Aug 15 2013

Day 15 – Hello New York

Hi there, reporting live from New York. We had a ton of stuff to see, so we got started early. We left the camp site for the New Jersey Path Train around 8 am. The train was packed with commuters going to work. We literally had squeeze into the train car. Here are some pictures of the station and train.

We got off of the train and took the subway up to Time’s Square. Time’s Square was busy even at 9 in the morning. It was all lit up!

Aimee found a cool local coffee shop and she stopped in for some coffee. They had some good looking pastries, check out those waffles!

We walked down to Rockefeller Center. On the way down, we passed by a ton of street vendors, the food smelled awesome. Check out the size one of the vendor’s coffee filters…Quuuaaww!

We walked up to Radio City Music Hall. X factors was scheduled to record that night..

Next we walked up to Rockefeller Center. I wanted to check out the gold statue and fountain that the center is famous for. We actually found a farmer’s market with some local produce and food, pretty cool. We killed some time there while we waited for our tour to start for NBC studios.

We toured the NBC studios. We got to see the news set, SNL set, makeup, and even watch a mock news broadcast. Check out who Aimee met..

I sat in the Voice chair! Unlike Celo, my feet touched the ground 😀

Next, we walked down 5th Avenue (Aimee’s request). We stopped by the Lindt Chocolate Store. That’s a lot of chocolate. I couldn’t pass by the peanut butter truffle without buying one, actually the cashier said it was on the house, nice of her!

On 5th Avenue, there were some old cathedrals…

We even passed by the Apple Store.

We decided to head to Central Park to eat our packed lunch. We found a nice area by the pond…

After finishing up lunch, we headed up Broadway to the Majestic Theatre where we planned to watch Phantom of the Opera. Aimee was so looking forward to watching an authentic play on Broadway and what better than her favorite. On the way to the theatre, we passed David Letterman’s studio..

We finally arrived at the theatre, Aimee was pumped. We waited in line for a short time and then were seated. Aimee did a great job researching the seats, we had a fantastic view for the play. The old theatre was definitely majestic. The Phantom of the Opera has been playing there for more than 25 years and is currently the longest running show on Broadway. It was sold out!

The performance was awesome. The acting, singing, costume, stage props, decoration…everything made the show! Aimee was all smiles after it ended..

After the show, we made a stop at Junior’s for some cheesecake. Thanks Aunt Debbie for the recommendation, the carrot cake cheesecake was delicious.

Our last stop in New York for the day was the Empire State Building. It truelly is a New York staple. Looking up to the top, I almost fell over backwards it’s so tall..

We headed back to our campground in Jersey and decided to get some pizza for the night. We took a stroll on our bikes in the harbor area and found a cool pizza place, Two Boots. Aimee and I ordered a 14″ and we ate all of it but one slice, we were starving after all the walking (22K steps to be exact). It was kinda funny because the place advertises that they are cajun/creole, Cajun music was playing when we walked in…talk about good timing. Until tomorrow..Bon Soir!

Aug 13 2013

Day 14 – New York, here we come, after Laundry

Hi there, today was a very WET day. We woke up this morning to a torrential down pour. We picked up the camp sight and dumped the tanks in the rain. After watching the local weather, they advised to stay off the roads for the morning hours, we did. We finally left the New Jersey campground around 11 once the rain stopped. We got on the road and headed down the New Jersey Turnpike, the most expensive toll road! For the drive from southern NJ to Newark area, it cost us 38 dollars! The toll prices up here are ridiculously expensive, no wonder most people take public transportation. As we were getting closer to the Newark campground, we could see the New York City skyline..

We checked in and setup the camper..

Now time to throw quarters at the washer and dryers, 😀 We spent the rest of the afternoon washing our clothes. Thankfully, the washer and dryers at the campground work pretty well. Here’s an iconic view from our camp sight, she’ll be with us for the next 5 days..

Well Aimee and I are heading our for an evening bike ride, until tomorrow, Bon Soir!

Aug 13 2013

Day 13 – Philly Cheese Steak!

Hi there. Today we left Harrisburg, PA and drove to Old Cedar Park Campground in New Jersey. We arrived early so that we could venture off to see the sights and sounds of Philadelphia. Our first stop in Philly was the Independence Hall Visitor Center. We picked up some pamphlets and maps and we were off..

Here’s a little history of Philly that I was not aware of. Philadelphia was actually the nation’s interim capitol while our politicians were selecting the permanent site, eventually Washington DC. It was the capitol for a period of 10 years. Below is Independence Hall. This building is where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution was debated and signed…

Unfortunately, Aimee and I weren’t able to get tickets, they were sold out for the day. We were able to tour the Congress Hall. This is the building that housed our first congress. Here’s a picture of Congresswoman Aimee, she looks official!

The desk in the next picture is pretty significant in our country history. It’s actually the place where our 2nd President John Adams was Inaugurated. This is significant because it was actually the first time that our nation’s first leader, George Washington, handed over his power to publicly elected John Adams. Up until this point, changes of leadership have only taken after revolutions or natural deaths of nobility. People actually thought that George Washington might not peacefully relinquish his power, but as you all know, he did and did it proudly.

The senate met in this space…

Here are some very old (but not original) paintings. These were gifts from France. They are actual portraits of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI…

After touring the historical areas of Philly, we decided to take in some local cuisine, Philly Cheese Steak. We googled a couple of places and finally decided on Jim’s Steaks on South Street. On the way down there, we saw some interesting Apartments…they look like Rocky’s apartment!

After walking about a mile, we got to South Street. It actually reminded us of Bourbon Street a bit. Plenty of bars and restaurants. We walked up to Jim’s by following our nose, it smelled awesome inside. After looking over the menu, we decided on Cheese Steak with Provolone Cheese. Here’s some pics of our great dinner…

I know, 13 sandwiches in one hour, incredible. Aimee and I were both full after eating…we walked a mile or so back to the truck. Philly had some cool alley ways..

We hoped back into the truck hoping to go check out some Rocky sites. He’s got a statue near the Museum of Art and it’s actually the museum stairs that he climbs while “Eye of the Tiger” is playing. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and went over a bridge. To get back over, we would have to payed another 5 dollar toll, I know, 5 bucks to cross a bridge! We complain about $0.60 in Nola. We took it back to the campground, lit a campfire and enjoyed our last night in the quite countryside for the next week and a half.