Ken Nelson

Location: 6 Lakes RV Park, Hillsdale, MI

Slow morning. Slept in til 9, then a lazy breakfast of chipped beef over toast. A little reading. A little Psych off DVD (Seasons 1 & 2). Then, off to try the rowboat fishing:

The boat was sound. The oars weren’t right. The left oar didn’t want to pull correctly, so we kept going to the left as the right oar over-powered it.

And the fish weren’t biting. But a bad day fishing….

Back at 2ish, cook up some brats on the Coleman grill. Then read a bit. And hit the lake again. No luck.

The dinner of brats, saurkraut, and apple sauce – it’s like eating dessert for the main course!  Then back to the lake, which had calmed down from the massive number of ski boats:

No luck fishing. Then we built a roaring fire. Enjoyed the crisp evening reading Kindles by the fire, eating Dutch Apple pie & ice cream, watching a sandlot ball game played by other campers, and then oohing and ahhing over a surprisingly good (and loud) impromptu fireworks show on the dock.

No pictures. Sorry.
Start: Niagara Falls, NY
End:  Six Lakes RV Campground, Hillsdale, MI

Not a lot to report… we decided to shelter from the 4th traffic east of Chicago. Using the Internet to our advantage we spotted an RV camp right on six connected lakes. It had rental boats and we were pretty excited:

alas, when we arrived, we discovered the picture was of seasonal resident’s boats. The actual boats for rent are:

row boats. Ick. We will see…needless to say I doubt we will see all of the first lake, much less the other 5.

Location: Niagara Falls, NY

Today’s Pictures
All Pictures

Our plan was to chill til late in the day, then go to the falls, explore and then catch the last Maid of the Mist.

So we did just that. We chilled. Had lunch at Olive Garden. Hit Barnes & Noble. Watched some Hogan’s Heroes (entire series on DVD!). Read.  Then at 5:30 off we went.

The weather worsened as we drove. And it seemed to be about to get real “lousy”  as we arrived at the Niagara Falls Visitor Center:

The water was “up” on the Niagara River and it was flowing visibly faster than last night:

We walked over a tasteful stone arched bridge to Bridal Falls. This is cool because you get to stand right above the falls:

and scare your Dad:

You look down on the brave souls who take a scary looking elevator down to the Cave of the Winds, where you can actually walk under the falls themselves:

Walking up Bridal Falls you reach the Cave of the Winds elevator, looking back you see Bridal Falls, Niagara Falls, the Visitor Center, Observation Tower, and Canada:

Once to the HorseShoe Falls you can see the edge but it really isn’t that good a spot to see the full picture of the falls:

But the mist blasting back up made it a great place to get wet:

Okay, it was time to head for the Maid of the Mist. On the way, here is a view of the Rainbow Bridge over to Canada:

Even though we had rain jackets on, we took the free blue things the Maid of the Mist offers. We would need them.

This was where we were heading:

This is what it looks like when you get there:

Water is everywhere. Coming up, down, left right. You get really wet!

After the boat ride, we decided we were starved. So we trooped over to The Hard Rock Cafe, which is directly across from the Visitor Center, and ate a fine meal.  Oddly, they asked “how we got wet”. 

Start:: Hershey Conwago RV Park, Hershey, PA
End:   Niagara Falls RV Camp, Niagara Falls, NY

Today’s Pictures
All Pictures

The RV bed is too soft for me and it is killing my back. I’m making a change to a firmer situation going forward, but it caused me to be up at 0530 this morning.

Feeling much recovered from yesterday’s ick, I decided to do a 10 mile bike ride.  I drifted through back country roads, with the rising sun burning through the mist and cows, industrious early farmers and lots of bunnies as my companions.  Then I found the Conwago River Trail and rode that a few miles west (just short of Harrisburg) and then back on country roads to the camp.  Sorry – no pictures, I have to get a dual shoulder strap that can suspend the camera. I regret not having it, or my pocket camera, because the scenery was terrific.

