Number 47....can I get a drum roll?

6:47 am - Sunday - October 7th - Jersey City, NJ - 70º F (going to be a warm one!), 94% humidity (feels higher than that!), wind 7 mph out of the west by southwest.......cloudy with a forecast high today of 83º F.

Our goal Saturday was to be on the road by 8 am.  My theory was that driving into New York on a Saturday morning would be better than on a Friday.  I know...well a guy can hope can't he?  We were, indeed, on the road at exactly 8 am and merging on to I-95 southbound a few minutes later.  My theory was quickly invalidated as the traffic was already heavy, and only increased in its intensity as we neared the New York state line.....

.....pretty soon it was bumper to bumper, and then it began to rain......perfect.....

......getting to, and then over the George Washington Bridge was a very slow process....we were going about 4-5 mph for about 5 miles......

.....and then it got even tighter and more congested....if that is possible......

.....finally beginning to cross the George Washington Bridge......

George Washington Bridge

....at last we came to the I-78 interchange, and quickly retrieved a toll ticket at the unmanned booth.  About 5 miles later we exchanged it with a live person who in turn requested $19.20 for that just completed 5 mile stretch.....ouch!  Within 300 feet we were exiting I-78 at Columbus, and that is when the real fun began.  Even though we were less than 2 miles from Liberty Harbor RV Park our Garmin Trucker GPS took us on a convoluted, twisting, winding route through excruciatingly narrow streets before finally depositing us on Marin Street....a mass of quivering, jellylike flesh....and then it was over....we had arrived at our destination......it was just after 11 am.....three hours of torture were over, and we had entered our 47th state in never our ending odyssey......

Extremely cramped Liberty Harbor RV Park

......it took us a while to drop our trailer in the 'dry storage' area, and then we had to wait for an RV to depart our site.....ultimately, the office changed our site as the customer would be over an hour in returning to move their RV.....we ended up in site C4.  By 1 pm we were set up and ready to do some exploring, but first we needed to have lunch. TLE found a place about 5 blocks away called Zepplin Hall, a German style beer garden, so we began our walk.....

 We can see the WTC, and the Statue of Liberty from our location!

....we are just across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty.  While we were eating our good friend Michael Vaccari, whom met at Amazon back in 2012, contacted us and said he could be there in 30 minutes.  He offered to give us his 'Cooke's' version of a tour of NYC by car.....perfect!  There was no way I was going to drive the VW in NYC!

 Late lunch at Zepplin Hall (beer garden) with very good friend Michael Vaccari whom we first met at Amazon back in 2012

Before we entered NYC Michael took us on a tour of Newark, his home town.....

 Basilica Cathedral Sacred Heart....boasting one of the world's largest 'Rose' window's, and whose towers are taller than those of Notre Dame in Paris.

 New York skyline taken from Weehawken Dueling Grounds 

 Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury killed in a duel by Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States July 11, 1804 over a political dispute...they came to New Jersey to duel as dueling was illegal in New York....maybe we should return to dueling to resolve political disuptes

 Empire State building through the mist

.....the highlight of which was a stop at Weehawken Duling Grounds on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River, and a spendiforous view of the NYC skyline.......

 Lincoln Tunnel

.....by the time we entered the Lincoln Tunnel to drive under the Hudson River into NYC it was getting dark.....for the next two hours Michael took us across the width and breadth of NYC......

.....Park Ave., Madison Ave., 5th Ave, Broadway, off Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, The Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Plaza, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Greenwich Village, Grand Central Station, Flatiron Building.......

 Wall to wall people

 Grand Central Station

 Of course....Empire State

Flatiron Building

 St. Marks, I believe

 Metropolitan Museum of Art

 The Plaza

 NYC Public Library

 Heading back to Jersey City through the Holland Tunnel

....by 8 pm we had been driving for almost 6 hours, and it was time to head for the barn, so we headed into the Holland Tunnel for our trip back to Jersey City.....the tunnel is two miles long as it travels under the Hudson River.  So, in one day we crossed over and under the Hudson River 3 times.  By the time we reached Liberty Harbor it was after 8:30 pm, so we said our until next times to Michael, and walked to our home.....what a full day Saturday was!

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