Last Hurrah in the Big Apple

Last Day in New York City

Our last day in NYC was a great day. It started out great because we actually found a parking place in the commuter lot at 7:30, and we made the 7:45 train to the city. It was pretty full, but it was not a bad trip. I would hate to make it every day though. We got to the city, found some coffee and walked up to Rockefeller Center. It was just after 9:00 when we got there. We did not realize they were cutting the Today show short because of Wimbledon, but we got to see them cleaning up the set. We saw a lot of tv/movie action yesterday. They were filming a Harrison Ford move- I think the little fella that ran me off the sidewalk said it was going to be called Morning Glory- down from Grand Central. I did not get to see Harrison, but we walked by the huge trailers they had parked on the side street for the talent and saw them rehearsing the “background”. Later in the day we saw a Mariah Carey music video being shot in the front of the Plaza. We actually have a bunch of pictures of her. Then when we pulled into the park here last night they had a bunch of movie trailers set up over in a parking lot that is close to the RV part. We never did find out what they were shooting though.
The rest of the day was not as star studded. I bet we walked 5 miles. We never even got on a subway. The kids did a great job and never complained….they are tireless! We walked back down to the Empire State Building. Luckily I had gotten our tickets online so we did not have to stand in the long ticket line. The kids really enjoyed seeing the city from that vantage point. They have done a great deal of interior work on the building since the last time I was there. It looks very nice inside. Coley did have to stop and buy a new pair of shoes yesterday. He had brought a pair of coaching shoes that were totally worn out. So he got new shoes and was as fresh as a daisy! After a very fancy lunch in the basement of Wendy’s, we walked up 5th Avenue. We “strolled” all the way from 33rd to Central Park..trust me-that is a long way. Serena and I went into the American Girl store. I have never seen such chaos! There were little girls carting dolls everywhere. We enjoyed looking at all of the dolls and accessories, but I managed to convince her that such a doll should come for Christmas! Coley and Keegan walked in and walked out. It was wild!
We also went into Tiffanys. Serena really enjoyed looking at all of the “pretty jewelry”. The kids were not as impressed with FAO Schwartz as I thought they would be. They carry toys that are different from the ones at the gigantic Toys R Us. Keeg was not happy with there Star Wars Lego collection. Then we went into the Apple Store, and it was a wild scene. The line of people waiting for phones was staggering. The Plaza was across the street, and that is when we watched the video being made. After that we took a horse and carriage tour through Central Park- my feet needed a rest so we splurged! We had promised to take the kids back to Toys R Us in Times Square, so 5 o’clock found us “strolling” again down Broadway. There were lots more people there than there had been before noon last week. We happily tiredly arrived at the toy store, and the kids picked out what they wanted. Keegan had some money he had made from saving up change, and it was burning a hole in his pocket. He was dying to buy a new Lego Star Wars ship, and Serena found a Ni Hao Kai Lan game for her Leapster. They were happy campers, and we resumed the walk death march to Grand Central. After picking up some black and white cookies for a snack on the way home, we hopped on a train for our last trip back to the campground.
I am honestly very surprised how much of the city we were able to see in 3 days with the kids. They were troopers. I never imagined they would be able to walk that far. We made serious tracks!
Favorite Moments-
Keegan- Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building
Serena – The tv’s on the buildings in Times Square
Coley- West Point
Shawna – seeing it all with the kids

Funny moments-
· Serena loudly announcing Mama Mia any time she saw a sign for the Broadway show…everyone on the street always went awww…..
· Serena walking through Chinatown holding her nose
· Us getting caught out in the rain and looking like drowned tourists
· Me getting caught in the subway door and some lady pushing me into the train
· Serena pushing through the turnstile on my subway day pass, so I could not get through and had to get another metro card. The rest of the family was on the other side just looking at me.
· Serena amusing the business people by marching up the stairs at Grand Central at rush hour by herself
· Who knew how heavy M & M’s were, or that we could eat so many!




Serena's favorite poster.

The carriage ride

We have a million pictures of Mariah Carey now

Empire State building - I think Keeg would have stayed up there all day.

I would not want this guys job!

Where they were shooting the Harrison Ford movie

The closest I got to Matt Lauer

My goofy kids!

