The Long Gray Line

For some reason, I'm having troubles composing a post about the Academy. Guess, it's a case of writer''s block.. Perhaps some word play will help. Hmm, words that come to mind, when I think of the United States Military Academy West Point (USMA West Point): Duty, Honor, Country, Tradition, Impressive, Beautiful...etc.
Go visit! Check it out! It's such a beautiful place. J. and I both come from military families, so we definitely appreciated the history and the tradition West Point has to offer. Naturally, we are also proud of the fact that my sister and brother in law were able to get stationed at West Point. They are both Cpt's in the Army. And typically, most military personnel who get stationed at the Academy are West Point graduates - members of  "The Long Grey Line".

*All photos taken by me, unless otherwise noted.

The Cadet Chapel

 Image from historic-travels.com

Image from fineartamerica.com

Random Facts: 
West Point has several different houses  of worships, for their corps of cadets. While The Cadet Chapel is not the oldest church in use on West Point, some say it's the prettiest. The oldest chapel belongs to the Catholic faith - the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity. The Cadet Chapel is a non-denomination Protestant Church.
Also, as a cadet at West Point you are not allowed to be married. Therefore, most cadets reserve their wedding date four years in advance. How crazy is that. Apparently all the dates at all the chapel are booked years in advance, and if you don't reserve your date you might not be able to get married in any of the chapels on West Point.

Image from flickr

Battle Monument 

Tibit: This monument was erected in memory of all the union officers and soldiers of the civil war. The canons are inscribed with major Civil War battles.

In addition, this monument serves West Point as a reminder to never fight in another war with one another. When you attend West Point, you forge a special bond with all your class mates and instructors. 

Therefore during the war it was especially hard for all West Point graduates, since they were fighting each other. Brother vs. Brother, Brother vs Father, Comrades vs Comrades. 

The Hudson River. 

Random Tibit: Do you see where the river narrows? That is where West Point constructed the chain to prevent the British vessels from proceeding further up the Hudson. Wasn't that plan genius?!

Below you'll find an image of the remnants of the Hudson River Chain. 

 

Hudson River Chain ~ Image from wikipedia.

Barracks & the Cadet Chapel in the background. 

Isn't the architecture beautiful?! West Point has some great building and many more monuments. However, I could write forever, therefore I will leave you with another random fact of West Point. 

Did you know that West Point, received its name because it is situated at the most western point on the Hudson? So, if you're interested in American & Military history definitely add West Point to list of places to visit.  

Oops, almost forgot to post the most important picture

"Sink Navy" West Point's biggest rival. To be fair, the other side of the roof says: "Beat Air Force"
*Side note" All home football games are mandatory for the cadets.

Vacation

Recap of West Point & NYC coming to a blog near you. Soon I promise.

Duty, Honor, Country

En Route...

Thank you Reno airport, for free wifi!! J. and I are finally en route to start our vacation/30th birthday celebration. So far everything is running smoothly. We are currently waiting for our connecting flight to Seattle. From there, we will travel to Missoula, Montana to spend a few days with his family.
In addition, we will be celebrating the marriage of J.'s older sister Jesse to Owen (actually, his name is Calvin, but since he's in the military as well, he's used to being called by his last name). The wedding ceremony will be held in the garden of his parent's home. Definitely a lovely place to get married at, since all the flowers will be blooming. It will be a small intimate gathering. Oh and guess what?! Jesse asked and hired me to photograph her wedding. Eeeeks! Of course, I'm ecstatic, that she thinks I'm good/talented enough. It's still kinda nerv wracking though. Ugh, guess I'll always be my own worst critic. We shall see....For now, I shall leave you readers with these two photos. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. We will for sure. Family. Food. Laughter.

Boarding our flight at LAX

Costa Rica Hotel Reviews Part I

Well, this weekend has been uneventful in the Russell household, as Jared has to work this weekend again. But thankfully, he has next week off. So I'm sure we will find something to do. For one, we'll be expecting a visit from one of my best friends from College. Dani and her family are traveling from Las Vegas down to San Diego, for her Lola's (Filipino term for Grandma) 90th birthday. Haven't seen her since our wedding, so I'm sure we'll have lots of fun. This will give me or Jared more wonderful things to blog about. Woohoo!! =)
With Jared being hard at work at Hoag Hospital, thought I write up a review of our wonderful Honeymoon trip to Costa Rica.

Jared's work place

For those who love to travel - Costa Rica should definitely be on one of those places to visit. It's also a great destination for anyone, who doesn't want to break the bank. When I was researching and planning our trip to Costa Rica, I was debating on whether to got through a Travel Agency or to plan everything on my own.
During my wedding planning days, I frequented wedding message boards, got some great recommendations from someone who received a proposal from her then boyfriend, while they were vacationing in Costa Rica. Thanks to her help, I was able to book everything on my own and save us some money.

Here's our itinerary: 7 days in Manuel Antonio, 2 days in Monte Verde, 2 days in Arenal & 1 night in San Jose.
We flew from Ontario, California to Denver, Colorado, then to San Jose, Costa Rica. Once we arrived in San Jose, CR, we pickup our rental car. To save some money, I highly recommend reserving your car rental prior. The cheapest car rental rates, we found were with National Car Rental Since, we were some what on a budget we decided to go with a four door Peugot.
However, if money isn't an issue, I highly recommend renting an AWD SUV. Having an SUV as a car rental, will make the drive on those long stretches of gravel road a lot more pleasant.

Our Car

From San Jose, we still had to drive to Manuel Antonio. Although, Manuel Antonio isn't that far from San Jose (132km). It takes about takes about 4hours to get to Manuel Antonio. The drive it self wasn't too bad, as we were able to see the country side of Costa Rica. I was quite grateful that Jared loves to drive, because seeing some of the roads we had to drive on....Let's just say, I wasn't to keen on getting behind the wheel.

The bridge we had to drive through.

Another view of the bridge.

In Manuel Antonio, we stayed at the Condo complex Casa Chaman. We booked our condo through the website: Home Away. If you click, on the link it will take you directly the Casa Chaman. The complex consists of 7 condos that is mostly owned my Americans or Europeans. We stayed in a one bedroom, and our American landlords lived above us. From the three places we stayed in, this was by far our favorite.
It's such a lovely place. Just check out the pictures and see for yourself. Not only is this a gorgeous place, but it's quite inexpensive as well. We stayed there for 7 nights, and it was less than $600.

The Entrance to our Villa

The Livingroom

Our Bedroom

The Bathroom

Our Pool and view from our door

Isn't the place great?! For the most part, we had the entire pool to ourselves, as we traveled at the beginning of the raining season. Although, it was the rainy season when we traveled to Costa Rica. The rains didn't bother us to much, as the rains usually began in the late afternoon. Anyway, I will review the other two hotels in a different post, since this review was quite longer than I expected.

Delightfully,
Nina Sapphira