NY Trip: Wednesday, August 6
Slowly making my way through this…
Wednesday was another slow, relaxing day. We started the day a bit later due to the late night at the game and we spent a lot of time in the car and not a whole lot of walking. We took Alex with us this day because we knew it wouldn’t be a long one and to give my mom a break.
The goal of the day was to get a flavor of the North Shore Gold Coast, but it turned out a little disappointing.
We first headed to Port Washington to Sands Point Preserve. There you could view the mansion built for newspaper magnate Howard Gould in 1902 called the Hempstead House and his carriage house Castlegould. But both buildings were closed. All you could do was walk around them. Also included in the park was another mansion, but it too was closed that day. So the best we could do was circle the exterior and note how much the building was showing it’s age and neglect.
We did walk down to the beach and dipped our toes in the Long Island Sound.
Time started to slip away, so we made our way over to Oyster Bay and up to Sagamore Hills – the homestead of Teddy Roosevelt. This place was a lot of fun to visit, but we arrived late in the afternoon and were too late to get any of the mansion’s tour tickets. The best we could do was walk around the exterior and sit in the same rocking chairs that Teddy once sat in.
When the house was first built, it had a view of the sound. But since then, trees have matured and the waater is no longer viewable. I’m sure there was a spectacular view during it’s heyday. Had we known about the tour issue, I probably would have flipped the visits and done this place first and Sands Point second. Oh well.
The visit was not a complete waste. We learned a few things from plaques and a museum, had a nice picnic on the grass. Also some of the weirdest photos of the whole trip were taken here.
Yes, I’m sure Teddy had a t-shirt just like this one:
So, this part of the deck didn’t have a railing specifically so people could get on their horses. I tested this theory by using Todd as a horse:
I don’t think horses laugh as much, so they must be easier to climb on.
After we left Sagamore, we made a quick stop at the cemetery down the hill to view Teddy’s gravesite. There was a sign saying the cemetery closed at 5 and it was after that, but the gate was still open. So we went up.
While we were up the hill, someone came to close the gate. We almost got locked in. Climbing the fence wouldn’t have been too tough to do, except we did have Alex with us. Thankfully the guy was patient enough and let us out.
We were home for dinner and that evening we had a feast. My parents ordered a seafood extravaganza. It was spectacular. Lobster, crab, mussels, and clams, both baked and boiled. It was certainly an experience for the midwest kids, and while I can’t speak for everyone else, it was the best meal of the trip for me.
That evening we watched the DVD my dad made of all the embarrassing videos and photos of me as a child. We all had a good laugh. And I was given my own copy so I could laugh at myself anytime I want.
NY Trip: Tuesday, August 5
More pictures. More stories.
We started the day driving to Yankee Stadium in hopes of getting to the box office early enough to secure tickets to the Yankee Stadium Tour. It didn’t happen. The day was sold out. We weren’t too entirely bummed because we wouldn’t have been able to take the full tour (on the field and in the dugouts) because of the Fantasy Baseball Camp that was going on. We made plans to come back earlier another day and try again.
We did enjoy a nice walk around the stadium, though. And got a look at the new one being built across the street.
From there, we took the subway down to Harlem. We walked close to the famous Apollo Theater on our way to a lunch place that Stefan recommended. Wow were we ever thankful for that one. Dinosaur BBQ was the most amazing BBQ we all have ever had – even for Todd, who is a connoisseur of BBQ.
Seriously – anyone gong to Manhattan needs to go out of their way to come up to Harleem to try this food. You will not regret it.
After lunch, we walked down to Grant’s Tomb and Riverside Church.
Keeping with the theme of the week, the Riverside Church exterior was under construction, but thankfully the inside was not – and it is beautiful.
Kim is always a fabulous subject to photograph.
From there we walked down through Columbia University, past Tom’s Restaurant (any Seinfeld fans?) to the Cathedral of St. John’s the Divine.
In contrast to Riverside, the construction at St. John’s was on the inside. There was a fire in 2001 and the huge sanctuary (600 feet long) was half blocked off. Although, we knew going in that there would be construction at this place somewhere. They state that it will never be finished. Still, the exterior was indrecibly impressive.
From there we walked to Central Park. Seriously, taking pictures of Kim is endlessly fun. You never know what you’re gonna get.
Exploring upper Central Park was new to all of us and was an adventure. It felt for sure we’d be lost in there around the Great Cliff area. But we did finally manage to find the Blockhouse, an old fort and the oldest building in Central Park. It was built for protection in 1812, but never saw any war action.
