After our late arrival at Ringing Rocks Campground last night, we decided to let everyone sleep in today-- it was only a 70 mile drive to our next location and we couldn't check in until after 12. So there was no need to rush. Which was nice. You can only do so many 5:30 mornings in a row! Michael took care of some basic RV maintenance and the girls and I participated in a few rousing games of tetherball (and not to brag too much... but the mama was the big winner!!).
It was interesting to see what this part of Pennsylvania looked like in the daylight-- it was lovely. Still very small, curvy roads but it is easier to appreciate them when you can see where you are going! We drove along the Delaware River for a bit and it was beautiful. The leaves are starting to turn here-- mostly yellows but some reds. It is making us anxious to see what Vermont will be like in a week or so!
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| The Delaware River |
I have to brag on my husband for a minute. He is driving this behemoth RV like a pro. The GPS and I have put him in some pretty dicey situations and he is getting us through them so well. Case in point: the New Jersey Turnpike. Construction on one side and absolutely no shoulder on the other. I would be nervous to drive this in a car!!
We arrived at Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City around 1:00. This RV park is all about location-location-location. It is basically a parking lot. BUT it has amazing views of Manhattan and it is within easy walking distance of several forms of public transportation into the city...and so we chose it for those reasons. We got settled in quickly and headed down the street to the PATH station. Now this is the confusing thing for non-New York/New Jersey-ers: there are like 55 different kinds of trains-- NJ Transit, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, PATH trains, MTA trains, etc, etc.. Some trains use the same stations. Some don't. It really takes some skill to negotiate all of these options!! And that doesn't even count all the different ferries and buses! Holy cow. One thing that I thought was interesting was how quiet it was on the trains. Hardly any talking at all.
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| The Survivor Tree |
We took the PATH from NJ to the World Trade Center station and found the ticket booth for the 911 Memorial and walked to the entrance. The memorial pools are so beautiful in such a simple way. It brought tears to my eyes to consider again the enormity of the loss of that day. What I found sort of sad was that a bulk of the people visiting didn't seem to be very reflective or reverent. Is that my judging opinion? Yes. Totally. It almost seemed like they were treating it as 'tourist attraction' rather than 'memorial to a tragedy'. No one was acting crazy or anything like that... it just seemed to be less respectful that I would expect... perhaps it has something to do with all the surrounding construction? Perhaps I am just being overly critical? Just my opinions... I am glad we came.
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| The new tower. |
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| Paul Jr. Designs 911 Memorial Bike |
Next on our agenda was a walk to the Staten Island Ferry terminal to take our 'free cruise' to see the Statue of Liberty. This was already on my list ahead of the government shut-down because, well, FREE! Not to mention, even if it was open, it's fairly pricey to climb up the Statue and would take time from our day that we just didn't have to give. So we settled with the water view of Lady Liberty. For a free hour round trip, the Staten Island Ferry also gives some nice views of the Lower Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge! Plus it is FREE! Did I mention that??! So-- add one more public transportation mode to the Timms Family's list of accomplishments this trip-- ferry!
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| Flat Grandma and PawPaw visit the Statue |
Our walk back to the WTC PATH train station was interesting because everyone was starting to get off work-- the crowds of business people were considerably larger and everyone is in a HURRY! I haven't found them to be unkind-- just focused on where they are going.
We found our way back to the train and boarded the Hoboken train back to NJ. We had one more stop today: Carlos Bakery (home of the "Cake Boss"). Continuing our tour of t.v. show bakeries! We wanted to make it there before they closed at 7 so we were hoping the line would be fairly short. When we turned the corner of Washington Street and could see the burgundy awning, we were surprised to see no line on the sidewalk. Shoot. Was this going to be a repeat of last night's Amish store/Internet lying fiasco??! The answer... was NO! HOORAY! They are open AND there is NO LINE AT ALL!!! Seriously. Like 3 people ahead of us inside. We chose a sampling of items (lobster tails, cannolis, crumb cake, a pecan tart thing, and a cupcake) to take back to the RV for desert.
After navigating one more train (light rail-- which is an above ground only train... I think?!), we arrived back at our campsite. I made the dinner I had planned for last night and then we dug into our treats from Carlos. Lobster tails and cannolis were the favorites.
Another early-ish bedtime (yes, we are just the life of the party!!) after a busy day. We have more of Manhattan to explore tomorrow.
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