New York City: Easter celebrations and Rockefeller Center

Our last day in NYC was a fun one (and a lot warmer!). We took the PATH to 9^th St. and walked down to Soho to go to the Scholastic Store. It was a bit further walk than we had anticipated, but let us see another part of the city. A late morning snack at a vendor cart added to the authentic New York experience. No New York hot dogs, though, (unless you count a corn dog), which is surprising now that I think on it, since Bob had said (possibly jokingly) that getting some NY street meat was on his bucket list. 

The Scholastic Store was celebrating Easter, and the kids listened to a book reading and Lily had her picture with Clifford (the big red dog) and then decorated an Easter egg. Morgan was content to read books and then watch the Magic School bus episode that was on the TV in the kids area. Books (and bookstores) are always a hit with my family, no matter where we are.  

Once the kids had their fill of the bookstore we hopped the subway up to Rockefeller Center, where we spent the rest of the day (The subway gets a lot easier to use when you understand that Uptown is North and Downtown is South. Also, people were really helpful in pointing us in the right direction when we got confused.). 

During April, 250 Faberge eggs get hidden around the city and just before Easter these eggs are brought to Rockefeller Center and put on display. We saw them being unpacked when we were there on Thursday eve. Now we got to see them up close. Eggy art in so many colors, shapes and permutations, it was Easter egg magic!

A bit of lunch beside the fountain was followed by a skate at the rink. The kids & I skated while Bob sat on the sidelines taking pictures. It was so much fun! I've been feeling the lack of familiar winter sports this year, and this satisfied that (guess you can take the girl away from winter, but you can’t take winter fun from her heart).

The lack of practice didn't seem to have affected any of us, and I was quite proud to see how well the kids were doing.  Lily even learned how to do some easy spins, and Morgan was getting quite speedy (although he was mad that I wouldn't hold his hand all the time).

We were thoroughly worn out by the time our hour and a half time slot was up. Our friends caught up with us just as we were finishing, and after a quick breather we took the kids to Nintendo World just down the street from the rink. While they liked it, they weren't actually into the games as much as I thought they'd be.

That was okay, as there was one more activity planned: a trip to the Top of The Rock. At our allotted time of 5:20 we hopped on the elevator and rode up 67 floors to the Observation deck. From there we had an awesome view of New York & surrounding area. By walking around the whole deck we could see in every direction. 

No clue what this face is for!

Thick glass panels kept us safe, and kept the wind off, but it did make it hard to get a good picture. Bob & Lily looked through one of the view finders and spotted people on the observation deck of the Empire State building. The elevator doesn't go quite all the way to the top, but we could take the escalator up one more floor for another perspective, and then walk up the stairs for one more floor of viewing. 

This top level is smaller, and looks down onto the lower (second level) viewing deck. 

This level doesn't have any protective glass surrounding it, and thus gives the clearest view of the city scape.

Morgan had been muttering about how high it was, and his shoes. And, when we got to the top, where there was no glass he just had to. Toss his shoe down to the next level, that is. Sheesh, kid!!! (Now, this isn't the first time he’s had the urge to get rid of his shoes. There was the time he chucked his sandals in the kangaroo enclosure at the Calgary Zoo. And the time he threw them in the lake in Airdrie… you get my drift. Dunno what it is with him and shoes.) A helpful young boy on the level below held onto his shoe as I hauled Morgan down the stairs to retrieve it. 

More fireworks this night

That was perhaps the sign that it was time to call it a night, and with one last look at the city we headed back to the elevator and made our way down to the subway (a different route this time – weren't we getting adventurous!) back to the RV park. Tomorrow would be time to leave the bustle of the big city for the quiet Pennsylvania countryside. 

Here are some extra pictures to enjoy...

New York: Lady Liberty, local fare and fireworks

We really could have planned this day better...

