New York – Our RV Trip

Albany, NY

By Jennie Simpson | July 29, 2016

Hey Guys! I’m behind on getting posts ready for you. I prefer to write the posts right after we have the experience so everything is fresh in my mind. Especially when it’s a State Capitol Building. We try to take the guided tours because they’re so interesting and informative…the problem with that is that…well, right now I am four State Capitol Buildings behind. SO…bear with me while I try to keep my facts straight.

We’ve been struggling with decent cell service/wifi at the RV parks we’re staying at. Right now, we’re actually in Main and while I have zero cell service (Come on Sprint! What’s up with the shoddy service up here?!) the park we’re staying at has excellent wifi!

The New York State Capitol Building is in a tie for our top State Capitol Building! We loved it! Right off the bat you can see that it’s going to be different. It looks more like a big estate home or maybe a small castle.

I love all of the different angles and lines here. There’s so much detail in every aspect of this building.

Five floors and five architects. They kept firing their architect which drew out the construction. There are so many things I love about this building. Since we had a small tour group (us and another couple) the guide took us all the way up to the 5th floor! You can see our view in the photo above. The Assembly Staircase (fifth floor) is done in Moorish and Gothic styles and was finished in 1879.

The skylight was removed in 1949 and restored in 2011.

Construction lasted for more than a quarter of a century. In 1899 Governor Theodore Roosevelt declared the building done. It wasn’t actually done but, the cost had exceeded twenty-five million dollars which made the New York State Capitol Building more expensive than the U.S. Capitol. When construction halted, there was still carving being done. So, when you walk through the building, you can see where they stopped. In the picture above you can see the line of edging left unfinished.

It’s the Great Western Staircase, but they call it the Million Dollar Staircase. And yes, it really did cost a million dollars. This staircase is made of sandstone and carved after it was built. There were hundreds of carvers employed, working ten hour days carving the inside of the building. Not just this particular staircase, but all over the building.

Corsehill sandstone was imported from Scotland because of the specific qualities it has which make it excellent for carving. In 1911 a huge fire discolored the sandstone. You can see the difference in colors in the photo above. In 2000 they started restoration work on the building. Because most of the interior is made from sandstone it took a long time getting it clean. I don’t remember what year they finally finished it, but it wasn’t too long ago.

The Capitol stone carvers created hundreds maybe even thousands of faces all throughout the building. There are famous faces like Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, and Susan B. Anthony, but there are also many unidentified faces. Our guide told us they believe the carvers used everyone and anyone in their daily lives as a model for a face.

Look close! Can you see it? In the photo above is the smallest carving in the building. It took them years to find. Apparently, one of the carvers was fired and snuck back in the building one night and carved this little devil.

So, what do you think? It’s a gorgeous building. We could have wandered around for hours looking at everything. Are you wondering where the dome picture is? There’s not one. There’s not a rotunda either. And it’s still sitting firmly in a top slot on our list. They were actually going to have a rotunda and a “dome”, but they ran out of time. I’m not going to tell you how many pictures I took of this building. Don’t even ask. If you ever get a chance to visit the New York State Capitol Building, do it. You won’t regret it.

We didn’t really do anything else at this stop.

We did find a Five Guys that offers shakes! Mind…blown… That was a new thing for us. I guess this particular location has had shakes for a year or so.

The boys took over our room and played some board games. I just realized, y’all haven’t seen our home…I should do a photo tour for you.

And…we made some new friends. We’ll be stopping in Alabama to visit our new friends toward the end of this loop. *waves at the Level Family*

See y’all down the road!!

#easternloop2016

The Niagara Falls Area

By Jennie Simpson | July 26, 2016

IMGP4122 — New York welcome sign next to Canadian border

We spent a week in the Niagara Falls area of New York. The weather was hit and miss…a few days it was more like summer, but mostly it was cool, windy, and rainy.

Our RV park was only half an hour away from Buffalo…and since Jerl and the boys love wings so much…we had to have Buffalo Wings in Buffalo. We found Anchor Bar which claims to be the creator of the Buffalo chicken wings and we couldn’t pass up the chance to try the originals. I kind of wish we’d passed. The place was a dive and was super expensive. Our waitress…I’m pretty sure she was high on life (or something). My friend (hey Dawn!) suggested Duff’s Famous Wings. We gave them a try the next night. I didn’t get any photos…but it was a much better experience! The wings were great, the service was great and best of all…the place was clean!!

While we were in Buffalo, we took a small side trip to the Erie Basin Marina and Gardens so we could poke Erie Lake. We have to touch the water or I can’t put the sticker on our map.

I’m conflicted about the Junior Ranger book here. It’s the Niagara State Park, but there’s a National Park Junior Ranger booklet…but it’s for the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. This is the first time in almost fifty badges that we’ve encounter a Junior Ranger booklet that required us to travel so far from the park and pay admission to several different places in order to complete the booklet. Sure, they give you the nifty lanyard…and they’re supposed to give you the pins as you visit the places (not every place gave us one)…but, this was the hardest, most involved booklet the boys have done. Now, having said my piece about all of that…the booklet pointed us to a few places we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Hence, the conflicted feelings…

Old Fort Niagara is a place you could easily spend an entire day exploring. We got there right before a storm blew in across Lake Ontario and toward the end of the day so we rushed our visit. The building above is the French Castle built in 1726.

Old Fort Niagara has a history that spans more than 300 years. The area was originally used by Native Americans. Most of the buildings are open and you can freely explore the grounds.

The site has been occupied by the French, British, and American forces through the years.

Old Fort Niagara was restored between 1926 and 1934. The rooms have been made to look like they might have during the time when Old Fort Niagara was in use. They fire off the canons and guns at certain times though out the day. Between the downpours of rain and the timing we missed it. We did hear it though. The boys just about came unglued the first time. They’d been chattering and joking around and when the canon fired they stopped and looked around. We chuckled. They chuckled…but continued to look around for threats. I wish I’d gotten a shot of all of their faces that first time.

We made our way to Lockport where the Erie Canal Locks 34 & 35 are. We shimmied in to the Erie Canal Discovery Center about half an hour before they closed.

IMGP4226 — Jerl and Mr. Man learning about how the locks work

There was a great little museum that explained the history, the building, and the local life of the Erie Canal.

Right across the street from the Discovery Center is the actual Erie Canal. We were able to walk up and down some of the locks and really get a good look at them.

We would have missed this place if it hadn’t been in the Junior Ranger booklet. The New York Power Vista is such a cool place!

When you walk in they issue you a Power Portal ID. You have to register it in their computer and then you head to the museum to earn points by completing tasks. When you’re done with everything you can print out your avatar and the amount of points (watts) you earned (generated).

IMGP4283 — Mr. Man learning about electric circuits

Not everything earned you points. Some things were just for exploration and learning. We were geeking out here. We love experiments and places that let our inner nerd shine through.

Some of the displays were more high tech. The one above really made the boys problem solve and think outside the box while they put together everything they’d learned about electricity and circuits. I want to point out the adult lady watching Mr. Man. This wasn’t an easy activity. Several of the adults couldn’t figure it out.

The object of this exercise was to make a stable electrical grid. There were different pieces you could put on the digital table that would react with the other pieces as well as the environmental elements represented. Get it wrong and your grid blows up. Get it right and you get your points for this activity! We played with this one for a while. One of the coolest things about our nomadic lifestyle is the hands on learning. We don’t have to just read about things in books…

The New York Vista isn’t just a museum, it’s a working facility that produces clean energy.

IMGP4103 — Niagara Falls. American side at night.

Niagara Falls. Our first night in the area we went to see the falls lit up. It was our first time seeing the falls…and we were all extremely underwhelmed by the view. There were a few hundred people there all trying to cram into the one small area where you could actually see anything of the falls.

The First Date burger (sauteed mushrooms, diced tomatoes, garlic and brie cheese) with the Poutini Martini fries (fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, and onion ring)

On our last day in the area we crossed the border into Ontario. We, of course, had to find a burger place. And I wanted to try poutine. We found a place called The Works. We were able to walk there from the American side of Niagara.

The Dead Ringer burger (smoked beef brisket, smokey bbq sauce, jack cheese, jalapenos, and an onion ring) with the Longhorn Poutine fries (fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, smoked beef brisket and bbq sauce)

Guys, this place…it’s officially on our top ten. Everything we had was amazing. Everyone there was super nice. We’re already wanting to go back!!

