I’m going back to the town I grew up in today. I’m going to visit my old house, neighborhood, elementary school, ice cream parlor, grocery stores, church, bay and other favorite places in Toms River, NJ.

Tomorrow, Thursday, I’m going to see my grandmother (my mom’s mom). I haven’t seen her since I was like 4 or 5, and I hadn’t talked to her until a few weeks ago when I called her on her birthday, which just so happens to be the day after mine. My mom isn’t close with her family and my dad was adopted, so I grew up without any grandparents. Now that I’m older, I recognize that grandparents hold such a dear and influential role in a  child’s life, that I think I will always hold it against my parents  for keeping their families away from my siblings and me.

That is why this trip is so important to me – I am finally able to take the reins and come all the way back here.

These next two days will be beyond emotional for me, so please forgive me if I go Internet-MIA and don’t post anything for a couple of days. To finally go back to the town you were torn away from and to see the grandma you’ve known you’ve always had, but she was never in your life, is such a profound emotional milestone that it makes me want to tear up just writing about it.

I’m going back to make peace with my past and my family’s past, to ease my present and to make memories for my future. These will be two days I will never, ever forget.

Thanks for reading.

The town was cute, quaint and full of personality. Although it has more people than the town I went to high school in, Bethlehem feels as though it’s smaller, but with greater importance. Two large and famous universities and a very intriguing historical area that dates back to the 1750s are just some of the enticing aspects of the town. The old brick buildings, the many creeks and rivers, the welcoming outdoors – it is very easy to spot beauty here. My aunt would make an amazing realtor for people thinking about moving long distance into the area.

Downtown Bethlehem:

Moravian College – the architecture on this campus looks so regal and archival that I fell in love.

Historical District:

We browsed through some of the interesting and fun stores downtown.

Some funny things I saw in one store:

An eco-friendly, yet apparently sturdy wallet made out of paper:

Our taste buds rejoiced when we went into a specialty balsamic vinegar and oil store – it had rows of different types of balsamic and oil. I didn’t know stores like this existed!

We ate and enjoyed delicious tea in a British Tea Room. Here is a picture of some strange British candy:

And finally, the Just Born candy factory. Here they make Mike & Ik’s, Peeps, Hot Tamales and Zourers! A very famous and special place, indeed!

After a wonderful night sleep in our hotel and a heartbreaking $40 breakfast, which only consisted of two pastries and coffee, we checked out. Next on our itinerary is Pennsylvania, to visit my aunt. But before we left New York, we wanted to stop by a few places:

• We walked through Times Square and went to a NYC gift shop, where I got myself a coffee mug, a fridge magnet and a couple of items for my mom and sister.
• Then we went into a Lids (a sports hat shop) for Kevin, and it was like heaven for the both of us. Yankee and Mets hats in every color you could ever dream up. You can’t find Mets hats like that on the west coast and Kevin had the self discipline to only buy three.

Then we met an old friend – he is an editor at the Wall Street Journal. We were lucky enough to get a private tour of the newsroom and beyond – it was sooo cool. I didn’t want to take pictures of the journalists at work, but the Wall Street Journal was decorated in a very modern, colorful way, which was very interesting. Below are some pictures of some walls.

• Before we left the city, we went to the Magnolia Bakery and bought some cupcakes.
• Then we began our trek to Coney Island so that we could eat hot dogs at the original Nathan’s Famous.

This was the view of the city as we were driving away:

Coney Island:

Nathan’s Famous – yummy!!

Coney Island boardwalk and beach. I am happy to announce I finally touched the Atlantic Ocean again after 13 years.

We left and began our journey to Pennsylvania, to stay at my aunt’s house with her and her husband. We spent a good amount of time driving through the northern part of New Jersey.

The next blog post will be about my visit with my aunt in Bethlehem, PA. What a romantic, quiet, yet historically interesting little town! More pictures will be put up soon. Thanks for reading!

We woke up at 5 a.m. to drop Kevin’s brother off at JFK Airport and get us a rental car. After we said goodbye to Kevin’s family, I said helllllo New York as we went everywhere my heart desired! Below are pictures of every place we visited today in chronological order 

Yankee Stadium – Of course I couldn’t go to New York without seeing the old and new stadiums. I’m a die-hard Yankee fan for life, and seeing the new stadium was one of the happiest moments of this trip for me, thus far.

Driving in Manhattan trying to find our hotel

New York Palace Hotel

The beautiful view from our room

St. Patrick’s Cathedral - our hotel is right across the street from it. Inside and out, the architecture and elaborate details of artwork are just incredible. Even for the nonreligious, the beauty is universal and the historic aspect of the cathedral is also impressive. We were inside right before they had mass. It was crowded, to say the least.

Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Center

News Corp … where evil is born

Times Square

Serendipity 3 Restaurant – yes, the frrrozen hot chocolate drinks were delicious! It was well worth the wait!

Dylan’s Candy Bar - we saw this and just HAD to go in. It’s 3 floors of awesomeness.

FAO Schwarz - I could not come to NYC and not go here! I loooove stuffed animals and toys, and this place will always bring out the kid in me!

Central Park - we got a relaxing horse carriage ride through and around Central Park. It’s very touristy but my family used to do it when I was a kid, so this was a must.

