The Last Days of New York City...WHEW!

You know how they say, "It's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there..."? Well, that epitomizes how we felt about NYC. On our last full day there, we had tickets to go on a Ferry to Ellis and Liberty Islands. Our plan was to drive!...... DON'T DRIVE IN NYC!!! if you can keep from it. It sounded good to all of us, it was hot, we were tired of the subways, and we wanted to go across the Hudson River to get to Liberty Park. There were several geocaches in the park we wanted to hit before our scheduled ferry trip. Well, we started off all right. Our little Garmin car GPS was very helpful and said we would be at the park in less than 20 minutes. We knew that once we got into the tall skyscrapers our satellite reception would be a little hit or miss, so we did map directions on my iPhone to back up the Garmin... things were moving along splendidly... until I got pulled over by a policewoman... Even though I was turning right in about one block, I was in the wrong lane. Supposedly there was a sign that said that the lane I was in was for buses only during certain times of the day. Though the traffic was bumper-to-bumper, and there were tons of vehicles that were not buses in the lane I was in, she still took my license. I apologized and explained that we were just trying to figure out when and where to turn and try not to get our new mini-van from getting smashed... she said, "Don't they have signs in Indiana?" uh... well, yes... but not 3,000 per city block, and not ones that have fine print! Anyway, 15 minutes later she gave me my license back with just a verbal warning. Whew!

We continued on through the maze... Come to find out, there was a toll to get across the river... $6! and on the other side there was another $0.60 toll. If we had known it was going to cost us that much upon entering the last street before the tunnel, we would have told the GPS to avoid tolls, because we found out the following day that there was another route we could have taken that was free... though it would have taken a little longer... We finally arrived at the Liberty Park. We had plenty of time to go do a cache, but not as much as we had hoped, which was all right by us because the temperature was getting out of control at 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Everyone was starting to get grumpy, so we got a few hot dogs and sat in the AC area where we picked up our ferry tickets. We then decided to get in line. After going through security, we were told that the Ferry was about to leave! It was 10 minutes before our tickets said it was going to leave!!! So we ran to the end of the pier to get on... did I mention that the temperature was over 100?! We did make it, but we were all miserable when we sat down on the top level, in the direct sunlight... I guess I shouldn't complain too much, everything up until this day had been going so well during our trip. So, the trip to Ellis was very nice. Once the boat started moving, there was a slight breeze that helped with the heat. Ellis was pretty cool, though a bit boring. I did get to take a few pictures of some names, on the "Wall of Honor"... which was a list of every immigrant that came through Ellis Island, that share my last name. I'll have to do some research to see if I'm related. Our trip to Liberty Island was again very nice. The entire family loved the Statue of Liberty. We got some great pictures and despite the heat, we had a great time.

We did have many people ask about the t-shirts!

Just before the ferry ride to Ellis and Liberty Islands
(NYC skyline in the background)

The station for the ferry and used to have trains come into also

We've arrived!

Signing into Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ethan was pulled from the audience to help!

The Great Hall of Ellis Island

With the last name Everett!

Onto Liberty Island with the Statue of Liberty



In all her glory!

That's one big foot (a replica of Lady Liberty's)

The torch that was replaced in the 1980's

Looking up inside of the Statue of Liberty

  

Goodbye Lady Liberty...back to Jersey
(and hopefully some AC!)


After the wonderful trip to the two islands we ran right back into some bad luck... traffic!!! New York City traffic!!! It took us 60 minutes just to get back to paying the toll again. I laughed, a little too snarkily I'll admit, that I was paying to wait in traffic, to which she replied, "That's rush hour for you..." ... it was 8:00 PM!!! Rush 'hour' in NYC begins at 3:00 and lasts until 10:00, the last I checked, that's 7 hours, not 1!!! Anyway after another hour the traffic was starting to lighten up, but then Ruth realized that we had to be close to Times Square, and we hadn't seen it yet... so I made a detour to drive through it... an hour and a 1/2 later we finally made it back to the hotel. We were exhausted, but looking back, it was worth it!