I told you how underwhelmed we were with the view from the American side of Niagara…well, the view got incredibly better as we were walking across the bridge to the Canadian side of Niagara. The shot above is from the bridge.

IMGP4316 — American Falls from the Canadian side of Niagara

All of my Canadian friends told me the view of the falls is better from the Canadian side. They were right. We’d walked over to Luna Island (that little smidge of land toward the right side of the picture above) a few days before. It was something altogether different seeing it from the other side of the river.

IMGP4329 — Horseshoe Falls and a Hornblower Boat

There’s a wonderful park with nice walkways all along the river on the Canadian side of Niagara. This was our first good view of Horseshoe Falls. Each side of the river has their own touristy things. On the American side you’ve got The Maid of the Mist boats while on the Canadian side you’ve got The Hornblower boats. In the pic above you can see one of the Hornblower boats. The Maid of the Mist boats stop giving rides by 5PM but the Hornblower boats continue to give rides well after dark.

The rainbows changed shape, size, and number depending on where you were standing.

I know, I know…I usually save the flowers for the end…but I wanted to end with a surprise. These purple flowers were on both sides of the Niagara River. I couldn’t get enough of them!

There were some wildflowers here and there too on both sides of Niagara.

On the Canadian side you can walk right up to the side of Horseshoe Falls. The American side was under construction. We couldn’t get close at all.

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Sometimes a picture doesn’t do it justice. We stood watching the water for a while. The water rushing by us so fast gave us a slight sense of vertigo.

We stopped in a Tim Horton’s while we waited for the sun to completely set. The temps dropped quickly outside so we welcomed the opportunity to get in out of the cold breeze and mist from the falls.

When it got closer to 10PM we made our way back to the Rainbow Bridge to watch the fireworks. We wanted to get out of the press of people and wanted to be a little farther away from the show so we could get some better pics.

There weren’t very many people on the bridge. We had our choice of places to stand…and the view was gorgeous!

IMGP4395 — Fireworks from Rainbow Bridge

We ooo-ed and ahhh-ed along with everyone else on the bridge.

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Because, who doesn’t love a good fireworks show?

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

Pizza Roundup New York City

By Littlest | July 22, 2016

For my fellow pizza lovers I give to you a double pizza post for New York City!!

The first pizza place is Bleecker Street pizza in Little Italy section of New York. My mom was told that we had to have pizza from Bleecker Street if we wanted a true NYC pizza experience.

Bleecker Street pizza is pretty tasty, but you would expect that in the Little Italy section of New York City. We did not sit down at Bleecker Street pizza so I can’t tell you how the staff is but the bathrooms are nice.

Now I will review Famous Original Ray’s pizza!

Ray’s has super big slices of pizza that are really good. I do not remember if their bathrooms were clean or not so this review is based just on pizza and decor. The decor was ok but the pizza was excellent so that is good.

I give both Bleecker Street and Ray’s 5 star reviews.

See you next time on…

Pizza Street!!

NYC Times Two

By Jennie Simpson | July 19, 2016

It took us two full days and walking over twenty miles to see what we wanted to see in New York City. And…as you might guess…we still didn’t see it all, but I wasn’t going to talk Jerl into going back any time soon. Big cities aren’t really our thing and New York City is about as big as they come. I’m not into big cities either, but I do enjoy NYC so I could have easily gone back for a third or fourth day to do some more exploring, but I think I would’ve had to go it alone. I’ll post our NYC explorations in the order we had them.

On day one we spent over half the day at Ellis Island and Liberty Island so we didn’t even reach NYC until around one in the afternoon. We used the Statue Cruises ferry to hop from the New Jersey side to the NYC side so we wouldn’t have to drive in NYC at all. We landed in NYC in Battery Park and started our trek north through the city.

The 9/11 Memorial was our first stop. A few things about NYC stood out for me. One of them was the sheer number of NYPD Officers out and about at certain locations. At the 9/11 Memorial, there were quite a few officers keeping watch. Staying vigilant.

The 9/11 Memorial was beautiful. Simple and clean.

