New York, New Year

On New Year's Eve we had to strike out early because Jess had bought 8am tickets for the Crown of the Statue of Liberty. The whole day ended up being an excellent display of innate timing. Now that we had mastered where to park and how to pay, we made it to the station just in time for the 5:45am train. We had to ride the subway all the way down to Battery Park and we made it in line just before a huge crowd showed up. I was elected to run over to Starbucks on a breakfast mission and made it back just as they were opening the gates. We had to go through a ton of different security both before and after the ferry ride. Jess had pre-bought tickets so we were shown to the front of the line for the air puffer machine and had just been escorted in when one of the machines broke and everyone had to turn around and get in line behind us. The ferry ride was fun even though we couldn't see anything thanks to the snow. It dropped a couple inches on us but let up by the time we left the Statue.Then we had to put everything in a locker except our camera and had to pass a bunch of rangers and flash our wristband but finally we were able to start walking up to the crown!The staircase up

It's 354 steps and we of course were at the front of the pack. I had no idea what to expect inside and it was so tiny! Interesting fact: Gustave Eiffel (sound familiar?) designed the infrastructure of the Statue. I don't think the stairs could fit someone over 200 pounds. It was a straight up narrow spiral but finally we saw the light and came up into the crown. I had to duck because there wasn't a lot of headroom. The windows are about as big as an airplane window. Snow had moved in and we couldn't see too far but we did get to see the torch and her hand from up close.The ranger opened one of the windows so we could take a pic outside. It was amazing! After climbing back down, we wandered around the upper base of the monument. Because we had crown tickets, we were on the upper level above all the crowds so it was just us on the platform. I couldn't take enough pictures because it was just so cool. Jess bought one of those foam crowns and I was the only tourist wearing one on the entire island. We loaded back up on the ferry and headed over to Ellis Island. It was amazing. We took a special tour that took us into the hospitals.

Above: these are the corridors that go between all the buildings. They were used to shuffle the sick patients around so they didn't have to go out in the weatherI had no idea the buildings on Ellis Island were so huge and pretty! Or that there are actually three islands but they were joined by the fill that was excavated when digging the subway system. Our guide mentioned that one day in 1917 over 11,000 people were processed! Surprisingly, it only took about 3-5 hours for a person to be processed. I'd always assumed it took much longer. (Interesting fact: Ellis Island opened to the public in 1990 after 30 years of abandonment). We learned all about the various diseases people had and how the hospital on the island was one of the best in the world. I really enjoyed the tour. They have a great museum with lots of exhibits that really show what people went through. I loved it! After getting back to the mainland we made a quick stop to see "The Bull". I'd always thought it was on Wall St. but he's a bit south of there. I rubbed his balls for good luck (that's what all the other tourists were doing at least). Then some foreign tourist hit my shoulder and grunted apparently indicating that I was in his picture. Well, the bull is on a traffic island and surrounded by people taking pictures and I wasn't about to walk in the street to avoid being in his picture. Jess shoved him in the back and we were on our way. Don't mess with cowgirls!

We got back on the subway and headed uptown to meet one of Jess' friends for lunch. They served coleslaw and pickles with every meal which was odd. Then her friend left and my friend from college Ryan came to meet us. He took us to Union Square, Chelsea and Greenwich Village. It was really nice to walk around a neighborhood and be out of the noise. We saw the Sex and the City house and peed in the Starbuck's that the Sex and the City movie was filmed and saw the Magnolia Bakery (apparently it's famous but it was too busy to get anything). It was really nice to see Ryan in his element and have a knowledgeable guide show us around. It was also neat to see how people lived in the city when there weren't millions of tourists wandering about.We had originally planned to do Times Square for New Year's but after talking to a few people we decided it just wasn't worth it. They make you go through tons of security and then place you in a pen with no food, water, or bathroom and don't allow you to leave for 8 hours. To eat in a restaurant in Times Square is about $300 just for a ticket in plus the cost of food. No thanks. Plus, Jess had a flight out of LaGuardia at 8am and we were west of Newark which meant a 2 hour commute to the airport. We had some coney's at the hotel for dinner and spent a quiet evening packing. I watched Jersey Shore (FIST PUMPING!) and went to bed at 12:05 am. We were up again at 4:00am and it took about $30 and 1hr 15 minutes to get to the airport. I made it home by 11am. I drove through the Pocono's and with the fresh fallen snow it was beautiful. All in all this was an amazing trip and I'm so glad Jess came out and visited me. We met as a bunch of loners out in Colorado and I think we both just assumed that the other had been raised by wolves. Well now she got to meet my family and spent time at the homestead and she has some sort of idea where I come from. Now I have to plan my trip to Florida so I can see where she grew up. Rock on 2010!!

New York At A Walk

The next day we went at a more leisurely place. We had the hotel shuttle take us to the train station and took the subway down to Trinity Church. It is a massive church at the end of Wall St. It's kind of disappointing to see these churches diminished by skyscrapers surrounding them. We walked up to the World Trade Center site. I'd been there back in 2004 and it looked quite different. Before it was still so raw and only an excavated hole and you could really feel what happened there but now it looks like any other construction project. We both recounted our tales of where we were on September 11 and it's hard to believe I was only a sophomore in high school when that happened. We walked around Wall St. where all the business men in their fancy suits and shiny suits were running around. Above: Note that the street sign says Wall St.American Stock exchange above and New York Stock Exchange below. I didn't really catch what the difference was between the two.I would have loved to go into the Stock Exchange and see all the activity but I don't think it's allowed. Right across from the New York Stock Exchange was Federal Hall (another NPS site). Federal Hall has a statue of George Washington outside and it is where he took his oath. I may not love massive cities but there's something to be said for the history of New York that is evident in many of its buildings. However, something is lost in translation when there is a Walgreen's or Subway on the ground floor. We walked up to the Brooklyn Bridge which was very cool. We walked out on it and I was very impressed and enjoyed reading the plaques with all the information. We got on the subway and went up to Chinatown for lunch. I wasn't sure what subway stop to get off on but as soon as we took a whiff we knew we were in the right spot. We wandered around trying to find a place and ended up in Little Italy. It was funny how the atmosphere (and smells) completely changed in the span of a block. We didn't want to be too exotic so we settled on sweet and sour chicken and sesame chicken. It was very good and very filling. We sat near the window and I was a bit peeved at all the children running up and staring at me eating. Creepy. We then met up with a friend of Jess' from high school in Central Park. We saw the Alice in Wonderland statue and the Balto statue and I recognized several sites from the movie Enchanted. I have no idea what those statues had to do with New York or Central Park but there they are. It was getting late in the day and the light was very nice and the park looked beautiful. The last time I was in Central Park I couldn't stand the smell of all the horses plodding around but there's not nearly as many horses in the winter so I enjoyed it much more. It was nice to see trees again and not feel penned in by buildings.

