Arrival to Pennsylvania and Visit to Washington DC, and New York City

It's vacation time and we had some interesting travel arrangements to get to Pennsylvania and then after we arrived.  From  Snow Canyon State Park in Utah, we got a (1) pickup truck ride to Red Mountain Resort where we caught a (2) shuttle for the two hour ride to the Las Vegas Airport.  From the airport we took a (3) hotel shuttle to our hotel for the night.

For some reason they gave us a suite at the Vegas hotel with two bathrooms!  At first we only found the bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub but after retracing our steps in to the room we realized we passed right by the door to the other bathroom with a shower.  Our flight was very early the next morning so we got up early and took the (4) hotel shuttle back to the airport for our (5) flight. 

We arrived at the Vegas airport and the check in line for luggage was long at the American Airlines counter so by the time we arrived at our gate, our flight was already boarding.  Thank goodness for TSA PreCheck!

We arrived in Philadelphia and picked up our (6) rental car and drove to my Dad & Barb's house arriving in time for dinner.  We spent the night there and the next morning we drove back to the Philadelphia airport and returned the rental car, rode the airport (7) train to Philadelphia's 30th St Station where we got on the (8) MegaBus to Washington, DC.  Once we arrived in DC, we got on the (9) metro towards our hotel and then an (10) Uber ride to our hotel.  There we were meeting Al's cousins, Carlos and his wife, Gloria, and Carlos' daughter, Denis all from Mexico City.  (We went to Oaxaca with them last July when we were in Mexico.)  They arrived at JFK in New York a couple days earlier and drove to Niagara Falls before driving to DC to meet us.

All 10 modes of transportation worked well and we didn't have any hiccups!

Philadelphia's 30th Street Station

Carlos, Gloria, Denis, and Nancy
Eating takeout in our room

The next day all five of us took the metro to the Washington, DC Mall area and we showed them the World War II memorial where we caught the end of the 75th anniversary of the D Day presentation.

There were some World War II vets in attendance and after the presentation many people wanted to talk or interview them.

Dennis Ferk, US Army

That day we also saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, White House, and Smithsonian Air and Space museum.

Washington Monument and a dry Reflecting Pool with
the US Capital in the far distance.

Gloria, Carlos, Denis, Nancy, Al,
and Abraham Lincoln

And on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial there is a plaque where
Martin Luther King gave his famous I have a Dream speech.  

While at Arlington Cemetery we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers where Al got yelled at by the soldier guarding the tomb.  The soldier actually veered off his normal walking path and came closer to Al and yelled, "Sir, remove your bag from the gallery!" Al didn't know he was talking to him and it took a few seconds to realize what was the issue.  His backpack was on the tile/ground and not on the steps.  I told Al he would never live this one down!  This one tops me shutting down the whole Space Mountain ride at Disneyland when I wouldn't sit in the seat because it was wet.

Al's Buddy

The Changing of the guard ceremony done with such precision!

There are four graves at President John F. Kennedy's grave site at Arlington.

President John F Kennedy's grave

Jacqueline Kennedy's grave

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was the infant child of United States President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was the younger brother of Caroline and John Jr.

The last one on the far right was Arabella Kennedy who died at birth in 1956.

At the grave site there is a monument inscribed with Kennedy's famous, Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country speech.

The next day we left DC for the drive to New York City.  Al did the driving and the back seat slept most of the way.  They wore themselves out at Niagara Falls and all the driving to get there and then to Washington, DC so they welcomed the drivers.   

We made a pit stop in Philadelphia for a cheese steak sandwich at Pat's in South Philly before driving to New York City.

Enjoying our Cheesesteak sandwiches!

Thumbs Up for Pat's Cheesesteaks!

Once we arrived in NYC and got settled in to the hotel, Al and I returned the rental car because parking was too expensive ($30/day) at the hotel.  Then we took the subway back to our hotel. 

We used my Hilton Honor points for the room for four nights in NYC so our stay was free.  Rooms in NYC are usually small so all five of us squeezed into the room with one bed and one sofa bed.  Denis, being the youngest, got to sleep on the sofa cushions and a pool raft we bought at Wal-Mart.

Denis blowing up her bed.

Our first day of touring in New York City took us to the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Times Square during the day and back again at night, the M&M store where I bought some very expensive M&M's, Grand Central Station, Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and the Imagine mosaic, and Broadway.

I have never been up to the top of the Empire State Building before so it was about time.  In the lobby of the building and then on the 80th floor there are exhibits about the building.

Then there is another elevator that took us to the 86th floor and Main Deck.  There we were outside and had great views in every direction of Manhattan and New Jersey.  SO many buildings!

See the Nike swish on the roof of one building?
Who would think to put advertising there?

Freedom Tower in the far distance to the left with the barely
visible Statue of Liberty to the right of it.

Looking South to Lower Manhattan

Looking north with Central Park barely visible.

Carlos, Nancy, & Al

Denis, Carlos, Gloria, Nancy, and Al

Denis getting a better view

A view of the very top

The Ball at Times Square popular on New Year's Eve

Mosaic in the lobby

View of the Empire State Building from street level

It happened to be Immigration Day in NYC so we caught this mini parade going by during our walk.  I'm not quite sure what country this float was from but it was interesting.

Then we walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I found this interesting where it was tradition to hang the galero after a cardinal’s death.

Here is a link to an article about the tradition:  http://cny.org/stories/history-comes-full-circle-as-restored-cardinals-galeros-hang-in-st-patricks,13015

Rockefeller Center

Radio City Music Hall

M&M Store - where Al wondered why did we pay so much for those M&M's?

Times Square

Central Park

Denis at the Imagine Mosiac in Central Park

We walked through Chinatown and the Little Italy neighborhoods.

Then down to the southern tip of Manhattan to Battery Park to see the Status of Liberty.

View of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

An end to a fun day!

I would say that was a full day of sightseeing and we were all exhausted.

Our our second day we did a boat tour of the Landmarks of NYC including the Statue of Liberty, Walked across the Brooklyn bridge, Wall Street and the Bull, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and the Vessel at Hudson Yards.

We boarded the Circle Line boat for our Landmarks tour from the west side of Manhattan at Pier 83 around 43rd Street and 12th Avenue.

Liberty Tower

Approaching the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

Carlos enjoying the boat ride

Carlos & Gloria

Brooklyn Bridge from the boat tour

Empire State Building visible between other closer buildings

The Vessel at Hudson Yards

It's possible to get a free ticket and walk all the stairs in the structure.  We picked up tickets for a time later in the day but never made it back to climb the stairs.

Then we went to the 9/11 Memorial and toured the museum.  I was lucky to have been to the top of one of the towers back in the 80's with a group of girlfriends from work when we did a day trip to NYC.  The city was very different back then.

We were able to get tickets and immediately visit the museum.  We each walked the museum at our own pace as there were many things to see and hear.

Al and I went to NYC in December 2001 and visited Ground Zero.  One thing that really hit me was all the photos posted on walls and trees of people looking for their loved ones like these below.

Steel beams that survived and shaped into a cross

Outside the footprints of the two buildings is marked with water falls and the names of all the victims engraved on plaques.

On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower".

One World Trade Center base in the background

One World Trade Center

All of us with the PATH train World Trade Center Station in the background 

Next it was over to Wall Street and then to find the bull.

Waiting in line to take a photo with the Wall Street Bull

Carlos wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge so we did it along with so many more people with the same idea!

Carlos was happy!

One World Trade Center and the Brooklyn Bridge
and an end to another full day of sightseeing in NYC

On the third day, it was raining all day.  We took the NYC Downtown hop on hop off bus route but never got off the tour due to the rain.  When that loop was over, we got off to get on the Uptown bus.  While waiting in the rain for the Uptown bus, there were lots of sirens, then police and fire trucks were arriving and stopping at a building just diagonal from where we were waiting.  Then two police officers went running by in that direction which was when I felt like this is something major.  It ended up a helicopter crashed into the top of the building and caught fire.  The building was evacuated so there were a lot of people standing around in the rain.  It was strange to witness this after visiting the 9/11 memorial yesterday.  After all this excitement and the police and fire trucks blocking the streets the uptown bus couldn't get to our stop so we went shopping.

One thing that worked really well for us in NYC was we got a 7 day pass for $34 and rode the subway all over the city and back and forth from our hotel.  We just went to Google and put in where we wanted to go next and it told us the subway to take to get us there.

On the fourth day we had to get up very early and rode with Carlos, Gloria, and Denis to make sure they got to the Jamaica station to catch the AirTrain to JFK for their flight back to Mexico City.  We said our goodbyes and went back to the hotel and slept!  After a few hours we rode the subway to Hudson Yards where we picked up a MegaBus to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.  From there we took the train to the airport where we picked up another rental car and drove to my Dad & Barb's house.

We had a great time with Carlos, Gloria, and Denis in Washington, DC and New York City.