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Monday, September 10, 2012
Day 7 Black Bear CG/NY
Today was a rest day….I did a little cleaning of the RV;
Ronnie did a little maintenance. He
cooked breakfast this morning (eggs, bacon, toast) and set off the smoke
alarm…lol. But it was great.
I worked on the blog from yesterday….took FOREVER to get the
pictures downloaded. Verizon service is
slow here; and their WIFI is slow, although it says the signal is excellent. But finally got it done.
We are at the very
back on the upper level of the park.
The park is big but nice and quiet, but
kinda rustic…Out of 9 sites in this section lined up here backed up to
the woods, they have crammed three RV’s in 3 side by side instead of spreading
us out for privacy. But it’s not too
bad. Wooded all behind us. (a 4th
just came in beside us) Go figure.
We had to get more propane and diesel, so we went down to
the little village of Florida. It’s a
beautiful day. After the storms, like
back home, the temps have got a hint of fall.
We slept with the windows open last night…a long time. Got up at 8:30 a.m. It was 70 degrees today and is supposed to
be down in the high 40’s tonight. Love
it.
The rest of the day we spent with the windows open enjoying
the fresh air/sunshine and read. And
worked on the route for tomorrow.
I made reservations for Bar Harbor, ME and talked to the
young man who worked at the resort reservation center that I called. As we chatted, he commented on the weather
where he was (raining) and I told him we were about an hour north of NYC and
the weather was beautiful. He said that
he was from NYC ( Lower East Side).
When I told him we were just there yesterday to see the WTC, he said he
had lived 5-6 blocks from the WTC and worked for a company who did carpentry
work and had a contract with the WTC.
He and his co-workers always met in the lower level and ate breakfast
together, then went upstairs to work.
That morning, he was late for work and called his supervisor and told
him. They all waited on him. As he walked to work, listening to his music through his ear buds, he said he
heard this great roar that was louder than his music. He looked up and saw the plane hit the tower. His emotions were unbelief, chaos…He said he
felt blessed because he was late and he felt he saved the lives of his
co-workers (I agreed with him and told him God had His hands on him that
morning). He said one of his managers
worked in the upper floors of the building and didn’t make it out but did have
time to make one phone call to his family…told his mom he loved her. So sad…It was so interesting talking to him
and listening to his first-hand account of that horrible day. He saw it all. And as he talked to me about it, he said it still made chills up
his spine to talk about it. He now
lives in Florida.
Defrosted the last of the gumbo for tonight…Good again over
brown rice.
Tomorrow we take I 84 East then up through Connecticut to
Saco, Maine….will visit the Kennebunkport area where the Bush’s have one of
their homes.
Day 6 NYC
Oh my…what a day. Enjoyed a long visit to NYC and the neatest
part was finding that our nephew, Brian Boyer, a FEDEX pilot from Collierville,
TN was on a 2 day layover there. We met
up and, as he’s been there a few times, was a huge help in getting us to all
the places we wanted to see…..I think we wore him out.
 |
| Inside the commuter train |
We left the RV at 7:20 a.m. (early for us) and drove about 20 minutes to
the Harriman, NY commuter train station which left at 8:25. It was about a 50 minute ride and was very
relaxing and enjoyable. Hard to believe
we were that close to NYC and we went thru woods/rock cliffs/streams. We went through several small towns and
stopped for others. The train was never
crowded at all. We stopped at the
Seacaucus NJ Transfer station and had to change trains into Penn Station. Now that train was full. Many other trains from all over the area had
connected there and now all those folks wanted to go into NYC. We had to stand up on that train, but it was
less than a 10 minute ride.
THEN, we got to Penn Station. Huge underground station where the NJ
Transit trains, the PATH trains, the Long Island trains and all the subway
trains meet. It’s located under several
big buildings (including Madison Square Garden). It was a monster to find your way around.
 |
| Freedom Tower |
Our
plan was to get off the train and then get on the subway and go straight to
Lower Manhattan to the World Trade Center.
After looking at dozens of signs to dozens of trains, subways, and
walking down stairs, through corridors, upstairs, we found the E Train to the
WTC. Whew. The plan worked. But I was beginning to feel like a mole. We got
on the subway and rode for about 10 minutes, got off, walked up to street level
and there it was. The Freedom
Tower….just right there!
Beautiful. It took your breath
away to stand there in awe of all that happened there. They are building 5 towers and are in
various stages of completion, but Freedom Tower is just something to see. The entire area is fenced because of all the
massive construction going on so we weren’t able to see much on the ground. The memorial now requires tickets and they
were booked up until December, so we didn’t get to see that. When they get finished with it all, I’m sure
it will all be more accessible to the public.
