Wednesday October 14, 2020 New York City!!!! Safe and Sound

We made it safe and sound to our campground in Jersey City!!!!!

The drive from New Hampshire to Jersey City was going to take us about 6 hours so we left at 6:00 AM.  On our way out, we dumped our tanks, that way they would be nice and empty for our week without a dump.  That put us a behind a bit, but not too far.  We had to make a few stops along the way.  Scotty had a call about 2 hours into the drive so we stopped at a BJ's which is the equivalent to a Costco.  While we were parked, the kids got breakfast and played outside.  Honestly, I was super nervous the whole day for the last hour of our drive that would take us through New York City and into Jersey City.  But Scotty and the beautiful fall colors kept me distracted.  

When Scotty was ready, we proceeded on our drive.  The 84 West took us most of the way down to the city.  We drove through 5 states today; New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.  I think that is a new record for us.  When we were driving south through New York towards the city, we drove through White Plaines, which was where I stayed for 3 weeks to dance in a summer program during college.  It was crazy to see it again.  I never thought I'd be back there again.  

The fall colors were definitely the best in Connecticut.  I wish that the pictures would do the colors justice but they just don't.  It was absolutely beautiful driving and watching the colors dance along the side of the highway. 

The traffic all the way through New York City was very light and the drive was easy until we got to the onramps for the George Washington Bridge.  This bridge connects Manhattan to Jersey City.  It was packed.  The traffic was so heavy that we were driving 5 miles per hour.  Oh, and the majority of the vehicles around me were huge semi trucks.  The lanes on the bridge were super skinny. Here we were, the same width as a simi truck, on a busy bridge with skinny lanes, trying to not lose it and crash into someone.  In retrospect, it was a blessing that the traffic was heavy because we could drive slow and take our time figuring out which exit was ours and which lane we needed to be in.  Scotty navigated me the whole way and together we made it through the scariest drive of our whole trip.  It would be an understatement to say that I was driving white knuckled.  hahahah.  We felt all your prayer for safety. Thank you so much to all those who prayed that we would make it safely. Now we can say that we drove our trailer through Manhattan and Jersey City!!! 

Here we are at Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City.  This campground is everything I thought it would be.  It is AWESOME!!!!  We are right on the marina of the Hudson and we can see the Statue of Liberty from our trailer.  We have plenty of space to enjoy our camper and park our truck.  The best thing is that the ferry to Manhattan embarks literally right from our campground.  We are in heaven!!!!

After we got all unpacked we had to make a stop that everyone has been excited for.  We drove to Hoboken to Carlo's Bakery!!!!!  Buddy was even there in picture form :))). We bought enough sweets to last us the whole week!!!!  If any of you have ever watched Cake Boss, then you know who we are talking about!!!

These are the treats we bought to share all week!!!

Here are a few night shots of our campsite and the marina that we are on.  It's so magical!!!

One of our neighbors is a famous YouTuber!!! Look up Charlie Rocket.  He left Calabasas, about the same time that we left Simi Valley, to live full time in his motorhome. This guy travels around the US helping people make their dreams come true.  He is kind of like Mr. Beast from YouTube.  Charlie was super nice and he let us write our dreams on his motorhome.  He has a service opportunity on Sunday that he said we could help him with!!!

By the time we got back home, it was dark and Scotty was done working.  One of the security guards here told us about a great park that you can walk along a boardwalk to see the Statue of Liberty.  We drove over there and boy were we amazed.  We started at a beautiful park that had many American flags flying, then we walked around a grassy field to the boardwalk.  The boardwalk was lit as was the Statue of Liberty.  As our family walked down the boardwalk and watched Miss Liberty, I had a powerful wave of gratitude overwhelm me.  Gratitude for so many things, but mostly for my family, for our cherished country and for my God. 

The fire fighters were practicing lifting the latter from their truck.  We had to stand around and watch it!!