New England
Day Fifteen - Sunday 9th April, 2008
We started the day in Syracuse which
is what I think the locals refer to as upstate New York.
We started the day with a good healthy breakfast. Then
after we left the Dunkin Donut shop we hit the road. We went through Albany and soon after left
New York State for
Massachusetts. We were in Worcester by 2pm and had a look
around before we finally checked in to the hotel.
The last 4 nights the closest restaurant to the hotel
has been a Dennys so it was Dennys again last night and then back to the hotel
to try and stay awake for? our
favourite TV show The West Wing which was good.
Quiet day.
Day Sixteen - Monday 10th April, 2006
Today we should complete our trip across the country as
we are planning to go to Cape Cod and we will sight the Atlantic Ocean there.
Gary bid for a hotel on Priceline last
night and we have a Marriott Hotel - $219 a night room for $45. Trouble with this one is that it is in
downtown Providence in Rhode Island! That means tough driving so the GPS will
get a work out today.
We must have been in the USA a fair while now as we now
remember toflick the light switch up to turn it on. We are still confused onhow to get the
shower to work. Every hotel is different and Gary now only drive on the wrong
side of the road occasionally. Scared the
hell out of someone yesterday. Didn't do much for us
either.
Cape Cod is very beautiful and although the JFK Museum
was closed because it was off season, it is an area I suspect would be very busy
in the summer and so I am kind of glad we were here now and not in a month or
two.
We spent about 3 hours on the Cape and did have a good
look around the Hyannis area as Hyannisport was JFK territory. Something Gary
has a great interest in.
Eventually we headed towards Providence in Rhode
Island. This is where we had our first experience of being a bit out of our
depth. Gary had managed to get a Marriott Hotel on Priceline and it was a
little above ourstandards. We felt a
bit awkward there but struggled on. At one stage we wentlooking for a
restaurant and ended up finding a Subway and felt
strangely guilty as we smuggled it into our room.
Normal price for this room was over $200 and yet we were expected to pay for
WirelessInternet (free at all the other cheaper hotels) and it was a $1 for a
local call, also free at other hotels.
Anyway, it was an OK night and it was a pleasant day
exploring Cape Cod and Providence.
Day Seventeen - Tuesday 11th April, 2006
Today we started out from Providence and drove almost
into New YorkCity before detouring to the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla where we
paid our respects to one of Raylene's favourite entertainers Danny Kaye. The ashes of Danny and his wife Sylvia have
been placed beside
a bench which has an embossed metal plaque with items
on it relating to Danny Kaye.? It was a
pleasant hour or so as we paid our respects to not only Danny but also Tommy
Dorsey. Lou Gehrig and David Sarnoff!
Then it was on to West Point Military Academy where our
friends Jim and Bette took us during our 2001 trip. We had our photo taken atInspiration Point
which is on the grounds of West Point and wanted totake another photo at the
same place today. Alas security is so
much stronger and we were not able to drive onto the grounds like we didlast
time and therefore missed the photo opportunity.
Then it was the stressful drive to North Bergen, New
Jersey and our Super 8 hotel. Tough
going and I often wished I had Jim and Bette driving this difficult part of the
trip like they did last time. We
arrived in tact and although the hotel is more our style the area is not great.
I picked this hotel not only because of the price but also because of its
location and the fact that it has a shuttle bus that takes you into New York
City. The bus leaves every 5 to 10
minutes for the 15 to 20 minute drive into NYC. We did catch some glimpses of the NYC
skyline as we drove in and sadly it has changed a lot since we were last here in
July 2001.
We were in our hotel by 4pm and went for a walk to find
some food. We saw an IHOP, just across the road not 50 yards/metres away but it
was a long walk as there was just no way to cross the road other than at traffic
lights.
All is well, there has been some stressful times
navigating our way around. The GPS continues to be invaluable and hopefully it
will do its job again tomorrow.