We also added lots more pics to our picasa web album for this trip.
After the ball game on Saturday it was time to make our way into the New York area where we hope to see both the Yankees and Mets in their home parks. Sunday morning we headed a bit east of Philadelphia then north to Lambertville, just across the state line in New Jersey, where Kris hoped to visit the well known yarn store Simply Knits. Lambertville is a bit like Banff, a popular place where many city folks like to go on weekends, and this weekend was no exception. With narrow streets it was hard enough to find a parking spot for the car and the trailer, so the increased traffic flow didn't help at all. However we did manage to find a spot about 8 or 9 blocks off the main drag. It was a nice day so a nice stroll looking at the fabulous old (money pit) houses along the way. We found Church St where Simply Knits was supposed to be but the address turned out to be a cold drink and smoothie type soda fountain. We asked if Simply Knits had moved elsewhere. The soda fountain owner told us that Simply Knits had closed up shop about 3 years ago. She said she thought she should consider selling yarn as a side line because many people, like us, stop and ask about Simply Knits. That's one thing that is too bad about the internet.... old crap hangs around... in this case a whack of hits if you google Simply Knits. Oh well, still a pleasant day to wander along the main drag, check out stores and have some lunch.
Then it was back to the car to continue on to East Stroudsburg, back in Pennsylvania, for a stop at the Mountain Vista Campground a few miles out of town. This is a pretty nice campground in a well wooded area but it is on the side of a mountain/hill. Our site was only three away from the bathhouse but, man, what a hike up the hill to get there. Consider our campsite an Everest base camp and the washrooms as the summit! As an aside, one of the reasons we chose this campground was the 10 out of 10 rating the restrooms got on the Good Sam travel website. Once again we have to wonder about these ratings and how they are arrived at. Honestly, it seems that campsites in the east must bribe somebody somewhere along the line, as we have been to many campsites in the west with lower ratings that have been much nicer all around than some in the east that have been rated at a 10. In this case, among other faults, the showers are a single pull chain. You pull, water comes out. You let it go, the water stops. AND.... you have to hold it down for quite a while before the water gets any where near hot. Let it go for any short length of time and the water runs cold again. Time to pull a Macgyver!!! While Kris does some laundry, I, Brian drive into town to pick up a bungee cord and a one gallon jug of water. Attach that to the pull chain, wait a bit for the water to heat up and voila, a crappy shower turns into a decent one. Maybe that's what the Good Sam folks did.
As another aside, the drive into town involved some freeway time. When I came out of the shopping center to go back to the campsite, the GPS said to "take the first right". What it meant to say was to "take the second right". DAMN! By the time I realized the error it was too late. Off I went in the wrong direction on the freeway, going west when I wanted to go east.. BUT... looking across at the eastbound traffic I saw that it was totally at a standstill. The next exit for me to turn around was 5 miles down the freeway. Believe it... the eastbound, three lanes of traffic was stopped solid for the full 5 miles and more. It was going nowhere! When I finally got to that next exit I re-queried the GPS looking for a different way back. It found one and boy, was it a back country drive, about 15 miles of winding, hilly, narrow roads. I thought that if something happened out there Kris would never know.... so best be careful.
Anyway, made it back just about the time the laundry was finished.... hmmmm sounds a bit suspicious doesn't it? NOT! By this time it was early evening so we decided to drive back into town (not via the freeway) for some dinner. We ended up at the Trackside Station Bar and Grill in East Stroudsburg. Looking over the menu we decided against the "Monster Cargo Burger"...
... settling instead for a couple of very good beef tacos.
Monday we continued north east into New York state to Newburgh where we have an interesting booking, at the KOA, for the next week. We will stay there Monday night then we'll leave the trailer there, in the same spot, until the 15th when we'll return for one more night before heading on our way. They will only charge us $5 per night that we will not be there. Pretty cheap storage actually. The regular rate we'll pay for the two nights we will stay there is $56.
After getting checked into the KOA and the trailer set up, we headed down the highway, about 30 kms, to Woodbury Common, one of the first Factory Outlet Malls we ever visited and definitely the largest.... and even much larger today than it was way back then. We had lunch at the Applebee's in the middle of the mall then wandered around for a few hours. It's amazing the stuff you don't need when you are no longer working! The only thing we picked up was a new jacket to replace the one Brian left behind at the Lake In Woods campground last week.