Then home, breakfast at Martin’s. I had basically what I ate at Army basic training most mornings. Take toast, pile eggs, bacon, and chipped beef, and cover with cheese. In the Army I also had pancakes, French toast and hash browns. They only gave you one place, and I was 17 and always hungry!

Then we prepared the RV for departure and left about 0830.  We made good time up the Susquehanna River valley following route 15 north for most of the trip. A quick stop in Corning, NY for lunch and  we arrived about 4:30pm.  After dinner at the Sawyer Creek Hotel (not a hotel – bar and restaurant!) it was still early we decided to catch the falls at sunset. So off we went.

You can see the mist rising from quite a distance. I was driving and couldn’t take a picture. After parking (a chore), we hit the visitor center and eventually found ourselves on the walkway to the falls:

Niagra River flowing into the falls with Canada behind it 

Then we drifted around the walkway, getting better and better views of the falls:

We eventually moved over to a large tower that serves as an elevator to get down to the Maid of the Mist boat trip:

Looking to the right you can see Canada and the “Rainbow Bridge” leading to it. The view of the falls is better over there, but the crazy terrorists have made that a much harder trip that it ought to be.

The sun finally peeked through the clouds and I quickly shot a 6 shot panorama:

The last Maid of the Mist was empty:

And thus our plan was FORMED!   Sleep in, go to the Falls in the late afternoon. Do the various things and catch the 8PM Maid of the Mist. We will see how it works out…

Location: Hershey Conwago RV Park, Hershey, PA

No pictures.

Last night as I hit bed, I was feeling a bit queasy and achy. By morning it was in full swing and i was out for the count. Some variant of flu. Perhaps I’d caught it from the tens of thousands of other people who had touched all the subway handholds, or the poorly designed public restrooms that make you touch stuff on the way out. I don’t know. But I did know I wasn’t going anywhere.

The family stirred and started to make plans, but the weather looked foreboding.

About 11 they talked me into accompanying them to a German place in Harrisburg (aboutt 10 miles or so away).  So reminiscent of “Weekend with Bernie” off we went to the Brick Haus in Harrisburg. BTW I was “Bernie” sitting in the front seat swinging back and forth with the momentum of the Jeep.

Once there we found that the Brick Haus was only open at evenings and was in fact a bar. So we went to “Spice” adnd sat on the front veranda. Very nice.

Then the storm hit and it poured and thundered and lightning shot down all over. Eventually we decided to move inside.

The rain pretty much canceled plans at Hershey Park for the day, so we went back and watched Hogan’s Heroes, read, and played Uno til bed time.

[I’m writing this on Day 31 and I feel fine today]

Location: Hershey Conwago RV Park, Hershey, PA

No pictures. Sorry.

Jenny, Brian & Paula went to Hershey Park today. I can no longer enjoy theme parks, especially ones with aggressive rides like the Storm Runner:

I was worried as the day went on because the texts from Paula weren’t very positive. But when I picked them up they were very happy with the day and are considering returning again tomorrow.

My day was quiet. I worked. I downloaded pictures and made panoramas. I went on a 10 mile bike ride that turned into a 26 miler because a road the map said followed the freeway actually stopped, leaving me only the choice but to find other, longer, options home. But it was a nice ride through the rolling hills around Hershey past Amish and conventional farms and very well maintained homes.

I was just about to order dinner when I got a text “pick us up”. So I payed for my root beer and headed off to the park.  “Back in 15 minutes” I told my waitress.  I was there and waited and waited. Turns out, they headed into the gift shop.   I was hungry!

Eventually we made it back to Martin’s Country Kitchen and proceeded to sit down to one of our best meals on the RV trip. Here in southern PA we had food more reminiscent of southern Alabama.  Very good!

Then home and a little Hogan’s Hero’s on DVD. No DishNetwork here, our site is right under a canopy of trees that block signals.

Depart: Liberty Harbor RV Park
Arrive: Hershey Conwago RV Park, Hershey, PA

Not a lot to report…. we drove from Liberty Harbor to Hershey, PA today.