Rockefeller Center

Slower Sunday

A Slower Pace for Sunday
After our two day marathon in the city, we took it easy today and slept late. I am so sore from yesterday it is pitiful! We decided to explore the area a bit today. This is a very beautiful area. It doesn’t feel like we are in an urban area because it is so green and the trees are gigantic. We went up to Newburgh to the Orange County Choppers store/shop. It was fun to see the choppers that we have seen them build on tv. You can tell that a lot of planning and craftsmanship is put into each one. We ate lunch at a diner that was pretty good, except they need lessons on how to make sweet tea up here! After lunch we went to West Point. We took a bus tour of the Academy. I was there 20 years ago with a friend and her family to visit her brother during spring break. It was a little strange seeing it again from a different perspective. They have a very nice Military Museum there now, and we spent quite a bit of time there this afternoon. After that, we drove over to Greenwich, Connecticut just because we were only 20 miles from there. We saw some very nice houses, and drove on a very rough interstate. We always appreciate Texas roads after we get home. Tomorrow we are going to get up early and fight the commuters to get into the city early . Keegan wants to see where they do the news (Today show), so we are heading to Rockefeller Center first, then the Empire State Building. There is also hopefully a bit of shopping to be done ! The kids lost their minds at Toys R Us the other day. I hope they make it through FAO Schwartz without really losing it! We are having a great time.




Sleepy Hollow cemetary

Oops. Hitler's pistol

West Point - Statue of George Washington

Upperclassmen practicing for the ceremonies the next day. The next class of freshmen were reporting on Monday.

Cadet Chapel

OCC trailer and truck

Spiderman bike

New York City firefighters bike

We watched the episode where they made this bike a couple of weeks ago.

Crossing Bear Mountain Bridge

Day 2 in the Big City

Day 2 In the City
We spent a very long Saturday in the city. It was a bit different than our usual Saturdays! We had tickets for the Statue of Liberty at 11:00 a.m., so we had to leave on the 8:30 train this morning. Since Saturdays are not work days, we were not crammed in on the train. We got to Grand Central with time to get Starbucks and muffins before hitting the subway. We did have to cram ourselves in to the subway car downtown, but off we went. Serena likes to stand up on the train. She thinks it is cool when there are not enough seats. Luckily we did already have our tickets because our security line was shorter. This first run through was standard airport security. Later, when we had to go through security again to go into the pedestal, we had to stand in an air puffer thing.It checks for explosives, and we were all clear, but they did confiscate my package of crackers in my bag. I felt like a criminal! It freaked Serena out. It was pretty cool to go out to Liberty Island and be in the statue. We walked up 275 steps so we could go out at the top of the pedestal. The steps almost killed me. The kids were troopers and ran off and left me! They are opening the crown back up on July 4, but they are only issuing 200 tickets a day. We left there and went to Ellis Island. It was really interesting. I can’t even imagine the feelings the immigrants had when arriving here.
When we finished that part of the day, it was 4:30. We started walking uptown. We went by the Trade Center site…it is very strange to see this huge empty space where there used to be two buildings that dominated the skyline. Keegan has been full of questions about terrorists and what happened, etc.. Just as I was fixing to make a deal on a “genuine” Coach purse, it started to rain and the little man had to cover up his merchandise! We ran in to St. Paul’s chapel to get out of the rain. This is the chapel that is closest to the Trade Center site, and George Washington worshiped there after he was sworn in as president. We finally found Chinatown, after a nice side trip through the center of government for the city. There are some beautiful buildings there. Chinatown smelled like China, and Serena walked down the street holding her nose. The real thing would probably send her over the edge. We were caught in a downpour before we could explore much further. We looked a bit like drowned tourists before we finally found the subway station. Who knew that the trains would be full at 7 p.m. on a Saturday night. We were cramming onto one train to Grand Central, and Keegan and Coley had already gotten on. I pushed Serena on and the door started to close on me. I think the lady behind me pushed me in. It was interesting! We grabbed very quick pizza at the station and got on the train to come home.

New York City

A Day In THE Big City!!