Times Square

That night was our last night in NYC, but since we had money still on our Metro subway card, we decided that as soon as we checked out of the hotel, we would use them to go to Chinatown and Little Italy... which we did. We enjoyed it, but our enthusiasm was dampened by the excrutiating heat. After having a nice lunch we picked up our minivan and wished New York adieu... or so we thought... We decided to try and get out of NYC by using the "free" route. Two hours later we found out that there was an emergency two blocks before we entered the bridge and had to take a detour. It was as if the city was trying to suck us into it's quagmire-like streets. But we managed to pull free into New Jersey... again...

Goodbye New York...







Our Last Day in Boston and Time in the Big Apple

We were so glad to be able to visit with two of my high school buddies, and their families of course. They haven't changed a bit! Reminiscing is always fun. It's also good to know that no matter the time that goes by, you will always have a special connection with them. When I was asked what was my favorite part of Boston... I have to say it was Tom and Tom with their families. Thanks, guys, for all the memories!

Me, Tom Cole, and Tom Clouser

Ellen & Ethan Everett, Ethan & Avery Cole, and Tobin Clouser

After having a wonderful lunch at Tom's, we decided to hit the Minute Man National Historical Park. This is site includes where Paul Revere, William Dawes, and "Doc" Prescott made their famous ride to warn the Patriots that "The Regulars Are Coming!!!" and then later the next day "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" occured. This was the shot where the "rebels" were finally ordered to shoot, thus starting the War. Very cool history!!! It is also where Louisa May Alcott, the author of "Little Women," Nathaniel Hawethorne, the author of "The Scarlet Letter," lived and wrote their books.




North Bridge - "The Shot Heard 'Round the World"



The Wayside



Site where Paul Revere was captured


Sunday evening, Tom suggested we go to Redbones, a local barbecue restaurant in Somerville, MA (a suburb of Boston and where he lived). This was a fun experience! The ambiance alone was worth it. Ruth couldn't get over the fact that kids were allowed to eat in the same room as a bar... something you are not allowed to do in Indiana.


Some of the artwork on the walls of the restaurant


Monday was a slow day. It was our last day in Boston, so we had to pack. We were also a little tired and needed a little bit of down time. We ended up finishing the Freedom Trail by going to the USS Constitution and museum. We weren't able to actually tour the ship because it's closed on Mondays, but we were able to tour a World War II destroyer next to it, as well as visit the museum, which was nice. After catching another cache, we went back to the hotel. I did, however, have a very nice drink with my friend Tom, after he got off of work. He took me to a great tavern that was near the Minute Man Historical Park. It was a great way to end our stay in Boston.

USS Cassin Young - World War II Destroyer

The USS Constitution or "Old Ironsides"

The following day we decided to make a quick drive down to Rhode Island to get a cache... just so we could get the geocache souvenir. By doing this, we had to drive through Connecticut, therefore, we had to grab a cache in that state as well. :-)

After getting settled into our hotel in Queens, we took the subway to the United Nations. The subway system in New York turned out to be a little more confusing than in Boston, which I'll explain in just a bit. The UN was pretty cool. Ellen, my daughter, loves foreign countries... she's taking AP World History next year, so she, in particular, loved this trip. When we finished with the UN, we were all starving (I must say, the TripAdvisor application for the iPhone is incredible!) I did a quick search for Chinese food (Ethan was in the mood for Chinese after seeing a lot of Asian people at the UN) and found a great authentic New York Chinese restaurant that was only a block away. The workers in this place were great! Definitely not your stereotypical New York attitude...in fact, almost everyone we've met here, has been exceptionally nice. I understand that almost everywhere we go, they are used to tourists, but even getting on the subway when we ask native people how to work the metro-card machine or which train to get on, they have been exceptionally kind. This brings me to the subway mistake.

Outside the United Nations

On our way to back to the hotel, we got onto the train and I started to talk to my family about which stop we needed to get off, which was 59th Street. A man overheard this discussion and explained that we had gotten on the wrong train... we were headed downtown instead of uptown! He explained how to fix the situation... and he even tried to make us feel better by saying it "happens all the time." Anway, we got off at 14th Street, transferred to the uptown train, and rode it back to the stop closest to our hotel.