New York I’ll miss you!

Location: Liberty Harbor RV Park & NYC

Today’s pictures
All trip pictures.

Last day in NYC! Bummer. I’ll miss it. I really like NY City. Paula sort of likes it and the kids are in the “nice place to visit” category.

We were running low on propane, and this RV park doesn’t have any. So that we could keep the fridge running while we drove to Hershey, PA  we decided to eat in town.

First off… bad news. The Ferry doesn’t run on weekends. That’s a bummer because the 5 block walk to the PATH train is not what Paula’s blistered feet wanted.  So with tummies growling, off we went.  2 blocks out I remember “crud – my camera”. So off I run back to get it and catch up.

Along the way there is a practice field, with artificial grass, graffiti, and a skyline:

I’ve no idea who plays there, there are no signs beyond “KEEP OUT”.

When we emerged in Herald Square we saw a dozen or so people doing this:

It seems to be a martial arts form of exercise involving ritualistic moves – like tai-chi on steroids.  

We spotted a cafe offering breakfast and ordered. Tensions were high as we sat apart! Boys and girls.  Either tensions, or the girls wanted a padded seat, and the boys wanted a view of the city.   After a tasty breakfast we split up – Paula/Jenny to finish the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Brian and Dad to Kaufmanns Military surplus store (off 42nd and Broadway). 

Brian started grousing about people who play the music too loud and with the windows down, when I pointed out it was a car it was something live in the street. So we headed down 36th to see what was up.  The Albanians were marching:

but mainly dancing:

No idea why they were parading, but we did see a lot of derogatory signs about Serbs. Guess they don’t get along….

Up Broadway we went til we got to Kaufmans, only to find that DARN – it is closed til noon on Saturdays:

Fortunately, the AMC 25 where we saw “Transformers” was just around the corner from Kaufman’s so we went and watch “UP” in 3D. The movie theater takes up the front half of a skyscraper and it does get up to about 20 floors. Here is the view out over 46th Street:

There are ads on most walls with cutouts for windows.

After “Up” (pretty good, but not “Toy Story”), we returned to Kaufman’s and found it disappointing. Just military looking clothes and odds and ends. Nothing like Smith & Edwards up in Ogden.  The military just doesn’t surplus stuff anymore.

Then, off to the Staten Island Ferry. We got there and just missed a ferry, as we waited a huge crowd built up behind us. But the ferry is huge and when we got on, the exterior spaces were quite packed, but the interior seating basically empty.  My purpose was to try and get another angle on a panorama of the city from the harbor. Here it is, click it to see it bigger:

They make you get off the ferry and wait for the next even if you’ve nothing to do in Staten Island. So we bought a NY Post, bottle of water and waited 1/2 an hour.  Somehow, although last on the ferry home, we got a front spot.  That meant we were first off and I could get this shot of everybody piling off:

Right in front of the Whitehall Ferry station there were street dancers working hard for tips:

 
Our plan from here was to catch the 4 or 5 train up to Grand Central Station and walk east to the UN building. 

 
Here the ladies, through at the Met, caught up with us, cabbing over from Central Park where they had been taking a pedi-ride around the park.

Brian was getting tired, and it was raining, so we decided to eat at an Irish place a block away from Grand Central Station:

My 12 Pins Shepard Pie was terrific. Brian got Bangers & Mash. Jenny salmon. And Paula got Prime Rib, that turned out to be a Sirloin but the waitress (from Ireland) was so convinced it was Prime Rib that she went ahead and ate it.

After that, off to the Green Line to head down to the World Trade Center PATH station. This is the one that was connected to the twin towers.  Ground Zero is now a construction site for the new Freedom Tower (1776’  tall at completion). This is all I could see:

As we walked home, Manhattan started to look pretty good in the setting sun. So when we got back to the RV I hopped on my bike and pedaled a few blocks over to Exchange Place, a set of office/apartment buildings right on the water across from NYC.