After finding our way out of the woods, we meandered over to Harlem Meer (meer is Dutch for lake).
It was at this point that Todd and Kate headed over to Shea Stadium because Kate’s ankle was really bothering her. So Kim, Emily, Sara and I wandered south a bit to view some more things before heading out to the game.
We walked through the park a bit more, but got stuck in the Conservatory Garden. There were only 2 exits – and not in the places we needed them to be.
We found our way out by backtracking and then walked down to the Guggenheim Museum. Someday I’ll come back and spend some time looking at the art here. This day we only had time to view the lobby and outside which – in keeping with our theme of the trip – was under construction.
From there we walked a bit further to view the Metropolitan Museum of Art before exiting Manhattan for the day. We had to take the train back to Yankee Stadium because that was where we parked the car for the day. We drove down to Shea without any problems and met up with Todd and Kate.
It was an exciting game. I thought going into the game that because both teams were starting their #5 pitchers that there would be a lot of home runs, and both teams didn’t disappoint. I think almost every run was by a homer. The Mets won, although the bullpen came close to giving it away again. Tatis hit two home runs, which was enough to for them to hang on for the win. So everyone went home happy … except the Padres.
Wide angle lenses are perfect for this.
Late in the game, Todd, Emily and I took a stroll around to the far left field seats to get a different perspective.
NY Trip: Monday, August 4
Hey look! More pictures!
Monday we spent a lot of time in the car. We drove out to do both the South and North forks of Long Island, including the Hamptons, Montauk Point, Shelter Island, wine tasting and Greenport.
But first we had to stop to see the Big Duck. I think Todd is petting it in this picture.
I still had my camera at the settings from the night before on the docks, so my pictures of the Duck turned out weird. I decided to turn them into some old-timey postcard looking ones. We took enough pictures of the Duck that if you need a normal one, just ask one of the others. Of course, we couldn’t take pictures of the Duck without being crazy. Here is the Duck laying a Todd-egg:
We drove on to Southampton. I’d actually never been to this town before as it’s off the main road a bit, so I’d always driven right by it. I was pleasantly surprised and think it’s the nicest town of all the Hamptons. We walked around a bit, stopping in a few stores and goofing around a bit before moving on.
We drove along the shore road a bit, trying to peer through the hedges to get glimpses of the giant houses along the beaches. We then slowly made our way through some of the other Hampton towns (Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Amagansett) on our way to Montauk Point. There was construction and a lot of cars moving through the area – which surpirsed me a bit for a Monday – so the going was slow. I was afraid the traffic was really going to hamper our schedule, but it really didn’t. Still, while going 5mph down the main road, we made sandwiches in the car for lunch.
EDIT: I forgot to mention we did stop at the East Hampton library – which is the coolest library I’ve ever seen. But the reason for stopping there, besides a bathroom break, was to see their Long Island collection where they have a piece of the pirate Captain’s Kidd treasure on display. I also almost got kicked out trying to take a picture of it. I was told I could get an image of it on their website, but they were wrong. Newsday has an image they claim is it, but it doesn’t quite look like what we saw, but here is their image:
After that, we continued on out to the End where we wandered the beach a bit, skipped stones and soaked in the sun while admiring the lighthouse from afar.
Then we drove up to Sag Harbor to catch the ferry across to Shelter Island. We cut across that and caught the ferry to Greenport. But before dinner, we went down the fork to do some wine tasting. I was pretty amazed at how close the wineries are too each other. Just a few hundred feet seperate many of them.
After first stopping at 7-11 so Kim and Emily could get slushies (they weren’t going to taste wine), we went to Pindar, which was highly recommended from some online websites. For $4, we got to taste 6 wines.
I’m a red wine guy, but was very disappointed in all their options for red. They did have some very nice whites and we bought a couple bottles to take home with us.
We then went back to Greenport for dinner. We found a nice place out on the docks which had open-air seating. It was a beautiful night to sit outside.
Sorry, Sara and Emily. The wide angle lens is not so great for group shots. It’s kinda like a fun-house mirror.
After meandering through downtown a bit and stopping in a couple stores, we headed for home to call it a night.
NY Trip: Sunday, August 3
After church and visiting with old faces, we took a quick tour around Sayville and my old haunts.
