It's about 9:00am on Sunday morning, and we’re having some breakfast, anticipating our next adventure :) First up is New York City...
Since our trip will be relatively close to home during this vacation, we’ve decided to take our time. No marathon days on the road. Instead of driving all the way to NYC in one long day, we’ll be breaking the trip up over two short days. Our destination in New York is a small quiet campground in upstate New York called ‘Sylvan Lake Beach Park’. It’s only about 12 hours away, but for a change of pace, our plan is to boondock tonight at a Wal-Mart store somewhere in southern Maine, and then continue on the rest of the way tomorrow morning. This will leave us with about 4 or 5 hour drive tomorrow.
Monday, Aug 30
Woke up to a gorgeous morning! Nice and sunny, and at 8:00am it’s already 20C! Last night we arrived at the Biddeford Wal-Mart around 6:00, and it was still hot…34C hot!! So we set up, and walked over to the store to browse a bit. We ended up bringing some fixings back to the trailer and made sandwiches and a salad for supper.This morning, we had a quick breakfast of yogurt and berries, then we hit the road around 10:30 and pointed the truck toward Sylvan Lake. Stopped for gas and a bite to eat at the Charlton Plaza, just outside of Sturbridge, MA. on the I-90. What a warm day…by early afternoon it was 36C! We arrived at the campground around 3:30, checked in and set up camp. By 4:30, we were relaxing in air conditioned comfort in the trailer! At that point, our thoughts turned to supper :) The last time we passed through this area, we ate at a local Italian restaurant, called Anthony’s, and as I recalled, it was quite yummy! So we weren’t long making up our mind about tonight’s supper, Anthony’s here we come!!Well just like last time, the food from Anthony’s was delicious! I had the Ziti Fra Liberio. Sheila had the Pasta Pesto Chicken. Yummy!Tuesday, Aug 31
Got up early, looked after puppies, then went for a short run.
With nothing planned for today (or the entire week, for that matter), we had a quick breakfast at the trailer, then headed into ‘The City’ using the local commuter train.
Got into the city around 12:30, and being typical tourists, we bought two tickets for a sightseeing tour. We boarded the bus at Times Square with Jerry as our guide. We got to see some cool stuff – the Theatre District, Chinatown and Little Italy, Empire State Building, the World Trade Centre’s Ground Zero site, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park.
During the tour (it was a ‘Hop on – Hop off’ type tour), we decided to start looking around for discount ticket outlets. One item on our ‘must do’ list was to see a Broadway show. And we had heard that it was possible to get discounted tickets if you’re willing to purchase them the same day or even the day before. So that’s exactly what we set out to do. We hopped off in the downtown/South Street Seaport area and looked around for ticket offices. Sure enough, we found a ‘TKTS’ outlet selling Broadway tickets at reduced prices. We walked out of there with two, next day, tickets to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ at 50% off!! Sweet!
By this time we were starting to get hungry, so while still in the Seaport district, we stopped at one of the local pubs…Heartland Brewery. We both ordered the pulled-pork BBQ sandwich and fries. Delicious! I love southern BBQ, and this was good!
Back on the bus, this time with Wanda as our guide, we headed back to the Midtown district. But a thought crossed my mind. As I was looking at the map, I noticed we would be passing by Little Italy for a second time. Well, when I think of Italy, I can’t help but think of food, and I absolutely love Italian pastries…especially cannoli…they are so freakin’ good! Oh yeah, Italians seem to make the best cappuccinos! So I thought we should stop and explore Little Italy a bit…maybe, just maybe, we might find a pastry shop somewhere. As luck would have it, we did!! Walking along Broome St. we came across Café Roma :) So I made a beeline for that place. We sat down and ordered some cannoli and cappuccinos…OMG, it was so good!!! After our little coffee break, we worked our way back to the tour bus pick up. But…my stomach still needed some attention ;) En route to the bus stop we stumbled across a sidewalk gelato display at Ferrara’s on Grand St. Well, I couldn’t resist :)
With full bellies, we once again boarded the tour bus - this time, Anastasios was our guide. “Just call me Tommy”, he tells us. We finish touring lower Manhattan and head back to Midtown. We reached Times Square and decided we’d had enough touring for one day. We head back to Grand Central Station, jump on the train and head back to the campground.
Some interesting facts about New York:
- New York City is the business, entertainment and publishing capital of the country.
- New York City has a population of about 7.5 million and is the largest city in the U.S.
- NYC is actually made up of 5 ‘boroughs’. Each borough being much like a separate city, with their own distinct character and personality.
- Any part of the state that falls outside of the 5 boroughs is considered ‘Upstate New York’.
