Connecticut Passage

Loved Connecticut, I think I was supposed to be born and raised there lol! The architecture of the buildings and homes, the lush green trees and grounds, quaint towns and of course the perfect fall weather... I was loving every minute of it!
We spent our first day going to Mystic Seaport which is an old historic fishing town and where the historic "Morgan" ship resides. Morgan is the last surviving American wooden whaling ship, built in 1841 and has sailed all over the world during it's active period for whaling. Morgan made its 38th voyage in 2014 and has been in restoration at Mystic Seaport for the last 2 years, while touring Seaport we got the opportunity to see the restoration crew pulling the Morgan out of the water for the 1st time since restoration started in 2014 to be dry docked. Pretty awesome to see and the history and stories that this ship holds is remarkable. Ships like the Morgan were typically used to harvest the whales blubber for their oil which was used for lamps and machine lubricant before petroleum was discovered in 1869. Thank goodness for petroleum because the whales were about to become extinct.
The historic town which was also a launching point for many of the civil war ships has all been restored. It was like going back to the 1700's, going through each building (the school, church, homes, blacksmith shop, etc.) to see how they lived back in then...how times have changed!
Next we headed to Stonington a neighboring town along the Atlantic Ocean to check out the shops and pubs. Came across a couple little treasures and ended up at the recommended Water Street pub known for it's excellent food and a top hangout for the locals. At first we were the only ones in the pub so we took advantage of striking up a conversation with the bartender and servers before all the locals trickled in. Before long we felt like we were part of the locals as everyone was so friendly. We soon learned that our bartender "Chris" also had a 1 man band and played the town of Mystic every Thursday night at the Voodoo lounge and invited us to stop by. How could we pass that invite up, we would be there! Soon the pub was filled by the locals, we met the couple that were sitting next to us and exchanging stories of where we're from. We were suprised to hear that they sailed the seas for 7 years and home schooled their daughter on the ship and would dock when they needed to resupply. Apparently, their daughter today says that was the worst 7 years of her life, lol! What a life I'm sure, much more enjoyed by the parents. Anyway, very interesting couple, great bartender and excellent food in Stonington, CT!
The following day we took a trip into Mystic another cute little tourist town with all the artsy, local, over priced shops lol, however, we did find a tasty ice cream shop that was right up our alley!! Oh and we had to stop by the famous Mystic Pizza parlor (Mystic Pizza was the 1988 movie that started it off for Julia Roberts) then off to the Voodoo lounge to listen to our new friend Chris and enjoy a little happy hour. His music was great, very appreciative that we showed up, another night of great entertainment and great food!
Now off to Salem/Boston...more to follow!

Beautiful Mystic Seaport

An old fishing boat that we toured

The historic "Morgan" beginning pulled out of the water

The famous "Morgan" now on dock!

The darling historic town of Stonington - a street of the restored historic homes

A view of the Atlantic Ocean from Stonington beach

A once active lighthouse

Another historic home in Stonington - love their architecture

A historic building in downtown Stonington 

A view of the counter balances of the draw bridge in Mystic getting ready to raise - outside the window
 of  the yummy ice cream parlor

At the Famous Mystic Pizza parlor

The Voodoo Lounge listening to our new friend Chris play some great music

New York City Passage

Entered the great city of NY City towing a 5th wheel during the middle of rush hour, trying to follow the road signs and not to mention detour signs to hopefully make it to the RV park that is settled right in the middle of downtown...talk about a tense time!! However, we made it without any disasters other than our nerves being shot...but we took care of that shortly after arriving with happy hour time lol. After we were parked and set up our truck didn't move, we traveled by subway everywhere we went which, was an experience in it's self, we only got lost once!
We had an awesome 4 days there taking in all the sights and enjoying the night life with my cousin Chris and his friend David!!
Jerry and I took a ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, what a sight it must have been for all the immigrants that came to our country and she was the first thing they saw. She was amazing to see in my eyes and to think that at one time she was the tallest structure in NY. Ellis Island seemed to have a eerie and ghostly feeling to it, reading about all of the millions of immigrants that passed through there in hopes to become part of the American dream. There was a quote from one of the polish immigrants that said: he was told that the streets in America were paved with gold and once he arrived he realized that they were not paved in gold they were in fact dirt roads and he was expected to pave them. Leaving Ellis Island you come away feeling a little humble and thankful for the life we have.
We also took a tour of the 9/11 Memorial wow... reliving that day and the different emotions that we felt going through the tour such as sadness and anger and learning more detail about that day was somewhat overwhelming. Learning that they had been planning this attack for 10 years and all the different things they did to prepare their people for it. Your heart really goes out to all of the our responders, people and the families that were there that day, things that they saw and went through I can't even fathom. Very emotional memorial however, absolutely worth going to.
We checked out Time Square which I'm sure everyone can imagine..glitter and swarms of people lol, we went through Little Italy and China Town, open fish markets everywhere which made it really smell like China Town. We took our chances and ate at this Chinese restaurant it appeared that it must be a good place because there was a line of people waiting to be seated...we were happy to say that it was excellent food and service!
The four of us took in the Broadway show Jersey Boys, the story of the Four Seasons. Excellent music, excellent story, you would have thought we were watching the Four Seasons live.
We walked a portion of Central Park, what a beautiful park with ponds, so much greenery and trees, for a moment it was like you were in some fairy-tale place outside of the city. There were many artists displaying/selling their work along the paths and street performers.
Of course, we had to stop by our next presidents tower (aka Trump Tower) there were the CNN and FOX broadcasters out front for who knows what reason. We were a little surprised as we walked in, to find out that the escalators were down and the Trump ice cream shop was closed...someone is going to be "fired"!
Every night we all enjoyed the nightlife with cool bars and great food, hanging out with all the New Jersian's and New Yorkan's until wee hours of the night! Such good times.
Now off to Connecticut! More to follow...

Heading to our RV park through the middle of downtown - Fun times!

The lovely Statue of Liberty!

Definately had to get a picture with her

Picture of Ellis Island looking from the Statue of Liberty

Middle of Time Square - So crazy there but so much fun!

The new Freedom Tower

The footprint of the south tower at ground zero

The last support beam removed from the site. All of the responders signed it and a ceremony was held. 

Ladder truck 3 one of the first responding fire trucks to ground zero 

The new World Trade Center symbolizing a white Dove for peace

Getting ready for the amazing Jersey Boys Broadway show!

At Central Park with my cousin Chris and friend David 

And...hopefully the next President (Trump Tower)...that is if he can keep his !%&# mouth shut!

The NY skyline in the background

Mmmm anyone ever have a bacon wrapped onion rings? Wow they were the bomb!!

Picture in Central Park with NY downtown in the back ground

Central Park 

Niagara Falls Passage

 

What an awesome time we had in Niagara Falls, we were there 2 full days and made the most of each day! The falls were absolutely spectacular. We took the Maid of the Mist boat tour which, gets you right up next to the American Falls and the Canada Horseshoe Falls, there is no way not to get wet, therefore everyone receives ponchos to put on before you board the boat and even with that you still get wet, but it was so worth it, such an awesome experience. We also, did the Cave of the Winds which you take stairs right into the American Niagara Falls and the rush of the falls are so powerful it feels like you're in a hurricane, so crazy (see pictures)! We took a beautiful hike along the Niagara Falls river, walked the Niagara Falls Park (such a beautiful park), checked out some cool antique shops along with a little tourist shopping. The falls were not at all what I had expected, such a great place to see!
Now off to New York...more to follow!

On the Maid of the Mist boat tour 

Heading up the stairs to the Cave of the Winds

The American Niagara Falls

A view from the top of the Niagara Falls - cool rainbow

The beautiful hiking trail

At the top of the falls 

Jerry in the "hurricane" at the Cave of the Winds

The Canada Horseshoe Falls

In the "hurricane" at the Cave of the Winds

A view of the river while on our hike

Michigan Passage

Arrived in Michigan on Tuesday the 13th, Jerry's old army buddy Brent greeted us at the end of his drive which ends at beautiful lake Louise that he lives on and had a nicely mowed green area for us to park and stay on. We enjoyed a wonderful 4 course meal at Brent's former wife Patty's home with the entire family. Had a great time seeing everyone and catching up that night. The next few days we enjoyed shopping and a little bar hopping at some of the must go to bars in Traverse City, had a awesome bon-fire at Brent's place, learned/played several different poker games every night at Brent's (as they are all poker players), Brent took us for a nice drive to see some beautiful views of Lake Michigan. We had an awesome time with Brent and his family!!
Saturday we headed out to Niagara Falls, NY...more to follow!

Here we all (Patty and Brent with son Robert and  girlfriend Amy) are in Traverse City having a cocktail on the balcony of one of the must go to bars in Traverse City overlooking Lake Michigan (which looks like an ocean to me lol) 

Jerry and I at Lake Michigan

One of many gorgeous views of Lake Michigan

The night of the wonderful 4 course meal at Patty's house

Adorable 4 year old Savannah (Sam) Brent's grand-daughter - she is too much fun!

One of the many beautiful creeks in Michigan

Chicago Passage

We made a short stop in Chicago however, we made the most of it. Stayed in a nice secluded RV park near a town called Crete about 40 miles outside of Chicago. We took a ride into Chicago to spend the day, we had a couple of tours scheduled, a city bus tour which took us around the city we went through China town, toured a lot of the different architecture downtown, stopped at Lake Michigan, went by Obama's house twice...our tour guide suggested video taping the drive by so he drove around it twice however, no one was video taping or seemed to be very interested lol. It was a pretty good tour, glad we had the opportunity to see quite a bit of the downtown area and learn a little history. We then took a riverboat tour on the Chicago River that flows through downtown. We had a great tour guide on this one, she provided a lot of information on the fire that burnt down the city of Chicago in 1871 which, brought in architects from all over the world to redefine the architecture of the city. Learned that the river has been polluted for many years which originated back from the cattle stock market era where they dumped the cattle waste into the river. The river once was rated highly toxic, it has since improved slightly and is now rated highly polluted. Not a river you would want to take a swim in lol. We learned a little history on quite a few of the downtown buildings, definitely a tour we would recommend taking. After the tours we went to the Famous Harry Caray's restaurant for dinner, we must say it was quite tasty!

A view of the little lake at our RV Park

Our RV Spot

Another view of the lake at the campground

Lake Michigan with downtown Chicago in the background

Downtown Chicago

On our Riverboat tour - Guess what building sits along the river

This is a apartment building along with parking garage along the river

The Sears Tower

This building actually looks like a champagne bottle 

The Famous Harry Caray Restaurant

On a bridge that crosses over the Chicago River