Here is the first panorama, taken as the sun set just above the towers of Exchange Square:

I was about to leave when a young man showed up with the same camera as mine. Different lense. We started chatting and it was his first week with the camera. So we spent another hour or so discussing photography techniques and tips, and shooting shots of the Manhattan skyline at night. Here is a panorama, as usual click to see it bigger.

Location: Liberty Harbor Marine & RV Camp and NYC

No pictures today. Left camera at home.
Past pictures.

At 6AMish the pitter patter of rain drops started to hit the RV roof. It rained fairly hard most of the morning.  We were all fairly tired, so we lounged around and watched “The Cowboys” – the classic John Wayne coming of age movie where a bunch of kids and the Duke take 1500 head of cattle 400 miles.  It is one of the few movies I’ve seen more than once, and we all enjoyed it quite a bit.

Liberty Harbor RV Camp doesn’t provide individual sewage lines. Our grey water tank read “full”, so in a spell in the rain we unhooked the electric and water, brought in the slide-outs and porch, and lifted the levelers and drove about 50 feet to the common dump. Then we dumped it – it ran and ran and ran – I guess it was full!   Then back 50 feet to our campsite, where we hooked up and got habitable again.

The women decided to stay home, but the boys wanted to prowl the city. So we went to the AMC 25 in Times Square to catch the 2:30 show of “The Transformers”.  It was sold out, but the 3PM was available.  We were worried, because the line was long for the 3PM… worried until we saw the theater, which was probably the biggest movie theater I’ve been in.  It swallowed the line and still looked quite un-crowded.

The movie was terrific. Funny and action from the start. I’m partial to blondes, but I’d probably make room for Megan Fox if Paula permitted plural marriage. (-:

I’d decided to venture forth without a camera (to lighten the load) or a map (to test my knowledge of the city). So when we left the movies and hit the crush of people at Times Square immediately outside, I only had my phone camera:

The theater was right next to Madame Toussad’s wax museum. Morbidly, they had the wax figure of Michael Jackson in the front window.  Paparazzi at heart… I snapped the picture…

After that, not hungry but not ready to head back to the RV, we decided to head up to 5th avenue and 46th to Barnes & Noble. On the way a big T-storm rolled through. It was cool to see the Empire State Building getting hit with lightning.   We hid out on the steps of the New York Public Library (not your ordinary library building!). Once the t-cell rolled through we scrambled to Barnes & Noble, mainly to restock Brian’s video library.

From there, Verizon’s VZ Navigator said there was a German place .8 miles away at 555 51st street. This was 5 blocks uptown and 5 blocks west – almost to the Hudson River. But full of popcorn we were happy to make the walk… until we got there and it wasn’t there. So then I looked again, and it said “402 51st street”. No problem, a block back on the other side of the street… but it had moved. Bummed we headed back to 9th avenue to head down it and see what we could find. And there it was “Hallo Berlin” – the “wurst” restaurant in time! Brian got the JagerSnitzel and I got the Two wursts with German potato salad, sauerkraut.

After that we walked down to 42nd street and over to Broadway to catch the subway. 

The clouds had parted and the sun was setting. The result was a cloud pattern I’d never seen that was quite lovely. So lovely, in fact, that it had jaded New Yorkers stopped in the streets and coming out of restaurants to view them.

Adventurous at heart we decided to take the 14th street station on the downtown 3 train to catch the PATH train home.  That proved adventurous as the path to PATH was under repair. Forced on to the street with few directions and no map, I decided to get to 5th avenue and 14th.  Speaking that aloud, I must have sounded like I knew what I was doing because a few people then lined up to ask directions. “where is Union Square”. “Which way is 9th avenue? Meatpackers District?  East Village?  I had the answers and gave them confidently. Hope they got there!

Location: Liberty Harbor Marina & RV Camp and NYC

Day 25 Pictures
All Pictures

After a leisurely morning we got up and took the last ferry into Manhattan.

. We were heading to the Empire State Building!