Late after noon we headed back to Newburgh, stopped at an Auto Zone store and picked up a "club" steering wheel lock for the car then off to a Longhorn Steakhouse where we had a couple of excellently cooked steaks for dinner. By the time we finished at the restaurant it was just starting to get dark and some very dark clouds had rolled in. We had about 15 kms to go to get back to the KOA. At about the 14.5 km mark the skies opened up and, man, did it ever pour down. Almost impossible to see the side/edge of the road and straight ahead visibility was all of about 5 feet in front of the car. We managed to keep the car on the road and slowly limped back to the campsite where we just sat in the car and waited for about a half an hour while the rain pelted down and a small river started to form right through the middle of our campsite. We likely could have fished from the car windows! Anyway, it finally abated and we were able to get to the trailer while being only moderately soaked :-(
Tuesday we repacked the car, removing anything we didn't need while in NYC and putting in the bins etc with our clothing and other stuff we thought we might need. We wanted the car to look empty while parked in Brooklyn for a week. It took a couple of hours to drive into Brooklyn and at one point our GPS took us on another wrong turn..."keep right to exit 2 it said", BUT exit 2 was on the left and it was too late to change so off we went. The GPS recalculated the route and we finally ended up at our apartment in Brooklyn, although we did have to cross an extra bridge along with it's $20 toll :-(
The apartment we rented, in Brooklyn, advertised private parking, which we took to mean "off street" so were a bit disappointed when we arrived to find that their gallery is an old garage with a driveway and our private parking was just across the driveway on the street. Oh, well at least it was a permanent spot right outside the apartment so we didn't have to move the car or have to find a random spot way down the street or anything like that, and we didn't have to move it while we were there. So all is well in that department (assuming street parking is no issue here). We will have to be out of there by 9:30 next Monday though as that is when the street is cleaned. We met our new landlords, Brian and Arlette. Very nice folks. The apartment is on the top floor of an old brownstone. Lots of character but it reflects it's age. Kitchen is quite small and we are in the middle of an early season heat wave, making it is very warm in the third floor apartment so we won't cook any meals while we are here. Hadn't really planned to anyway so no big deal. Luckily the bedroom has an A/C but even in this hot weather it has a hard go of it, but it kept the room cool enough to get a good night's sleep. Must get really hot in here in the middle of summer. Anyway, apartment is fine for a short stay and is close to the subway to get us into Manhattan, to the Yankees game and to the Mets game.... so all is good.
After getting everything moved into the apartment ...did we mention all the stairs ;-( ... we walked up to the nearest subway stop (about 4 or 5 blocks) bought a couple of 7 day unlimited Metro Cards and hoped on the C train into Manhattan. Our first destination for today was Tender Buttons on Manhattan's Upper East side so we had to transfer to a F train which dropped us right around the corner from Tender Buttons at 64th and Lexington. Kris was well restrained but still had a good time selecting a bunch of buttons to be used on future projects when we get home. Note, Tender Buttons does not accept credit cards (in a way this is a good thing as you are limited to spending cash on hand). For a mid afternoon lunch we walked across the street to the Mon Petit Cafe where a Nicoise Salad and Chicken Cordon Bleu made for a couple of excellent lunches... but welcome to NYC prices! Later, back in Brooklyn we turned the wrong way coming out of the metro stop and walked a few blocks before we realized we were probably headed in the wrong direction. Asked a woman if we were headed toward Putnam Ave and she pointed us back the other way. She even went into a shop to ask and confirm and she was right. Nice! About a block away from our apartment we discovered the Fulton Grand Bar a small, popular hangout with a younger crowd and friendly staff.... our new friend Calaix was one of the young folks tending the bar....
With the hot muggy weather the slight breeze on their small patio was more than welcome.
Wednesday was Yankee's baseball game day. The game didn't start until 1:05 PM so we headed into Manhattan to the Upper West Side to Knitty City where Kris was able to pick up knitting needles and get started on her next project. She also picked up some info on the upcoming "world knit in public day". For coffee we walked a few doors down the street to Irving Farm Coffee Roasters and discovered a place that makes great lattes. If all their offerings are this good then it's no wonder the place was packed! Off to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees host the Washington Nationals...
It was a low scoring game with the Nats holding a 2-0 lead into the 7th when the Yankees came back with 4 runs and the lead. Short lived though as a 2 run dinger, in the 8th, tied it again for Washington and they eventually won the game 5-4 in 11 innings. Our home team mojo failed the Yankees on this day :-( Back on the Upper West Side we stopped for dinner at Gina La Fornaria, on Amsterdam Ave, where a couple of very good watermelon salads and a shared pizza salsiccia were more than enough for the two of us. On the way back to the metro we stopped in at Trader Joe's for some munchies then it was back to Brooklyn and the Fulton Grand for a glass of wine or two on their patio.
