Marathon Tourists

SHIP SHAPE: Our first stop on Monday morning was Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, on the NYC waterfront.

We took the bus into NYC Port Authority, then hopped a bus down 42nd to the waterfront.

The first thing we did at Intrepid was tour the submarine, which featured a Regulus missile, circa late 1950s. The tour guide said it would have taken out all of NYC and its boroughs. CJ, of course, asked if the missile featured a fission or hydrogen warhead. That's my boy. :)

Into the belly of the Growler (the name of the sub we were on).

Below is where a couple more Regulus missiles were stored back in the day.

It was interesting seeing sleeping quarters on the sub. Zero privacy.

These bunks were a little more spacious, plus these guys got to sleep next to torpedoes!

There were So. Many. Dials. all over the sub.

And lots of gauges, too.

These were the drivers' seats.

And here was an also coveted seat on the sub.

Next up, we headed to the (temporary) pavilion where space shuttle prototype Enterprise is housed.  

Last time we saw her, we were all at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.

For the most part, she looked lovely. 

                                   
                                   

But we couldn't help but notice her paint job, in places, looked like cheap paint done by a day laborer in a hurry. 

We also took exception to some random punctuation on display signs. 

Those things aside, of course it was wonderful to see her.

Up on the deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid, we checked out some planes and helicopters.

CJ and Annabelle also found some big guns to do some pretend target practice with. CJ had his sights set on Weehawken ...

 while Annabelle was looking toward Manhattan.

Inside Intrepid there was lots to see. I loved the retro-riffic look of the mess hall and game room.

Look at the mixer I spotted in the ship's galley. It was about three feet high.  I think I need it to make my cookies, cakes and cupcakes!

And here are the kids on the bridge.

 CJ felt at home in this chair.

Inside, there were more models and machines of interest, including this cute lil helicopter.

 The kids took a 'spin' in a Gemini capsule mock up.

 And outside Intrepid here was a display showing how the ship helped pluck one from the sea!

All in all, it was a wonderful Intrepid experience!

QUITE A COLLECTION: After Intrepid, it was on to the amazing American Museum of Natural History.

 GORGEOUS, gorgeous building! We loved the Teddy Roosevelt statue out front.

 And I adore T.R.'s quote which was about a story high, on the wall in the  lobby. Words to live by!

There was no FRICKING way we were going to see the whole museum, given our schedule. So, we settled for what the kids wanted to see most, which included dinos, of course.

We were so, SO lucky. As we entered the first chamber of the hall of Ornithischian dinosaurs, a docent said to us, "You're in good hands," and directed us to a gentleman who was just coming on shift. He gave us a personal, private guided tour of the entire Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs. He made sure that the kids got to see and experience all the hands-on displays. They petted a stegosaurus plate ...

and touched the rough dome of a pachycephalosaurus.

They poked at an ankylosaur's plate ...

and probed a real dinosaur egg!

In the hall of Saurischian dinos, we ogled over the skeletal dinos on display, including this first TRex skull ever found!

 The triceratops was a sight to behold!

 As was the allosaurus.

 And though it's small, this raptor skeleton just screams, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" at me!

CJ and Annabelle looked none too worried to be standing next to the TRex.

But back to the Ornithischian hall (sorry, for he bouncing around, it's hard to keep it all straight ..) the docent saved the best for last - a mummified duck billed dinosaur that he says is the best specimen in the world.

In the Hall of Advanced Mammals, I thought this Gomphotherium, an early relative of elephants who lived in Texas about 10 million years ago, looked downright friendly.

I liked this dino family tree, too.

And we all enjoyed the mastadon with pretzel-like tusks.

We also spent a fair amount of time checking out the North American animals display. I loved the bison diorama. It looked very realistic.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE:  As if we hadn't had a full enough day already, after the museums, we decided to check out Times Square.

We saw the fabled ball they drop on New Year's Eve (I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit of a disappointment).

We also saw lots of people in costumes - Cookie Monster, Elmo, Minnie Mouse, you name it, hoping to have the kids pose with them - for a price. I'd show you photos, but I know better ...

We had a very early dinner/late lunch at The Heartland. Here's Annabelle enjoying a very fancy grilled cheese sandwich. We enjoyed a couple of their namesake brews.

After eating, we wanted to kill time to let rush hour back to NJ die down, so we headed to a Toys R Us I happened to notice. Oh. My GOD. What a good stop that was! Imagine our surprise walking in to find a three story Ferris wheel inside!!!

 Of course the kids had to take a ride.  The cars had different themes, but riders couldn't choose. They didn't get the My Little Pony one they would have loved, but were happy to catch a ride in the Nickelodeon car.  (They were relieved they didn't get stuck in the Cabbage Patch Kids cart!)

We did, however, find a nice big selection of MLP toys. We scored a great Rainbow Dash shopping bag. 