Our first day in New York was a busy one, with a late arrival back home. It didn't really sink in that the following day would, by necessity, have to be an early one until after we’d got back (late & tired). We were going to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, but first, we needed to get tickets. It being Easter Friday, I had no idea how busy it would be, so I got up early and took the 8:30 am ferry across the harbour to Liberty State Park, where you purchase tickets (Literally a 2 minute ride, for $2; most expensive jaunt across the street, ever!).  I was hoping to luck out and get tickets up to the pedestal (hence the early morning exodus), but being a holiday they were sold out. We still got tickets to tour the grounds, and with the audio tours available that worked just fine. (PS, you can & should purchase tickets on-line ahead of time to save the hassle and get the ones you want. I would have, except for those hoped for FCFS pedestal tickets that are sometimes available at the Ticket booth. Tickets to the crown sell out months in advance, while pedestal tickets are a few days to a few weeks, depending on season.)

NY skyline in the background

Our friends had a 10 am reserved time on their prepurchased tickets, and so Bob and the kids hopped the ferry across the street with them an hour after I had left them at the trailer (and both of us forgot the camera, so we have only phone pics of the day). I met them at the dock and then we walked over to the ferry which would take us to Ellis & Liberty Islands. We had to go through an airport style security check before boarding the ferry (which Morgan thought was rather curious). In our travels throughout the US we have often encountered bag checks & security checks such as this. I don’t remember ever coming across this in Canada, but we haven’t really done that many “big” sights back home. I’m quite curious to see if we find something similar in the big eastern Canadian cities.

First stop, Ellis Island, which served as the entry point for millions of people looking to make a new life in the new land. Ellis Island has a museum providing timelines, stories and details of the life many immigrants were leaving behind in their homelands, and what they hoped to find here. An audio tour was available as well, but it was hard to figure out so I didn't use it much. The history was interesting for us grown-ups, but rather dull for the kids.

It's really hard to get a pic of it all

We spent an hour or so in the museum and then hopped on the ferry over to Liberty Island for a closer visit with the Statue of Liberty. She’s big (350 ft tall). She’s green. And she’s majestic, with quite a history. The audio tour here was better, and it meant that we didn't feel like we were losing anything by not getting to go in the pedestal. There was a kids version (these are great when we find them at the National Parks because they really are kid oriented while still providing lots of information). The kids and I listened to that one while Bob listened to the adult version (he could fill me in on all the extra details later).  

We walked all the way around the statue (now to be forever called Lady Liberty by my children), learning about her French designer, her construction (many, many pieces of copper only the thickness of two pennies supported by an iron frame), and some of her history and that of the island, fort and pedestal on which she stands. It was all quite interesting. (Morgan has been spouting Liberty trivia for the past few days, so I know it got his attention.)

View from the ferry

The day had started off chilly and as the afternoon progressed, the wind off the water had grown colder. By the time we finished our circuit of the statue we were thoroughly chilled and ready to head back to our trailer. Somehow we managed to just miss both of the ferries we needed, and spent (what seemed like) forever to get back. By the time did get home, all of us were cold and tired and we decided to order some authentic New Jersey pizza rather than try to find the energy to cook. They were big and tasty (who’d a thought caramelized onion would taste so good), but not like the pizza we’re used to. 

Yum

An hour later and we were off to Carlo’s Bakery (of CakeBoss, fame), to sample their desserts (It was only a few miles away from us, and I never pass up a tasty bakery if I can help it.). We lucked out and the lineup on a Friday evening was rather small (evidently it can get hours long sometimes). With an assortment of mini cakes, cannoli and other yummy things we headed back to raise our blood sugar just a wee bit.

Later, just as Bob & I were finishing tucking the kids into bed, BOOM<BOOM<BOOM<BOOM!  Fireworks! We were treated to quite the show of fireworks to the southeast of us (I’m guessing Staten Island, but I can’t be sure). They lasted at least 10 minutes, and were full of shapes and colors I'd never seen in a fireworks display before (there were even heart shaped ones!). I’m not sure what they were for, but on learning that there was another display two nights previous I can only assume they had something to do with Easter. I joked with our fellow Canadian neighbours (who had come out of their RV to watch as well) that they were New York’s way of welcoming us Canucks. Whatever the reason, it was a nice cap to the end of our day. 

