Day 5 (39): New York City

We hadn't initially planned to go to NYC. We agreed we can always go back and visit a city, enjoy it to the fullest over several days. But Devin had never been and we wanted to spend another day with Julianne & Emil. And so we set off.

First we had to get there. Parking and driving in the city is notorious. So we found the train that runs from the NJ to the NY side. We parked and took it across. We've used mass transit before in places like Chicago, and I've used it in nearly all the cities I've visited for work so it was easy figuring it out. We first rode down to the World Trade Centers site. I had been there back in 05 on band tour...back then it was a big hole in the ground; you could see the subways running underneath it; the sign with all the victims' names was posted; the steel beams that was found in the shape of the cross was displayed prominently. It was VERY different in 2012. The area was fenced off and visually blocked off. The entire area is under construction as they are building a new tower, which is almost finished. In '05 it was very eerie...still had this emptiness. This time around it was almost normal, with all the construction and people. They had the memorial area open but you had to get tickets and go in at a designated time. Tickets were free but we were on a time schedule. We had bought tickets for the USS Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum (which is an old aircraft carrier) and it closed at 5 (it was already 3) and was half way across the island. We decided that when we come back to NYC someday we can come back to the Trade Towers site. We did explore the church there...it's one of (if not the) oldest continuous running churches in America; it is several hundred years old, and survived the tower attacks. It became a very important place during the attacks spiritually, emotionally, and functionally, as it handled many of the relief volunteers. There are American Revolutionary War veteran buried in its small cemetery.

We found a small grocer and got sodas, apples, and pretzel crisps (if you haven't had them, they are awesome) for lunch. We hopped on the subway and rode as close to the museum as possible, but still had to walk about 10 blocks. This was Mini-B on his first official subway ride (since the trip from NJ is technically a train...):

Once we got in the museum we first took a tour of a Cold War era submarine, the USS Growler.

Then we went up to the flight deck on the USS Intrepid and viewed all the planes and helicopters.This is a USMC helicopter very similar to the ones Devin worked on when he was in.

Then came the most exciting part (for me anyway...Devin really liked the whole aircraft boat thing best). We got to see the space shuttle Enterprise. When the shuttle program went under NASA gave 5 space-shuttles to locations around the US. NYC got one and put it on the intrepid. You could walk right under and up to it (without touching of course) As a science educator I was really excited:

After the space shuttle we started touring the ship itself. Mini B liked playing captain and navigator and driver:

He also liked to play gunner:

There were a lot of doors:

And stairs:

And big things (this is the anchor room):

Here is a replica of the U.S.S. Intrepid made out of legos. It weighs 550lbs.

If you didn't know, Devin is trying to go back in the military as an officer. He wants to see this sign again soon:

We walked all over that ship and still didn't get to see it all before it closed. We got most of the upper deck and middle deck which was the hangar. There was a Naval Destroyer that had pulled into the harbor near the Intrepid and we had kept an eye on it all day. They had U.S.O. show on there and sailors and officers running around on deck. We saw civilians on there too. Devin eventually found out that it was a ship that wasn't even commissioned yet...it was there to have its commissioning ceremony.

We headed back towards the train to go back to NJ. But of course we were hungry by then and had to get a hot dog from a street vendor:

To get back to the train station we had to go near Times Square, and, well, when in Rome...

 There is a recruiting station right behind where we are standing...crazy. We also walked down and peeked at the Empire State Building. And after getting mixed up in our direction only once we made it back to the train safely and in time to find a seat (during quittin' time). We got back to our car also just in time (we had only paid for 6 hours).

We came back to Emil's to find a WONDERFUL homemade dinner of salad with homemade dressing, Emil's bean concoction, and my favorite, Emil & Julianne cutlets (these were pork). It was soooooo good. And just as I was about to fall asleep from MILES of walking across the city I was surprised with cupcakes for my birthday, right at midnight:

So I got a special dinner and my favorite, funfetti cupcakes, for my birthday! If you've got to be away on your bday, this is the best way to spend it! I got one of my favorite meals, with my favorite dessert, and some of my favorite people! What a way to kick off 27!

Again, we didn't keep track of the mileage (noticing a pattern?), but most were spent walking! So we went a lot of miles across America (on foot) for a total of a lot of miles (and tired Miles feet) across America.