West Point-USMA: Part One

First off....let me start by saying: If you're planning to get married and you want to know if your relationship can handle hard times.....take an 11-hour road trip with your future in-laws and if you survive that your odds of surviving the marriage should be pretty good. :) Throw in a 4-year old who has a 5-minute attention span and a tendancy to throw tantrums in the car and you are pretty much fighting for survival.

But we did it. And we made it to West Point, NY in two days. :) Had we not stopped off in Fredricksburg, VA for the night I think we would have been pitching people out of the van while going 70 MPH down I-95. We thought we were doing the "smart" thing by renting a van and driving....hoping to save the massive amount of money it would cost to fly all of us there. But just to have my sanity in tact when I crossed the NJ/NY border have been worth the $2500.

Don't get me wrong. The whole trip wasn't as bad as the first two days. Afterall, on Saturday we saw what we had driven through four states to see: Cadet Saunders. When that dude rounded the corner I was shaking so hard I couldn't even tell the fam that he was walking up. So I grabbed my camera....his mom asked what I was taking pictures of and I screamed, "COREY!". After our heart rates returned to normal we walked around and learned all kinds of knowledge. :) Something about a Thaddeus Kosciuszko....and spinning spurs on a statue....and giving high fives to a painted football dude.....it was almost more than my civilian brain could handle. I also learned that I can't tell the difference between a horse and a mule. :) Anyway...here are the photos from our first day at West Point.