Finally we come to today (Wednesday, July 20th). We decided to get up very early and head over to Rockefeller Plaza and see if we could get on the Today Show. We had reservations for an 11:00 tour of the NBC Studios, and thought it would be fun to go early. I think we were actually seen 3 times!!! We were getting texts and facebook posts from friends telling us that they saw us! How cool was that!!! We also saw that there was a Nintendo World Store right next to where the Today Show is filmed. The kids had to go in! When we left the store, we were asked if we would be willing to be interviewed live on a segment on "America Live". The interviewer would ask us about our feelings regarding Washington, DC. We got kind of excited about it when she mentioned going in for make-up and needing all sorts of viewpoints. After a little more discussion it turned out that we would be unable to do this because the NBC tour would be at the same time. Bummer!

Outside the Today Show

Anyway, at 11:00 we did the tour of NBC. Ok, this was awesome...we learned a little television trickery, like how when Brian Williams does the Nightly News he's actually in a small studio, not a "Master Control" with tons of people working, it's a "bluescreen"... and a lot of times when they say they are going to someone in the such-and-such studio, they are actually within "high-five distance..." The coolest set we got to see was the Saturday Night Live set. There's a ton of really cool pictures along the backstage of the various skits throughout the years! The coolest part of the whole thing was when Ellen was chosen to do an actual news recording!!! Even though it wasn't actually shown on TV, it was shown in Rockefeller Center and we got a DVD of it!!!!!! How cool is that!?!?

NBC Studios - LOVED the SNL set

By the time the tour was over, we were starving. The breakfast at the hotel was only continental, so we hadn't had much to eat. We wanted something quick and easy, so we ate at Subway... that was below a subway... heehee... After our bellies were full, we went to the top of the Rockefeller Building, which was called "Top of the Rock!" The view was amazing as you can see by our pictures.

Can you see Central Park below?

Next, we took the subway over to Central Park. The park is beautiful...and huge! We took a bike tour and got to see about a third of it. We even found a geocache! How cool is that?! We found a cache in Central Park!!! Ethan went on a carousel ride and then it was time to get moving again.

Central Park - Maine Monument

John Lennon tribute

Bike Tour (without all the work)

Bethesda Fountain

Ethan whirling around on the carousel

Once again, we were hungry, so we found a pizza joint that was close to the park called "Mariella's"... supposedly this is Oprah and Gayle's favorite pizza. It was rather tasty! Walking back to catch the subway back to our hotel, we walked by a few more famous places (see below).

PIZZA!

Whew!!! We are tired! I apologize if I haven't blogged as much as I intended, but the trip has been a whirlwind of fun! There simply has not been enough time. I'll try and do better :-). I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Boston is Awesome!

On the first day heading to Boston, we thought it was more important to hit New Hampshire and Maine than it was to settle and relax at the hotel, so we drove the extra hour or so up through New Hampshire, caught a quick cache at a rest stop then continued on to Maine. The first cache we looked for in Maine was at another rest stop, thinking it would be easy to find, but it wasn't. After spending 30 minutes with no luck, we decided to go a little futher into the state. It's lucky that we did, because when we finally found a relatively easy find, we discovered that the cache was hidden at a wharf that John Hancock (signer of the Declaration of Independence...) owned... which, to us, seemed really, really cool and very appropriate. Come to find out, John Hancock owned a lot of things... in fact, most of Boston, it seems. So, it wasn't as cool as we thought, but we still got a little thrill out of the find.




Entering New Hampshire



Entering Maine



Entering Massachusetts



What a great find in Maine!


After satisfying our geocaching urges, we went back to Boston and finally checked into our hotel. We were thinking of eating dinner in Maine, but it was only 3:00 and we weren't hungry, so by the time we got to Boston, we were famished. Asking the hotel manager where to go, she suggested Legal Sea Food. Supposedly, this is a pretty popular local chain that should be on everyones "to-do" list when visiting Boston. I'm sure it's all about what you order, but I wasn't too impressed with my meal. The fish was perfectly cooked, but the ravioli and veggies it was mixed with seemed like it was just thrown together with very little thought into complementary flavors... ok, I'm probably being a little picky, but at $30 entrees I was expecting a lot more. The rest of the family enjoyed their meals, however, so who am I to judge.

Ellen enjoyed the lobster (yes, you heard right),
but what kid doesn't like to play with their food!?!