We arrived in Croton-on-Hudson, New York yesterday afternoon after a drive through some beautiful country. We drove clear across Pennsylvania, and it really is a pretty state. There are big barns and silos in the cultivated areas, and everything is very green. We crossed the Delaware when we came into New Jersey, and Keegan said we were just like George Washington. New Jersey was not what I expected. It was very green and pretty. We got a bit off of our navigation when we were supposed to turn in New Jersey, and we were headed straight to either the George Washington Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel…neither one would have been a good choice. Luckily the Garmin got us back on track, and Coley, the pro, was at the wheel. We had to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge to get into New York, and the toll was $24 …you should have seen our faces! The campground is in a beautiful county park about 40 minutes from NYC by train. We drove through Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow on our way up, and we want to go back and visit both places. It is cool here. It was 83 when we pulled in yesterday afternoon, and it was 66 when we got back today because it had rained.
Today we slept a little later (7:00), and caught a 9:30 a.m. train to the city. We missed the commuter rush into the city, but we had to park in remote parking. The kids thought the shuttle bus was the coolest thing. Our metro north train took us to Grand Central, and once we got out into the station, the kids were very excited because they recognized it from the movies. We were going to go to the Empire State building, but it was overcast so we decided to wait. Instead we ventured out into the streets. We walked to Broadway and went down Times Square. The kids were a goggle at the lights and “tv’s on buildings”. We went into the Toys R Us and rode the Ferris Wheel. Keegan and Serena picked out a long list of toys that they want, many of which I don’t think have reached West Texas yet. We ate lunch at McDonalds-quick and easy, then started walking to the Museum of Natural History. We made a stop at the M &M store and ended up buying M &M’s that were way too expensive, but the coconut ones were very tasty, and we had snacks for the rest of the day! It was a longer hike than I thought, but the kids did a fantastic job. The museum was ok. They had an amazing number of artifacts from native societies, but Keeg was a bit disappointed. It did not look like it did in Night at the Museum, and it really ticked him off. Several of the things that were very prominent in the movie did not exist at the museum. Coley and I were a little disappointed as well. We caught the subway back to Grand Central and managed to make a 6:30 train back tonight. It was full of commuters and us.
It was really a good day. The kids did a fabulous job of staying with us today, and they walked and walked. Tomorrow is the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. Since it is a Saturday, we will be able to take our time. Sunday is the very large Gay Pride parade down 5th Avenue, so to avoid any really bizarre sightings that might cause questions we don’t want to answer, we will probably visit West Point on that day and check out the rest of the local area. I want to go see OCC in Newburgh. Coley says I am a big nerd….oh well.
I was very jealous of all of the people with Iphones today….can’t wait to have internet again……




The M & M Store...not sure why Keeg wasn't smiling. Serena poses for pictures naturally!

Museum of Natural History...Keeg was glad to see Gum-Gum

Toys R Us in Times Square..I had to pull Serena out of here!

Riding the Ferris Wheel in Toys R Us

Grand Central....Seeing this was the moment the kids really realized they were in New York City

On the Metro North train

From the day before when we stopped in Ohio.

On the Road Again

On The Road Again

I am thinking very positively just by sitting down to type this post. My laptop has been squirrelly, and internet connections have not been the best. Right now I am sitting in the Gaslight campground in Emlenton, Pennsylvania. It sounds a lot quainter than it is. It is not a bad spot to overnight, but it seems to mostly cater to seasonals. It has been our experience with campgrounds up here that they lease spots to people by the month. Many people have campers that they put on these lots, then they build decks, landscape, put lots of plastic ducks out, etc….. The campgrounds really fill up on the weekends, but if you are in one during the week most of the parked trailers are empty. Any ways, it is not a bad spot to spend the night. The kids played on the playground and played putt putt. The pool was full of kids from a local church, so we talked them out of swimming.
Last night we stayed at a very nice campground in Lebanon, Ohio, which is north of Cincinnati. We drove through downtown Cincinnati, and it looks like it would be an interesting place to visit. The kids had fun swimming and chasing fireflys, and we were able to get a good start there this morning. Today we did not drive as far. We went to Canton and visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was pretty neat. Coley enjoyed it. We drove through some really pretty farmland.
It took us most of Monday to get out of Texas, but since then we have driven across 4 more states, and we will add 2 more tomorrow. We did 1200 + miles on Monday and Tuesday, and Coley and I are both tired. He has done most of the driving. There is no way I could maneuver the truck and trailer in big city traffic….it would not be a good thing! The kids have been really good considering how far they have been, and how long they have been in a car. Tomorrow we plan to get out of here as early as possible so we can head to New Jersey and New York. Hopefully we can beat rush hour traffic. I don’t think Coley is a bit worried, but I am. I am just ready to get somewhere for more than one night, that way I can settle in. The kids are excited to see NYC. I have about decided to leave Serena’s stroller at the trailer and just make her walk. She gripes about having to stay in it, so it might just be a pain in the neck.
Must head to bed. It is only 9 p.m. Texas time, but it is 10 here, and I am worn out!
Hopefully I will be able to post this and post pictures soon.


On the road....not even sure where this was....I know it was not taken in Texas!

Cincinnati football stadium

Keeg....He is an excellent rider. He entertains himself quite well!

The only real fit Serena has had...I think it is because she was not happy about having a peanut butter sandwich for her lunch.

Riz the wonder dog!

Before we left all of the mutton bustin equipment had to be cleaned up.

My cowboys!

The pictures aren't in order, but I am just so glad to have internet that I am just getting them posted.