I’m excited to introduce today’s guest post. Enjoy! :
Hi! We are Ryan and Cassie Russek, a husband and wife photographer team from Southern California. We could not be MORE excited to be featured as a guest on Kristina’s blog! Recently, we took an [unintentional] All American Vacation to New York, Connecticut, Boston, and Washington DC. The reason we say unintentional, is that this started off as just a fun vacation to the east coast and managed to turn into this extravagant vacation to see America’s History.
We started off in New York, staying at the beautiful Roosevelt Hotel where we traveled by train, subway, cab, shuttle, foot and ferry all over the City, getting to see The Chelsea Marketplace (a chic, indoor “farmer’s market”), The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 911 memorial, The Apollo Theatre, Times Square, 5th Ave, and our favorite experience was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. We ate at famous Food Network restaurants, our favorite was Bobby Flay’s MESA Grill and we were even lucky enough to meet Giada DiLaurentiis!
After NY- we trained to Connecticut to visit some family, and then trained into Boston, which, I HIGHLY recommend!!! The train travels up the eastern coast, through Rhode Island, which was filled with pure white sandy beaches, gorgeous skies and adorable victorian style beach homes. We stayed at the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston, another huge recommendation for those of you traveling to Boston. The hotel is filled with amazing history, it happens to be the oldest hotel (still running) in the United States and was the spot where John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie Onassis, pretty exciting! In Boston- we traveled the Freedom Trail, which takes you to the historic landmarks of Boston, our favorite being the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first read! We also visited Fenway Park, Cheers, Mike’s Pastry’s (YUMM!), Antico Forno (the best Italian food ever!), and Harvard.
We LOVED Boston so much! So, because we were having a hard time finding a flight back to California (long story) we ended up flying into Washington DC, thus creating the [unintentional] portion of our All American Vacation. In DC, we were mind blown by the sites. Between the White House and seeing President Obama’s motorcade, we were pretty stunned. We saw the Capitol, the Washington Monument, The Smithsonian, The Lincoln Memorial, War Memorials, Martin Luther King’s Memorial, and the National Archives (which houses the original documents: Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation and the U.S. Constitution)… DC is pretty amazing. At one point we sat at MLK’s Memorial looking across the water to the Jefferson Memorial, and we couldn’t believe that we had accomplished such an amazing vacation. We hope you enjoy the photos!!
The Statue Of Liberty in Black and White, standing directly in front of her
Ellis Island from the Ferry. Ryan’s mom Edith came into Ellis Island in 1952 (2 years before Ellis Island closed) from Germany. It was amazing to stand in some of the same spots where she once stood so many years ago. We were both VERY emotional.
The New York City Library
Times Square at night
Central Park, where we took our first break from the hustle and bustle of the City. We sat and took in this gorgeous site, and dreamed of what it would be like to see this daily. Lucky New Yorkers.
The Brooklyn Bridge from the middle of the bridge. It feels like we are entangled in a web of cables.
The Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn. We took the ferry from Brookyln back to the City, it was so fun to see the City from this viewpoint. We highly recommend this!
The Old State House in Boston, Where the Declaration of Independence was first read. The photo with the Marines happened to be a parade that was going on that day. It was a special moment for us.
The Old North Church, the site where Paul Revere gave orders to fellow member of the sons of liberty to notify the people that the British were coming by hanging lanterns, One if by land and Two if by sea. Two lanterns were hung that day!
The White House, where moments prior to this photo, President Obama’s motorcade arrived and left.
The Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King’s Memorial. Two forward thinkers, looking into the future. We LOVE this combination of photos!