After lunch, while Sara and Alex rested from the late night before, the rest of us crusied over to Old Bethpage Village. This is a site that several historic homes have been relocated to and hosts dress up in authentic garb to inform visitors of life during the 1800s. A bonus that day was the authentic old time baseball games being played.
I regret a little that we didn’t wake Alex up to bring along, but he’s still a tad young to appreciate it. He doesn’t watch my softball games for more than 2 minutes, so he probably would have been bored. The good news, though, is that we learned there are over 400 teams across the country that play these games by the rules of the 1800s. There are clubs and events in Illinois that I need to find and when Alex is a bit older, we’ll take him to one.
The first game we watch was an 1876 game. Notice the only one wearing a glove is the catcher. There was one guy that sat behind a table to answer questions and we grilled him on all sorts of things. It was very informative for a baseball nut. Probably boring if you don’t care that much about the game to begin with.
When we did get bored with the game, we all walked around to explore some of the buildings on site. Things like the Hat Maker’s shop, the General Store, the Saloon (selling root beer), the School, and the Church. There were hosts in each building willing to share stories of how life was like in the 19th century. It was interesting and I’m most grateful that I didn’t live in that time. How would I have blogged?
We ordered NY style pizza that night. Wow, I forgot how much I missed that. Chicago style is good, but it’s not what I grew up on (even though we often just ordered Dominos)
After dinner that evening, I took the gang from the midwest crabbing – a Long Island tradition. They were quite thrilled – especially Todd. I think it now ranks just below the White Sox on his things he loves most list.
We had fun for a few hours and caught a few – although less than I thought we would. That’s alright – we just relaxed and laughed at Kim in the MOM sweatshirt.
NY Trip: Saturday, August 2
I’m getting there, I promise. Look, I uploaded a few pictures already!
After driving in Friday, August 1, we tromped around lower Manhattan on Saturday. We started with a ride on the Staten Island ferry – a nice 25 minute trip each way that gives you good views of the city skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island – for free. Of course, we weren’t the only ones to take advantage of this, but it wasn’t too croweded.
We could get a good look at those NY Waterfalls and man are they an eyesore. I don’t get the point of them. Maybe if more water poured over them and didn’t expose the scaffolding, it might be more impressive. They just ruined my skyline images, as far as I was concerned.
There were hilarious signs on the boat and in the terminal on Staten Island that begged tourists to stay, instead of hopping right back on the boat. But I forgot to take a picture of them.
We walked quickly through Battery Park, grabbed some lunch, and then picked up a free 90 minute tour of the old town area. In the rain. It was an interesting tour that led us past some really old buildings and streets that I had no idea were there. Our guide was a young grad student, but we also had a little know-it-all sidekick who joined the tour and loved to interject his own anecdotes and versions. We’re not quite sure why he was even on the tour if he knew it all, but it did provide a little bit of humor in the rain – although not to our guide, who did his best not to look too annoyed.
The tour also led us past familiar places such as the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church.
We then walked up to the World Trade Center site, St. Paul’s chapel, South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The sun came out when we got to the bridge. Then it got real nice. We moved on, walking past the firehouse they used in the Ghostbusters movies and then on to Chinatown for diner … and adventure.
While in Chinatown, the girls discovered a fascinating phenomenon – the backroom showcase. A sales tactic to make you feel like you’re getting a better bargin? Or a true deal? We couldn’t quite decide. But I’ll have to let one of the kids who actually went into one of those back rooms to retell their tale.
There was a street fair going on in the Little Italy section, so we made our way through there.
Pressing onward, we strolled past the old CBGB – the birthplace of punk rock, past some more cool stuff, and into Washington Square park where we were excited to see the arch – NY’s version of the Arch de Triumphe in Paris. Only to find the first of an annoying trend that was everywhere – construction. It ruined many a good picture.
Oh well. After a break in an Au Bon Pain – because our feet were sore; it was appropriately named – we split up. Kate, Todd, and Kim went to rest at the subway stop while Emily, Sara, and I walked a little further on to check out the Flatiron building. Which wasn’t lit up, but still looked cool.
And so we ended our first day in the big apple. A lot of walking. A lot of blisters and sore ankles. For me, if I had some dry socks to put on after the rain in the morning, I would have felt a lot better. C’est la vie. We survived. The next couple days were for resting.
Except Alex was too excited to see us when we got home at 11pm and woke up again around 3am since he wasn’t used to that bed. So we had a rough night of sleep, although Sara took the brunt of it.
More stories to come as pictures become available. Stay tuned.
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