Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. We especially enjoyed the museum on Ellis Island because it helped us understand how overwhelming it must have been for immigrants in that time!
9/11 Memorial & Museum. What an incredible tribute to those who lost their lives, voluntarily and involuntarily, that day. The museum really immerses you in the chaos and tragedy of that day.
Chicago on Broadway. Really entertaining show, and phenomenal voices! Featured Cuba Gooding Jr. as the lawyer, but unfortunately he didn't impress us. Of course, everyone around his was an elite-caliber singer, so maybe it's an unfair comparison, haha.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (no photos allowed, unfortunately!) and Live with Kelly and Ryan. Both were fun because they gave us a chance to see what "show biz" is like! The Late Show was recorded in advance, and Live was, well, live, so we got to see two different sides of what it's like to put together these shows. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the main guest on The Late Show, and Chris Pine was the main guest for Live. I think The Late Show was actually our favorite experience in NYC. The band (Jon Batiste & Stay Human) was fantastic; they kept us entertained before it started and during breaks. And of course, Stephen Colbert was hilarious. Major props to Hannah for planning well enough to get those free tickets online!
Seeing all the sights: Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, the Friends building... about the only thing we didn't see was Central Park, and that was because we couldn't bare the thought of being totally exposed to the frigid wind. I'd like to mention I was the one who frequently sacrificed my the warmth of my hands in order to take our photos! That's at least 1000 husband points, right?
Was it cold? Yeah, as a matter of fact, it was! Why do you ask?
And of course, THE FOOD! Our favorite dessert was World's Best Cookie Dough (sorry, Dō, you weren't up to the hype!). A few of our other favorite meals were Best Bagel & Coffee, Very Fresh Noodles in Chelsea Market, Prince Street Pizza, and Dutch Freds, where we enjoyed awesome cocktails courtesy of Hannah's siblings!
After 3.5 days in NYC we took a Greyhound bus to DC for Hannah's physical therapy conference (super easy and inexpensive method of transportation, by the way). We had a full day together to explore the city, so we went to the Capitol, the Holocaust Museum, and saw most of the memorials on the National Mall.
Once Hannah was in the conference for the next couple days I just kept exploring on my own. The government shutdown kept the Smithsonians closed, but I found other things to do! I went to the Museum of the Bible, the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, and Georgetown. A few of our favorite meals from DC were Amsterdam Falafel Shop, The Best Sandwich Place, Good Stuff Eatery, and Baked & Wired.
So, like I said, fantastic trip. I think we both did a great job totally detaching from work/school and living in the moment, just enjoying each experience as it came! Except for nearly missing our bus to the airport on the way home. That was not fun at all :-)
Since then we've been enjoying the winter weather in Colorado. We went snow tubing for the first time and had a blast. We also skied at Loveland Ski Area last weekend and are set to ski again this coming Thursday! And a couple weeks ago we visited my Colorado Springs family and visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I guess visiting the zoo isn't exactly a winter weather activity, but it's a nationally acclaimed zoo, so worth mentioning!
In other news, Hannah now knows where her last two clinical rotations will be! Her second of the four will be in McPherson, KS, in May and June. Her third will be at an outpatient clinic in Boulder later this fall. And next winter, her last rotation will be at - drumroll, please - Children's Hospital of Colorado! She's most interested in pediatrics, so getting her final rotation at Children's was H-U-G-E. Not to mention she had to apply and interview for it - and it's competitive! Way to go, Hannah!!
In a similar vein, I recently accepted a job offer from Stryker, a company I interned with while I was in school! I'll be at their Sports Medicine location in the Denver Tech Center starting April 1st; this group designs surgical tools for things like rotator cuff repairs, knee and hip replacements, and other sports-related injuries. My last year and a half at Lockheed Martin has been a great experience, but the medical device industry excites me more than aerospace, so I'm excited to get back to that industry - and with a company I know I enjoyed previously. I'll be a test engineer in their R&D team, so I'm also excited to be focused more on the front end of the product development process compared to my current role at Lockheed.
Last thing I wanna touch on in this post is a shoutout to my dad. When we visited them at Christmas, my dad sent us home with a beautiful rocking chair he designed and built as a wedding gift to us. It's easily my favorite piece he's ever made - and not just because it's mine now! Here's a photo so you can admire it in all its glory.
Hopefully we'll have another podcast up on SoundCloud soon, too. Check it out here!
