New York City

New York City

On Tuesday we finally were able to find a campground – a nice one just a couple hours from NYC! We were able to spend Wednesday and Thursday in New York City. We managed to meet up with my Aunt Bev, Uncle Merrill, and Cousin Angela, who were also visiting NYC for the first time. We called them as soon as we got into the city. It turns out that they were on the tour bus that just pulled away from the corner we were standing on – what a coincidence! We joined them on their tour (a bus tour of the city is a great way to go!) We saw all the major neighborhoods and landmarks – Little Italy, Chinatown, Brooklyn, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Trump Tower, The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and much, much more. Part of our tour included a ferry over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that you had to get tickets ahead of time to actually go to the museums. They are not letting anyone up into the statue anymore – primarily because of fire hazard. But we were able to get off the ferry and walk around a bit.

The next day we went up to the World Trade Center site. It is currently under construction. The new Freedom Tower is scheduled to be completed in 2010. They are also putting in a big transportation hub and a memorial to the 9/11 victims. So there really wasn’t much to at this time – but it was still very somber. A little church across the way had some memorials and tributes to the victims and volunteers.

From there we went and looked around the Seaport Museum including a sailing ship named the Peking that used to sail around Cape Horn. By then it was rush hour in the city and it took us about an hour on the bus to reach the Empire State Building. We stood in line to take the elevator to the 80th floor (where they then put you in another line to get another elevator to the 86th floor – where the observatory is.) But the time we got to the front of the line, we noticed several people were leaving. It turns out that the fog rolled in and was currently at 0% visibility. We went up anyways, since it was our last night there. We were able to see around the city – the wind would blow clearings in the fog every now and then. Within a ½ hour, the sun was down and the city was lit up. The fog thinned a bit and we were able to get views of the city that weren’t disappointing!

It was a whirlwind tour – but we saw quite a bit. It was fun being able to see it with Merrill, Bev & Angie too!

Yesterday we just “relaxed” at the campsite – caught up on some laundry and watched a few videos I had taped from the History and Travel channels about New York. Then the rain set in – it’s been raining non-stop since last night. We are heading towards Maine today – although we’re going to check the weather before we go on – plans are subject to change.

We’ve officially been on the road a month now. We miss you all!