2009

2009 was the year of Josh and Kristin's wedding, so I held back a bit on touring.  Most of the trips I took were from work -- St. Louis, Fort Worth, and Minneapolis.  I did spend a long weekend with two girlfriends in Chincoteague and St. Michael's Island.  

MARCH

FLORIDA

ORLANDO

I went to Orlando with Instructional Offices; I couldn't believe that no one wanted to go to Disney World with me, so I went to Epcot by myself!  They offered tickets for conference members at a discounted rate after 4:00 pm.  I had a great time at Epcot all by myself!

Travel Companions: Carol Horn, Cheryl McCullough, Craig Herring, Frances Ivey, 

Before I went to Epcot I contacted one of my former students, Terry Ward, as a musician.  It was nice to watch him wow the kids and adults as well.

JULY

NEW YORK

LONG ISLAND CITY

Since I travel to New York so often, I am not including most of my trips to the city.  However, since my travels were limited this year because if the wedding, I decided to include my weekend in Long Island City for their nuptials!

We stayed at the Verve in Long Island City.

We got together for lunch with the Resurreccion family for a new Beer Garden in Long Island City, Studio Square NYC!  (What happened to my hair?)

The rehearsal dinner, which really has become a dinner for all of the out-of-town guests as well as the bridal party, was the only even to be held in Manhattan.  Here we are at John's Pizzeria in Times Square.

Rachel, Paul, Merrilee, and Debby

The ceremony was at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Long Island City.  It was a beautiful and meaningful celebration that included Jewish, Filipino, and Catholic rituals and traditions.

I have to have a photo of the bride and groom; after all, they are the reason we were all in New York!

The wedding reception was at the Metropolitan, also in Long Island City, where we had a magnificent view of Manhattan.

We had a Sunday brunch at a Bistro 33 just for my friends and then we joined the rest of the bridal family at Rainey Park.  This is a picture of Joan and Rachel exploring some of the sculptures in the park.

SEPTEMBER

VIRGINIA

CHINCOTEAGUE

I went to Chincoteague with girlfriends, Susan Cohen and Nancy Katzen for Labor Day weekend.  We had a fabulous time!

Travel Companions: Susan Cohen and Nancy Katzen

We stayed at a simple place, the Waterside Inn, that was well located and great for our long weekend.

As always, Susan found us a great boat ride.  Here is Nancy with Captain Ron and a few other passengers.  It was a bit windy!

Chincoteague is known for its wild ponies.  We weren't there for the pony swim, but we got to take pictures of some of the beautiful animals.

NOVEMBER

MISSOURI

ST. LOUIS

Linda Cable and I went to the IB Heads of Schools conference in St. Louis, and we spent some time sightseeing.

Travel Companion: Linda Cable

No visit to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to the Gateway Arch.  Although Linda and I took photos in the old cable car, we didn't go to the top in the new ones!

This is one of my favorite photographs with the archway in the back and the Old Court House in the front.

My friend, Anita Dienstfrey, is from St. Louis, and she gave me a lot of "to do" things, but the highest one on her list was to have pizza at Imo's.  She claims that St. Louis pizza is the best.  I claim that New York pizza is the ultimate!  But, I must admit, I did like the thin crust of Imo's.

MINNESOTA

MINNEAPOLIS

After completing a site visit for the International Baccalaureate, I spent a little time exploring Minneapolis with a brief walk over to its sister city, St. Paul.  Since I was exploring the city, I don't have any photographs of myself!  But, of course, I had to get a picture of Mary Richards!

On the way to our hotel, we did stop at Minnehaha Falls.  I tool a walk over the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge to St. Paul.  I also visited the Walker Art Museum on my own after the site visit and also found a lot of art along the streets, especially close to our hotel, like this one, "Spoonbridge and Cherry" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

TEXAS

FORT WORTH

I did two site visits in 2009; the second one took me to West High School in Fort Worth, Texas.  I stayed an extra day to explore this cowboy city.

I visited the Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth:

This photo was taken in Stockyard Station, where I shopped and ate!  It was mid-November, but the place was decorated for Christmas!

I had a fabulous lunch of brisket at Riscky's in Stockyard Station: