Next: July 13 to 20 - Hammonasset

For this leg of our journey, we selected the exorbitantly priced "Liberty Harbor RV Park", which advertised views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan right from the RV park.  At $55 per night, we thought we were in for a real treat.  Well, the park was indeed right on the water, on the New Jersey side.  Apparently the park owners felt that they had to uphold the world-renowned reputation that New Jersey has as a tourist destination and as a capitol of petroleum refining out East.  The place was a pit.  Trash was everywhere, the roads were uneven and barely paved, and it stank at times.  The resident family of cats -- which the kids greatly enjoyed -- barely had to work at all to fill their owner's back porch with freshly caught rats, left as gifts.  Oh, and by the way, the "view" of the Statue of Liberty was available to us by standing on the picnic table that we had to steal from another campsite.

One of the 5 kittens, below left.  The junk in the background gives you a good idea of the quality of the campground.  On the right is Kenny with "his" kitten.  Between the cats, frogs and horses, Kenny got quite the animal experience with us during his stay.

Liberty Harbor was convenient, however, and was definitely the closest RV park to Manhattan.  We started by touring the New Jersey "Liberty Science Center" at Liberty Park.  As you can see from the photo below, this was the current home of the traveling "Grossology" exhibit, which our friend Donnis had highly recommended.  So we went.  This was a kid-centric exhibit dealing with such vital topics as intestinal gas and how it is made, the many useful properties of snot, and how to make boogers.  It really was a lot of fun.  All of the exhibits were interactive, and we all learned quite a bit about how the human body functions.

Below, Jordan grimaces in sympathetic pain as she extracts the humorous bone from her electronic patient.  This was a life-sized version of the game "Operation", if you are familiar with that. 

Here, after wrestling with kids half her size, Jody managed to force her way to the front of the line get a turn at one of the top Grossology attractions. In the photo below she is gaily shooting simulated dust particles up a gigantic nose -- she is making boogers, and apparently that is a lot of fun.  The kids in line looked a bit fierce to me, so I passed.

Jody snapped this as we exited the Grossology exhibit -- we were figuratively sneezed out of the humongous nostrils you see behind us.

Grossology occupied only one half of one floor; there were a total of 4 floors, so we continued our investigations.  The next stop was a video lab, where many illuminating entertainments were possible.  Several of us created small 8-frame animated sequences using foam blocks.  Jordan and Kenny played for quite a while in front of a blue screen, where the attached equipment allowed them to play imaginary musical instruments or to paint by waving their hands, which you can see below.

We ate lunch in the museum, with this view of the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.

Half of one floor was dedicated to an interactive investigation of perception.  Below Joya, Jordan, Kenny and I are all inside a giant kaleidoscope.  Even though there were only 4 of us inside, the "room" seemed filled with faces and motion.

Another very clever station was set up as a mini basketball shoot with special glasses.  The glasses distorted your view of the hoop so that it appeared to be about 1 foot to the right of where it actually was.  After 10 or 15 shots, your brain would compensate for this, and you could make a basket every time.  The fun part came when you took the glasses off and shot.  The first few shots missed completely, even though the basket was only 4 or 5 feet away.

Joya trying her luck with the prismatic basketball game; that is the hoop in the foreground.

Kenny and Jody took in a 17 minute film of open heart surgery.  There were great exhibits on memory and perception, lots of puzzles, etc.  We saw an IMAX film on caving that was absolutely amazing.

Overall we had a really fun time at the Liberty Science Center.  Every exhibit was interactive, so it was all very entertaining: as opposed to just looking and reading, one 'did'.  Highly recommended.

Although all of us had been to Liberty Island and Ellis Island before this trip, Kenny and Jordan had never been up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. (Neither had Jody, but after trying it twice before she decided to pass.)  After confirming that the crown was open (although Ellis Island was closed due to a visit by President Bush that day) and finding out we had to be on the first ferry, we were ready.  It took us more than 2 hours to climb the steep stairs to the top.  The separate staircases going up and down are intertwined so that the stairway going down was right above our heads.  It was pretty tough for me since it wasn't made for people over 6 feet tall.  The stairway is also narrow and there aren't very many windows.  Kenny had a few rough moments on the way up -- he is a bit claustrophobic, and definitely afraid of heights.  Our progress up mostly consisted of stepping up one or two steps and then waiting a few minutes.  The very wide gentleman in front of Joya was experiencing intermittent flatulence, and allowing us all to share in it, making our passage up the winding interior staircase inside the statue itself even more interesting.

You can see from the photo below how excited Kenny was to be beginning the narrow and steep ascent up the spiral staircase.

The reason it takes so long to get to the crown is that the space at the top is not much bigger than a small bathroom.  And on top of the size, of course, everyone wants their picture taken.  The temperature was pretty nice until we got to the top, where it was about 100� and the solid copper walls were hot to the touch.  Well, that is one way to keep people moving.

It took us about 15 minutes to get down.  The only thing left was to get the silly foam crowns that were de rigueur.  Jordan was SO happy to have finally made it.  It was her third time to the Statue of Liberty.

Ah, the hats.

While waiting for the ferry, Kenny called home to find who was picking him up at the airport the next day.  He got the news that he and his dad were going on a belated birthday trip to a surprise destination.  Will the fun never cease?

This was taken on the return ferry.  We successfully got Kenny to the airport on time.  He was flying first class (gotta love those frequent flyer miles) so we got use of the "Admiral's Club".  Doug tried, in vain, to do some work on the web site and send some pictures.  The phone company in New York is odious, just ask Doug sometime if you want the full dress down.  The girls spent some time on the computers in the club and the kids had complementary snacks and drinks.  So the time spent was nice, just frustrating for Doug.   

We had one more day in New York before heading out.  We hopped on the water taxi which took us right to the financial district, near the twin towers.  The girls wanted to see a Broadway show -- the "Full Monty".  We stood on line to get discounted tickets, but we discovered that same day matinee tickets weren't sold there.  Doug called the Eugene O'Neill Theater for tickets.  We got good seats and the show started at 2:00 PM.  

Jordan, Joya and Doug wanted to go up to the top of the world, which is the southernmost twin tower.  But they are charging $13.00 now to go up, so they passed.  The twin towers are a quarter of a mile high.  This was taken from the plaza right below them.

We found a nice deli to eat lunch.  The tables were upstairs and the girls got the window seat with a great view of the Avenue below.

These pictures of the outside of the theater were all we could get.  Jody tried to take a picture of us sitting in our seats, but was roundly chastised by an officious usher, who clearly took his job way too seriously.  The theater was gorgeous inside and our seats were good.  The Full Monty was outrageously funny.  The Broadway version had been transplanted from Britian to America -- Buffalo, New York -- and made into a musical.  It sounds like a horrible idea, but it worked marvelously.  The humor was lowbrow and very male and very good.  What a blast!

We did some shopping on Seventh Avenue after the performance.  Jordan was still on her quest for the perfect sneakers.  We did find them, too -- but she ended up not wanting them, and opting for another pair, fortunately also on sale.  After shopping, we located the Zen Palate, recommended to us by Michael and Amira.  It was really tasty.  The Zen Palate does fusion food -- all types of vegetarian food with a Asian flair.  We had a lovely al fresco meal and people watched.

We opted to eat from their more casual Lunch menu.  Saved money and got to eat outside.

We walked back to the Financial District from the midtown Theater District -- quite the hike -- stopping along the way to shop a bit for provisions.  We stopped in at the Manhattan Whole Foods and bought some organic tomatoes, and at a French Bakery and bought bread and pastries.  And then we walked -- through Times Square, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa and back to the Financial District, to the ferry dock.  The girls rewarded themselves (and their tired feet) with an �clair and a baklava.

With Manhattan in the background, Jordan declared it a perfect day.

Our parting view of the Big Apple.

The next day, we left the Liberty Harbor Camping Pit and drove to West Orange, New Jersey, which has the home and laboratory of Thomas Edison.  For you faithful readers, you will remember we went to Edison's summer home in Fort Myers, Florida.  The West Orange lab was unbelievable.  The car, below, was the first electric car.  Edison modified a gasoline powered car to run on batteries.  But, alas, gasoline powered cars were faster and cheaper, and you know the rest of that story.

This picture is for us, really, since you can't really see what you're looking at.  Edison had a three story office/library built with his lifetime achievements displayed.  There were signed photographs of five presidents, gifts from industries and countries, examples of many of Edison's inventions, etc.  There was also a bed, because Edison worked such long hours, he would often nap during the day for short periods.  He was in this office much, much more than he was ever at home.

This is a movie projector which Edison invented -- he helped create the entire motion picture industry. 

This is one of the workshops on the Edison compound.  In this workshop were all sorts of things that might be used in experiments; animal parts, plants, minerals, tools, etc.  Edison prided himself on the completeness of his facility. 

This is the machine shop, run on electricity, of course.  It is Doug's fantasy garage.

This is the Edison's home.  He wasn't a good parent nor did he spend much time with his wife, but he did have an brilliant and industrious mind, and lots of energy.  An interesting man.

Now it is North and East again, this time to Connecticut...

July 13 to 20 - Hammonasset