We’re ready to enjoy some sunshine and test our driving skills while visiting this amazing city!
Can you believe how many people are here!? Roughly 8.4 million people are crammed into an area of 305 square miles.
Liberty State Park
Before officially heading in to New York, we plan on taking a ferry out to visit the Statue of Liberty.
Once we arrived at the location to take the ferry out, we learn that if you want to go up into the crown of the statue, you have to have reserved your seat roughly 3 months out!!
We didn’t reserve any seats or ferry rides, so we opt to enjoy her from a distance.
At this park in New Jersey, we are also able to snag some beautiful views of New York City.
It looks so quiet and tranquil from here!
Even though we don’t get to see the Statue of Liberty, we still take time to enjoy a stroll through the park.
The blooming trees are offering some lovely framing of the large city that awaits us!
We can’t wait to cross into such an iconic city.
The Big Apple
Driving in New York is not as bad as we imagine…..
Parking on the other hand……
How do you even decipher these coded signs???
Traffic seems to be a free for all….
While people constantly cut you off…
You’re travelling so slow, it really doesn’t seem to cause an issue…
Although, Kali is loving the opportunity to honk at any pedestrians jaywalking!
Since parking is such a nightmare, we decide to admire the views from the van while driving through.
Here we have the ever so famous Time Square!
A quick drive by Central Park…
With horse carriage rides and all!
Hot Dogs Pizza and More
It takes quite a bit of time, but we find a parking spot for the van …. which may or may not be parked illegally…. Who knows!
We just can’t go to New York without purchasing a hot dog from a street vendor. 🌭
…. And a piece of pizza! 🍕
We can’t park long at that questionable parking spot, so we hit the road once more.
The architecture of the bridges is beautiful.
We’re headed into Long Island for a quick errand.
Peeking through the beams we can see New York City.
Long Island
Once on the other side, we are offered stunning views of the New York skyline.
Driving back to the main island, we are met with stopped traffic.
We can’t help but notice that these baseball fields are circular in shape instead of the diamonds we are used to.
Back in New York
Entering and exiting tunnels always seem to add a different perspective of the city.
There are so many bridges connecting different cities and islands. They are all so beautiful.
Where is this line of ships heading?
While we didn’t get to get out and do much walking or site seeing, we are pretty satisfied with our visit to New York.
Next time we visit we will definitely be flying in and using the cities polished means of transportation to avoid the parking nightmares.
Karin’s House
You may remember while scuba diving in Key Largo we met one of the nicest ladies named Karin. She had invited us to stay with her as we travel through New Jersey.
After our visit to New York, we decided to take her up on her offer.
When we arrive, we’re greeted with so much hospitality from not only her, but also some close friends.
We have a blast visiting them and talking about our trip and receiving recommendations for future stops. Hopefully the future allows for us to visit Karin longer than just one night.
How lucky are we to meet such great people along this trip?!?!
Thank you Karin and all of her friends and family who provided such a great visit!