Vacation Horror Stories

We're back from our vacation.

We had a thunderstorm and the power went out right as we were preparing to leave. Couldn't print our tickets... missed our flight out... the final touch was the streaker (more of a naked stroller, actually) sauntering through the airport baggage claim.

Everyone has vacation horror stories, though. The real test is how you react. My family passed the quiz, I guess. My 13-year-old whipped out her cell phone and started texting her friends "naked dude here!" (At least she didn't take photos.) For the rest of the trip whenever the kids got bored my husband would shout "Look, another naked guy!" We got a LOT of strange looks last week, but the spirit never went out of our vacation.

In Philadelphia, I saw a Hispanic family proudly posing in front of the Liberty Bell holding a newspaper that read, "Senate confirms Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court". We found out our tour of Independence Hall was cancelled because the First Family was taking the tour instead. I felt like we were truly standing in the footsteps of history. Then my 9-year-old turned to me and asked, "Where, exactly, was 'National Treasure' filmed?" Great moments in history, through my son's eyes...

We went on a ghost tour and I told my family afterwards about the ghost tour director who died in a horrific tour trolley accident but returns to lead the tours when the living directors don't arrive in time... if our director had been more creepy looking and less college prep, I'm sure our kids would never have gotten to sleep that night!

Fun fact: Cape Code is far fuller of Italians than New York these days. Little Italy is about one block in NYC, while even the McDonalds near the Cape sold cannoli. I was so excited to see an old guy in Boston who looked like Fred's dad, only to later realize that ALL the old guys in Boston looked like Fred's dad. Gotta love that Italian schnozzola.

Anyway, our trip through Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston was a blast. I'm sure the lack of stress and time spent studying routes on a map made our vacation that much more pleasurable. We wanted to bless our GPS, but we were afraid the holy water would harm it. I recommend our trip, with a special shout out to the Lucerne Hotel in NYC. The people there defined class!