Bushkill and New York

We had a relaxing first couple of days here at Bushkill, as we knew what was to come. Kids participated in the many activities organised by the resort - make a bat, lolly bingo,mini golf and loads more. Took a drive to the Bushkill Falls and went on a gorgeous hike, taking in about 6 different waterfalls and lots of nature, the walk covered about 3 miles (5ks). Plenty of relaxing.

Bushkill 1 day, New York the next. The drive in was to take 1 1/2 hrs, add an extra 1 for traffic. We arrived in NYC at 8.30am via New Jersey, state #46 and the Lincoln tunnel. Parked trusty Neville at a car park (no parking at the motel we were staying at) and lodged our bags and away we went. We had a 7 block walk to pick up our tickets for the tours of NYC we had booked. After turning the corner, we waited for a break in traffic, people that is and away we went, with the crowd, heading our way at a million miles an hour. No time to pause at shop windows for a look or you got knocked over in the stamped that was NYC. It was like the end of a football game and everybody was in a rush to get to their cars.

New York City (8.3 million residence) is made up of 5 Boroughs. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island.

Manhattan itself has 1.5 million residence, which swells to 3 million during the work day. Add another 1 million tourists per week to that and you are dealing with 4 million people trying to navigate their way around just Manhattan!

New York City is not just what you can see at street level. There's the underground - Subway. The bridges don't just have 6 or 8 lanes going across, they have 6 to 8 lanes going each way and then times that by 3 LAYERS of traffic and a railway track! When we parked the car in the parking garage. It was 8 stories BELOW an office high rise and the attendants parked them for you, stacked 2 cars on top of each other per level - up on car hoists!

We stayed on West 35th Street - just a few blocks from Times Square and 42nd street were it all happens, apart from Broadway. We had booked in to do bus tours and a river cruise of NYC. The bus was a hop on- hop off, when ever you liked, so day 1 we covered downtown NY, which took in - Times Square, Empire State bldg, Madison Sq. garden,Macy's,first glimpse of the Statue,Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Centre. We also took a tour of Brooklyn and went back at night and did the whole thing again, to take in all the lights. 

Day 2 saw us go Uptown, visiting the Lincoln centre,Harlem,Cathedral of St. John,Guggenheim Museum,Central Park Zoo and Central Park. We took time out of the hectic schedule to take an hour bike ride around Central Park. Yes, good, on we go, as we had a tour of the 9/11 memorial site booked in for 2pm.  

Only a few hundred people are allowed through the recently opened memorial site each day. We had to reserve a time slot on the internet the day before to be able to go through. It was an extremely beautiful area. Where the north and south towers once stood, are now reflection ponds, edged with 3000 names of the victims who lost their life that day. Construction continues to go on around the site of the new replacement towers. With our tour clock still ticking away, we felt like we were on 'The Amazing Race'! We needed to get from one end of Manhattan up to the other to make the last river cruise of the day. Hailed a Taxi Cab and off we went.

Out on the Hudson River, on a Ferry, to get an up close view of the Statue of Liberty, and more photo ops of the New York skyline.
Couldn't possibly fit any more into our time in New York City. Needed a week here (or more) to do everything at a normal pace.
Not at Team Connor Super Speed Sightseeing Tours! The Family is now totally exhausted from this fast paced pulsating city!
If you stopped for a breath it will eat you alive! Back to Bushkill, Pennsylvania for a day of well earned rest.......Phew!

To be continued......
Team Connor USA.

XOXO

Newport, RHODE ISLAND

Made our way down the rest of Massachusetts to the very tip at Cape cod and headed straight for Provincetown. August 7, 1961, President JFK signed a bill to preserve the Capes National Seashore. Because of this preservation, the Cape is still home to miles of untamed coastlines, beautiful beaches, national parks, historic sites, cycling trails, whale watching, 4wd, fishing spots, and undulating sand dunes.

The weather was not too kind for us out on the cape, very foggy, which hindered spectacular pictures of lighthouses and other majestic scenery. What we saw of P/town was like a small San Fransisco to us. A very funky little main street paved with cobblestones and one way traffic. Streets lined with art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and ice cream palours. Would be an absolute tourist hub in the summer months!

Next stop - Rhode Island (state # 44). America's smallest state - Area 1045 sq miles. Population - just over 1 million. Newport is closely linked to the America's Cup. With marina's lined with expensive boats and yachts, fresh seafood shops and restaurants, makes a perfect shoreline for some of the opulent mansions found in the area.

This one is called The Breakers mansion and was just the 'summer home' to railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt II, used for just 2 months of the year!

