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New York City, NY

New York City was a place Allen and I had already visited (and had no desire to return), but the kids really wanted to see.  They mainly wanted to see sights they've seen in movies, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and Times Square.  So we left Allen and Jack at the RV in the Secaucus NJ Walmart and took the bus into the city for the day.  It was miserably hot, expensive to travel (kids ride the bus free on weekends, but only under 12), and we walked over 6 miles, but we still managed to have an exhaustingly wonderful day!
We walked to Times Square first. The kids couldn't believe how small it was, especially the New Year's ball.
 
We cooled off and refilled water bottles in the m&m store.
The kids laughed at all the honking, until that got old.  Though when (daydreaming) Lizzy was honked at, we all had a good laugh.  Central Park was pretty neat.  We'd skipped that before.  There were lots of rocks to climb, many playgrounds, and so much space to relax.  It's still surrounded by skyscrapers though, so it didn't feel very relaxing to us.
Then we saw David Letterman's building. I was going to see if he remembered us from Yellowstone, but he wasn't taping that day. :)
The kids recognized lots of lights, signs, theaters, and streets.  Here's Lizzy "on Broadway".
We also did the revolving door and escalator stunts from the movie Elf.  You just have to!  People apparently do not have to like it though.  But the lady (not an employee) who yelled at Josh for it kind of added to the fun.  It's not like the escalator goes any faster!
After some great New York pizza, we took the metro south.  Of course when I say "took the metro", it wasn't quite that simple.  After attempting to learn the subway map system, even though I didn't care to learn the subway map system, I realized I didn't need to learn it.  Watch and learn kids.  I found a teller and said I just need to get from here to the World Trade Center, what do I do?  He buzzed us in and told us where to stop.  See?  I didn't need the education, just a friendly answer.
So we went to see the Statue of Liberty from afar.  Just like when Allen and I went to see it years ago, the kids were like "huh" and were ready to move on.
They were tired of course, but not too tired to stop and play at a cool playground.
Then we visited the World Trade Center Memorial, at our ticketed (but free) time, which was really neat.  It's not finished, but we can tell it will be great.  Right now the temporary visitor center is small, but it has some displays with touching stories.  It also has a 9/11 tribute motorcycle that Josh excitedly recognized.  As usual, he started rattling off facts and I asked where he learned all this.  Apparently, he watched it being built on American Chopper and said "See mom? It's educational!"
The fountains are sweet and a great memorial.  There are names all the way around and the water reflects the surrounding buildings from all angles.  There's a pretty area surrounding them with new grass and trees, including one tree that actually survived the attacks.  It was replanted, brought back to health, then replanted again in its original spot. 
It was time to head north again, so I found another teller kind enough to get us back to Times Square.  The square was much busier now that it was Friday evening.  We got some ice cream at a 4-story McDonalds, then found some pizza to take home for Allen and pretzels for all of us.  At the bus terminal (more like an airport), I found yet another nice teller who got us to our bus back home.  Home being the Walmart parking lot.
It was a tiring, but successful day. The kids enjoyed the experience and saw famous places.  Like us, they don't care to return though.  At one point Matt said "Man, we need to get out of here and go hiking somewhere in the middle of nowhere."  Yes, yes we do.
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Comments

Wheelchair Mama said…
Oh my, we had a similar experience and the same feelings about the place. Where did you park your car, or did you bus from NJ?