The middle of April saw the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery. It's new home is now the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum located right next to where I work.
Vicky, Mom and I visited the museum during it's first public showing. Naturally the museum was packed and we had a LOT of fun. The Museum is a very large hanger, and inside they must have 100+ airplanes, including a concorde!, and the Enola Gay.
A few days before the official unveiling, the Space Shuttle did a fly-over the city, and from my office building, I was able to take this photo:
I can vagely remember watching John Cravens Newsround in 1986 watching the Challenger shuttle explode. And to see one of NASA's shuttle up close was a huge thrill for me:
Recently I visited the shop 'The British Pantry' and bought some proper bacon and black pudding:
Very expensive at $11 for 8-10 rashers of bacon, and $6 for tiny blood sausage.
At the end of April, I heard that a good friend of the family was going to be in Washington for a weekend stay during his holiday in America. Friend Terry from the pub quiz I used to attend was staying in Washington for a couple of days before traveling to Chicago. We were able to spend a couple of hours together catching up on our lives. It was so good to see someone from home.
I've spent time with my cousin Andrea here, Terry, and oh, just the small matter of my DAD! visiting in a couple of weeks. There will be a blog update all about that soon.
May the 26th marked my one year anniversary of emigrating. We didn't have a big celebration about this, I just wanted to spend the time alone with my Wife. The timing was perfect. My Mother in Law took her Grandson, the eldest lad Ethan to New York for the weekend, meaning Vicky and I had the house to ourselves for a couple of days, I think there may have been champagne in the fridge too ...
June is going to be a busy month for Vicky and I. As well as Dad visiting, Vicky and I are traveling north to Philadelphia to see Tenacious D in concert! This is the actor Jack Blacks own band. We won't be alone either, I'm meeting up with an online friend from years ago. The 'Rocky Steps' are nearby, so expect a photo of me there, and I'll try out a Philly Cheesesteak too!
July the 4th Weekend, we're traveling down to stay with a friend in Tennessee, and we're hoping to visit DollyWood.
http://www.dollywood.com/
September seeing my return to New York!
Vicky recently won a free night in a hotel, and all she did was 'like' a news report about a hotel on the website Facebook.com
For those not familiar with Facebook.com, it's a website where you link with friends & business's, and whenever someone writes about anything, or shares a photograph, it appears on a 'newsfeed', where you can see what they shared with you, and you can also add a comment to their article. See the photo above about Vicky winning the free stay in the hotel!
We have stayed at the hotel before. It's located in New Jersey, and it's right outside a train station which is about a 40 minute ride to New York.
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