Thursday was personal treat day. Back into midtown Manhattan, a stop for a Starbucks latte (good but not as good as yesterday) then off to Saks Fifth Ave and their spa for pedicures. Very nice indeed! After that treat we made our way down to the giant Macy's for some shopping and lunch at their 6th floor restaurant Stella 34 Trattoria. It was early afternoon and very busy so no window seat with a view (unless we wanted to wait about an hour) but no wait at the bar. However the menu was the same and the Vitello Tonnato (sliced veal salad) for Kris and a BLT for Brian more than hit the spot. After lunch and shopping at Macy's we walked over to the garment district, where Kris looked at a whack of fabric and did some head scratching as to whether or not she wanted to haul more fabric home...
... finally deciding that as nice as they (the fabrics) all are they should stay here at this time. Back at the Fulton Grand, we ended the evening with some wine and a nice chat with Calaix and her friends Robb and Jessie as they were all interested in our "baseball adventure".
Friday was our designated museum day. First up was the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in Midtown Manhattan, where the current special exhibit was on the globalization of fashion capitals and showed how new fashion capitals were emerging around the world to compete with the traditional established ones of New York, Milan, London and Paris...
... more pics from this exhibit are on our Picasa web album, week 11, for this trip. Excellent small museum and free entry to boot. Bonus. Leaving the museum we went across the street to Gigi Cafe for lunch. For a "fast food" place this was very good. For their custom salads, which they make for you, you go up to the bar, choose the type of greens, one main (usually meat), 3 premiums and up to 6 toss ins (see their menu). Then if you want it chopped they do that and viola you have a great lunch for $8.99...
... unfortunately the salads are TOO DARN BIG! Neither one of us could finish much more than about half. Next time we'll know to just get one and split it!
After lunch we wandered through the Chelsea Flower Market area, several blocks of beautiful flower shop after flower shop ...
... after which we made our way uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Entry into the museum is $25 for adults and $17 for seniors (getting old has to have some benefit), but they allow you to pay less if you feel you can't afford it. Nice touch to allow more people to see the vast collections in this place. This museum is so large you really have to decide on the few things you'd like to see in any one visit. For today, we chose 3 areas. First was the Burdick Baseball Card Collection exhibit...
... second was their Vermeer collection (along with a few Van Gogh's among others)...
... and third was a special fashion exhibit, China Through the Looking Glass...
.... after which we were totally bagged and museum-ed out! Whacks more pics from the museum on our Picasa web album, week 11, for this trip.
Leaving the museum we were in "desperate need" of an iced latte. We walked the two long blocks over to Lexington hoping to find a Starbucks but no luck. Well, the luck came in the form of a cross town 79th street bus which we took over to the Upper West side for another visit to Irving Farm Coffee Roasters. Nice. From there we did a couple of subway transfers to get back to Brooklyn. There was a women's World Cup soccer game on so we tried Sip, another bar close to home. A small place and a bit crowded but we were able to snag a couple of seats at the bar right in front of a couple of the TVs. Switzerland was smoking Ecuador but we hung around long enough to see the first half of the USA - Sweden match. Had a couple of glasses of wine and a large helping of spinach/artichoke dip which did us for dinner.
Saturday was an interesting day. We started off with a bus ride up Fulton to the Brooklyn ( Fort Greene) Flea market where Kris had hoped to see some vintage buttons but no such luck on this day. We wandered around the market for about an hour before deciding that we were not likely to find anything to take away. Interesting eclectic collections of stuff though, although no where near the number of 150 vendors they advertise on their website...
There is a metro stop right on the corner so, after lunch, we headed into Manhattan where Kris planned to join a group at Bryant Park for an afternoon of "world knitting in public day". Bryant Park is a very large urban park and it took a bit to find where the NYC organizers had reserved a large space for the event and there ended up being a good turnout of at least 100 knitters...
Meanwhile, leaving Kris to the knitting, I, Brian, decided to head down to the 911 Memorial and see if I could get into the museum or up to the observatory at the top of the Freedom Tower, formally known as One World Trade Center. Unfortunately, on this very hot day, the lineup to get into either the museum or the tower were estimated to be about 2 hours so I gave them both a miss. With all due respect to the victims memorialized here, if I tried to stand in that blazing sun for 2 hours they may well have had to add another name to the list :-( The memorial is quite moving with the names of all victims engraved around two giant cascading waterfall pools...
.... and the tower is most impressive. With it's unique design, when you stand at the bottom of one side and look straight up, the building appears to come to a point much like a pyramid...
When I got back to Bryant Park, Kris was chatting with a young woman who just happened to sit beside her to join in the knitting...
... turns out Janna is from the Sunshine Coast. What a small world! She always tells people she is from Vancouver because then they, at least, might have an inking of where she is from :-)
After the knitting event wound up, we wandered around the Times Square area then settled on dinner at Le Pain Quotidien, across the street from Bryant Park. Hard to go wrong with this place. We then headed back to Brooklyn to end out the week with a couple of glasses of wine on the small patio at the Fulton Grand Bar. Nice
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