2018 Summer Vacation

We got up and had a nice breakfast at the Quality Inn before packing and hitting the road. We got back to the Garden State Parkway and drove down the Jersey coast to Cape May. It's much prettier than Atlantic City, and reminiscent of La Jolla CA, with neighborhoods of nice houses right along the public beach. We drove around a little before making our way to where the ferry goes out from. We were a little early so we checked out the pier and terminal. They have free miniature golf you can play while you're "waiting for your ship to come in". When the ferry arrived we drove onboard and went upstairs for lunch in the snack bar. We enjoyed the 90 minute passage from Cape May to Lewes, Delaware including the flock of seagulls that followed the boat across. The drive from Lewes to Virginia Beach was somewhat tedious, going through lots of small towns and lots of farmland. We broke up the trip with a stop for ice cream about 4pm and dinner about 6. Another great Greek D...

We got up early and enjoyed the hotel breakfast again. Since we didn't get into our room until almost 5pm Tuesday, the hotel was nice enough to give us a few extra hours to check out today. We walked up to Central Park via 7th Avenue, and then around the pond in the SE corner. Then we exited the park at 5th Avenue and walked through the Plaza Hotel lobby, food court, and retail shops. Posh! (We saw "Plaza Suite" at  Asbury Theater last Spring).  Plaza Hotel lobby- we'll stay here next year. Then we headed back towards our hotel and packed up. We checked out about 11:30 and got on the road to New Jersey. We had a great diner lunch at the Town and Country in Hazlet NJ, with a 10 page menu and everything homemade. Atlantic City turned out to be nearly deserted, with huge resort hotels almost empty, and the streets deserted too. Some people were on the boardwalk and in the restaurants, but the place has the feel of a once-thriving place not popular anymore...

Our big day in New York started before 8am with a nice breakfast in our hotel. Then we got on the subway and navigated our way down to the south tip of Manhattan and the South Ferry stop which is right next to Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty ferry.  We went through security  and got on the boat about 10 am,  and arrived on Liberty Island a short time later. We toured the grounds and took lots of  pictures,   then got back on a boat and went to Ellis Island. We spent more time on Ellis Island, taking the audio tour and watching the movie shown hourly. The kids learned a lot and were amazed at the trials these immigrants went through to become Americans. We got back to Battery Park about 2:45pm and got back on the subway for Times Square, arriving about 3:45. After a little rest and a change of clothes we headed to dinner at Don Antonio's Pizza about 5:30. Still the best pizza in the world!  We also had dessert pizza (with Nutel...

We has a rainy but uneventful drive to NYC after saying goodbye to Dad and Joyce and enjoying  nice bagel breakfast in Glens Falls. The skies let loose as soon as we got to midtown Manhattan, making it hard to navigate (along with the many one-way streets and people darting about in the downpour.) Eventually we found the hotel and figured out how to park in front. We waited for a break in the deluge, and got our luggage into the lobby and the car in the underground parking garage for our 2 day stay. Then the frustration began. We were supposed to have a 3pm check in time, but were told our room would not be ready until 4 (with no explanation). At four it was still not ready, and the managers were all unavailable or in a meeting. This went on until almost 5, when Amy cornered a bellhop, who was able to help us. As he went up the elevator to check on our room, I ducked into the elevator behind him. He explained that the hotel is very short on housekeeping help, because there are so...

We spent our last full day at the Lodge in Grand style. We got up early and had two hours of fun and sun on the lake. The morning is the best time, when the sun is full on the dock, the lake is still and the there are few boats around. We swam, kayaked, paddleboarded and floated until we got hungry for lunch. We had laundry to do so we combined that with lunch, gassing up the car and mailing post cards. DiMano's Lunch here  in Glens Falls has been around for 60 years, and serves up great home made food at great prices. We had sandwiches, soups, and delicious pie (Boston Creme and raspberry) before finishing our other errands and chores. We got back to the Lodge and had a few more hours with the place to ourselves, as no other guests were around. We changed clothes for dinner and went to the Docksider, here  just down the street, and had a nice meal right on the water. Then we met Chris and Beth for our final Martha's ice cream.  Here's the challenge: chocolate vanilla ...

We had a great day enjoying the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. We spent a few hours on the lake this morning. The Lodge is really busy this visit, and its nice to see and meet other people (and ducks) while we enjoy swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. Sarah and Sam got all the way across the lake to a little island they wanted to see. They said they weren't even tired, and the lake is about a half mile across at that point. We packed some things in the car and headed to Chris and Beth's for a nice bagel lunch, and played with their cats, dogs and giant goldfish. New puppy Junie B. at Chris and Beth's Next we drove to the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves in Pottersville NY. see here  . There are caves and other rock formations carved out by millions of years of water. We walked the whole trail and saw some interesting rocks and caves. Sam got to pan for some interesting rocks and crystals. After that we drove over the mountain to Bolton Landing on Lak...