Our next stop was the Brooklyn Bridge…along with about a million other people. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883 and was the first bridge to link Manhattan and Brooklyn. We walked part way across the bridge, but we were pressed for time and watching the weather which was calling for rain. I would love to go back and go to DUMBO to get a good shot of the whole bridge. I’m hoping that one of these days…in a far off future…I’ll be able to talk Jerl into going back.

Our next stop was Chinatown.

The boys were starving so we grabbed some dumplings from Fried Dumpling to eat on our way to our next destination.

I’d been to Chinatown before when I took a trip to NYC with a bestie of mine way back when I was in Junior High…so I knew what we were in for. The boys…I think they had a bit of culture shock. I could have spent the entire day roaming around China Town!

I saw several people taking selfies with the wall above. It’s pretty and I probably would have had one of the boys take a pic of me and Jerl there…but we couldn’t make it across the street and we didn’t want to walk all the way back to it. I know…sounds lazy…but our feet were starting to scream at us so, we walked on. We made it all the way up to Washington Square (which was packed with people) where we grabbed a slice of pizza on Bleecker Street and some tacos from Otto’s.

It was close to five-ish at this point and we were all tired so we called it a day and made our way back to our ferry to head home.

Day two was actually a couple of weeks later. The plan was to ferry up to the 39th street pier. When I glanced online it looked like the ferry we were using went there. It doesn’t. So, we walked. We headed back up to Washington Square.

We were in the city by 9AM this time and the walk wasn’t too bad. We also went during the week which, I think, helped. Washington Square wasn’t nearly as crowded this time and I got a decent shot of the fountain and the arch without a thousand people milling around.

On the north side of Washington Square is “The Row”. Greek Revival homes where some of the elite in New York City of the 19th century lived. Looks so pretty! You’d never know that right next to where I snapped this shot was a huge smelly pile of trash.

We didn’t go up into the Empire State Building. I’m sure the panoramas are enviable. But the line was insane and the price was worse. I refuse to pay that much just for a view. We did walk right by it and look waaayyy up…it is a long way up there. And I did snap this great shot on the way to our next stop!

The Flatiron Building is a 1902 skyscraper. The 22 story triangular building is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper.

We wanted the full NYC experience so we had to try a hotdog from a food cart!

So…we were walking along and I noticed a few people taking pics of something behind us. I turn around to see a great shot of the Chrysler Building! When it was completed in 1931 it held the title of “world’s tallest building”.

I didn’t take this picture because it’s a digital American flag. I took it because of all of the police officers guarding it. It saddens me that they have to guard it. I don’t know if you can see it, but one of the guards is heavily armed. Don’t ask me what kind of gun it was…I don’t know guns…it was really big and looked like it would shoot a missile. Can’t we just get along?

Broadway! I snapped this pic on the way by.

Junior’s Most Fabulous Cheesecake. We had to have some New York Cheesecake while we were in NYC! Right?! We spotted the Junior’s Bakery and grabbed a slice to share. Junior’s has been around since 1950 and apparently, it’s the place to go for great cheesecake. It really was fabulous. It was so good that when we saw a frozen Junior’s at the grocery store, we bought it!

We made it to Times Square! It was packed with people and the all of the signs were flashing up ads non-stop. We stuck around just long enough to snap some pictures and then we were off again.

We grabbed a slice from Ray’s Original as we made our way up to Central Park. I think this is the biggest slice of pizza I’ve seen.

Rockefeller Center! We’re fans of Jimmy Fallon. We stood there for a few moments hoping a chance sighting. It didn’t happen, but it was fun to see the building!

You see it in movies, hear about it on shows, but the number of yellow taxis was astounding! They were everywhere!!

I didn’t know this was here. We were walking by and I spotted it so…I had to have a picture of the boys with it. I’m not sure how many LOVE statues this one makes…I should count those up.

Central Park! I don’t know why…but for some reason my goal was to reach Central Park. I needed to see it. It was so odd to walk out of this huge city and into a forest like setting…but look up and see all of the skyscrapers!

I also really wanted to find this bridge. This particular bridge was on an episode of Doctor Who. If you’re a true Whovian then you’ll recognize it. If not…well, you can still appreciate the beauty in the picture. It was a really wonderful place in the park.

