New Jersey, New York and a Turtle

We are getting real good at these ferry crossings. . Again we decided to save gas money and take a ferry from Lewe, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey. We made arrangements to take the 12:45 crossing, but got there just as the 11:30 one was ready to leave.

So they quickly got us on board and we were on our way. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the sunshine and ocean breeze.










 We were pleasantly surprised at the scenery in southeastern New Jersey. We understand now why it is called the Garden State. I wish I knew all the names of the trees that were in bloom. There were some beautiful purple trees, that almost looked like lilac bushes and also some red flowering trees lining the Garden State Parkway. The down side of all the flowering trees is the pollen. In the morning it looked like it had snowed on our vehicle. It was thick with yellow "Fairy Dust". It also put my allergies in high gear.

We visited a cute town called Smithville. They have a quaint historic village with lots of unique little shops. I'm sure Fred may be having second thoughts of going there, because I did a good amount of shopping. But now I have almost finished decorating the inside of the RV!!

It was a pleasant day to go to Atlantic City. We haven't had any luck gambling this week. We didn't win the Powerball or at the slot machines in the Trump Casino.

We did see some of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy last October, but for the most part, the Boardwalk looks good. We decided that we liked the Broadway at Ocean City better. It had the feel of a down to earth  fun place where as Atlantic City was a bit hootie tootie for our taste.





Fred wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial in New York City while we were in the area, but we had no desire to drive into the city on our own.  We were able to drive about 30 miles north of us to Tom's River NJ and take an express bus into the Port Authority in Manhattan. From there we took a subway to lower Manhattan. They definitely have a system for getting people into the Memorial. First we waited about 30 minutes in line so that we could get tickets. The tickets are free. You can get them on line ahead of time, but we didn't know that. Once you have your tickets, its a six block walk over to ground zero. There it took us about 40 minutes to go through the security line. You have to have purses, backpacks etc. go through the x-ray machines like at the airport. We had to go through a metal detector. Once inside the memorial, the first thing that I saw was the BIGGEST rat, running through the construction site next door. I figured that this was  typical for New York.

The Memorial itself if very nice. There are two infinity like pools. Each one in the foot print of the two World Trade Center buildings. The pools are four sided with a waterfall flowing from all four sides, with another four sided waterfall in the middle that gives you the impression that it has no bottom. The names of the people killed in the February 1993 bombing are on the north pool and the victims from the 9/11 bombing on the south pool. Eventually, there will be a museum there.

We also saw the Survivor Tree. After the bombing, this tree was damaged, however, someone decided that it should be saved and it's the only tree that was in the area back then that did survive.













We were also able to see the new buildings going up in the area. (There were a total of nine buildings torn down in the area after 9/11). This building is now the tallest building in the United States.

While the 9/11 Memorial was interesting and it gave you a humbling feeling seeing and imaging what took place here, I still did not like New York. Too many people and too much noise for me.

The most exciting part of this area was trying to leave the campground this morning... When we went out to hook up the truck we found one of the biggest snapping turtles relaxing under our vehicle.

The picture doesn't do him any justice, because he had to be 16 - 18 inches across. I'm sure that Fred and I looked hilarious, trying to get this guy out of the way. First I had to push it under the truck a bit so that Fred could move the truck.

Then Fred and I equipped with walking sticks and the garden hose tried to encourage him to move. Needless to say, he did not like this. He was hissing and snapping at us. And the nails this guy had!! Boy, he could have done some serious damage to a finger. We finally succeeded into flipping him over and scooting him across the ground on his back. Once we got him out of the way so we could hook up the RV, he walked over and settled under someone else's rig. If anyone had taken a video of us, I think it could have one a prize on America's Funniest Videos.