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We've finally made it to The Big Apple!

July 14th - Boston Area to New York City Area

The view of NYC from Liberty Island.

Looking at the maps, we figured it would take us about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to drive from Middleboro, MA to Newburgh, NY... it was a relatively short distance, so we should be able to get into the NY campground early and get lots of stuff done. Right? Right!

When we pulled into the capsite around 9:30 that night, both Janet and I agreed that we were not good at estimating time. But while it took us longer to get there than we had planned, it wasn't a complete loss.

We slept in and took our time packing up the camper (it really doesn't take that much work to pack up the camper). We left Middleboro around 10:00am and headed for Newport, Rhode Island where we used to live (a long, long time ago... I was 3, that's how long ago). Of course, neither Mom or Dad remembered exactly how to get to the old house, but Dad mentioned something about an Admiral Somebody street, and Mom told us to head East and look for an Indian St. Everyone remembered that we lived in a community called Black Point Farms. Fortunately, Janet remembered that we didn't actually live in Newport... we lived in Portsmouth. So, you can imagine that it took us some time to find the house.

Amazingly, we did find it. After stopping at a drug store where the pharmacist had heard of Black Point Farms, we followed his directions, put ended up at some place called Sandy Hill. We weren't too far away, however, and some friendly construction workers pointed us in the right direction. We found the house, and surprisingly, it looked pretty much the same... except for it looking smaller, which they always do. The neighborhood, on the other hand, looked very different. Black Point Farms had grown, and there were a lot of new houses where there used to only be fields and crops. I don't think the residents were real thrilled about us being there since it was a private road and we were driving a big ol' truck camper around, so we decided to take a few pictures and move on.

While we were in Newport, I wanted to drive along the ocean and see some of the "cottages" of the rich and famous. We did a lot of "oohing" and "aahhing" at the mansions, but were much more interested in the part at the tip of Rhode Island. There's a little state park right on the ocean with a lot of places for picnicing. Since it was already around 1:00pm, we decided to pull over and have lunch. The girls enjoyed climbing on the rocks at the water's edge, and we all enjoyed watching the fancy kites... it's apparently always a good windy spot for flying kites.

After lunch, we decided it was time to head for New York, so we made our way through Newport traffic (it's apparently their tourist season, because the place was packed) and surprisingly found our way out (Newport is apparently fond of small, narrow streets). We ran into some more traffic along the way, and then got lost right around Newburgh (there was a detour, and the road we turned where we shouldn't have turned, and then we passed the road where we should have turned, and... it was a mess). But we did finally make it in, and we ended up at a really nice, wooded campsite... of course, we couldn't see it because it was so dark, but we were there and ready to get some shut-eye. Of course, Janet stayed up and did laundry until about 1:00am... so she didn't get much shut-eye.

The next morning, we got up bright and early to catch our tour bus at 7:00am. It was a nice, comfortable touring bus, and I was ready for a nice nap on our way into NYC. Our tour guide, Stacey, however, was ready for giving us all sorts of information about the tour to come, so, we didn't get much sleep on the way in.

Our first stop in NYC was the Empire State Building. Now, the weather wasn't really that good... it was pretty hazy... so we really wouldn't have gotten any great pictures... and we'd have had to wait in a long line... and... OK... we were chicken... only Laura was willing to go up, and she wasn't really wanting to go up... I'd have gone up if she really wanted to go up... really, I would have. So, we decided to forego the 86 story elevator ride and go shopping instead. We wanted to go to Macy's (the biggest store in the world, according to their sign), but they weren't opened yet. So we did a little souvenir shopping, and we're very glad we did, because there wasn't a lot of time later on to do that sort of shopping. So it all turned out for the best. And I did get some good pictures... from the ground... good solid ground.

After leaving the Empire State Building, the bus headed over to the harbor and we loaded onto a ferry that took us over to Liberty and Ellis islands.

On the way to the ferry, we passed by Ground Zero. The place is surrounded by a fence that you can't see through, so our best view was from the bus where we were up high and could see over the fence. There really wasn't much to see... pretty much just a big hole in the ground. But it did look like they were just beginning new construction.

Because of time constraints, we couldn't tour both Liberty and Ellis islands, so the tour had picked Liberty island. The ferry took us right around the front of Lady Liberty, so I was able to get a lot of great shots (47, to be exact). We then got off the ferry and had 45 minutes to walk around the island (and take some more pictures). We then got back on the ferry and headed for Ellis Island... Do NOT get off the ferry at Ellis Island (this was drilled into us)... and finally, back to the dock.

The bus then headed for another seaport (sorry... I don't remember the name) where we had lunch (the PB&J sandwiches got a little squashed, and the Little Debbies were a lost cause). It started to rain a little, so we ducked into some shops to keep dry. The bus then picked us back up and we spent about an hour driving around the city seeing the different neighborhoods (every neighborhood has a name, like the "clothing district" or the "restaurant supply district"). Our tour guide knew a lot about the area, and she did a really good job at keeping it interesting (though Janet fell asleep).

When we finally got to Rockefeller Plaza/Center (we couldn't decide which was right, Center or Plaza, so I just use them both) where they let us off the bus. Our guide took us to NBC studios (though it was too late for the Today show) where our bus picked us back up. We did a lot more driving around, seeing more of NYC including places like Broadway and Greenwich Village. We had one more stop at Times Square, where Stacey recommended a great place for cheesecake. About half the bus headed that way, including us. And she was right about the cheesecake. We also did a little looking around at the flashy lights and signs... I can only imagine what it looks like at night. We also got to see where they drop the ball on New Years Eve.

We got back on the bus one last time and then waited in traffic to get out of town... and waited... and waited. We must have spent an hour going 2 city blocks. It was fascinating just watching the people on the street (though, this time I fell asleep)... one guy even jumped out of his car and started directing traffic so that that an ambulance could get through. It took us about 3 hours to get back to the campground, the traffic was just aweful the whole way. It once again affirmed our believe that while the big city is fun to visit, we wouldn't want to live there (except Laura). It also affirmed our decision to take the tour instead of trying to do it on our own... that's definately the way to see NYC in a day!

By the time we got back, we were exhausted. So Janet ordered some pizza and we made it an early night. We took a bite out of The Big Apple and were ready for some down time.

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