- Manhattan – the smallest but the busiest, with a population of approximately 1.5 million.
- The Bronx – about 1.3 million people.
- Queens - 2.2 million
- Brooklyn - 2.5 million
- Staten Island - 500,000
Since Manhattan is the area most people associate with New York City, let’s focus on that part of the city...
- 13,000 yellow cabs flood the streets of Manhattan every day.
- During working hours, Manhattan’s population will swell from 1.5 million to 6.5 million due to all the workers that commute from the surrounding communities.
- In recent years, New York has become the safest city in the US, with a lower crime rate than any other US city.
- You can purchase a bachelor apartment in the residential Trump World Tower building for $1,500,000.00!
I woke up early this morning and did my usual morning routine - puppy dog chores followed by a run.
We’ll be going to our first ever Broadway musical today, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’!! I can hardly wait! Anxious to get back into the city, we had some breakfast, got cleaned up and drove over to the town of Beacon to catch the commuter train.
Arrived at Grand Central Station just before 12:30. The show starts at 2pm, so we kept an eye out for a place to get lunch as we walked toward the theatre. We walked down 5th Avenue when we noticed McAnn’s Bar and Grill on 46th Avenue. That sounded good to me. I ended up ordering their Jackpot Burger and Sheila had the Tuna Melt. Everything was delicious!
After leaving the pub, we arrived at the theatre around 1:30. Perfect! That gave us lots of time to find our way around the theatre and get to our seats. As it turned out, our seats were great…row 15 and right in the center.
The show lasted about 2 ½ hours and it was awesome! Amazing talent! Now I can understand why Phantom has become the longest running musical in Broadway history, what a great show!
We left the theatre and decided to do a guided tour of the uptown area. Very informative…
- We passed by the Dakota Apartment Building, where John Lennon was shot. The Dakota overlooks a section of Central Park, where John and Yoko had spent many a day. They (John, especially) absolutely loved this area in the park. After his untimely death, a garden was created in this very spot to honor John’s memory. This garden is now called ‘Strawberry Fields’. To this day, Yoko Ono still lives in the Dakota, and still passes her day strolling through this little spot that was so loved by John.
- We saw the American Museum of Natural History,
- the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant,
- the Guggenheim Museum
- the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- drove through Harlem and learned about how Harlem came to be, and also the history of the Apollo Theatre.
Once we wrapped up the tour, it was about time for supper, so we popped into the Majestic Delicatessen Café on 7th Avenue. Both Sheila and I had the Monte Cristo Panini. The sandwich was delicious and as I was eating away, I happened to notice lots of desserts on display. And then I noticed the cannoli!! Well, I wasn’t about to pass this up…no sooner did I finish my sandwich, I was back up at the counter ordering cannoli…and it was yummy!!
Thursday, Sept 2
After spending a couple of days seeing the sites in New York City, today we thought it was about time to explore the area surrounding the campground. We had breakfast at the Beekman Diner (their Southwestern Omelet is awesome, by the way!) on Route 55, then drove the back roads, enjoying the scenery.
We followed the 9 along the Hudson River to Poughkeepsie then explored some country roads that took us through the Rhinebeck area. I was surprised to see a lot of horse ranches here. Very scenic.
Stopped for ‘Pumpkin Pie a la Mode’ ice cream at a “Rita’s”. Very yummy!
Today was the warmest since we arrived in New York – by 2:00 the temperature hit 38C!
Friday, Sept 3
Not much to report today, we decided just to hang out at the trailer and relax. I went for my usual run this morning, but other than that, not much happening. Read some books…watched some TV. That’s about it.
Saturday, Sept 4
Today we decided to, not just venture into the city, but actually drive into the city instead of using the commuter train! So that’s exactly what we did. And what an experience! We got up bright and early and drove into The Bronx. Interesting area. We ended up parking at Fordham University. What a beautiful campus! The buildings…the grounds…everything! Very well maintained, and clean, with nothing out of place.
After wondering around, admiring the campus and it’s beautiful architecture, we ventured down the street to Pete’s Deli on Arthur Ave for breakfast. I had the whole wheat pancakes (delicious) and Sheila had the corned beef hash. Everything was very good!
After breakfast we wandered across the street to the Bronx Zoo. What a beautiful facility! So many different species of animals, each with large areas to roam! We were very impressed! The animals weren’t crammed into small spaces like you might see at other zoos. In fact, each of the larger animals (lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes, etc.) had several acres to themselves! Very nice!
After the zoo we walked past the Botanical Gardens. We never went in, but maybe on another trip. Looked very impressive and appeared to cover a huge area. If I remember correctly, this is one of the largest public gardens in the world!