But first…. breakfast:

A surprisingly full menu and a good value too. We sat on benches and ate our breakfast and  then we walked up to Trinity Church to catch the R or W trains uptown to 34th street & Broadway.

Since that goes RIGHT by Wall Street we stopped for photos. First in front of NYSE and then with a NYPD officer Brian had chatted up about his carbine (an Colt M4 – descendent of the M16)

Then off we went on the subway. This is typical signage. Folks gripe about it, but I find it fairly understandable.  The only trick is to know which side of the street to catch the train on for uptown or downtown directions.

Magically, we were soon there:

 
A bazillion people go up the building each day and they follow Disneyland’s example to the hilt by trying to extract money from you at every step and also by obfuscating exactly how long the line is. But all in all given the problem they face, it went rather smoothly.  One thing that bugged me is that we staged up to the 80th floor, where we waited for a second elevator to take us the rest of the way. In that elegant space, the windows were frosted so we couldn’t see out. I don’t know why, perhaps to keep the line moving or so folks wouldn’t go to the window (and possibly out the windows).  I held my camera high to get this shot:

About 15 minutes after we got entered the building we were on the observation deck, and it was jam packed!   But the view was awesome. Here is a panorama I made from 8 images taken in sequence. To the left is the East River and Brooklyn. The  Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges cross it.  In the distant center is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, then in the center the Financial District high rises, and to the right the Hudson River and New Jersey. Click the image to see it in a full resolution form.

It was crowded but I managed to squeeze us in for a family shot:

And to get some of the kids individually:

We heard some noises that sounded like a tool being run. I though wow – that is loud – all the way up here?  But then I looked over and saw these workman working hard 86 floors up:

They seemed happy. I asked how they got this job and he answered “the union”.

After about 20 minutes up top, we headed down.

Then we divided up. Paula & Jenny went off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the “Met”, while Brian and I headed off to ride “The Beast” fast boat around NY Harbor.

Catch Paula’s facebook page for details about their trek. I know that they are going back tomorrow to finish it and quite enjoyed the 1/2 day they spent there today.

Back to Brian & me….   The Beast is a custom built ocean race boat that holds about 50 people and goes about 50MPH.  They tour NY Harbor at high speed. It is supposedly “educational” but it is really just a fun ride.  We took the bus from the Empire State Building to 43rd & 8th Avenue. Then we walked the rest of the way, arriving just in time to catch the 1PM ride. We hopped on and got seats in the middle. The front seats are the coolest, because you can see. The back seats are the most fun because you get soaked. But we settled for the middle.

Then away we went… Part of the show was an announcer with a heavy NY accent who told us tidbits along the way. But the main thing was speed…

To folks who had never had a boat or ATV up to 60 it seemed fast, but 45 in a boat that size didn’t seem that fast to us. Sorry “The Beast”…

But it was fun… Here is a photo of Brian and I at 40 MPH:

And the host had fun dousing those who weren’t getting wet from the boat’s wake:

The Beast isn’t really a tour of the Harbor. it is a high speed run to the Statue of Liberty with a 3 minute stop for photos and then a high speed run back.  But… the sun came out and the photos turned out pretty good…

Tip: Get a circular polarizer for shots like this. It helped!

Here are Brian, Lady Liberty and me:

The area around the statue is crowded. There were other speed boats and this very pretty sailing ship that was a tour vessel as well:

Once back we took the bus cross town to Broadway & 49th and ate at Tad’s Steaks:

It was tasty and affordable.  Then a subway to 34th, and the PATH train home.

The ladies came home around 6. And we ate the rest of the stew plus some fresh baked bread while we watched the John Wayne flick “The Searchers”.

Location: Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Camp & NYC

Day 24 Pictures
All Pictures

We arose a bit late today – tired from our extraordinary efforts walking yesterday.

The ladies decided today would be a day of rest (and laundry). Brian & I decided to head in and see the aircraft carrier Intrepid and to eat foods the ladies might not like.

