I love Pittsburgh!

We went to Pittsburgh yesterday and Corey's BFFF, James, gave us his hometown tour. I guess I always thought Pittsburgh would be nasty but it was beautiful! So many trees and rivers and awesome bridges. We went to the Pirates game. They of course lost but the field is amazing and we got in for 7 bucks. It was also National Talk like a Pirate Day so we had a great time. We went to the famous Primanti Brothers Restaurant and got sandwiches. They were pretty good. They're famous 'cause they put coleslaw and the fries in the sandwich... ok, it was good. Not that freakin' ingenious if you ask me but my pastrami cheese was nice.
We rode an incline which is a trolly looking car that goes straight up the side of a mountain on a track. There's a couple different ones in Pittsburgh. They're quite frightening but pretty cool. If that cable gave out you would go plummeting at 100mph to your death. Luckily, no one was harmed.
Driving out of the city at night was the best part! All the bridges were lit up and it was gorgeous! Overall I give Pittsburgh a 9. It was full of beautiful buildings, cool bridges, lots of stuff to do in the city or on the rivers. I would go back any day and I will when we get tickets to see the Steelers play the Packers :)

The Catoctin Zoo

There's a wild life reserve 10 miles up the road from us and it turned out to be such a beautiful day so we finally made it up and it was awesome. We got to pet a kangaroo, a camel, bison and all kinds of animals. It's small but you're so close to the animals that it's more fun than a regular zoo. You're in a little bit of danger so it's more exciting. We also got to do a safari in the back of an old Army truck. I got stung in the armpit by a yellow jacket and it hurt worse than the flu shot I got on Thursday.
Life is busy lately. Corey is trying to make points to get promoted. He got 146 out of 150 at the boards and so he's getting close. I'm taking Biology on Mon and Wed on base so I get home late those nights. Luckily my professor has been super chill and nice so the class isn't bad. I made a friend too. She's from Colorado :)
The summers are great here but unfortunately I had to turn the heat on in my car the other morning and it made me sad. I never want it to get cold...my brother and sister-in-law just got orders to Hawaii! Where it's always warm. Krynn is pregnant so they're not going until after the baby so we're planning a trip in April :) I'm so excited for them and to see my new niece or nephew. Krynn calls it the 'bouncy lil' Burt'. My sister is also having a girl on Christmas. My family is getting big but I love it! Sorry, no kids for us...for a while...like 4 years...possibly more.

Busch Gardens

Last weekend we met up with Sarah and Devon and Eva and went to the world's most beautiful amusement park. It was seriously gorgeous and I was very impressed. It was also completely free for me and Corey thanks to their generous support of the troops. I always feel a little bad accepting free things as a 'hero' since as you all know all I've ever done for our freedom is pushups, but since I'm with Corey it's not as bad. He is a hero and has a purple heart to prove it so I kinda just ride on that.
Anyway, it was such a cool park and it did pour and I kind of thought we were going to be caught in the midst of a hurricane but turns out it kept the crowds down. Budweiser owns the park so Corey got his picture with a Clydesdale and couldn't be happier. He loves animals.
We stayed the night in Richmond and got to see Devon and Sarah's new house and and a little bit of the area. Virginia is a lot prettier than Maryland. I didn't realize this until we went down there. Oh well, Maryland is still nice if you're not in the ghetto.

I work with this guy...

Some days at work are very frustrating and almost unbelievable and I felt that this picture I took of a supervisor in my shop's bumper sticker would explain why, better than anything I could write.
Luckily whenever work seems to be getting too much to handle, something comes up that changes my normal schedule and helps me survive another week. This week I got to work at the Pentagon so I didn't have to deal with some people in my shop and it was kind of fun riding the Metro to work and wasting so much time not working. The Pentagon is really beautiful and even though I'm not involved in any of it, I'm sure there is a lot of cool stuff going on...plus, it was exciting just in the fact that we could've been struck by terrorists at any moment! Haha. Not really but it was a nice change for a week. Back to Andrews tomorrow.

Whitewater Floating

I got back from my TDY a few weeks ago. We got to take a ferry from Conneticut to Long Island and drove to the Hamptons. We somehow made it possible to stay our last night at the Hilton in Times Square so we walked around a little and got some pizza. I was ready to come home so it was just okay.
The weekend I got home a coworker and I threw my friend, Brooke, a baby shower. It was definitely not your traditional, sweet celebration of the new life about to enter the world. It was a little more anatomical and real. Unfortunately the pictures are too mature for all audiences so just imagine a cake in the shape of 'what got her there in the first place'. Since I'd already done the dirty diaper game at my friend, Stefanie's, baby shower that was a no brainer and then a bottle chugging musical chairs where the 'mom' had to feed the 'baby'.
The next weekend some friends and me and Corey went 'whitewater' tubing on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers out in West Virginia. I was so excited since I grew up floating the Umpqua river and it has a few pretty intense rapids along the 4 hour float. I was expecting the same I guess but was hardly impressed by the mighty whitewater the Potomac had to offer. It was funny 'cause I was really a little nervous since I always think I won't be able to hack it, so at least I was disappointed instead of the only person who couldn't hack the rapids. The Shenandoah was a nice slow float so we could relax and not get river rocks rammed into our butt cheeks like the Potomac.
The wedding pictures are finally up! The are over 512 so if you dare check them all out, here is the website. www.turnerphotographystudio.com
Click 'Order Online' then 'Weddings' then 'Carrie & Corey'.
Or you can enjoy the ease of viewing a few of the ones I choose.

Boston

I don't feel like I really had time to enjoy Boston because I have so much school work to do but here are some pictures I took on our way to Fenway. I got lucky and got into the Red Sox vs. Orioles game for FREE!!! People love military and someone donated their ticket and I was the happy girl who got it :) Thank you anonymous donor.

TDY

I am on my first military TDY (temporary duty). We left on Sunday at 8 and drove from DC to Bangor, ME. The drive was so pretty but we did get stuck in NY traffic. I drove for a lot of the way in our shop's F-350 and was strongly encouraged from the backseat to keep my speed at around 90. Every time I dropped down to 80 or so I heard about it until I got back up to a safer speed... But we made it and checked into our rooms at Hollywood Slots. Of course the airman in charge of booking rooms decided that the best choice for our 2 night stay was the state's only gaming facility. It was a really nice hotel however. We worked all day at the guard base but went on a cool trail run afterwards and got to see some of Maine's beauty. Everyone in Maine has a canoe or kayak on their car. They come standard.
Yesterday we rolled into Portsmouth, NH and stayed in another nice hotel on the Harbor. We walked around downtown and mainly just tried to hear people say, 'Park your car in the yard'. Mission accomplished. I love the Boston accent. We're about to leave here and go to Hanscom AFB so I am so excited to hear more of it!