Once we finished touring The Bronx, we hopped on the subway and headed into Manhattan to see what it was like on a weekend. Wow, like a totally different city! A lot less traffic, and not the frenzied pace we saw the other day! Walked around a bit and stumbled across an open air street market (around 51st or 52nd St. I think). The street was closed to traffic and there were vendors as far as the eye could see. We’ll definitely be checking this out again, as we ran out of time before we could explore the entire market. We were only able to get part way down the street, before it was time to head back to the trailer.
Sunday, Sept 5
I’d say laundry day has arrived! So we loaded up the dirty clothes and detergent, and collected as many quarters as we could find and headed off to the Laundromat. We pulled into the parking lot, and noticed that directly across the street was a Dunkin’ Donuts…perfect! Time for SNACKS J So we loaded up the machines, then proceeded to load ourselves up…with coffee and sweets!!
As we were waiting for the laundry to finish, I looked around and saw that we were surrounded by restaurants. Italian, Chinese, etc. Hmmm…‘Golden Jade’…Chinese does sound good for supper. And it’s right here in same building. Convenient! So once the laundry was done we popped into the restaurant, grabbed a menu and headed home. Got back to the trailer and read though the menu. Everything sounded so good, it was hard to decide! By supper time , we were ready…so back to the restaurant we go, and ordered the ‘Shrimp and Chicken with Garlic Sauce’ and ‘House Special Chow Mein’. It was delicious! I would definitely go there again!
After supper we didn’t do a great deal. Since this is our last day here, and we’re heading to Boston tomorrow, we decided just to unwind at the trailer and go to bed early.
Monday, Sept 6
Time to move on! By 9:30 we were packed and on the road to our next destination - ‘Circle CG Campground’ in Boston, MA. We had never stayed at this campground before so we weren’t sure what to expect. We arrived around 2PM and were pleasantly surprised. For the most part it was nice and clean. There was an area just inside the entrance where there was a bunch of tractors, and other assorted heavy equipment that I think could have been hidden from view a bit better. But overall it was nice campground, and the staff were very helpful, and extremely pleasant.
After settling in, we decided to do some exploring. The Wrentham factory outlets are close, so we drove by…WOW, that place was incredible…and busy!! For now, I’m attributing the crowds to this being Labour Day. After driving around the complex, it seemed like every major retailer had taken up residence here: Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Sak’s, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Reebok and the list goes on. Oh boy, I could do some serious damage to my MasterCard here! And then the food: Godiva Chocolatier…The Fudgery…Lindt Chocolate…Annie’s Pretzels…and on and on. I’m gonna like this place!! Anyway, we were hoping to do some shopping later in the week. I sure hope it’s not this busy everyday…YIKES!
After our Wrentham drive by, I decided to go check out the Boston Marathon site. Before the trip even began, I did some investigation, to see where the Marathon route actually ran. As it so happens, we’re camping close to the Boston Marathon route…what a coincidence ;) So of course, I had to go check it out! After a bit we were able to find the actual Start Line in nearby Hopkinton. Brightly painted in blue! This is so cool! I may have to come back tomorrow for my weekly ‘long run’ :)
Tuesday, Sept 7
I got up early this morning, had my usual pre-run breakfast of oatmeal then drove to Hopkinton. I ended up doing 25 kms along the actual Boston Marathon route…it was so neat…to run along the very same streets that have seen the greatest and fastest runners from all over the world converge. Maybe someday I too will be a part of the greatest road race of them all!
After wrapping up my morning run, I headed back to the trailer to get cleaned up and eat (yet again). I was starving!
That took care of the morning. This afternoon was pretty relaxing. We had tickets for tonight’s Red Sox ball game, so we thought we would just ‘veg’ this afternoon. Basically we just hung out with the puppy dogs, and watched some TV. Had a late lunch around 3:00, then headed over to the train station around 4:00. By 5:30 we were finding our way to our seats. That was so awesome!! I had never been to a Major League Baseball game before let alone go to such a famous venue! So to watch my first professional ball game in Fenway Park, the most famous ballpark of all, was an incredible experience!! I loved it! And of course, you can’t go to a ball game without eating junk food! So just before the game started, I wandered down and grabbed a cheese burger and fries. Yummy!!
Wednesday, Sept 8
Today we tried our luck over at Wrentham Factory Outlet complex. First up though was breakfast. To my delight, there was a Cracker Barrel Restaurant directly in front of the outlet mall...YAY!! I love Cracker Barrel :) I ordered a loaded omelet while Sheila had the oatmeal with fried apples. Delicious!
