I’m not sure how or why we decided to take a few days of our family vacation in 2003 to New York City.
The trip was a trip of a life time, but in all honesty if we ever go back for a few days the RV will stay at home.
There is a reason only a few people drive their car into the city much less an RV.
If you have the luxury of staying a week or more then the convenience of having the RV may out weigh the inconvenience of having to stay so far away from the city.
We searched for a nice campground and finally found one, outside the city of course in Newburgh/New York City North.
This location is not to far from Orange County Choppers if you’re a fan.
The campground itself is large, has a nice swimming pool and a great little café.
They even cook up pancakes and coffee on the grill in the mornings. Very friendly staff too, the campground offers a bus ride to the train station.
We tried that the first trip out, but waiting for the bus took longer than we cared to wait.
We wanted to get to New York City after all that’s why we came.
Luckily we had towed a car and could drive the car into the train station.
The car drive to the train station was a good 20 minutes and then the ride on the train was about an hour each way to get to the city.
The train was loud, not very busy the days we were there.
The directions were easy to follow and within a few minutes our son (14 at the time) was an expert train rider and ticket buyer.
Around the city we used the subway. The subway was busy and not as user friendly with a lot of local New Yorkers in a hurry to get to their destination and the employees sick to death of tourist asking how to buy tickets and which ones they need.
We got to visit Grand Central Station. Wow I could have spent an entire day there. The fresh bread in the bakeries and the shopping was fabulous. The hum of the hustle made it feel so electrifying. We also got off at stops in Harlem and the Bronx. It was like being right smack in the middle of an episode of Seinfeld or Law and Order. We walked down Madison and 5th Ave.
Our son got to see an entire different lifestyle than he had seen before and I believe it changed his expectations for his future. We also gained a new respect for people and the value of diversity.
The hot dog and pretzel stands were just like we anticipated.
Everyone should travel to New York City at least once. We walked Central Park, now THAT is a park. We toured museums went to the top of the Empire State Building and walked until we couldn’t take another step.
We still believe the Empire Pizza we had was the best pizza ever. I think being on the streets of New York City added something special to the flavor.
We stopped for coffee across from The Trump Tower and talked about how fabulous it must be to fly into the city, have a limo pick you up and drive you to the Towers. I’m sure that’s a lifestyle we will never see, but I doubt if anyone in all of New York City was enjoying themselves more than we were at that moment.
We had tickets to New York Yankee Stadium to see the subway battle in the Bronx between the Yankees and the Mets. We had been to Reds and Indians Games but this was Yankee Stadium.
So much EXCITEMENT filled the air we could barely contain ourselves.
Even though our seats were way up there the view was fantastic.
We stayed, like everyone, until the last out was made.
Then we headed for the thrill ride back on the subway after midnight. It’s hard to try and pretend like you know what you are doing when you don’t. We took the subway from Yankee Stadium to Harlem and then walked a block to get to the train station. We took the train back to our car. I don’t think anyone slept that night. The excitement of the game, the city and the transportation was more than any of us imagined it would be.
We have taken a few family vacations since the New York City Trip, but so far nothing has come close when it comes to the exhilaration we all experienced that year.