First off… a view of our RV:

We took the Path train in, and then caught blue line to 42nd street. then we walked from 7th avenue over the 12th avenue and the Hudson River and Pier 83 where the Intrepid is moored. Here is an overview of where it is:

and here is the carrier:

here is a silly kid in front of the carrier!

The pier actually holds 3 attractions – The Intrepid, the U.S.S. Growler submarine, and an actual Concorde supersonic jet.  We first hit the Growler. It is a large diesel electric sub that served as a cruise missile host but was in service for just 6 years before being obsoleted by Polaris class nuclear subs.  It was way more spacious than any WWII sub we’d been on – almost livable to those who’d been living in an RV for a while. And this looked familiar:

After the Growler we went aboard the Intrepid.  It is an Essex class carrier started just weeks before Pearl Harbor and finished in 1943.  It saw extensive action in the Pacific sustaining numerous kamikaze attacks and serious damage.  An interesting (and sad) movie about the kamikazes is shown at the exact spot where one hit and killed over 60 sailors. 

The ship was later converted to jets and served with distinction in Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War – last cruising in 1972.

We prowled the flight deck and it’s extensive collection of Jets

but being the leaders we are we were drawn to the bridge:

There we met an interesting elderly Marine who had the distinction of landing at Normandy (a very small Marine contingent off the Texas – and he was surprised when we knew about his ship)  and ALSO at Iwo Jima.

After the command bridge, we hit the navigation bridge. Since Brian was skipper, I got to be the XO and navigate the ship:

But as always on these ships Brian was drawn to the deck guns….

These were a little disappointing because the weapons are welded in position. But his imagination is still good.

We spent about 4 hours at the Intrepid.  All in all it was interesting to us military buffs, but we do wish they would open up more of the ship and also unweld the deck guns!

We asked an innocent bystander to take our picture at the focsle and then headed out:

We then took the 1 Express train all the way down to South Ferry, watched the Staten Island Ferry come in:

and then caught the ferry home.  The lady’s were home, well rested and a tasty stew was on the stove. So I caught up on a few days blogging, the ladies read, and Brian watched “Rio Bravo” on the DVD.

Location: Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Camp
                 & Manhattan Island, New York City

Day 24 Pictures:
All trip Pictures:

We caught the Liberty Harbor Ferry this morning promptly at 0845.

As we departed we could see NYC ahead:

And our RV park behind:

The ferry goes fast. Darned fast for such a big boat:

as we head over to Pier 11 in NYC, we go past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island:

This is roughly the route we took across the harbor, although it varies to avoid other ferry traffic. It also shows just how close (yet how FAR) we are from Manhattan.

As we went across I took a series of pictures I then put together into a large panorama of the entire west side of the island of Manhattan as seen from NY Harbor. Click it to see it bigger:

As we arrived at Pier 11, the Brooklyn Bridge was close to our right, and  the tall buildings of the financial district stood high above us:

We met Sam, our guide for a 6 hour walking tour of NYC, at Pier 11 and off we went.

Sam was very nice. Personable and quite knowledgeable of NYC and quite a few other topics as well. 40 years old, but looking way younger. He and his wife live up in Harlem and are actors by desire and tour guides and other by necessity (although Sam enjoys the tour gig).

He started off by giving us the low down on Pier 11 and the overview of NYC and the other boroughs. This included the Battle of Manhattan, which he introduced because of Brian’s interest in military history.  Then off walking we went – a  brisk pace!

First stop… Wall Street and the NYSE:

Since 9/11 it is now a well guarded pedestrian area, which I like better. The Stock Exchange itself is the small building with the flag, with towering skyscrapers next to it. It is surprisingly unbusy on the street.

Then off to Ground Zero and the St. Paul’s Church. The church was where firefighters and rescuers based during the aftermath of 9/11. Although still a working Episcopal Church it has also become a quasi-shrine to those who died in 9/11 and who worked on the rescue and recovery operations.