After breakfast, you could say we “shopped ‘til we dropped”! That was a full day. We bounced from store to store all day. I really like Tommy Hilfiger, so I had to browse that store for a bit, eventually buying some shirts and a couple pairs of jeans. Moved on to Saucony and picked up some running gear. I really like Saucony running clothes, really comfortable and fit well. I just wish it was easier to find. After that, we visited Calvin Klein, Nike, Under Armour and a bunch of other places.
We had a great time! Then for supper we went to Friendly’s Restaurant. Friendly’s is always good, and of course you can’t go to Friendly’s without having ice cream :)
Thursday, Sept 9
Today we headed into Boston to tour around a bit. First up was Chinatown, then Quincy Market. Quincy Market is always a must see. So much good food to be had :)
Today though, we noticed a fairly large crowd gathered just outside the market. And in the center of this crowd was this street performer who was wearing a harness and was setting up some sort of gigantic tripod. Well, our curiosity was piqued. So we stuck around to see what exactly was happening. As it turns out this guy is an escape artist and contortionist. With the help of the audience, he eventually was hanging upside down in a straightjacket from the middle of this giant tripod with his feet and legs strapped together. And wouldn’t you know it, in no time at all he was able to get out of the straightjacket, was able to untie the leg restraints and managed to lower himself to the ground. Interesting act. Very entertaining! And very funny! With that done, we headed into Quincy Market.
We came across the very famous Mac And Cheese counter. Having never tried it before, we decided to indulge this time. We ordered up the Seafood Mac and Cheese…very yummy!! Will definitely get that again! After that, desert beckoned. Sheila loves the chocolate covered macaroons at the North End Bakery, so while she picked up one of those while I went on a mission to find an Italian treat called ‘Arancini’ (A deep fried rice ball with a meat and cheese mixture in the middle). As luck would have it, I found some at the very same bakery. Very good! After lunch we explored a very interesting and educational green space - The Freedom Trail. This led us to ChinaTown and then Little Italy. After spending most of the day walking, we worked up quite an appetite. After looking around, we decided on Rabia’s for supper. I had the Chicken Marguerite and Sheila had the Seafood Risotto. Delicious!
Friday, Sept 10
Not much on the agenda today. Just decided to drive around, did a little shopping here and there for gifts. Later in the day, we decided to explore some of the Boston suburbs. Drove through the communities of Braintree and Quincy. Had lunch at D’Angelo’s. Very good. Having never been here before, we weren’t sure what to get. So we ordered two sandwiches and shared them – the Chicken Parm sandwich and the Thanksgiving sandwich. They were both delicious!! After lunch we decided to hop on the subway in Quincy and head into town. I had heard about how the Apple company had a retail store in Boston, so I thought we should go check it out.
We got off the subway at the Boylston stop and wondered down the street to Apple. But! On the way, we happened across a candy store 'Sugar Heaven'. OMG! It was amazing!! Every kind of candy, ice cream, chocolate bar and treat you can imagine! I thought I had died and went to Heaven...Sugar Heaven :). Wow...what a fabulous store. I think I gained 10 pounds just from the browsing!! I couldn't help, I had to get some 'souvenirs' :) Of course it was chocolate...various chocolate covered nuts and various chocolate covered berries. Yummy!! Anyway, we did eventually reach Apple. I was anticipating lots of cool toys, and I wasn’t disappointed! What an amazing store, filled with amazing gadgets!
After getting back to the trailer later, we talked about how Boston is such a big city, and we've spent time in most of the neighborhoods, yet we had never been to that part of town where Apple is located. Looking at a map of the city, I realized there is still a lot of the city that we have yet to visit. With that in mind, I think that whenever we visit Boston in the future, we should set aside a day to simply hop on the subway and travel to a random part of the city to discover more of what Boston has to offer.
Saturday, Sept 11
Here we are, final day of our trip...sigh. We got up at our usual time, around 8:00 and did our usual 'teardown' chores...packed up, put everything away, had a quick breakfast and hit the road for Saint John.
The trip home was pretty much uneventful. Right now it's shortly after 7pm and we got home just a few minutes ago. We didn't travel far, but an awesome trip just the same. Got to experience New York City up close. What a fascinating city. A real study of extremes. The biggest...the best...the busiest. It was that and so much more. And we also traveled to one of our favorites towns - Boston. Boston has such a unique personality...if a city could have a personality. We love it there. So, all in all, despite being one of our shorter drives, it was a highly successful trip! So to sum things up - regardless if it's a short trip or long haul, it's simply amazing what a person can discover as they travel down The Long Road.
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