WARNING: LONG POST 🙂 This summer our travels took us East. We packed the car and – with a huge bag of audio books –  we drove to visit friends in Malvern, PA. This was the first time for the kids to see that part of the country, so we planned on driving around to explore different areas during our East Coast vacation. The first area we visited was Amish Country near Lancaster, PA. After a short buggy ride we decided to see more of the area by car. The views reminded me a lot of Wisconsin…

To our surprise, there was a traffic jam when we got to Bird-In-Hand, PA. It turned out that this was the day of a famous Lancaster County Carriage & Antique Auction, a premier event that draws thousands of people to the town. We didn’t buy anything but it was interesting to watch and especially listen to all the bidding.

Next on our itinerary was a weekend in New York City. We drove from Pennsylvania to Staten Island, parked the car next to the ferry terminal and took a free ferry to Manhattan, admiring the views on the way.

We were ready for a day with lots of walking and decided to spend that Saturday exploring the Lower Manhattan area. The famous charging bull statute was very close to the ferry terminal but we couldn’t really see it well as it was covered with crowds of tourists…

I loved the two huge pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers at The 9/11 Memorial. The largest man-made waterfalls in North America cascade into the pools and then descend into a center void… We were considering experiencing the view from One World Trade Center observatory, but the clouds were coming and a posted sign indicated “zero visibility”. So we chose to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge instead.

From Brooklyn we took a subway back to Manhattan to see The High Line, a one of a kind linear park built on an elevated section of an old railroad. The park was great but, like every interesting spot in New York, it was of course crowded. It also started to rain quite heavily… We were short on umbrellas, so first I bought one and then Sonia found another one on the street (power of intention :)). We were ready to face the elements.

From High Line we took another subway to Little Italy and Chinatown. Those two neighborhoods are very close to each other so it was easy to visit them together. At Ferrara, one of the oldest Italian bakeries, I enjoyed one of the best tiramisu cakes in my life. Later, in Chinatown, we decided to warm up with a hot soup and roast duck. On the way back to the subway we made one more stop at a Chinese fruit stall. We bought three kinds of interesting fruit that we’ve never had before: lychee, dragon fruit and rambutan. We wanted to taste each at the hotel and decide which is our favorite. Lychee definitely won the contest.

After an afternoon in Chinatown my husband found this newspaper on the train back to the ferry and made an attempt at reading it…

On Sunday we again rode a ferry to Manhattan and were ready to explore Central Park and the Midtown Manhattan. We rented bikes at Central Park Bike Rental and had three hours to visit the park. It was still raining, so for the first time in my life I biked with an umbrella open to protect my glasses and the camera. We did the entire loop at Central Park and had enough time for a few stops on the way.

After Central Park we walked 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center and further to Times Square where we were going to meet my old high school friend. Times Square turned out to be way louder and more crowded than we expected. We were all exhausted after two days of intense walking and the kids almost fell asleep in the middle of all that noise while waiting on the red stairs for Joanna.  But it was wonderful to see her after so many years and that meeting was a great way to finish our New York City weekend.

Can you spot us on the live screen? (hint: look for the umbrella)

We took a subway from Times Square back to the ferry and the timing and weather were perfect for Manhattan skyline pictures at dusk. Can you see a rainbow colored spike on the top of One World Trade Center? There were a lot of rainbow lights that weekend in NYC celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage.

The following day we were going to drive along New Jersey shore to Cape May and then return to Pennsylvania. The plan was to stop at several little towns, visit several beaches and visit Cape May in the evening. To our surprise visiting beaches wasn’t as easy as it may seem. It turned out that all beaches are privately owned and have an admission fee attached. At $9.00 each we decided against walking to the ocean just to get our feet wet. Instead we returned to the car and drove on to find a better option.

Island Beach State Park was the better option. For a carload (even with out of state plates) the day use fee was $12; and the options for pristine beaches were better than the boardwalk and crowds of the private beaches further to the North. On the last picture of this series, you will see that one of the beaches in the park did offer the opportunity to join the crowds too – but that was not our preference. We were glad to find the solitude for beach combing on our deserted beach.

Cape May beach after 5 pm was fee-free and the crowds here were reflective of that fact. The waves helped too 🙂 and surfers were seeking the ideal ride. Our kids, without a surfboard took to tide-pooling and later we watched the sunset at Sunset Beach – and were pleasantly surprised by the horseshoe crabs mating on the shore and later the dolphins playing and jumping a bit further off shore.

As the farthest point south along the Jersey Shore, Cape May is the crown jewel of the region with gorgeous beaches and a quaint town center filled with gingerbread Victorians and colorful bed and breakfasts. We spent the night there and picked up a wake board so the kids could join in the surfing frenzy the next day. Bring your binoculars to the beach to spy the playful dolphins jumping in the wake.

Back to Philly after a break to NYC and the Jersey Coast, we were happy to discover a couple of great tourist options. The Phlash bus gave us on/off ride privileges to most of the recommended Philadelphia sites – and reduced fare parking downtown – a great deal. Jim’s Steaks was recommended for the infamous “Philly Cheese-steak” and once inside the crowds and pictures on the wall of famous visitors validated that this was the place to stop for lunch. A bit later, we visited the Reading Terminal Market – a food lovers extravaganza. Had we known that this was going to conclude our visit to Philly that day, we would have eaten less for lunch.

 

We loved the variety of experiences during our trip but we were also happy to safely get back home. Now I’m ready to start planning our next trip. Thanks for reading that far and I hope you enjoyed the photos 🙂

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