The Streets of New York

We headed out bright and early at 8am on Tuesday morning. I was armed with an amalgamation of my family's finest outerwear, a hunk of cheddar and some bread and a camera with an empty memory card. Our first stop was Scranton, PA. Jess got me hooked on the television show The Office so we had to stop by the Steamtown Mall. The "Welcome to Scranton" sign that's in the opening credits is now in the Mall due to people causing traffic problems trying to take pictures of it along the road. We wandered around the Mall and saw a door leading out to a walkway that overlooked the Steamtown National Historic Site. We went outside and quickly came back in because the wind was blowing so cold and bitter that it took our breath away (literally). After leaving the mall (through the creepiest parking garage I've ever been in) I then had to figure out how to get to the entrance of Steamtown which took some maneuvering. We made it inside and it was an awesome NPS site with tons of information. There were exhibits on hobo and lantern signals, railroad slang, disasters, technology and all sorts of trains to look at. It was all centered around a massive turntable in the middle. I could have stayed awhile and wandered the rail yard but it was so cold that we decided to head on to the hotel. Thanks to my amazing hotel discount we got to stay at the Homewood Suites Cranford, NJ for $39/night in a suite with free breakfast and dinner. It was amazing. We took advantage of the free dinner and had salad and ran back out to catch the train. I had trouble figuring out where to park and Jess had trouble figuring out how to work the pay machine. We didn't want to miss the train so we said screw it and left with only paying for 2 hours. After arriving at New York Penn Station we were funneled out right in front of Macy's. Jess had kindly purchased tickets to the Empire State building so we decided that would be our first stop. It took forever! We were there around 7pm and there were lines everywhere. We felt like cattle. Luckily, she had prepaid for the tickets so we could skip that one but there was still a security line and elevator line. The elevators went up so fast that the numbers counted by tens instead of ones! We were so tired of lines by the time we got to the top that we decided to walk the remaining six flights of stairs to the top. It was an amazing view but bitterly cold and windy. We tried to take pictures but there were so many lights that there was nothing for the camera to focus on.
We saw the Chrysler building, Bryant Park and the Statue of Liberty. We had been out less than 5 minutes and could no longer feel our face or hands so we ran back inside(which is when I apparently slammed Jess' clavicle in a door...it was windy!) We got back down (after more lines) and started wandering the streets. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Bryant Park, Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios, Rockefeller Center and Times Square.
It costs $30 to skate so we just took pictures of other people doing it. Jess had never been to NYC before but she had somehow committed the street map to memory and she always knew exactly where to go. Very impressive.While walking back through Times Square. I was amazed at how bright this city is. Las Vegas has lots of light but it seems to cast a pretty glow while New York is like a blinding strobe light attacking you. We were pretty exhausted at that point so we hopped back on the train. While waiting inside at Newark Penn Station a bum lost control of his bodily functions and puked all over the floor. Luckily, our train was coming and we got out of there. Now that's something I'm sure most tourists don't get to see! Good fortune was with us though because there was no parking ticket on our 5 hour overdue meter.

The Best of Upstate New York

After sleeping off our night at the bar we headed out the next day to Letchworth State Park. I figured we'd done the Grand Canyon of the West this summer so we should complete the duo by viewing the Grand Canyon of the East. I haven't been to Letchworth since I was a kid and I only vaguely remember it. Well it is amazing and I would love to go back and do some hiking. The Genesee River flows north through a deep gorge with some waterfalls and despite the sewage brown color it is a beautiful site. There was no one else there so we drove to all the viewpoints of the Lower, Middle and Upper Falls. We were lucky because when we stopped at our first lookout, a train was crossing the trestle above the Upper Falls. Many of the walkways were icy but that just added to the adventure. Jess had the brilliant idea for me to limbo underneath a broken sawhorse. Having never said no to a great photo op I grabbed on intending to pretend since I am not very flexible. However, I slipped into the road (on a blind curve) and took the sawhorse down with me. Jess thoughtfully pointed out that my hair was the exact same color as the leaves.
The Trout Pond was frozen over but we did stop by a really old cemetery which was pretty creepy. Jess was not at all fascinated with the engineering marvel that is the Mount Morris Dam. I stopped by the Hoover Dam this summer (and committed every fact about it to memory) and it was wonderful and all but it doesn't protect my home from a flood like the Mount Morris Dam does. I had to force her to take a picture of it but she was distracted by the white tailed deer in the parking lot (which was actually the cutest deer I've ever seen). We drove through the back roads and stopped by the Abbey of the Genesee where they make their famous Monk bread. It was closed so we just used the place for a bathroom break and when we were leaving a monk came out and asked if we wanted to buy bread because he would open the shop up for us if we wanted. We declined and headed back home to watch Harry Potter.
The next day we kept low key in preparation for the city. We went shopping (I of course showed off Wegmans) and then headed downtown to High Falls. We walked to the Visitor Center where a lady basically turned us back around and said "the power's out and I'm leaving so get out". Well, we still walked out on the bridge for a view of the falls since apparently our trip had turned into seeing all of New York's waterfalls. Who knew?We decided to head down Lake Ave to the Charlotte Genesee lighthouse which I had never been to. After touring the North Carolina shore and seeing those famous big ones, it wasn't much to look at. We blew by and took a few pics before I made an executive decision to go to Ontario Beach Park. We had swung by Silver Lake the day before (which is technically not a Finger Lake but it gave Jess the general idea) so I figured we'd see a Great Lake. Unfortunately, Jess was wearing a sheet of canvas for a shoe and could not feel her feet anymore so I drug her out to the pier (through foot deep snow) and snapped a pic. After all that we headed back home to pack our gear.