We Love New York Even More, 10 August, 2014

 

First thing Sunday morning, after brunch at the Carnegie Deli, we headed for the World Trade Center.  Trade Center One is a truly impressive building.  Note that the corners at the top are rotated ninety degrees from the corners at the base.

Each of the Twin Towers is now marked by one of these fountains.  The names of each of the people who died in the building that was above the fountains are etched into the marble slabs surrounding each one.  One of Ted's co-workers lost her husband here.

Engine Company 10, the first responder, is now a monument to those who died when the tower collapsed.

From there, it is only a few blocks to Trinity Church.  This was the best photograph possible since much of the building was covered by scaffolds and shrouds.

It is, of course, still a house of worship, indeed a beautiful one.

In the graveyard. on one side of the church is the tomb of Alexander Hamilton.  Albert Gallatin is interred on the other side.  Probably fitting.

 Robert Fulton lies next to Hamilton.

We walked a few blocks further to the Fed,

just around the corner from the NYSE.  We both hoped for continued bull markets.

We then moved on to Soho and then back to our hotel to rest our aching feet for a while,

When hunger overcame our pain, we walked to the Stardust Diner for dinner.  Mediocre food, but the servers are Broadway wannabes.  Last year 16 of their number got a gig in a show. 

Then a short walk just a few blocks toward Times Square, 

and a walk in the other direction to Central Park.  Back to the hotel to get ready to ride out the Hudson Valley to our coach Monday morning.

We've already started planning where we want to go and what we want to see the next time we go to the Big Apple. (Next year?)



We Love New York, 9 August 2014

We love New York, so one of our objectives on this leg of our trip was to spend a couple of days there.  We had both been here several times before, but it had been too long.  We took an Amtrak train from Poughkeepsie, only a few miles from our RV Park in to Penn Station.

The E train brought us from Penn Station to Broadway only a few blocks from Central Park, and a block from our hotel, the Mariott Courtyard to the right of this photo.  Thank you Erin!!

Our first stop was the New York Museum of Modern Art. Just off the fifth floor escalator, this couple seems to have found their own quiet spot in the middle of the crowded Museum.

The building, itself provided many photographic opportunities.  Ted liked the image of these, largely unused stairs between the fourth and fifth floors.

This crowd is gathered tightly around Van Gogh's "Starry Night" to take photographs, largely ignoring the wonderful works of Boudin, Gaugin, Cezanne, and many others surrounding them.  We wondered why they felt they needed photograph the paintings, easily available online, instead of just enjoying the pleasure of seeing them first hand.

From MOMA, it was a short walk to Rockefeller Center.

It is impossible to look in any direction without seeing some iconic image such as Atlas here.

No visit to New York can possibly complete without a visit to the Top of the Rock.  Here, the Empire State Building dominates the foreground while the Trade Center One rises in the background.

In the other direction, we looked down at Times Square.

This lovely lady was just off to the side.

From Rockefeller Center, we went looking for lunch.  It was Friday evening, and many of the places we wanted to eat, like the Carnegie Deli, were packed.

A bit further, the Stardust Diner was no better, so we walked back toward the hotel and dined on a hamburger at the Steak-n-Shake next door to the CBS theater before repairing to our comfortable room and planning our next day's adventure. 

Poconos, PA 30 July-7 August 2014

From Harper's Ferry we moved to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  It is located in the Poconos near the Delaware Water Gap and across the Border from Newton, NJ, where Penny hoped to find traces of some of her ancestors who had lived there a couple of centuries earlier.  The drive was beautiful.  We passed pretty hills, clear and rushing streams, and lovely, wide valleys.

There was a lot of road work along the way.  This huge beam, probably intended for a new bridge, was not the only one we passed.

 Along the way, we were passed by several of these van's.  As it turns out, we arrived just prior to the NASCAR race at Pocono.  The track was about thirty miles from our campground.

We discovered that some campgrounds in the NE charge for early arrival, so we stopped at a rest area for a couple of hours to avoid this.  There was a population of Gypsy Moth beginning to build here.  Since it is a pest prone to large and destructive outbreaks, Ted, the entomologist, reported it to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.  They replied and hoped he would volunteer to search for more.  

 Our park was hilly, and covered with a nice mixed stand of oaks, hickories, and maples.  We parked between two large boulders.  A few years earlier, we might have been quite intimidated  trying to get into our space.   Now, after eight years of experience under out belt, no problem.

 At our first opportunity, we traveled to Newton, New Jersey.  The town was full of interesting old buildings, like this one, but not much information for Penny.

I don't believe that we've been to a town of any size at all that did not have a monument to one or more Union regiments.  Newton was no exception.

Note:  The Delaware Water Gap was lovely, I suppose, but having lived in the Columbia Gorge, we are a bit jaded.  We weren't even moved to take any photos.

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia - 23 thru 29 Jul 2014

  Harper's Ferry, West Virginia lies in the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.  We journeyed there to investigate the rich history of the area.

 It is a beautiful area, but extremely hilly and rocky.

 Many of the East Coast campgrounds were never intended for rigs as large as ours, and this one was no exception. We had to lift our front wheels completely off the ground in order to get the coach level. 

The town of Harper's Ferry is nearly as hilly as its surroundings.  There are lots of nicely preserved and restored old buildings.

 Some of them, such as this clock shop, have been recreated by the National Park Service to reflect their original purpose.

One of the most memorable events that happened here was John Brown's 1859 raid on the Harper's Ferry Arsenal.   Brown retreated to and fortified this fire house after his plans to kindle a slave revolt failed to materialize.  It was here that he was captured by a detachment of Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee.

During his foray into Maryland, across the Potomac River, Lee, by then a Confederate General, sent two of his most capable generals,  Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and A.P. Hill, to capture Harper's Ferry, which sat on his preferred supply line.  In command of the Union Forces was, less than capable, Colonel Miles Dixon.  The outcome was inevitable.  The battery at the edge of this grassy area was under Hill's command.

Not far from Harper's Ferry is Charles Town.  Founded by Charles Washington, George's youngest brother.  James Madison married Dolly at Charles' estate, "Happy Retreat."  Many of the streets are named after his brothers. 

Charles Town is the seat of Jefferson County.  John Brown was tried at the county courthouse shown here.  He was hanged two blocks away.