Laurie Loves To Travel

25/06/2024

22/03/2024

This evening, I am going to share a very different portion of NYC...a portion that became what it is because of terrorists attacking the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, now called 9-11.

When we were in NYC in 2014, the Memorial Plaza was open (it opened on 9-11-2011) and we saw the reflecting pools. They are where the two towers used to stand. The names of all killed in the attack and one in 1993 are all etched in bronze around the edge of the pools.

The 9-11 Museum was open for us to tour in 2018. I have never been in an exhibit where there is very little talking, no yelling, no screaming, no running...a very somber place where everyone knows why we are there and paying tribute, in a way, to the 2977 people who died in the attacks. The museum is beneath the Memorial Plaza.

A little Twin Tower information...each was 110 stories...35,000 people worked there and 430 companies had offices there...they were completed in 1973...each floor was an acre of concrete...there was enough concrete in the towers to build a five-foot-wide sidewalk from NYC to Washington DC...you could see 45 miles from the tops of the towers (all of NYC and the boroughs, New Jersey and Connecticut)

The day the planes struck the towers, they estimated between 16,400 - 18,000 people were in the towers. On May 30, 2002, the last piece of World Trade Center steel was removed.

The photos I have included with this are just a small portion of what is actually in the Museum. Some of them would have been very hard to take. If you are ever in NYC please visit the Museum. You will understand more why the day after the attacks we were one big united country!😕😢😢🇺🇸🇺🇸

21/03/2024

Let's return to NYC tonight...a place I didn't mind visiting but I'd never want to live there!!!🙃😲🧐😎

20/03/2024

Have you ever been to New York City? Brian & I were there...twice...with the Music Department from Hilbert High School. Deb Seidl asked if I wanted to go in 2014(?) to be the photographer and of course I said yes!!!! Brian went as a chaperone and we also went four years later, doing our same "jobs"!!! And would we have ever gotten there if we didn't go with the high school group? Probably not because I would never have known where to start planning a trip to the "Big Apple"!!

It definitely was an awesome experience! Very tiring, with A TON of steps walked each day but the things we saw will stay in our minds forever.

Tonight I will be sharing Central Park. It is beautiful!! But did you know it is only the 6th largest park in NYC? That's hard to believe but Google is never wrong, is it?!!!🧐 The park covers 843 acres and it was the first landscaped park in the United States. They started constructing the park in 1857, finished parts were opened in 1858 and it was completed in 1876.

So come along with me tonight and let's take a walk through Central Park!!

20/03/2024

16/03/2024

Found more photos from Costa Rica, shared with me by the Sarapiqui Outdoor Center. If you ever get a chance to travel to Costa Rica (if you want, let me know!!!) you should zip line and the people at the Sarapiqui are so awesome!!! If you are afraid, they are very patient and will even ride with you for a time or two. Most of the zip line centers that I ever saw in Wisconsin were one long run. In Costa Rica, it is "canopy" zip lining, and you zip line from tree to tree! I even have some photos from the first time we went!!

Hope you enjoy these!!

16/03/2024

I've got some photos here from Costa Rica. They aren't ones I photographed but the great staff at the Sarapiqui Outdoor Center had these "extras" on the flash drive from the last zip lining adventure there. So I figured I may as well share some of these!! I hope you enjoy them and I will try to identify whatever is in the photographs!!!!📷

11/01/2024

Tonight Alex took Carla & I to a Lebanese Restaurant..it was called Faqra. Of course I have never been to a Lebanese restaurant before!! Alex did ask us if we wanted to try something new and Carla & I both agreed we did.

We had three parts to our meal. I can't tell you what any of dishes were called but I can tell you what was in some of them!! We had chicken, beef & lamb (I couldn't get myself to try it). Our meal was a variety of things so we could try more. Here are the photos!!!

10/01/2024

The sunset was very beautiful Tonight in Monteverde!!

10/01/2024

Eating at The Tree House Restaurant in downtown Monteverde. It is built around a huge tree!! Great food and drinks and wonderful entertainment!!

10/01/2024

This is my room partner for tonight.....in Monteverde! Good thing it's a butterfly!!

07/01/2024

2024 College Students in Costa Rica
Going to add a few photos to this post so you call can see what we've been doing the past few days!!

Right now I am relaxing in front of my laptop while the rest of the group is hiking 5-6 miles....I'd never make it!! Weather is beautiful and really perfect, 70-80 degrees.

07/01/2024

As the others are out this morning, with a hiking club, hiking 5-6 miles, I am back at Casa Alma playing with Tito!! He really wants to come in but he isn't allowed, and comes to the door about every five minutes and pleads with me to let him in!!!

06/01/2024

This photo is from January 3rd (I say that because I really don't know what day it is!!)

These four young ladies (5 if I include Carla!!) and I plus Carla left Appleton for 10 days in Costa Rica! The ladies will participate in a somewhat "mini study abroad" program put together by my Niece Kim Hackbarth and her husband Alex! As I write this they are doing ESL training and have some awesome projects waiting for them!!!

They are: Caitlin Raymond, Lillian Sheets, Meghan Propson and Emmery Wiese!.....so far....so good!!!