We're Finally Here!!! Williamsburg, Virginia

Hello everybody! We're at American Heritage RV Park in Williamsburg, VA.  It is a really nice park with all the amenities, cable, electric, sewer (yuk! you might say but very important) and a fairly fast and efficient internet. I'm so glad, I've missed sending pictures and posting to my blog, and especially missed reading everyone else's and getting my e-mail. Pretty spoiled I am. Even though we've moved on from the NYC area I want to send you a few pictures.

This one is the sun setting outside our front window while parked in Jersey City, NJ

This of course is the Statue of Liberty. I believe it was taken from the ferry as we were crossing over to see her.

This picture was taken inside the base of the statue, it is the original torch. We were told that they cut the concrete floor out and had to tip the torch over to get it through the doorway, then replaced the concrete floor and sealed the torch inside the base of the statue so no one could attempt to steal it.

This is Ground Zero. The last time were were there, in February 2004, we were able to walk up to Ground Zero. It was fenced off and had pictures of the original buildings and memorials placed around on the fence. Also at that time it was basically an empty hole, this time there is so much construction going on, replacing some of the destroyed buildings and constructing a memorial to 9/11 that we could only see it through this huge window from one of the buildings in the financial district.  I think there had been a walkway from that building to the Twin Towers, of course that walkway was destroyed so they put in this wall of windows so you could view Ground Zero.

Our first full day in the New York City area we took a day long guided bus tour. We got out at Central Park, Madison Square Garden, Grand Central Station and the Financial District. We drove by the Empire State Building, apartment  buildings of some stars, Trump Tower and many other sites of interest. We ended the day at Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. The next day, Thursday, we went in to town planning to go to the Empire State Building but it was cloudy and very low visibility so we decided to wait for another day. WooHoo! So, we walked around the city a while, ate some lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp at Time Square, then walked some more. We ended up at the Sullivan Theater where they tape the David Letterman Show. I wanted to see what it took to get on the show, there was a line of people around the block, waiting to get into the show. You have to get a golden ticket for the chance to actually get in to see a taping.  We had heard that John McCain was to be a guest that night, then we noticed all the well dressed men with cords hanging out of their ears, talking into their wrists, Secret Service and NYPD were everywhere, so we hung around there for 2 1/2 hours watching the commotion. It was really quite interesting. Gary and Beverly were on one corner, I was on another and Rick hung out leaned up against a building way in the back of everything. He would not have stayed around there, not so nosey or curious as Gary and I, and Beverly is just a trooper and willing to do whatever.  We watched as the cleared people to enter the back of the building @ crew, musicians, staff and who ever was required to make a show.  They brought a bomb sniffing dog around to check the area. Set up barricades and moved everyone back from the side streets to the corner.  Of course the crowd just kept building. I think Rick actually had the best time of any of us, he was hanging back there watching all the action, said he saw democracy in progress right there on a street corner with the McCain supporters and obamma supporters. A reporter from Sweden ask if she could interview him, he would not do that but visited with the lady for a bit until her attention was captured by some obamma supporters who were wearing long fake noses with signs saying that McCain does not tell the truth.

Well the big moment finally came, the street was blocked off, security everywhere, no bombs found, the sirens began to blow and around the corner came police cars and some black vehicles. I'm told that was McCain's entourage, Gary thinks he saw him waving through an open window from the back seat of a car, it happened so fast we didn't even get a picture of his car. But, it really was a highlight of our trip to NYC, seeing the security forces and police in action. A lot has to be planned and coordinated for these public figures to move around safely and we got to witness a small portion of it first hand. 

Beverly and I created our own little story within the story, there was a man we noticed when we first got there that looked quite suspicious to us. He acted a bit odd and had a worn black satchel at his feet. I worked hard at getting a few pictures of him without him noticing, just in case something horrible happened, I'd have an identifying photo for evidence. Nothing happened so I'll destroy those pictures.

This is a picture of our adventure and one of NYC's finest. All the officers were as serious as can be but this one talked to Rick and I a little after McCain had gone into the building and the crown thinned.  Gary and Beverly are in the crowd across the street, there aren't many people in this photo but the street corners got real crowded at one point.

That's Gary and Beverly amidst the crowd.

Here Beverly and I are helping this cast of Liberty's face with some personal grooming.

After we got settled into our parking spot last night, which includes: pulling into the spot, pushing a button to lower the jacks that will stabilize the motorhome, hooking up the sewer hoses, water, electric, cable, unhooking the truck from the tow bar, pushing a button to open each of the four slide outs, unrolling the area rug and when we're parked for a few days Rick puts some fabric sun screens that we can see out but people cannot see in, on the front windshield and passenger area side windows, (now take a deep breath and relax),we ate dinner then took a drive into and around Washington D.C.  This is a picture of the Capital.

I'm sure you're tired of reading by now so I'll get out of here and let you know tomorrow night what we find in Old Williamsburg tomorrow.

Love you!

mk