Ground Zero

La Masseria - exquisite Italian for dinner. This place was so good, we want to go back the next time we’re in NY!

Tomorrow (Monday) is our last day in New York. We plan to do some more touring, including a tour of the Wall Street Journal, because we have a friend who works there. Then it’s off to Pennsylvania to visit one of my aunts! Stay tuned for the next blog post. Thanks for reading!

I love the east coast attitude, I love the east coast accents, I love the east coast food, I love the east coast scenery, I love the east coast architecture, I love the east coast weather. I’m very happy, I’m very excited.

There. It’s out of my system.

Anyway, I’ve made a list of places I want to visit while in New York City. Kevin and me plan to spend two days there and one night in a hotel. Let me know if I’m missing anything! Yes I’ve been to the Statue of Liberty (I climbed up it as a kid and it caused my fear of heights) and the Empire State Building so don’t include those. Also, any suggestions for a reasonable yet nice hotel anywhere near the city?

Here is my list thus far:

• NY Times Building
• Yankee Stadiums
• Ground Zero
• FAO Schwartz
• Serendipity Restaurant
• Central Park
• Times Square
• The Original Nathan’s Hot Dogs
• Museums? The Met?
• Other amazing/famous restaurants?

It’s an understatement to say that our hearts sunk when we learned our flight got cancelled.

On Sunday, Dec. 26, we found out that a huge blizzard was sweeping through the north east and our flight to New York would get cancelled. And sure enough, it did. Kevin did an excellent job on the phone with Delta, while his aunt Terri did the same (she lives in New York and we were flying to ny to stay with her family).

We eventually found a flight from San Diego to Detroit, which clearly isn’t ny or nj or Pennsylvania, but we booked it and a connecting flight from Detroit to Allentown, PA. Kevin’s aunt and her family decided to drive to their cabin in the Poconos and pick us up from the Allentown airport and we would stay at the cabin for a couple of days. The layover was an hour so even though it wasn’t a lot of time, we felt secure. Problem was that the flight was on Tuesday, and we were ready to fly Sunday.

So we waited patiently and woke up Tuesday morning to find that our flight from San Diego was delayed an hour. Goodbye one hour layover and hello a whole new set of problems. We got to the airport Tuesday morning, a few hours before our flight was scheduled, and the Delta customer service/bag checker man looked at us and said “You’re not going to make your flight.”

We looked at him and said “You gotta be kidding us. We HAVE to be on that plane!”

So we had the guy check for any other possible flights and the best thing he could do was send us to Atlanta. We were like screw that, we’d rather get stuck in Detroit than Atlanta, since it’s a lot closer to the north east coast. But if we missed our connecting flight in Detroit, we wouldn’t be guaranteed a flight out for THREE days. We decided that we were going to take a chance and do everything we could to make that connecting flight. There just had to be a lot of praying … and running.

As we were waiting for the plane to arrive, we figured that if the worst happens and we miss our connecting flight, we are NOT going to wait three days for another flight. So we found this Joe Schmoe’s Van Rental place and reserved a big van just in case we had to make a 9 hour drive to Pennsylvania. We also found out what gate we were going to land at in Detroit and what gate our connecting flight takes off at so that we could plan where to go once we were in the terminal – of course it was REALLY far away, on the other side of the terminal.

When the flight to Detroit finally lands, Kevin darts off the plane and runs for his freaking life to the next gate. His brother, dad and me grabbed the carry-on bags and ran as fast as we could. After running, while in great pain, down three huge hallways, we got to the gate and made the flight! We couldn’t believe it! We were sweating, breathing heavily and laughing the whole flight.

So I’m happy to say that everything worked out, although it was a dramatic nightmare. We went to the Poconos and had a fun time (everyone snowboards or skis except for me and Kevin’s Aunt). The weather hasn’t been harsh, the snow is beautiful.

Our lesson learned: never fly Delta.

Words can not describe my excitement, as it is getting more and more real by the hour. I’m finally going home.

Thanks for reading. You can rest assured I will write about more interesting things once we’re on the east coast.

I was born and raised in New Jersey, as most of you, if not all of you, know. My parents moved us when I was entering 7th grade, and they never looked back. I am now 25 and have not been back east, although I have been wanting to return. Not only do I wish to see my home town and my old house, but all of our family members are back east.

Our immediate family is alone living in California, and for some reason my parents like it that way. But I’ve always hated it. I grew up without aunts, uncles, cousins or grandparents. Whenever I’d hear my friends complain about family reunions as a kid, I’d burn with envious fury. One day, when your family members are gone, then you will realize how much they meant to you.

But I am not ignorant. I do not want to waste another day. I know I have family 3,000 miles away from me, waiting to give me hugs and tell me stories about people my parents don’t even show me pictures of.  I have an aunt whom I met for the first time 6 months ago, a cousin I didn’t know existed until 6 months ago and a grandma I have never talked to until my birthday, like 20 days ago. I hope to meet them all and I expect to feel a fuller life, and have family pride I understand.

I have decided to share my journey from San Diego to New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey with you.  Follow me as I blog the story of my unique family reunion. (And hopefully I will be able to post some pictures.) This is such a special experience for me, I figured I’d rather blog the trip than have to tell the same story to you all with tears in my eyes.

My trip begins at night, December 26 … till then, take care and Merry Christmas.