The store had a Candyland - a buffet of every kind of sugary treat you can imagine. The kids each filled a little bag, much to their delight. 

 The store had an amazing LEGO section - ironically MUCH better than the Rockefeller Center LEGO World store.  They had King Kong scaling the Empire State Building...

 a Statue of Liberty, of Course (probably about 5-feet high) ...

 and a big ol' Hulk!

 Elsewhere, there was a Jurassic Park section, which the kids loved!

BEAUTY SHOTS:  A few miscellaneous photos from our second full day.  First, while we were at Intrepid, I looked across and figured we should be able to see the house where we are staying.  Sure 'nuff, I spied it.  It's the white place at the base of the left tower in this shot.

 Here's a much closer shot of it - with the kids on the porch at the start of the day!

 Monday was a lovely day, weather wise. Morning dawned with clear skies and hardly any humidity.

And evening was gorgeous, too. 

 We even got treated to a fireworks show around 10 p.m.  A barge parked RIGHT in front of our place, and gave us a good 15+ minute display! Photos to come, but better yet, here's a video Christian took ...

The Big Apple

BIG CITY: Our red eye flight was uneventful, but not restful, that's for sure. We took off from Seattle at 11:30 p.m.  We were over Pennsylvania before I got 8 minutes of shut eye. Annabelle managed to sleep for a couple of hours, CJ for about 30 minutes. Christian was about an hour.

Here we are, winging our way over the Great Lakes.

We hit the the big city at 7:30 a.m. NY time, 4:30 a.m. "our" time.

Shortly thereafter, we got our first monkey wrench right away. The air train from the airport wasn't working, and that was the only way we'd used to plot our trip to Manhattan.  Bummer.  So after some waiting, grumbling, a little cursing, and some wild goose chases, we finally found a bus to take us to where the air train *was* working.  After that, we were off! The air train took us to Jamaica Station, a subway terminal. There, we bought our Metro Transit Authority (MTA) passes, and were ready to ride our first subway.

As we waited, we watched subway rats play on the tracks. Cheap entertainment. :)

We made it to the Port Authority terminal with no trouble.  That put us right out onto fabled 42nd Street.

We were dog tired at this point. A great breakfast (huge pile of pancakes for CJ, French toast for Bee, with 2 eggs and amazing bacon at Mike's Deli for only $6.99 per plate helped get us back on our feet.

From there, we found the mini bus to take us to our rental in Weehawken, NJ, right across the water from Manhattan. The view is phenomenal and the suite is fantastic - so happy I found it on VRBO.

We left our bags with a rental caretaker and then hopped a bus back to the city, destination Central Park. Before entering, we oohed and ah-ed over the amazing Dakota building. Built in the early 1880s , so many familiar names have called it home, none more famous than John Lennon, who was gunned down right outside it.

Across the street, in Central Park, is Strawberry Fields. 

No surprise, masses of Lennon fans were milling about there. This mosaic was 'the' touristy shot to say you were there.

We had fun checking out the many, many statues in the section of the park we strolled through. We saw a 7th Regiment memorial  ... 

and Italian Patriot Guiseppe Mazzini to name two.

We ran across a cool tree with what looked to be camouflage bark! 

It was hot (about 82) and humid, so cooling off in sprinklers was welcome.

We found "Adventure Playground" for the kids, which also had a (very tiny) 'river' running through it.

After Central Park, we headed south, toward Rockefeller Square.  On the way, we made sure to find Nintendo World.

There, the kids played some of the newest games, and we chatted with a clerk. We were able to educate him a bit about Nintendo, in fact, telling him about how Safeco Field is wired on the Nintendo DS network, and about the Pokemon kiosks at malls throughout the Seattle area.

First thing we did upon reaching Rockefeller Plaza was check out the 200 or so flagpoles lining the plaza at street level. The flags are of the United Nations member countries, the U.S. states and territories.

 I challenged CJ to find the North Korean flag. "Follow me!" he declared, without hesitation. He led us all the way across the plaza, and straight to it.

Adjacent to the plaza was a big ol' LEGO store, so we popped in there, of course. They had some great LEGO sculptures.

We loved the replica of Rockefeller Plaza, and the fact that a minifig Batman was atop 'The Rock.'

We had a quick lunch in Bill's Burger & Bar, where every TV was tuned into the Jets' game, with nary a Seahawk to be seen, then we headed back to The Rock.  NBC's studios are headquartered in the building.

Right across the street is Radio City Music Hall.

The elevator ride up to the observation deck was fun. More than a story per second in speed. It affected our ears way more than the plane ride here! They had a glass ceiling with some artsy effects along the short ride.

There was a nice view once we got up top (understatement). 

Up there, we had our first view of Lady Liberty.  ...

She's the speck under the red arrow.

We had a loooooong day in the big city, but it was amazing. As is the view from our apartment across the way in New Jersey!

All in all, a great first day.