Are we there yet? 2013: September 27th-October 1st, 2013 We're in NYC via Jersey City!!!!

Early in the morning of September 27th we pulled out of Hi-Tide campground back on The Road To Adventure!! "Some" of us aren't morning people but we had to do it anyhow!?! This is the part of the trip my sister Chris is joining us. I felt bad for Chris, she's been putting in some LOOOOONG hours at Dial. She needs a vacation just to catch up on all the sleep she misses working those crazy Dial hours....Since Lennie's internal work alarm clock never adjusted itself to retirement, we decided ahead of time that Chris would sleep with me back in the bedroom & Lennie would sleep in the "living" area, so he could get up & putz around while we were still catching some zzzzzz's. This worked out great for us!!! Otis liked it too!

We're on the road now,we have a long first day of driving. I say "we" yet Lennie is the only one who drives!!!! The early start was because Lennie wanted to get to NYC in time to have pizza in Brooklyn & walk over the Brooklyn Bridge!!!! The first night we got to the Ohio/Pennsylvania state line. that's good....we'll make it to Brooklyn on time for pizza!!!

Our destination is actually Jersey City, New Jersey can you imagine a RV park in NYC!?! We are camping at Liberty Harbor RV & Marina. I didn't take a picture of the park, well a park....that's a stretch! It's basically a parking lot, but it's convenient to the subway our ride for the next 4 days while visiting NYC.

Lennie & I have been to NYC a few times & we're kinda like Disney repeat fans, each time we come to NYC, we keep doing our favorite things! Chris has never been to NYC so what were we going to show her?????? OUR FAVORITE THINGS!!!!

The following is a picture tour of what we did while visiting in NYC!

From the Liberty Harbor RV park in Jersey City, it was just a short walk to the Grove Station where we caught the subway & rode to NYC. We had to buy 2 tickets. One for the ride to & from New Jersey & one for our rides in NYC. Everyday I made sure I had my 2 tickets in 2 different pockets!!!

Chris on the subway! Sometimes it was standing room only!

Lennie was so happy to get to "OUR" Pizza place! Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge! The line waiting for pizza was sooooooo looooong!!!! I knew it wouldn't matter to Lennie he'd been jonesing for this pizza for so long we weren't budging from the line. The line moved pretty quick & soon we were sitting down ordering our pizza,

& before long it was sitting in front of us & we were enjoying it. That's the glory of brick oven pizza, it doesn't take long from order to plate!!!!

Check out our pizza! YUMMY!!!!

After our pizza, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, where there were lots of other walkers & bicyclist.

It was a real nice night!

Our view of "Miss Liberty" from the Brooklyn Bridge

Time to catch the subway & head back to New Jersey & Liberty Harbor RV park!!!

But another day brings more to see! The next day we have our 2 subway tickets in our 2 separate pockets & we are off again to NYC! This time we are going to see the 9/11 Memorial. The last time Lennie & I were in NYC we couldn't get tickets to the Memorial, this time tickets were not a problem.The Memorial was just AWESOME in such a sad way.

It was tastefully designed, & massive to the point I think people feel real strength from it's presence.

There was no rushing, you could spend all the time you needed here.

Chris' grandson, Aiden was born on 9/11

After leaving the Memorial, we "grabbed" lunch before moving on to the next sight!

After lunch, we went to St Paul's Church.

This is the church that was used as a fortress of help to anyone & everyone during the 9/11 nightmare. People came together no matter what their religion was.

It was a beautiful church & just a beautiful way all the people came together to help one another....

Same day now, we make our way over to Central Park,

where a wedding had just taken place!

This has been a busy day of walking around I think it's time for dinner & where else but "OUR FAVORITE" Chinese restaurant in NYC's China Town!

Chris is holding my Flat Stanley, she doesn't look real impressed with him! But she was impressed with the dinner. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of our food.....we had sooooo much!

Okay....it's time to go back to the RV, we're tired & tomorrow we have to start all over again!!!

Is it morning already!?! Here we go again!!!! With our subway tickets safely intact we head out! We start our day viewing the Trinity Church. This is the sister church to St Paul's.

another beautiful church......

with a graveyard of history, very interesting to look at.

We don't stay idle too long, we're now heading to catch the Staten Island Ferry to catch a great view of the sky line & The statue of Liberty!

so....we're on board

leaving the Manhattan skyline behind us..

Waiting to get the best picture of Miss Liberty

Not yet....

There.....that's better!

The ferry takes you from the Manhattan side to the Staten Island side & even tho you're returning, you still have to get off the ferry in Staten Island & re-board to return to Manhattan!?! We re-board cause it's time to grab something to eat! No pushcart today!!!

Today we are eating at Katzs Deli

This is the infamous deli in the movie, When Harry Met Sally.

It's a great place to eat.....the sandwiches are huge! Chris & I shared a sandwich!

(I've got Flat Stanley enjoying the restaurant too!) I'm sure the next time Lennie & I go back to NYC we'll go to Katzs Deli again!

If you're ever in NYC try Katzs!

After our lunch.....we had to walk off that sandwich. We decided to walk to NYC seaport(another of our favorite places) only to discover due to Hurricane Sandy ALL the familiar shops & restaurants were still CLOSED! I snapped a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge before we headed back!

Our ride back on the subway was the MOST CROWDED I've ever seen it! We never had a seat our whole ride!

It was a hang on tight ride, that's for sure!

When we got off at our stop I looked back at the train....every car was packed!

Tomorrow's our last day in NYC & it's going to be a BUSY day!!!!

Our last day in NYC starts out early in the am!!! Remember I said "some" of us aren't morning people!?! Today we plan to be in the audience of the TODAY SHOW! Mainly because I have Flat Stanley along & "HE" wants to be on TV!!! So we are up at 6:00am, skip breakfast & coffee just to try to be spotted on the Today Show!?!

I was surprised there wasn't really a massive crowd, we got a good viewing spot & I was ready with Flat Stanley!

The guest today were 2 characters from the Hobbit movie. Unfortunately I don't keep up with those movies, I only knew one was Orlando Bloom & the other one was "the older guy"!!! Anybody else recognize him!?!

We did get Orlando Bloom to stop for one brief moment to snap a picture with Flat Stanley!

It was fun & I guess worth getting up early for, but we did miss our morning coffee, so we better go get some! Right next door to the studio is a bakery, how convenient!

The whole time we were having coffee & pastry, Chris & I were trying to entice the little sparrows to eat our pastry crumbs while we ate the good stuff!!

This is our last day in NYC we can't sit for too long! Time Square is next!!!!

Sooooo busy! Just once I think I'd like to be in Time Square on New Year's Eve to watch the ball drop!

These characters will let you pose with them for a fee! $$$$

Hard to charge when you're not posing with them!

We had lunch & Lennie had a small "treat" at Union Station!

Because our day started sooooo early, we have to head back to the RV to let Otis have a break. But tonight we take the Ferry back into the city to Little Italy where we enjoy a wonderful Italian meal, then walk to another Italian restaurant that has DESSERTS only, for dessert!

Yum-Yum!!