For around 30 minutes in the heat and humidity and hauling our luggage, we searched and searched for our car. Finally, we realized we had departed and parked at Terminal E. So back to the shuttle and straight to the car. I felt stupid.

We then went to a hotel and spent the night. I slept well. Up this morning and drove back to Amarillo.

This was not a relaxing vacation. Every day was pretty tiring and some were downright exhausting. We may never go back to London so we knew we had to see everything we wanted to see and knew that would take lots of energy. We were happy to do it. It was a good trip and we are blessed we were able to go. London is a cool city to visit and we enjoyed meeting many Brits.

Until next time.

Day 8 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

We started our last day in London going to the Tower of London…

Got to see the crown jewels…

And the armory…

Michael finally got to see a guard somewhat up close…

Picture of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London…

For lunch, we had to grab some fish and chips…

We then took a bus down to St. Paul’s Cathedral…

We climbed 500 billion steps to go to the top of the dome (then came back down those steps). Guess it was worth it for the views…

There was a small viewing window down to the floor from the top of the inner dome. It is the very small square at the top in this pic…

We then went to our final place to visit, the HMS Belfast…

Stephen had to take a timeout in the brig…

That concluded our time in central London so we grabbed two more pics. This is the Tower Bridge…

And this London Bridge. For all you Yanks who think the Tower Bridge is London Bridge, you are wrong. To be honest, I learned this just the other day our our Thames river cruise. It has been rebuilt several times so I guess technically it has fallen down.

Tomorrow we get up early to head to London City airport which is on the other side of London. Our first flight is from there to Edinburgh Scotland. Then to Washington DC, then to DFW where we will spend the night before driving home.

Day 7 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Started the day by realizing my phone did not charge properly overnight. Since I am the only one with data service, it is pretty important my phone works for us to get around. Was able to get the charge to 79% before leaving.

We started the day by going to the London Zoo…

Have not been in one of these since India in 2014…

Our traditional picture of Stephen with the flamingos…

And for the Harry Potter fans, here is where Harry first talked to a snake and made the glass disappear…

My favorite animal…

We stopped at a Five Guys for lunch and really enjoyed the drink machine with all the soft drinks and ice we wanted.

These painted words found at many crosswalks in London, are VERY useful for us Americans. Figuring out which way traffic will be coming from can be right confusing.

Then we went to Kensington Palace…

After that, we stopped by Harrod’s to look around at stuff we can’t afford…

Traveling back to the VRBO, we hit rush hour on the trains. We were PACKED into this train for around 30 minutes. You have to give up the idea of personal space.

My legs and feet are hurting today more than they ever have. Of course, tomorrow might prove to be even more walking so I will just have to keep going through the pain. We finished early today so hopefully extra rest tonight will help.

Day 6 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Little worried we would be rained on today, but we were not. It was quite chilly though. We started the day going to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

After a quick lunch at Victoria Station, we boarded a bus…

To go to the Warner Brother Harry Potter Studios…

Then we boarded the bus back to London…

Train back to VRBO. Today was a bit less walking so the old legs got a bit of a break. Tomorrow, I’m afraid, will be a lot of walking.

Day 5 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

The day started going to the British Museum…

Michael in front of the Rosetta Stone…

Then we headed to the Imperial War Museum…

 

Then we decided to wait in a very long queue (line in US English) for the London Eye…

We then went by the M&M superstore then back to the VRBO where we ate some dinner. Then we headed out to do what we do on all vacations these days, an escape room. We got out…

Now back at the VRBO to get some rest for tomorrow.

Day 4 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

This morning we took the Tube into the city center and got our first look at London…

After a couple of quick phone calls…

We stopped in to the Churchill War Rooms. This is where much of World War II was directed. Far under ground…

Then we made a quick side trip to Victoria Station to grab some lunch…

Then off to Westminster Abbey. No pictures allowed inside, but it was quite cool. Extremely old stuff. Saw some painting on walls that were over 600 years old!

We stopped for a quick picture with the tower that holds Big Ben…

Yes, it is under all that scaffolding. We then went for a boat tour down the Thames, from Westminster to Greenwich…

We then went to a local burger joint in Greenwich (no, not McDonald’s this time)…

After dinner we walked UNDER the Thames through a tunnel…

We then rode the trains back to our VRBO, extremely tired. I think we are still dealing with a bit of jet lag. Hopefully tomorrow we will be fully adjusted.

Day 2 & 3 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

Our first flight (DFW to Houston) did not leave until 5:30 so we stayed at our hotel until checkout time of noon. We grabbed some lunch at Whataburger then headed to the airport.

We had a few hours to kill at the airport so we rode the Skylink all the way around the airport.

Then we happened upon a little lounge that no one was using and had comfy seating.

Our flight to Houston left on time and landed early, however, there was no gate for us to pull in to so we sat in the plane on the ground for around 25 minutes.

That made the connection to our London flight a little closer than expected so we went straight to the gate and waited. The flight was delayed leaving, so we ended up not eating dinner until after 9:00pm on the plane. The next nine hours were a blur of watching movies and dozing. I really did not sleep much at all. We landed at London Heathrow around 12:00 noon London time. After clearing customs and collecting our bags, we headed down to the tube. Took us 4 trains to get to our VRBO, but we made it and the place is really nice.

It was around 3:00pm and we had not eaten anything since a light breakfast on the plane so we walked down the street to a local place whose speciality is something called a Big Mac.

Then we took a bus to a supermarket and got some some groceries. Then the bus back to the VRBO.

Now, we are pretty zonked and I am thankful I did not plan anything for us to do today other than get settled in. it is 6:30pm here and I am ready to go to bed.

Tomorrow, we jump in to exploring this city!

Day 1 London Trip

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

No, no London yet. Today we packed up the car and left our little Bax…

We drove to Fort Worth and checked in to our hotel. We met our friend Caroline for dinner and had a good time catching up.

Then we hit a local escape room. It was fittingly Harry Potter themed. We escaped.

 

Our flight from DFW does not leave until tomorrow afternoon so we will hang at the hotel until noon, grab lunch then to the airport.

2019 London

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

The Mashburns are headed out again on another epic adventure. We will be going further than ever before to visit London. This trip is bigger this year (i.e. more expensive) because it is Michael’s senior trip. We are excited to get going and will post daily here with our activities.

Here is our itinerary…

  • 7/2 – Depart Amarillo for Fort Worth to spend the night
  • 7/3 – Depart DFW airport for London
  • 7/4 – Arrive in London and get settled in
  • 7/5-7/9 – Explore London
  • 7/10 – Depart London for DFW
  • 7/11 – Drive back to Amarillo

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Day 12 – 2018 Vacation

Posted on by Craig Mashburn

This is what most of today consisted of…

We are now home and getting settled back into to home. This little guy was happy to see us.

This trip included 5 states, 5 hotels and almost 2500 miles of driving by me. It was fun, relaxing and recharging. It is good to be home.

Also, I cannot wait to get to go to another Indycar race.

Thanks for following along.