New York City

Hi! It's Raegan again.
I just got back from New York City. A friend and I took the nonstop flight from Charlottesville to LaGuardia. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt New York which is adjacent to Grand Central Station about 2 blocks from Times Square. On the first day we rode the open-top double-decker bus with hop-on-hop-off service. We visited Macy's department store in Herald Square, China Town and the World Trade Center site. We rode through Times Square, Greenwich Village, Wall Street and the Lower East Side. We also saw the United Nations building. We ate at a theme restaurant called MARS 2112. The waiters looked like aliens. On day 2 we rode the first ferry out to the Statue of Liberty (if you go early you can beat the long lines that form later in the day). We rode the subway to Brooklyn and ate pizza at Grimaldi's famous pizzeria. We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on the footpath. This was an amazing experience. The architecture of the bridge with the Manhattan skyline in the background is magnificent. We saw the Lion King on Broadway that night. It was wonderful. It was a very artistic version of the children's story. Day 3 took us to the top of the Empire State Building (again we went early to avoid the long lines). Then we rode the subway to Rockefeller Center and went to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck. I would recommend skipping the Empire State Building and just going to the Top of the Rock. The view is just as breath-taking, it costs about the same and there was no wait in the middle of the day! You have a clear view of the Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock which was really beautiful. After that we walked down Fifth Avenue, did some window shopping and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. Then we went to Central Park, grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor and watched people. Day 4 took us to Times Square for a bit of souvenir shopping and a last look at the city before we headed home. New York is very fast paced so if you're up for some excitement, New York is the place. This was my 12th trip and it never gets old.

Punta Cana

In June 2007 I, Raegan, and my daughter set out on an adventure to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The island was BEAUTIFUL! The sand is some of the whitest and softest I have seen anywhere. The water is crystal clear and our resort was wonderful. We stayed in the Elite Club at Ocean Blue Golf and Beach Resort. The resort featured 9 restaurants and 2 beautiful pools complete with swim-up bars. This is an all-inclusive resort so all meals, drinks, non-motorized water-sports and gratuities are included. We also chose to take a couple of excursions. We rode banana boats at the resort, went 4-wheeling along the beach and went on a boat ride to the Marinarium where we swam with nurse sharks and rays. I would recommend Punta Cana to anyone who loves the beach. We had a fantastic time!