Ethan with his stuffed shrimp...which he discovered was very "rich".

In the morning, we drove over to my high school buddy's (and one of my groomsmen from our wedding) house. He and his family have been living in Boston for a while now. He and his wife actually graduated from MIT!!! (Yes, they is smart...) Tom, my buddy, suggested that we park at his house and take the subway downtown. This was a great idea! Tom had to work on Friday, but his wonderful wife, Laura, walked us to the subway and gave us all kinds of advice. We even introduced her to geocaching and hit a cool one only 400 feet from her house!!! On top of all this good fortune, we got to ride a subway... one of the items on our "to-do" list. The kids loved riding in the subway!

Their first ride on the subway!

After getting to the Boston Commons, a park in downtown, we decided that we were a bit hungry for lunch. So, on a whim, we decided to hit Cheers, you know, the bar/pub/restauraunt that inspired the TV series... We loved it! The food was good, the ambiance was perfect, and the prices were reasonable. I felt so much better about eating in Boston. I was a bit concerned after the Legal Sea Food experience.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name!

We then went back to the park and found the Freedom Trail tour guide. Ruth ran off to get tickets across the street... when she got there, she realized that the tickets were $2 cheaper per ticket if you buy them online. So, with the help of the iPhone, we did just that. We showed the tour guide the e-mail verifying payment, and he was satisfied... I love technology!!! This tour would turn out to be our second favorite thing to do in Boston. Our tour guide was "Doc" Prescott, one of the 3 freedom riders that doesn't get mentioned as much as Paul Revere... even though, come to find out, he was the only one to actually make it to Concord to warn the Patriots... in fact, Paul Reveere was captured and upon being interrogated, spilled everything, giving the Redcoats all the Patriots' secrets! In fact, he was so forthcoming that they thought he was lying and didn't follow up with any of the leads... maybe that was part of 'ol Paul's plan... Anway, this tour was awesome!!! Having walked for several hours by this time, we were a bit tired. We took the subway back to my friend's and actually hung out with them for some good reminiscing.




Gravesite of James Otis,
the actual man that coined the phrase "taxation without representation"




Legend has it that this is the headstone of  "Mother Goose"

With our tour guide, Doc, at the end of the Freedom Trail

Yesterday, we had planned on getting up a little earlier than we did, but when we finally got around, we drove to Tom and Laura's again, where they fixed us an awesome breakfast. Tom then drove us to a wharf to catch a ferry out to Georges Island. This island is part of the National Park Service. We finally got to see the ocean/harbor! The ferry ride was fun. With the day turning out to be a warm one, it felt nice to have the cool wind in our faces as we rode out into the harbor. Upon getting there, we toured the fort (Fort Warren) for quite some time. It was very pleasant. We thought it was cool that we could just explore at our leisure, climbing in and out of dark rooms and tunnels... though the protective parents in Ruth and me had a few skipped heart beats at a few seemingly dangerous areas that the kids were climbing. This day was turning out to be much more relaxing than the previous. There's something about looking out at the ocean that calms the mind. The kids got to put their feet into the ocean and collect some cool rocks & shells while Ruth and I sat and watched, soaking up some sun... Oh, and we got to do a quick Virtual Cache.

At Fort Warren on Georges Island



Kids playing in the water (Boston Harbor)

We took the ferry back and walked a short distance to the North End, a famous "Little Italy" like area of Boston. This area is very quaint! The roads are narrow, the building are brick, and there's music everywhere. With the advice of our friend Jolene back in Indiana, we walked to La Famiglia Giorgio's... This would end up being our absolute favorite part of Boston! The food and service was incredible!!! We all ate about a third of our meal and were stuffed. I can't say enough about this place, prices were reasonable, taste was incredible, service was excellent, and we will be getting at least a second and possibly a third meal out of the deal!!! If you ever visit Boston, this place should be on the top of your list of things to do. After dinner we walked the block to go to another famous place, Mike's Pastry. We had to get something here, even though none of us felt like eating anything. Ruth picked up a "Lobster Tail" and a few other things that we have yet to eat.

After taking a taxi back to my friends, another one of our "to-do" things, we socialized for a little bit and took off to get some sleep.