Thursday, December 1, 2016

Delaware, New Jersey and New York

In April we went to New York City to visit our son, Andrew. While there, we spent some time exploring portions of Delaware, New Jersey and Upstate New York as well. This is a summary of our trip with links to Judy and my individual blogposts that go into more detail. 

We took a red-eye flight on Delta, leaving LAX on a Thursday at 10:45 p.m. and arriving Friday morning at JFK at 7:10 a.m. (flight time, 5 hours and 10 minutes). We like the red-eye flight out of LAX as it allows us to drive there in off-hour traffic and to get a full-day when we arrive. We rented a car with Dollar which required a tram ride and some sleuthing to find. I was upset when they tacked on an approximate $110.00 toll charge, but was later grateful as it saved us money as well as untold hassle. We immediately set out for Wilmington, Delaware. As we crossed the horribly crowded Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, between Brooklyn and Staten Island, I was shocked to see a $16.00 toll (and later a $15.00 toll each time we crossed over the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge).  

Our first stop was Ebright Azimuth, 133 miles from JFK, the "high point" of Delaware with an elevation of 448 feet, in a suburb of Wilmington. A quick stop and a couple of pictures and we drove to Old Swede's Church, built in 1699, one of the oldest churches in the U.S. We drove to the Cathedral of St. Peter and found it closed, so continued on to St. Anthony of Padua Parish Church, a real gem. We ate lunch at the Big Fish Grill right next to the Christina River where we had a wonderful lunch. We headed back toward New York City and stopped in Princeton, New Jersey on the way. We made an unplanned visit to Trinity Episcopal Church and to the Princeton Battle Monument which was across the street. Then to the Princeton University campus for a brief walkabout before heading on to our hotel in Fort Lee, NJ, the Double Tree by Hilton, very near the George Washington Bridge. We found the hotels cheaper in NJ, across the river from Manhattan, and we had free parking as well. 
     Delaware: State High Point  (Judy)

Saturday morning we took Lyft for the first time (it was great) and met Andrew in Harlem at 10:00 a.m. at Red Rooster, owned by Marcus Samuelsson who wrote, "Yes, Chef," and had a great Southern breakfast. We walked to Grant's Tomb, then crossed the street to the Riverside Church, then on to Columbia University where we walked around the campus. We caught the subway to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral, then the subway again to Chinatown where we ate at Joe's Shanghai and then walked to Little Italy for some dessert at La Bella Ferrara Pastry Shop. We caught the subway back to the area near Columbia and then took Lyft back to our hotel across the George Washington Bridge.
     New York City: Eating at Red Rooster in Harlem  (Judy)
     Red Rooster - Harlem, New York  (Bob)
     New York City's Upper West Side: Sakura Park, Grant's Tomb, Riverside Park, and Riverside Church  (Judy)

Sunday morning we drove over to the Columbia area and found a free parking space and parked the car for the day. We met Andrew and took the subway to near the southern end of Central Park and began a walk that would take us all the way to the northern end. Part way through we exited to the east and visited the Neue Gallery which had the Klimt painting "Lady in Gold." It was only a short walk after that to the spiral-shaped Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Back into the park we made it to the north end and walked past St. John the Devine and ate nearby at Roti Roll, then had dessert at Hungarian Pastry Shop. We said goodbye to Andrew, got our car and then drove to Dover, New Jersey where we stayed the night at Homewood Suites.
     New York City; Central Park  (Judy)
     New York City: The Guggenheim Museum and a Fischli and Weiss Art Show  (Judy)
     New York City Miscellany: Street Art, the Hungarian Pastry Shop, St. John the Divine Doors, the Subway, Columbia University  (Judy)
   
Monday morning we left about 7:30 a.m. and drove 36 miles to High Point State Park, the highest point in New Jersey. It was raining and very cold. We were impressed with the New Jersey countryside, not something I anticipated. We drove another 62 miles to Hyde Park, New York and visited the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Clancy's Cafe and Creamery, then drove a short distance to Val-kill, the cottage of Eleanor Roosevelt, where we had to visit at a specific tour time. Then back to near the Roosevelt home to visit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the first of the presidential museums. Afterwards we drove further into Upstate New York to Albany where we stayed at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Latham.
     New Jersey: State High Point  (Judy)
     High Point - New Jersey  (Bob)
     Hyde Park, New York: Roosevelt's Home  (Judy)
     Hyde Park, New York: Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill  (Judy)
     Hyde Park, New York: Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Library  (Judy)

Tuesday morning we hit busy traffic as we traveled 8 miles to downtown Albany to visit the New York State Capitol building. Afterwards we visited the nearby All Saint Episcopal Cathedral, then had lunch at Aashiana, an Indian food buffet. We drove south 129 miles to Valhalla where we visited the Kensico Cemetery and found the graves of such luminaries as Lou Gehrig and Ayn Rand. It was 36 miles from there to JFK where we dropped off our car and caught a flight at 6:30 p.m. for LAX.
     Albany, New York: State Capitol Building  (Judy)
     Albany, New York  (Judy)
     Valhalla, New York: Kensico Cemetery  (Judy)

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