New York City: Central Park to Times Square

New York, The Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps! We almost didn't go there. But, boy am I glad we did.

We knew some friends of ours (another family we have met on the road) were headed there, but we weren't sure if we wanted to go or not. The conversation went kinda like this “Do you wanna go?”

 “Kind of, but not with just us. Do you want to go?”  “I dunno.” So we left it to a third party.

“Morgan, do you want to go to New York City?” 

“Yes. I want to see the Statue of Liberty.” and we went “Okay!” Two days later we were there. (I love that we can do this!!!)

There’s only one RV park within reasonable driving distance from the city, and as such, they charge an arm and a leg for the gravel parking spot we were to call home for our next three nights. But they are really convenient for getting into NYC via the subway or ferry, with a lovely view of the Statue of Liberty. 

We pulled in early afternoon, set up and got our butts walking to the PATH (NJ-NYC subway) with nary a clue on how to get anywhere. (The planner in me shakes my head over that, but I also wanted to GO, and not waste any more time.) Immense thanks to a local mom who was willing to walk us through the busy stations and help us get to Central Park. I never did get her name, but hopefully karma smiles upon her. 

Walking into the south end of Central Park (it’s big!), we passed by rows of horse drawn carriages (I was momentarily tempted) and found some fun rocks to climb on. There’s a good sized playground in this area too, and the kids enjoyed both for quite a while. The big bustling city is only a short distance away, but the trees and rocks and serenity in the park make it feel like it’s in an entirely other place. Almost like you've entered a magical realm and the skyscrapers are the walls that separate the two; it would be easy to spend an entire day here and not really notice the passing of time.

Rocks - fun for kids and adults, alike

Morgan has been doing some reading and schoolwork related to Balto the sled dog, and we knew there was a statue of him in the park. We set off to find him, at a slow saunter (this is where we discovered just how big the park really is.). The winding paths took us past many other statues, into an area where artists and entertainers were displaying their wares. The kids were fascinated with a fellow who was creating enormous bubbles with a rope. For a dollar, Lily got to try her hand at bubble making as well (PS, if someone could show me how to get videos off our big camera, I would be forever grateful! I can't even figure out how to view them most of the time!). 

A few steps more led down to a fountain, which added its music to that of a set of performers playing classical music under the bridge. Continuing along the paths, around every corner was something different to see. (One could explore Central Park for quite a while before seeing everything.) Reaching the spot where my GPS on the phone said the statue would be, we discovered it was completely wrong. Turning around, and basically going back where we started – that’s where the darned thing was!!!  By then we had walked the equivalent of 20 blocks and the kids were tired, and getting hungry (me too!).  

And so after (finally!) finding the darned dog statue (look up Balto, if you’re curious), we headed out of the Park to go find some food. 

On the way we passed by 30 Rockefeller Place, and got some pictures with the famous statue at the entrance. We joined up with our friends for a quick meal, passing by several other spots around Rockefeller Place (which we would revisit later). 

Supper was a simple affair, but, man, food in the tummy certainly changes your outlook on the day. Before food: I’m done, take me home!  After food: Okay, I can explore some more.

We said good night to our friends and headed towards Times Square (Rockefeller and Times Square are quite close). After dark, Times Square is a riot of light in every direction, and actually reminded me of Freemont Street in Las Vegas (I’m sure that many people would put that the other way around, but I saw Vegas first). Tourists were everywhere, taking in the lights. Confession: I hate it when Bob carts his big camera around his neck because it always makes me feel like an obvious tourist. But here, we were just little fish among many. 

Lily spotted the Disney Store & we spent some time in there (honestly, I think the other ones I've been in were just as good, if not better). We also spent some time at the four story Toys R Us in Times Square so Lily could go on the Ferris wheel inside and spend her birthday money. (She bought herself some nail paints & manicure stuff – very girly.) 

By the time we were done in the stores it was getting late, and everyone was rather tired. It took almost another hour to get ourselves back to the park via the subway (and walking) and pour ourselves into bed. Tomorrow would be another busy day.