From Trinity Church we walked to Ground Zero. I didn’t take a picture. It is more of a construction site now as they build the Freedom Tower (1776’ high).

We then proceeded to tour Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, West Village, SoHo (South of Houston St), NoLita (North of Little Italy), NoHo (North of Houston St). and NYU. The tour was interesting and much more detailed and fun than a Duck Boat or Bus tour. We walked through alleys, tunnels where the Tongs fought their wars, into buildings with interesting scenery, and all through out it Sam had info and tidbits both from the past (the circle in front of the main court area has thousands of slaves buried under it) and the present (the building where “Friends” had their apartment (totally not true – nobody has an apartment that big in NYC!).

China Town

After lunch at John’s Pizza (best pizza in town since 1929) we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral:

which was very impressive!  Then we caught the subway and got a tour of the park.

Ending up at the Dakota Building.  The tour flew by, but we were tired by the end. Our feet were anyway!

Sam (our walking tour guide), Paula, Jenny and Brian

Hungry and tired we ate over in the West Side at a place called the “Utopia Diner”. Very good and large portions too:

Then we subwayed down to 42′nd street and went to the Gershwin Theater to catch “Wicked”.

Jenny really loves that show. Paula does too. This would be Paula’s 4th, Jenny’s 3rd, my second and Brian’s 1st.  Here we wait to go in:

and once in, we can spend money!

Then we sat down – not the best seats, but pretty not too bad either:

Technically this performance was of better quality the the other I’d seen in Boston. But I enjoyed that one more because we had 2nd row seats.  But this one was pretty good, and the actress who played Glinda the Good Witch added a lot of fun physical comedy I hadn’t seen in the Boston performance.

When it was over it was late – past 10. And we had to Subway and then PATH train home. We did, but at that hour the trains are slow so we didn’t get home til well past 11 AM.

Location: Liberty Harbor, RV Park, Jersey City, NJ (across river from NYC)

Day 23 Pictures
All trip pictures

The day started by us walking over to catch the ferry only to find that the last one left at 9:50 (a couple minutes before we got there). Turns out the online schedule of ferry’s every 15 minutes through mid-day is wrong. Instead, they run frequently from 6 to 10, and then from 4pm to 10pm.

Instead we walk the other way a few blocks to the PATH train station. PATH stands for Port Authority Trans Hudson. PATH trains go under the Hudson River into NYC.  We bought a card (we can use one for 4 of us if we run it through 4 times on entrance).  And it didn’t work. And didn’t work. So finally we put an extra $1 on it to get a new card, and that one worked!

The train drops us off at 33rd Street Path Station, you take a tunnel out and you arrive at 34th and Broadway – Herald Square. Suddely.. .you are in New York. You can tell by the pizza!  It is thin and tasty!

Looking up Broadway you can see Times Square a few blocks ahead. And off we go!

When we arrive, someone has thoughtfully put chairs in the middle of the square, which has also (thankfully) been permanently made a pedestrian zone.  So we snag a pretzel and drinks from a street vendor (they are everywhere) take a seat:

The square is crowded… thousands of people heading this way and that. And also the Naked Cowboy is posing with the tourists:

I’ve got a guitar, and a hat. I’d just need to get boots and a body tourists would want to pose with and my new gig is clear!

Times Square is nothing but ads:

but it is pretty cool. I liked it instantly. I like walking around cities.

After seeing Times Square we decided to head up to the Museum of Natural History. That required a subway ride. So we went down these steps and saw the entrance:

We bought 4 week long all you can ride cards and went in to wait for our train:

Which arrived in a shaking rumbling roar:

And a few minutes later, we were in the basement of the Museum. The train drops you straight there.

We did the museum, which thrilled Jenny but left the rest of numbed with numbness on our numbness… She likes it though:

and the view over the park from the Aster Turret is pretty nice:

They booted us out at 5:45 and we left via the Park side entrance:

Which put us right across the street from Central Park. So we decided to walk down through the park and have dinner in the upper mid-town. Central Park is way cool. I’d be in it a lot if I lived in NYC – biking, walking, picnicking, and just chilling. It has some surprisingly big bodies of water:

Our destination is those skyscrapers beyond the pond. That would take us an hour or so as we meandered down, enjoying the scene, scenery and trying to avoid high speed bicyclists.

