Day 31: The Pinay Teacher's ABCs of Spring Break

    I was inspired by many people to do an ABCs of spring break, especially since this is the last day of the Slice of Life Challenge. I want to thank everyone for supporting me throughout this challenge. This has been a great experience and I definitely would love to do it again next year!

Always getting more sleep 

Bingo night at the resort

Cherry blossoms!

Driving A LOT

Eating fresh crabs

Fredericksburg Visit

Getting more stickers for my collection 

History lessons in Virginia

I love Filipino food 

Just drinking wine by myself 

Kids not allowed, except at Bingo night

Listening to audiobooks

More and more walking 

Netflix binging

Organizing my room...again

Practicing my chopsticks skills

Quizzing myself on American history 

Reading a lot of books

Shenandoah Valley National Park

Taking lots of pictures 

Uniting with my favorite city, Washington D.C. 

Virginia Visit

Washington D.C. Visit

eXciting vacation

Yummy food

Zooming back home 

Day 30: The Pinay Teacher's Appreciations

    Today I just wanted to listed all the things that I appreciated today as I have now returned from my trip to Virginia. 

•  modern transportation, thank you for getting me back home safely
• my brother for keeping me sane
• my mom for making me laugh
• my dad for driving
• my friend texting me gossip to entertain myself during the road trip
• Panera Bread chipotle chicken avocado sandwich
• Panda Express orange chicken
• pillows
• Libby for audiobooks
• SLEEP

Day 29: The Pinay Teacher Gets a Historical Lesson

    As we continue our travels in Virginia, it was an absolute must to get some kind of history lesson in one of the original 13 colonies. We visited Fredericksburg, the boyhood home of George Washington and also the location of famous battles during the Civil War. As a teacher and a history buff, I always love learning new stories and facts about the United States. There was one point when I was kid that I wanted to be a historian or an anthropologist. It was a very short-lived dream since I did not want to be the one doing the dirty work when it comes to finding things and it seems kind of lonely being in a lab or sitting at a desk all day. I like interacting with people, especially young minds who are eager to learn more since I am always wanting to learn new things.

    Back to my visit in Fredericksburg, we visited the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. I learned about and visited the different battle sites from the Civil War. Some of the houses that were impacted during those battles still had the bullet holes on them! Even part of the stone wall that was used during the battle is still there! It's amazing to me how so much of our history has been preserved for this long. We also visited the Chatham Manor that was visited by many famous figures, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Clara Barton. It was a beautiful house that had a wonderful view of Downtown Fredericksburg and the Rappahannock River. Sadly, we didn't get to visit more places due to time but I would love to visit Fredericksburg again in the future!

Day 28: Pinay Teacher Conquering the Mountains

    Today's main stop was visiting the Shenandoah National Park. We got to do a scenic drive up the mountain. It made me think about how beautiful nature is. I know the way I said that sounded really cheesy, but it's true! Throughout all the overlooks, there was always something new I would see and I would admire the beauty it brought to nature. We did a short hiking trail where they said we might see a bear. We didn't see a bear...all we heard were bird calls and cars driving by hahaha. I didn't know we were going to be hiking during this trip, so I didn't bring the best shoes. Luckily this was the easier path, but sadly we couldn't go to the cooler paths that led to waterfalls. Oh well I just got to plan better next time!

Day 27: The Pinay Teacher is Wining Solo

    To continue on my spring break vacation, my family and I decided to stay in the area just so that we can recover from yesterday's super long trip. We stopped by the local vineyards since they were the main attractions in the area. At the first vineyard, we didn't do any wine tastings, but there was some crackers that looked really good that we ended up buying. The second vineyard had a pretty good deal for their wine tasting, so I decided to take part. I was the only one in my family that did the wine tasting though since my mom can't drink alcohol anymore and my dad was the designated driver. It was just me drinking solo today haha. Overall what I learned from my wine tasting experience is that I am definitely not a red wine person, and I still consider moscato the best wine. The alcohol didn't hit me after the 6th and final tasting which is good at least hahaha. 

Day 26: The Pinay Teacher and the Cherry Blossoms!

    Today I did another mini road trip to Washington D.C. I thought it was just going to be another ordinary trip to D.C., but to my surprise it is now cherry blossom season! I was so excited to see all the cherry blossoms blooming all over the city. I have always dreamt of going to Washington D.C. during this time of year and it turned out that today was the first day of the cherry blossom festival. There were so many people today since it was beautiful weather. There were people flying kites all over the Washington Monument and so many people taking pictures with the cherry blossoms. I think 90% of my pictures are of the cherry blossoms HAHAHA! As I was walking through the cherry blossom trees, it truly made me feel like either I was in Japan or in anime:)

Day 25: The Pinay Teacher's VERY Long Road Trip

    As I am writing this post a bit late, it is because I have just arrived to my vacation spot for spring break. The road trip was full of rain, wind, and motion sickness for me. I slept through all of Indiana because I hate driving through Indiana (no offense to anyone who lives in Indiana!). I woke up once we got to Ohio and that is always fun seeing the different stops on the Ohio Turnpike. Once we got to Pennsylvania, that was when the motion sickness started to kick in. The mountains are just not for me. All the twists, turns, ups, and downs just make me so dizzy and sick. I never had this problem until this year, so I don't know if it just came with age and time. We traveled for 15 hours, but we finally made it to Gordonsville, Virginia! We are glamping over here and staying at a yurt. I'm super excited for this trip! I think the plan tomorrow is visiting Washington D.C., so stay tune for more spring break updates!