Tired kids on the subway

Farms, feasts and Chocolate

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is quite the place to be.  In the heart of Amish country, it’s an area of contradictions that somehow blend harmoniously together. Rural and urban, old and new, it was all there.

Our route from Maryland took us on many of the local roads, and kept us off of the major highways. It wasn't intentional, and at times was a bit stressful. I think it mainly had to do with the direction the main roads seem to run in (heading in a NE or SW direction, whereas we were coming from the south, heading west). It let us see the beautiful farmland, (mixed liberally with suburbia) but also routed us along the older local highways. I’m pretty sure that these used to be the cart paths that got people from town to town, once upon a time. Up and down some rather steep grades, many with a hairpin turn at the bottom just to make it interesting. Sometimes a narrow or one lane bridge was there too, and no shoulders – at all. Yeesh!

It was a beautiful spring day as we entered PA Dutch country, and we saw several horse teams out plowing and/or fertilizing their fields. We had to slow a few times along these roads until we could find an open space in traffic to maneuver our behemoth unit around the buggies & carts (very cool). 

Later on in the week we got a closer look at those buggies, with a ride & tour of an Amish dairy farm. It was a bit surreal sitting in the buggy listening to the clip clop of the horse’s feet while the vehicles zipped by right beside us at highway speeds. The farm looked, in many ways, like any of the small dairy farm I have been on, except for the lack of power lines (the Amish heat and light their homes with propane). It was here I realized that my kids really haven’t been exposed to farm animals much. (I shall have to fix that!) Morgan thought watching the cows pee into the alley behind their stalls was fascinating (and gross) while Lily made a new friend of the young calf in one of the hutches.

The Amish may have forsaken electricity, but they seem perfectly content with commercialism, and the business we chose to ride with also had a hotel, restaurant, and a variety of other tours. After finishing our ride, we decided to partake in the Amish Farm Feast at the restaurant since it sounded so yummy. We sat at a group table, and were served in courses, taking our food from the communal dishes. Multiple starters, entrées and desserts loaded the table. It was all divine, but what I remember the most was the pickled vegetables (several types of beans) at the beginning of the meal. They were exactly like ones I remember eating as a child, I think maybe at my grandma’s house (or possibly one of my other relatives on my dad’s side). Vinegary, with a touch of sweetness to take the bite out, they were just perfect and made me happy in a deep down way that had nothing to do with the (very yummy) food. Isn't it funny how a food can transport you back in time…

Once we were sufficiently saffonsified (full, full, full!) we headed back to the campground to roll ourselves into bed. The next day, we would continue our culinary journey with a trip into Hershey and a visit to Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I am a chocoholic. Mmmm, chocolate… (and Reese’s peanut butter cups have always been a favorite of mine). So I was quietly filled with glee when we made the trip in the pouring rain. I’m pretty sure the rest of the family was pretty excited too.  

We watched the 4-D mystery movie (kinda silly, but hey, I got free chocolate at the end), took the tour ride through a (staged) factory which gave a pretty good overview of what happens in the real factory (with more chocolate at the end), and wandered (drooling) through the store where all of their chocolaty (and candylicious) goods were available to purchase (Morgan was rather enamored of the world's biggest Kiss). But the highlight of our afternoon was making our very own chocolate bars. 

After donning aprons & hairnets we entered the selection room – a room with several touchscreens where we each chose what we wanted in our bars from the limited list of options. We could choose between white, milk or dark chocolate base, up to three fillers from a list of six, and decide whether we wanted sprinkles on top or not. Hmm, wouldn't it be an interesting experiment to analyse people’s (and family’s) choices. But I digress… 

We then entered the production room and actually got to watch our bars being created. That was just too cool for words. Once the bars were in the cooling tunnel we all entered the design room where we designed our own wrappers. We could choose from predesigned ones, or create our own. Our artistic juices were flowing and we each came up with something unique. I personally think Lily’s was the best (haha I bet you thought I would say my own!).

If creating the chocolate bar wasn't enough, it was packaged in a fancy looking tin, with the wrapper over top. Now, even after the bar is long gone, we’ll have the tins to remind us of the fun afternoon at Hershey’s Chocolate World. 