We walked for several blocks around it
while we waited on Brian to meet us there.
 |
| Services inside St. Paul's 9/9/12 |
St. Paul’s Chapel is immediately
across the street from the WTC. They were having church services there, so
we went inside for a bit. It was a very
interesting and very informal service.
There were people from all over the US and Great Britain. One couple was mentioned (I think their name
was Clark) by the Priest as having come to the church fairly often and we saw
later that they were the parents of a young man killed in the towers.
St. Paul’s was
used extensively for rest and support for the workers of 9/11 recovery. It was a haven for them. There were many memorials around the perimeter
of the sanctuary….pictures, a cot like they brought in for the workers to rest
on instead of the pews, some of the boots/jackets that the firemen wore. Then there were pictures….of the dead,
missing….just like what we saw on TV of the huge wall of photos when so many were
looking for their missing loved ones. I
am assuming that these particular pictures are of people who have St Paul
connections.
The Chapel is so full of
history…George Washington prayed there.
We saw pictures of the cemetery at the back of the church (which is the
side that is across the street from the WTC) after the towers fell and was a
foot deep in ash and debris. There were
sculptures that were made from some of the steel from the towers. It was almost overwhelming. I never expected to see such reminders of
it. I can’t begin to imagine how the
people of NY felt that day and days after.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years. They will never forget; nor will anyone who sees these
things. There was a Pre 9/11 Museum on
the corner that supposedly contained other mementos from the Towers, but I just
couldn’t handle any more. The Chapel
held so much.
 |
| Ronnie and Brian near WTC |
We are watching a Fox News special
on that day tonight. It’s been
interesting to see it now that we’ve walked the area. The people were running down Church Street…right where we walked
today.
After Brian met us, we walked down
to Wall Street, had my picture made by the Bull, saw the NY Stock
Exchange. The Financial District is
guarded pretty good. Police were noticably
around and some of the streets have huge barriers preventing cars from driving
through. Thin ribbons of blue sky were
visible between the tall tall buildings.
Then we walked back up to the subway and went up to Midtown, exiting at
7th avenue and 53rd street right beside the Sheraton
Hotel where Brian is staying.
It was so different from Lower
Manhattan…bustling businesses, cafes, hotels.
Busy, busy. We looked for a
place to eat and sat down at an outside café, looked at the menu and the $22
roast beef sandwich and decided we could do better. We were expecting high prices in NY, but that was a little over
the top. Walked a few doors down and
found a nice deli with flatbread paninis for a lot less... Including a bottle of water and chips. Good deal and they were very, very good. Sat at a bar facing the street and ate while
we people watched.
 |
| Times Square |
Then we walked down Broadway
looking at the theaters, hotels, people.
Proceeded on to Times Square. My goodness, it was alive. Lots of people, lots of colorful signs,
stores of every kind. Saw where the
ball drops on NYE every year. As many
people as were there today….can’t imagine being there on NYE.
Fifth Avenue….had to go into Saks. Brian found a beautiful sweater for me (Made
in Germany), but Ronnie didn’t seem inclined to buy it for me ($1800)….it
was pretty. LOL.
Stopped by and went inside St. Patrick’s Cathredral…wow. So beautiful. Many, many dignataries have been in there. Awesome.
 |
| Fox News |
Feet and legs were beginning to
feel it so we went back to the Sheraton and sat in the bar area with some
$5 cokes and visited a bit, up to Brian’s room for a bathroom break, then
Ronnie and I took off walking to Penn Station to find our train back
“home”. We elected to walk so we could
see more sights but had forgotten we had to walk back through Times
Square. More people, more noises…thick
with people, but it was okay. Everyone
was nice, polite and not pushy.
 |
| Train from SEC to Harriman NY |
 |
| Empire State Bldg |
We got back to the Penn Station
area/Madison Square Gardens and looked to the left and there was the Empire
State Building in all its old glory.
Found our train station, bought our tickets and sat to wait for 30-40
minutes on the train back. None were
crowded and it was a pleasant trip back.
Got to Harriman at 7:20 p.m.
Showered, had a BLT and many glasses of lemonade for dinner…almost ready
to hit the bed and I’ve already warned that it’s a sleep in day tomorrow!!
The only other thing we had on the
list was a Staten Island Ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan
skyline. But we were warned of long
lines on weekends and we only had the one day.
So that means we have to come back.
I’d love to come back, stay a week and see more sights (Central Park,
Upper East Side, Brooklyn, a Broadway show, etc)
It was a great day. For two hillbillies from Arkansas, the
sights of Manhattan were amazing. The
city is so ALIVE.
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