Now below is our mansion - camping at Newport!

We camped for 2 nights with Chris, Anne, Karine and their other friends from Mass'. Had a good time, relaxing, playing games, getting rained on and enjoying the treats from the good old 'ice cream' truck that comes to the campgrounds! This was to be the last time we used our camping equipment for our trip. We have donated it all to a group that Anne and Karine help out with. They take kids out camping etc who are less fortunate and haven't been able to experience anything like this too many times before in their lives. We were happy to see all our airbeds, blankets, pillows, gas stove, fry pans, tent, esky's etc go to such a good cause. We were that isolated camping, we had to make a phone call, to home, to find out who had won the grand final of AFL (Australian Football).

Sunday we drove for 5 hours, passing through Connecticut (state # 45) on our way to Bushkill, Pennsylvania. We are staying here in Bushkill in a beautiful bush setting an hour and a half outside of New York City (too expensive to stay right in the heart of NYC!) and we'll just drive in for a couple of days, can also visit Philly from here. Weather turning very cold, very fast. Can't believe how sharp the air has got for the season having just turned to Autumn (Fall)......miss you Florida beaches. Tans are also Quickly fading.

Stay tuned for our adventures in New York City and Philly!

Love Team Connor USA XOXOX

Niagara Falls to Boston Massachusetts

We left Niagara and headed towards our next destination, for an over night stay, at Maine. The drive took us through some beautiful country side in the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, after finally making it out of up state New York. Fall is definitely in the air in this part of the country, as we are already seeing the changing of seasonal colors. Driving through Vermont we came across some of the devastation of the recent floods, from cyclone Irene, that feels like was months ago. We saw houses, cars and whole bridges that had been swept away still laying idle in the bottom of river beds. Was so surreal to witness this on a nice sunny day.

Portland was a nice little town in Maine, on the ocean's edge, that we stopped at to explore. It is home to most of the countries seafood
productivity, so we had to partake is some of this action, with David enjoying lobster and myself having probably the best fish and chips I've ever eaten. We were also able to view Americas first light house and most photographed, all be it for the fog on this day.

Yes, good, on we go. With states #40,#41 and #42 behind us, it was time to head towards #43 and our next stop over Boston Massachusetts.

We arrived on Friday night to Chris and Anne's place (more fellow residents from our stay in Driftwood Resort in Florida) to a lovely home cooked meal of Lasagna and apple pie. (Mak said it was nearly as good as Grandmas!) Anne's sister Karine, was also here to greet us, another Driftwood buddy. And not to forget Chris and Anne's canine pal - Benny the Boston Terrier!

Saturday the girls took us out to the County Fair - called the 'Big E' - which stands for The New England Exposition! Very similar to the Melbourne Show in Australia - had a lot of fun and food for the day! New England is the North Eastern region of the US that we are in at the moment. It encompasses 6 states - Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and of course Massachusetts. New England is also home to the New England Patriots NFL team!

We went to Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place to see their "Hall of Fame" and Stadium. The 'Pats' are 3 times Superbowl winners in the last 10 years! Led of course by Quarterback - Tom Brady!!

Anne's family invited us around for dinner. A beautiful Brazilian family with amazing Brazilian food! We were graced with the presence of such welcoming parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends. All who had come along to meet the Australians in their town!! We had a very enjoyable nights laughing, eating and drinking finding out about each others culture. Makalea picked up some very fluent Portuguese and Jackson got some soccer tips from Uncle Paulo who played very high level soccer back home in Brazil!!

Next day we had Anne and Karine gave us a tour of Boston! Unfortunately Chris could not join us, as he not only gets up at 5am and goes to work he also goes to school of a night time! We went to Harvard University and walked around the campus. Very impressive! The intellect level certainly rises when you step through those campus ground gates! Kenny has enroled in law for next year. Between Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology - which is close by), they are home to approx 30,000 students. Surrounding each University is a conglomeration of book stores, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. Went to the Quincy Market for lunch and the Boston Common to walk around and stroll all the food off! Also found the actual 'Cheers' bar right in the middle of Boston.

Stayed the week at Anne and Chris's house. Had a blast! We took turns in cooking each night and had a load of fun. When it comes time to leave and say goodbye...... it could be difficult. Love 'em heaps! Now that we have escaped !(lol), we were only going to be here for the weekend, didn't want to impose to much,
heading to Cape Cod and Provincetown tomorrow then camping at Newport - Rhode Island on the weekend with Anne, Chris and Karine. Should be good!

Love to all at home!
Team Connor USA..   XOXOXOXOXO