Here’s another shot of the bridge. Notice all of the row boats? There were tons of them out! By this point our feet were screaming at us. And not nice things. So, we headed back toward the ferry terminal. It was about a four and a half mile walk from the pic above to the ferry terminal.

There’s a great park all along the NYC side of the Hudson so we headed to the river and then started the walk south. The Intrepid was on our way. We were way too tired to go explore it, but we did sit on some benches and admire it for a bit. We met a guy at the RV park we were staying at during this time who served on the Intrepid. He told us a few stories so we thought about what it was like for him on that big ship while we sat there listening to our feet scream some very unflattering things at us.

One World Trade Center is presently America’s tallest building coming in at 1,792′ to the tip.

Don’t worry…I’m not leaving out the flowers! Yes! There were tons of flowers in New York City! I was pleasantly surprised by all of the gardens and flowers throughout the city. The pink ones above were in a garden along the Hudson.

This little garden was also in a park along the Hudson. Remember that park I told you about? It had a skate park, playgrounds for kids, playgrounds for furry four-legged kids, basketball courts, tennis courts, splash pads…and it had open green spaces for people to hang out in.

We saw people doing anything and everything you would normally do in your backyard…I guess because they were in their backyard.

These flowers were in Central Park. I love the clean lines and colors. They smelled horrid…but they’re pretty!

It was somewhere around 6PM when we dragged ourselves onto the World Financial Ferry Terminal. Some of us didn’t even wait to get back to the car before they fell asleep. I think we wore them out!

And there you have it. Our NYC times two experience. I loved it. All of it. The rest of us…well, they liked the ferry ride and the food. 😉 I might need to find someone else to go back to NYC with. Any volunteers?

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses…

By Jennie Simpson | July 15, 2016

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.

IMGP3548 — The Dude standing by a replica of Lady Liberty’s face.

Before Lady Liberty stood proudly on it, Liberty Island was a star-shaped Fort Wood.

Mr. Man with one big foot!

She has a copper shell about the same thickness as a penny and is 151 feet tall.

There’s a great museum that details how, when, where and who built the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t make it all the way up to the crown. There are only a certain number of people allowed in the crown per day and I didn’t get ours reserved in time.

I checked mid April and they were sold out util mid August. Bummer. We did get to go up into the pedestal! It was crowded and the view wasn’t much different than the view you get on the ground.

We also stopped at Ellis Island.

The boys did the Junior Ranger booklets at both Ellis Island and Liberty Island. The books were different, but the badges were the same. That’s ok…we always learn so much more when the boys go through the Junior Ranger booklets!

IMGP3482 — The Registry Room around 1912

Millions of Americans can claim ancestors who came through the doors of Ellis Island.

IMGP3488 — The Registry Room present day.

For over two decades thousands of immigrants (sometimes over 5,ooo in one day) went through The Registry Room.

IMGP3492 — America propaganda at Ellis Island

There’s a really great museum that details not only the buildings on Ellis Island, but also the struggles of the immigrants to get to Ellis Island and then their struggles once they reached America.

IMGP3501 — Personal items from immigrants

Some of the displays even have actual items that immigrants brought with them on their journey to the U.S.

My favorite things at the museum though, were all of the stories. The quotes of what the immigrants thought and/or felt.

IMGP3512 — Hospital side of Ellis Island

I didn’t realize how big Ellis Island is. You’re only allowed to roam around half the island. You have to be on a special tour to see the hospital side. I would love to do the tour and have already started working on talking Jerl into going back some day to see the rest of Ellis Island.

The view of Ellis Island and Liberty Island from the ferry. Of the two islands…Ellis was my favorite.

So…my only gripe about this is the price of the ferry. There’s only one way to get to the islands and it’s Statue Island Cruises. Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty are both National Parks…they belong to the people…the price of the ferry to see them shouldn’t cost a family of five almost $100. At first I thought maybe that’s just how much ferry rides cost there, but we took a different ferry while in NYC and it only cost us $30 to basically go the same distance. It’s sad how some companies take advantage of people.

All in all, we had a great day! We learned so much and the boys earned another badge!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016