A Day in the Big Apple

We got up EARLY this morning so that we could get on the 7:30 am departure tour bus that would show us some New York sights. We grabbed free breakfast pancakes from the KOA café and ate them on the bus. I purchased souvenir cold water bottles, at a small price differential, from the camp store so that our pancakes wouldn't stick in our throat.

The ride was about 90 minutes from the campground to the city, but even the tour guide, Mitch, was surprised at the backed up traffic in the bus lane headed into the Lincoln Tunnel. This put us a little behind schedule for the day.

Our first destination off the bus was the Battery Park ferry terminal so that we could head over to Liberty Island! There were big security lines, but they moved pretty fast. We were really blessed to get to get off at the Island because the Statue had just re-opened after being closed for the last 9 months or so due to repairs needing to be made after Hurricane Sandy last year.

We saw Ellis Island from the ferry. It will still be closed for the next year due to renovations and repairs.

On the ferry, pulling up to Liberty Island for docking

Getting excited...

Does't this look like a green screen picture? It isn't! We were actually there!

We waited in a long line to get off Liberty Island and watched a little New York attitude as our guide, Mitch, nearly got arrested for arguing with the ferry employees who tried to split up our tour group in the middle. They finally let us through and we boarded. There was actually still quite a bit of room on the ferry floor so I'm not sure why they were so adamant about cutting us off.

Sky showing off his souvenir water bottle in front of the famous skyline.

Back at Battery Park as we got off the ferry, we saw this sculpture, the Sphere, which I think Mitch said is the only intact piece left from the events of 9-11. It has been installed in a courtyard area between the two towers and is damaged, but still intact. It was moved to Battery Park when all the demolition work was being done and set up as a "temporary" memorial and it was intended to be moved back to the original area, but evidently there has been a strong movement to leave it where it is as a permanent reminder.

Construction continues on Freedom Tower, World Trade Center 1

Our next stop was Grand Central Station where our tour group was turned loose for an hour and a half for lunch. It was a little overwhelming, but cool to see and even Skylar recognized the Central area from the movie Madagascar.

We enjoyed some New York pizza by the slice from Two Boots Pizzeria. They had some unique names for their flavor choices like Bayou Beast, the Sicilian, Cleopatra Jones, Buffalo Chicken, and the Dude. We also tried a meatball slider and some garlic knots. It was good, but we weren't that impressed.

Inside the doors at Grand Central Station

We even saw an infamous NY cockroach. It was so big
Brynna thought it was a mouse at first.

Just outside Grand Central. The bridge street above is Park Avenue.

Some random sights on the streets of New York...

The Chrysler Building

The Times Square New Year Ball as seen from the bus window.

We were impressed with the double decker parking lot...

...until we saw this!

Are they kidding??!

Next, our very capable and trustworthy bus driver, Jerome, navigated super crowded streets to drop us off at the Empire State Building. We went in through security again and then waited in line for an elevator that takes you to the 80th floor in about a minute. That messes with your ears for sure!
From there, we got on another elevator that took us up another 6 floors to the Observatory floor.

A King Kong display on the floor between the two elevator rides.

Brighton thought it was pretty awesome. We were above some of the clouds!
 It was raining a little when we first stepped outside, but it didn't last long.

Impressive views for sure!

Brynna wasn't sure she even wanted to go up, but I'm proud of her. She did great!

And yes, I was there too!

We didn't have to wait too long to ride the elevators down, route quickly through the gift store, reject purchasing our $20 green screen picture they took of us on the way in, and make our way out to the prearranged meeting spot. The tour bus wasn't waiting for us yet, so I took a few kids into a cheapy souvenir store and they picked out a couple of little things. We were waiting for awhile for Jerome to pull up. An ambulance went screaming by and a few minutes later Jerome came pulling up. He told us that a bicyclist had tried to squeeze between him and a parked car and had taken off the car's mirror with her elbow. She was ok, but he wasn't very compassionate in telling the story. I think he said, to us, that she needed to get out of the middle of the road before he ran her over. I would never be able to get around in New York, just walking on the sidewalk was enough of a challenge for me. Spencer hadn't heard Jerome's story so he was asking us, "what happened? what did he say?" We told him and he couldn't hear us properly and wanted to know how someone had "lost their ear". No Spence, mirror. It was good for a laugh.

Enjoying a big flowerpot while waiting for our bus.

Our last tour stop was Times Square. Honestly, from that point in time, I'd have been happy just seeing it from the bus on our way through, but we stopped and got off for a short walk around. We decided to try some famous Junior's New York Cheesecake. Yummm. That was worth the stop. We also took a short look around at all the people and lights.

After Times Square, Jerome successfully maneuvered (literally) us out of the city and back through the Lincoln Tunnel and back the 90 minutes to the campground. We arrived over an hour after we'd anticipated getting home, after 8 pm. We were tired and overstimulated, but really glad that we'd made the trek.

Now, starting tomorrow, we get to start heading West. Yay!!

One of the biggest surprises of the trip: There are more fireflies at this campground 90 minutes North of New York City than we have seen anywhere! They are like a million tiny flashbulbs going off in the trees. Love it!