Then we arrived at mid town and this place drew our interest:

And it was really good!  They had a smoked meats/sausages in a bowl with saurkraut and boiled potatoes that was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

Then  the PATH train home and a off to bed.

Location: En transit… NYC. Ending Liberty Harbor RV Park, Jersey City, NJ

No pictures. Sorry!

Nothing much to report this day.  In the morning we drove out to Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD to grab the RV from temporary storage.  It had leaked in the rain, so we had to clean it all up. And the fridge had failed to run on propane at some point, so all the food was ruined. After tidying up, we headed north paying tolls all day. A typical pull up to the toll booth was “oh… cars are $2… what we are $23????”.  Yes, and it happened a number of times on toll highways and bridges.

I also encountered what I expect will be a model for government run healthcare. A government run gas station on the turnpike. Let’s just say it was like they never heard of an RV before. The first one was just over 10 feet high – a lose the top of the RV proposition. The next was high enough, but in order to fill up I had to block the driveway, making me not “popular”. The place was decrepit, the gas pumps still used the old clicker type of pump (not digital) and it was very expensive (almost $3 a gallon).

Around 6:30 we rolled into Liberty Harbor RV Park, setup and tried to find food to replenish the fridge. It turns out there was a decent grocery store down the street (thank you Mr. GPS database!).  So we stocked up, had dinner at Bertuccis on the waterfront from NYC and came home and called it a morning.

Location: Washington, D.C.
Day 21 Pictures
All trip Pictures

Another easy morning. No need to rush things in a 47 day trip!

Today we divided again. Jenny and Abigail went off to the National Gallery of Art. Me, Grandpa Carl, and Brian headed to the National Marine Corp Museum in Quantico, VA. Paula, chilled out in the Dupont Circle area.

The Marine Corp Museum is in a lovely setting. The architecture is designed to abstractly represent the famous raising of the flag over Iwo Jima:

Brian poses in front:

The Museum is very well done. And it was loaded with…. Marines!  So we had lots of chances to talk with folks that “were there”.   The layout is unique to me, a spiral that leads you through the history of the Marines – from their creation in the Revolutionary War, right up to ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Also, they had special parts about certain timeless topics like “The Making of a Marine” which covers boot camp. That part included a Laser Marksman Ship Training unit used to train recruits away from the full length range.  Here Brian uses it:

The operator started to explain the operation of the M-16, but shut up when Brian started manipulating it quite expertly (-:   Brian and I both shot Expert in the simulated 300 meter offhand. I shot all 10’s except for one 8 that went off by surprise when I was getting my breathing under control.  Cest La Vie!   We both shot better than Marine officer candidats (attending OCS at Quantico) that did it before and after us.  I explained breathing to one who had a very vertical pattern.

The museum was quite authentic and detailed.  Here is a panorama of Hill 881 firebase in Vietnam:

To get to this we came off the ramp of a Chinook. They also had an Iwo Jima exhibit that included a ride in on an LVT to the Red Beach 2 of Iwo Jima. The use of positional acoustics to place “shots” on the boat had more than a few of us ducking.

It had poured all day, but cleared up as we returned to D.C.

After a short rest we walked up 18th street to one of our favorite places in D.C. – The Straits of Malay” – a Malaysian restaurant with rooftop seating. We were there first customers so we had our pick of the seating (usually tough to get). So we sat on the roof and ate ourselves sick with appetizers and 4 entrées.

Then… back to the hotel to drop off some leftovers and then a brisk walk to Georgetown. There we hit Barnes and Nobel. And then hit Cafe La Ruche for dessert:

Then the ladies caught a cab home while the boys walked home in a light rain, including taking the “scary at night” P to M street Rock Creek Park shortcut: