THE BIG APPLE

Jule’s Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie

8/23/22 – Travel Day to NYC: This morning we woke up in Connecticut and went through our normal travel day routine. We pulled out of the campground by 9am and kids were already deep into their schoolwork. There was excitement in the air as we pulled out and headed towards New York City! Well, excitement for all of us except Jason. He had been dreading this day since we planned our route as he hates driving the RV through big cities. But the plan was to avoid traveling through NYC with our RV and instead go around it. No problem, right? Well, unfortunately our RV GPS app had us going down a road that ended up being closed for construction, so it re-routed us through the middle of THE BRONX! I kid you not…Jason’s worst fear came true. There were people in the streets everywhere along with police, fire trucks, construction workers, UPS delivery trucks, parked cars… you name it! Here’s some photos I snapped during the stressful trek:

We found ourselves on some extremely NARROW one-way roads and bridges we barely cleared (13’9”) traveling under.

It was like the never-ending obstacle course he had to drive through! But Jason DID IT!!!! And we made it to Jersey City, NJ to the Liberty Harbor RV Park. We can actually see Lady Liberty from our RV park – pretty awesome!

Now parking our massive 40’ rig was another story. We BARELY squeezed into our campsite spot... and I mean barely! It took us about an hour to get it parked as we had to keep testing the clearance on both sides with our slide outs. But we finally parked it to where we could slide out both slides without hitting the electric box on one side (1 finger width from hitting it) and our neighbor’s slide out on the other (about 2 fingers width when our outdoor kitchen door swings open). Not to mention the back of our trailer has the bike rack which ended up a few feet from another neighbor’s front door. Man they pack the RVs in the like sardines in the city… I guess that’s city livin’ right? Here's a photo I snapped from inside our camper looking out our window:

So this was our longest stent staying in one campground thus far. We’re here for 8 nights and only have water and electric hook-ups – no sewer. This means we have to conserve water so our holding tanks don’t fill up too quickly with our used water. If they do, our shower, sinks, and toilets would back up on us – gross! Shower/sinks/washing machine are considered gray water and we have several holding tanks for that. And then each toilet has it’s own black water tank. They do have a dump station, but that means we have to pack up, pull in all slides, hook up the trailer, move it to the dump station, dump all tanks, then move it back into our spot that took SO long to get into. We’re hoping (and praying!) we can make it halfway through our 8 nights before our tanks are full… and in the meantime, we lose a neighbor or two so we can get back in our site easier. Having no sewer means that I’m also on a laundry strike! (YESSSSS – I get a BREAK!) And I will plan to use their laundromat on a down day.

Once we got set up the kids typed their CT blogs while Jason and I did a little work. We then walked down to the marina. Our RV Park also owns the Marina, parking lot, and Restaurant located on this Harbor. So we checked out the restaurant and ate some yummy food overlooking little Manhattan’s skyline while laughing about the craziness of our journey today!

We headed back to the camper & boy’s got haircuts. We had a beautiful sunset as I was cutting Jason’s hair!

Then we all took super fast “RV showers” to conserve water. An “RV shower” is when you turn the faucet on to get wet and turn it off. Then soap up yourself, then turn the water back on to rinse. Not very enjoyable but it gets the job done and is better than the alternative! We ended the day cuddled up on the couch watching the movie Hitch. Seeing the jet skis on the Hudson River earlier reminded me of the movie and kids hadn’t ever seen it before. It was hilarious as always and the perfect ending to a stressful day!

8/25/22 – Times Square & Broadway: This morning we slept in and had a low key morning knowing we were going to have a really late night tonight. Jason worked while I did laundry at the laundromat. I was able to wash 3 days worth of cloths in 2 loads – not bad! We ate lunch and made some sun tea… it’s SO HOT on this blacktop campground so the sun tea was ready in no time!

At 3pm we walked 5 blocks to the PATH (Jersey subway) then changed trains at 33rd to the Metro (NYC subway) and rode further to 42nd street. After 3 more blocks of walking we arrived to Times Square! Bright lights, billboards, street performers, the naked cowboy, and now a naked cowgirl (EEW…70 yr old lady - I'll spare you the video I was taking when she walked into view!)

Times Square:

NYPD Station - sending love to our officers! (Love you Uncle Sam Lillie!)

We checked out an I heart NY store and made our way through the Hershey’s store.

And explored the M&M store!

Then we walked 4 blocks to John’s Pizzaria for NY style brick oven pizza in an old church. It was pretty cool!

Original ceiling, balcony, and staircase:

After that we headed back to Hershey’s for dessert & then walked 7 blocks to Broadway to the Neil Simon theatre to watch “MJ the Musical.”

Dessert:

It was a phenomenal musical all about the music and life of Michael Jackson. The dancing was incredible (I could see Jett’s wheels turning watching every hip hop step!) and the vocal were spectacular!

Action right before the screen curtain opened...

There were 3 people casted for the role of Michael - Little Michael, Michael (teenage/early adult), & MJ (later years). At one point they were all 3 singing together and it was just magnificent! They really captured his voice, dance moves, and even mannerisms perfectly! The crowd gave a standing “O”… not one person was still sitting down. No wonder it won 4 Tony Awards!!!

Another fun part of the show was 2 rows in front of me was a row full of older women dressed to the nines who were dancing and hollering in their seats every time a classic song came on. It was fun to watch them! We had to take the 2 subways back and after 16K steps for the day, were back to our RV by 11pm. So fun!

8/27/22 – 9/11 and Ice Cream: Early morning subway rides to the World Trade Center. We headed straight for the 9/11 Memorial. Where each tower stood, there was a large square waterfall feature with the same dimensions of the buildings.

We walked around the waterfalls and read through many of the victim’s names. One name caught my eye “Juliana Valentine” (last name won’t be named) who was on one of the flights. Then we entered into the museum.

The mood was somber and heavy. I think the museum really captured it all… the timeline of events, stories from both the survivors & bystanders, and paid respects to all 2,977 victims. It also had scrap metal and concrete pieces that had been turned into art portraying that beauty can come from destruction.

It also did a great job paying tribute to the brave first responders who rushed towards the chaos. Many of the exhibits did not allow video or photography in order to protect the privacy of the victims and interviewers, but here are some of the photos I captured inside the museum where photography was allowed:

Later on the wall of victims I happen to glance over and see a picture of a small child with blonde pigtails not a day over 6. I read her name and it was Juliana Valentine. I pretty much lost it at this point. It was a good thing they had tissue stations located throughout the exhibits!

We could hear the phone calls from flight attendants on the hijacked planes, Voicemails from those trapped in the tower left for their loved ones, and incredible video footage from bystanders in the streets. It was extremely emotional for me. Jason and I were able to share our stories of where we were when we heard the news. I was barely a freshman in college at OSU walking down the steps of my dorm to the Mezzanine headed for my 9am class when I noticed everyone seemed to be frozen. It was quiet except for the news reporters on the 2 huge TVs mounted on either side of the café. I joined my peers as a frozen statue hanging onto every word. I just stood there for what seemed hours taking it all in. And then the news reporter said that if anyone has an “O” blood type please go now to donate. Since I am O-, I called my mom on my way to American Red Cross and donated blood. It was a day I will never forget.

The kids were pretty quiet, but later came around & started asking questions. I could tell they were processing it all too… and trying to deal with the emotions it was stirring up inside.

So, for the afternoon I had planned something really fun to turn the mood around. After a quick lunch at Chik-fil-a, we headed to the Museum of Ice Cream! We were greeted yummy pink popsicle as we entered and then were instructed to choose our ice cream name for the day.

- Jason = Snickerdoodle J

- Jules = Juliana Sprinkles

- Jaycie = Cookie Lillie

- Jett = VanillaLite

It was such a fun, light-hearted and whimsical place which is just what we needed! Every room a new surprise as we rounded the corner.

And infused within our tour was 5 tasty treats along the way which were already included in our entry ticket!

Yum, Yum, Fun! Perfect way to end our day!

Jett’s Wild Flight:

By: Jett Lillie

8/24/22 - 1st Day in NYC: We road the Jersey subway to 33rd street, then took the Metro subway to 5th Avenue.

We walked into the Lego store and saw a GIANT HULK that we took a picture with. When I saw that you could create your own custom Lego character, I immediately did it!

Lego Hulk:

Lego taxi cab:

Me and my own custom minifigure "Jett" with the 3D printer behind me:

Once I was done creating “me”, we went to FAO Schwarz toy shop. I watched a magician and loved his magic tricks so I bought a set for myself.

We also went to the Empire State Building, got tickets, and looked at pictures and images of comics and movies.

The view was awesome and we could almost see our camper! It was a fun day, but a lot of walking.

8/27/22 – 9/11 & Ice Cream: Today we went to the 9/11 memorial and the museum. I learned about it in school but not as much as I did today! I saw a video and saw a lot of pictures, too.

The Ice Cream Museum was very pink. We made ice cream names and ate ice cream of course! They had a sprinkle pool and an inside playground! I had so much fun!

Magnet room with letters:

Swings & basketball at the indoor playground:

And lastly my favorite, the Sprinkle pool:

I had so much fun! I love New York City!