Day 7, July 16, Wednesday, Jersey City, NJ / New York, NY (100 miles)

We departed Clarksboro and arrived at Liberty Harbor Rv in Jersey city (50amp, water, dump station).  Considering the area, traffic was not too bad.  In the afternoon we met with my “new” second cousin who I recently discovered.  Daniel Soyer the grandson of Ida Chassner Soyer and famous artist Moses Soyer.  Ida is the sister of my maternal grandfather, Frank Chassner.  Daniel Soyer and I are the same age.  We met him at Fordham University where he is a professor of history and the department head.  We had an interesting conversation over a couple hours talking about our ancestors and our  families.  We then went to our son Daniel’s apartment and spent the evening with Daniel, Rebecca and our 3 grandkids.  Dinner was Thai food delivered.  After dinner I played cribbage with all 3 grandkids - 4 way with 2 person teams.  I may say that they had a great cribbage teacher - that is me!  Brought back great memories of playing cribbage with my grandfather.

Day 8, July 17, Thursday, Jersey City, NJ / New York, NY 

We spent the day with our son Daniel and visited the MET - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We got there by a walk through Central Park which turned out to be 2.5 miles.  This was my first visit to the MET and I must say it may be the best museum I have ever experienced.  Of course we began with the Impressionist Art but there were so many other exciting things to see - Ancient Egypt, Arms and Armor, European Sculptures, American Art which included several Tiffany stain glass works.  Lunch was in the Petrie Court Café in the museum.  One could spend several days at least to see it all.  We took a taxi back and visited a coffee shop while waiting for the grandkids to come back from their summer camp. When the grandkids came home Adam and Talia went rock climbing.  The rock climbing facility is in their apartment building and they are members. They have been rock climbing for awhile and the experience definitely showed.  Dinner was at Emmy Squared Pizza, a Detroit style pizza which was excellent and it came with complimentary dessert for us to celebrate all our July birthdays.  Another great day!

Day 9, July 18, Friday, Jersey City, NJ / New York, NY 

Another day with Daniel started with lunch from Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys.  Rosemary also got her dozen sesame bagels for the freezer which came with 2 free bagels.  Next was bubble teas at Bibble & Sip on the walk to MOMA - the Museum of Modern Art.  We spent the afternoon at MOMA beginning with the Impressionists of course.  Lots of variety but also lots of “modern art” which I cannot understand why it is considered art let alone belong in a museum.  Some even made Jackson Pollack's work almost look like art. However, The Starry Night and The Persistence of Memory made for a great museum.  Dinner was ramen with the grandkids at Surem which we enjoyed.  After dinner another couple rounds of cribbage with the grandkids added up to a wonderful day.

MOMA

Ramen at Surem

Day 10, July 19, Saturday, Jersey City, NJ / New York, NY 

An early Kossar Bagel lunch brought in to Daniel’s place so we can make our 12:50 appointment at The Escape Game.  It was an escape room based on the show Only Murders in the Building.  We had one hour to locate a missing film reel from the show.  The seven of us did a great job working together to solve the many clues, locating the missing film in 49 minutes.  I had never experienced an escape room before.  We all had a great time.  After a walk which included the Fordham University Sculpture Garden we stopped for an afternoon coffee at Harry’s Table while the grandkids had gelato.  Dinner at the Greek Kitchen was joined by friends Sam, Ligia and 3 year old Samantha.  (This restaurant brought back memories of our 2023 visit: This is the place where Talia began showing symptoms of covid which a couple days later, we all caught.  Hopefully that does not happen this time).  The moussaka was great as were several appetizers.  The spanakopita was the best I have had.  Rosemary had the chicken kebab which was very good.   Hope to make this a regular stop on our NY visits. We topped off the evening with ping pong in their building rec center.

The Greek Kitchen

Day 11, July 20, Sunday, Jersey City, NJ / New York, NY 

A visit by the seven of us to the American Museum of Natural History Gilder Center.  Although I have been to the museum before, I have not previously been to the Gilder Center.  We viewed three special exhibits including Life at the Limits, Invisible Worlds and Butterfly Vivarium. All were very interesting especially The Invisible Worlds which included a 360 degree film presentation. (This exhibit also provided the fact that our bodies feed 4 trillion bacteria. Makes you feel like you need a shower!) The vivarium housed so many butterflies we were instructed to check the floor before taking a step.  Some of the butterflies landed on us which required one to hold still until the butterfly flew away.  Lunch was at the Restaurant at Gilder which was good but very pricey.  Dinner was sushi delivered.  We had one last game of cribbage before saying our farewells.  A great time in NYC but we are beat.  Will sleep good tonight.

Day 12, July 21, Monday, Rhinebeck, NY (123 miles)

We departed Jersey City and plotted our route using Lowes in Kingston, NY, to avoid the Garden State Parkway which has several underpasses that are too low for us to fit. Checked into Interlake RV Park (FHU).   We visited our friends Claire and Dan in their newly built home.  After a grilled chicken dinner, we drove to the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site and walked the grounds and enjoyed the view of the Hudson River.  We had a wonderful visit with Claire and Dan.  We departed just about sunset and enjoyed the colorful sky on the way back to the RV.