Now, if anyone’s curious (and wants to do that psychoanalysis):

I chose a milk chocolate bar with pretzels & toffee bits, and no sprinkles

Bob chose a dark chocolate bar with pretzels, toffee bits & chocolate chips, with sprinkles

Morgan chose a white chocolate bar with chocolate chips, cookie bits, and sprinkles

Lily chose a milk chocolate bar with chocolate chips, cookie bits, and sprinkles

Just not feelin it

To my friends & family who've been wondering where I've gone.

Well, I just haven’t been feeling it. Everything has felt so flat

School – boring

Sites – meh

Life – yeah, yeah, whatever.

I just haven’t felt inspired to write about anything, or really get into anything, which is too bad, because we've gone to some pretty neat places. But I just couldn't work up any excitement about them.

Call it burnout, writers block, or depression. Perhaps it is that every time I start writing a post, or choosing pictures for it I get comments from the peanut gallery that these take so much time, and I just gave up... Whatever the reason, the result is the same.

I’m still not feeling it, really, but since people seem to be wondering, I’ll catch you up a bit. I last left you in Savannah, Georgia. Since then we have:

Spent a couple days in nowhere South Carolina doing nothing more strenuous than school, going for walks, and (finally) checking out this Waffle House place I've been noticing absolutely everywhere in the south (if you ever visit one, try the loaded hashbrowns. Yum.)

On our walk someone called us “The All American family”. Um, I think we've been here too long. (of course, the kids looked like this, so I'm not really sure what to make of that comment)

Gone to Myrtle Beach (SC).  

Playing in the ocean (Bob & the kids, that is – I’m not going in 49 F water); swimming in the resort’s pool;  swimwear shopping (seriously, there’s a beach store on every block here. Sometimes three!); a boat ride, where we didn't see the hoped for dolphins, but did get a nice tour of fancy houses and a swinging bridge, and some rockin waves (can you blame me for not getting excited about this one?); and munching our way through a rather excellent (albeit slightly pricey) seafood buffet where Lily ate through two plates of snow crab were the highlights of our four days there. Leaving day was absolutely beautiful, and I could have certainly spent many more days here. But we had only so much time available to keep to other plans.

Colonial Williamsburg

Stopped in Williamsburg (VA). There is so much history in this area. I really should buck up and write a proper post about our time here, and explain some of it.Visits to Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne, (the first English settlement in North America – and here I could have spent a lot more time), and Berkeley Plantation fleshed out the history a bit for us. The weather didn't co-operate very well during our stay as rain and cold kept us from really enjoying some of our outings. As with so many other times, moving day was absolutely gorgeous. 

Moved onward to Washington DC( which really deserves its own post.) Here, I got to visit with my Grandma & two of my aunts, who had flown all the way across the country to see DC. Since we knew they were going to be here, and we were heading up the east coast anyway, we planned it so that we could meet up with them. It was so nice to see them all, and definitely the highlight of my time in DC. Lily got to celebrate her birthday with her relatives, which was extra special. We traveled to the Mall several times via the Metro, (highlight for the kids) to see the Natural History Museum & the Air & Space Museum.We did walk around a bit to see some monuments and spent an afternoon at the National Zoo. But, it seemed darned near impossible to work up any get up and go to get our butts out of the house before noon, or see more of the sights. 

Across the road from our site

And so we packed it in and headed to the Maryland coast, to Assateague National Seashore so that I could see some wild Assateague ponies, just like the ones I read about when I was a child (I saw four!). We chose the windswept ocean side of the narrow barrier island to camp on. Beautiful ocean view, but boy did the wind blow! The leeward side of the island is full of trees, salt marsh, and is a bit more protected from the wind, but the beach drew my kids like a magnet (no one else cared about the horses). 

Three days there, and now we've traveled through the crazy, winding road system that is Delaware and southern Pennsylvania (or perhaps that was just thanks to our crazy GPS – you've already heard this rant, so I shall spare you) and landed ourselves in Lancaster, PA.