Well, here we are on the final stop of our trip! The country bumpkins made it all the way from Geraldton to the Big Apple (although apparently New Yorkers never call it this). The City That Never Sleeps is a more apt description, as there is just so much going on here. It was a real buzz to be in such an iconic city and exhilarating to be caught up in the frenzy and excitement of such a huge concrete jungle just for a little while.
What to do while we were there? So much to see, so little time. This was the first visit for all of us, so we started with the obvious choices and figured we’d be back one day to experience some of the less touristy attractions.
As soon as we arrived, we headed to Times Square to soak up the atmosphere. This was every bit as scintillating and overwhelming as you might expect.
The next day we headed off on a tour to see The Statue of Liberty and the Immigration Museum. The museum was really fascinating, as it’s situated in the original building where immigrants were processed on their arrival into America. You can really feel the history in the walls! It’s a fascinating insight into the decisions of the past that have made America such a populous nation. America had a totally open immigration policy throughout much of it’s early history.
The kids especially enjoyed visiting the Statue and climbing up to the top of the Pedestal. They were disappointed they couldn’t go up into the crown, but you need to reserve tickets six months in advance for this experience.
After our morning tour, we made our way past the New York Stock Exchange (with a quick history lesson for the kids), and then onto the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. This was a very moving experience (I spent most of my time here fighting back tears). Some of the exhibits were quite confronting for the kids, but we felt it was important for them to know the truth about what happened.
Our next day started with eating giant pretzels and a visit to Central Park. This is a beautiful, relaxing oasis amidst the concrete jungle. It was nice to take some time out here to lay around on the grass, but if you ever visit DON’T feed the squirrels! Unfortunately Portia was bitten badly on the hand by one as she tried to feed it a peanut. It latched onto her finger and was hard to shake off.
Lots of blood later, a quick visit to the chemist and some googling to ensure squirrels don’t carry rabies, and we were off to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. We caught the subway to the Bronx for this (an experience I found totally baffling, as all the stations are numbered rather than named). You also need to know if you want to go uptown or downtown and whether to take a local or an express train. There are lots of potential errors waiting to be made! Happily, Murray had it all under control.
It was a fun experience to watch the Yankees play the Baltimore Orioles and to soak up a bit of the culture of the game.
Our last day was spent visiting the Central Park Zoo (we have some animal lovers in our family) and also the Brooklyn Bridge. We treated ourselves to dinner at a rooftop bar for our last night and then we were off to see Aladdin on Broadway in a beautiful old theatre. We all really enjoyed the show.
Our homeward bound plane was leaving that same night at 1am. As we exited the theatre the heavens opened with a huge summer thunderstorm (the east coast of the USA gets a heap of summer rain). As we had a plane to catch, we had no choice, but to run the few kilometres back to our hotel in the torrential rain, with water squelching out of our shoes at every step. We looked like drowned rats when the doorman let us back into the hotel! We just had time for a quick shower, before being whisked off through the night to the airport with extra hand luggage bags of soaked clothes and shoes. I don’t think any of us will ever forget the experience!
And so ends my recount of our epic American road trip adventure. We loved it all (apart maybe from the squirrel bite), and can’t wait to return one day to road trip around the western side. I’ll leave you with one last photo of Reuben making himself at home on the trip, as only he knows how!
I’m taking a break for school holidays, but will return with some more kids’ party posts soon!
