Here’s what happened when we left Boston:
We decided to fill up the tire with air and drive on. We had hoped the tire lost air pressure due to some weird event. Possibly a naughty kid airing out tires for a Halloween prank? They did have a Halloween event at the campground in Boston.
That was not the case!
Don’t worry though, we made frequent stops to check on the tire. Apparently, we had a slow leak in the tire that just wasn’t going away.
It wasn’t like we were driving anywhere far or going to a place that would require us to use all the focus and skill we had to get where we were going safely.
Oh wait. We were driving to our campground in New Jersey and would be going through New York City…
First, we had to drive through Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.
Getting to the campground was rough. There was so much traffic getting in and out of the city. This was probably the most stressful drive of the trip. But, we did it.
How does a toll even work? Have we not already paid off the construction of these bridges? The first toll we paid was $40!
Don’t worry! We got across the bridge to New Jersey alright.
And “campground” might be too strong of a word to describe where we stayed.
Basically, our “campground” was a parking lot converted to a campground in New Jersey. It was also the closest campground we could find to New York City.
At $100 a night, we got one parking spot, somewhere to hook up water and electricity, and a far away view of the Statue of Liberty (which was very cool).
After getting situated in the trailer, we wanted to get some rest for the big day.
We were heading into the Big City!
Our campground was close to the PATH subway station that took us directly to the heart of New York City. We only had to walk a few blocks. The PATH was busy in the morning but not as busy as the regular subway!
The first morning, I may have run onto the wrong train for a minute but after frantically fighting my way back to Jared on the platform, we waited patiently for the correct train.
When we got to the station in New York, we followed the crowds and ended up in Times Square!
We tried to see a Broadway show but we didn’t quite find one in our budget. The last minute bookings were still too rich for our blood. Coca-Cola was pressuring us into spending money we didn’t have (as you can see below).
We stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts too! There are definitely more Dunkin’s on the East Coast so we finally understood why their commercials said “America runs on Dunkin'”.
After trying to look up shows, we headed towards the Visitor Center to get our tickets for the Double Decker Tours. The center was run down and the bathroom was not in the best shape but we continued to wait in the long line.
We thought it would a good idea to buy the tickets on Groupon but the line was crazy long for Groupon users. We spent a good time waiting in line. Then, we walked down the street and got in line for the bus to take us to Battery Park.
We were waiting in line for soooooo long. It got to the point that we thought of leaving and forgetting about the money we spent on the Double Decker Tour Bus.
But we waited. That was a bad decision.
When the bus finally arrived, they handed us headphones to use. It took us a little while to figure out how to connect it and start the tour.
The “tour” part of the bus was a prerecorded audio tape of the surrounding areas. The timing of the audio was delayed so the information was all wrong. We were also stuck in traffic most of the way.
I would highly suggest walking whenever you can. A walking tour would have been a better choice since you could probably cover a lot more ground.
Our necks were sore since all the buildings were so tall!
We kept looking around constantly because there was something cool to see at each corner.
We had to change buses at Battery Park so we decided to take a walk around the park. We stopped at a Halal Food Cart for lunch!
It was delicious! We enjoyed our lunch overlooking the Statue of Liberty.
We continued our walk to the Financial District.
We did not see any wolves when we were on Wall Street.
This was where George Washington took the oath of office as our First President in 1789.
We saw the US Courthouse!
We also walked through Chinatown and Little Italy. Little Italy used to be around 50 blocks but due to a number of factors has decreased to about 3 blocks.
We were exhausted from all the walking we were doing so we had a nice rest at Rockefellar Center and people watched. There was a beautiful ice skating rink available. They have public ice skating for $80 an hour if you’re interested in spending those big bucks. 
We took a moment to stare in awe at the beautiful, Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic Cathedral church.
It took 21 years to build and was opened to the public in 1879!
The different altars and glass panels were amazing.
After studying the glass stained windows, we continued on. We got to see the famous Trump Tower. There were armed guards in front of it.
We kept walking to Central Park. We only got a small glimpse of the massive park since it was getting late.
One minute, we’re on the streets dodging traffic. Another minute, we’re sitting on a bench surrounded by nature. It was like nothing else. 
The skyscrapers were the only reminders of where we were.
Before it got too late, we headed out of the park for some dinner. We thought we should try some New York Style Pizza.
The line was long but we got our pepperoni pizza slices!
The walls were covered with celebrities who have enjoyed a pie from Joe’s Pizza. Joe’s Pizza was also in Spider-Man 2 where Toby Maguire had to deliver pizza.
We ended up going back to Times Square to see it all at night.
There were even more people around! We even went to the McDonald’s across the way for something sweet (vanilla cones). After our long day in the Big Apple, we headed back to Aljo.
The next morning, we stopped at Krispy Kreme before heading to the PATH and got our coffees to go. Once on the PATH, we realized why no one else had coffee with them. It was difficult to balance the hot coffee with a train that was less than stable. We didn’t spill any but it was a mistake we will not repeat again.
We rode the PATH to the World Trade Center and it was very cool. We were heading to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island! We walked to Battery Park to get on the boat and we were lucky to have reserved our tickets because the lines were insane! It doesn’t take long to book the tickets. We even booked them the night before. BOOK YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE!
You have been given fare warning in the case you find your self visiting Lady Liberty.
And when you visit Lady Liberty, please remember security is tighter here than an airport. You get to go through 2 security points if you’re heading up to the pedestal or the crown.
The boat ride was short but still very cool. 
The city was behind us and we were excited to see the Statue of Liberty! It’s always shown on Blue Bloods (our show right now).
When we were let off the boat, we got a couple audio tour guides which was interesting. The pedestal has a museum that shows how the Statue of Liberty came to be. 
We just had some stairs to climb.
As you can see, we shimmied our way in crowds everywhere to get some pictures.
We went to Ellis Island and checked out all the exhibits there!
After the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, we were back in the hustle and bustle of the city. We walked to the 9/11 Memorial to pay our respects. We lingered there because of the emotion the memorial evoked.
We then went to The Museum of Jewish Heritage. It was very interesting because it was the history of Jewish people. The last floor was devoted to the atrocities of the Holocaust.
By the time we got out of the Museum, it was freezing outside! We were right by the water so we decided to hurry back towards the Subway. We stopped and got some more pizza first! It was Steve’s Pizza! It was a great place to take a little breather and to get warm but there were no seats available inside. We ate by the standing tables and listened to some New Yorkers talk in their New York accents.
By the end of our second night in New York, my back and feet were exhausted. I was ready to leave the fast pace of New York City.
Good thing we were heading out in the morning for our next campground in a different part of New Jersey.
The Journey Begins 