New York

Well, here is where our short term plans changed. Our first plan was to stay somewhere and travel into New York City and back out. However, after looking into it, we found a reasonable hotel at a reasonable rate in the city. So, we got up on Monday morning, and took the ferry from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Port Jefferson, Long Island. We found something to eat on Long Island. Then we drove into the city on I-495. We stopped to pick up tour tickets that Debbie bought online. Then we found our hotel. We couldn't check in, so drove up to Yankee Stadium and then back to the hotel. We checked in, parked the car and took the downtown tour.

After the downtown tour, we had lunch at a deli in Times Square. After the sticker shock on the menu, we had some good food. Then, we took the afternoon tour uptown. If you have been following these blogs the last two years, you remember we found hot weather in Seattle last year. Well, we found the hottest day of the year in the City. These two tours were hot! The evening tour was cooler, but not much. It took us over to Brooklyn to see the city from there as well as see parts of Brooklyn and the lower east side. We returned to our hotel room and settled in for the night. The hotel was squeezed into a spot on 26th street and the room - with two double beds was a bit of a squeeze as well.

Tuesday morning we got up and had breakfast at the Malibu Diner on 23rd Street. Good breakfast for a reasonable price. Then we checked out and picked up our van. We then tried to find a parking space near the last part of our tour - the boat tour. The boat simply took us down to the Statue of Liberty and back. However, it may have been the most fascinating tour since we got the best view of the two most significant events of the last ten years. First, where Scully landed the plane and second, the site where the towers stood. Lady Liberty looked great! The last time that Bob saw her (from the air only), she was wrapped in scaffolding.

Here is another vacation perspective. Growing up in Ohio, we've seen many barges on the Ohio River. Last year we got to see a barge on the Columbia and this year on the Hudson. Bob's mom would have loved this part. At each Fire Station, we saw a plaque, honoring the firemen who died on 9-11. And of course, on each of those we thought of Deb's dad.

Original post...
3 tours 97 degrees... no post tonight.
zzz