Long Summer Trip

[matee5]

Well our first big trip (longer than a weekend) is approaching. 10 days time and we will be on the road for our trip around New England. We have about three weeks; 5 days near Lake Champlain, 5 days south of Boston and 5 days near West Point NY. The rest of the itme is travel days etc. Really looking forward to it, kids are excited. I will post pics along the way of sights and campgrounds etc. Does anyone have any key spots we shouldnt miss while we are in the area. Current locations include; Lake Placid, a couple of mountain tops, Boston, Plymouth, Newport RI, NY subway (kids want to ride!!!), Statue of Liberty and I want to get to Ground Zero. any more?????

[ceomom703]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Sounds like a great trip. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics. Happy and safe travelsL

[fantomas]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Wow! Sounds like a fun time. There is so much to do in New York, I dunno where to start. How old are your kids? Time's Square is fun, could probably see a Met's game if that's your thing.

[TroyS]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Try getting one of those biking tours. There's one that takes you around Central Park and around different sites around New York. The one that we got even provided us a really great picnic lunch. Enjoy your trip there!

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Well our first big trip (longer than a weekend) is approaching. 10 days time and we will be on the road for our trip around New England. We have about three weeks; 5 days near Lake Champlain, 5 days south of Boston and 5 days near West Point NY. The rest of the itme is travel days etc. Really looking forward to it, kids are excited. I will post pics along the way of sights and campgrounds etc. Does anyone have any key spots we shouldnt miss while we are in the area. Current locations include; Lake Placid, a couple of mountain tops, Boston, Plymouth, Newport RI, NY subway (kids want to ride!!!), Statue of Liberty and I want to get to Ground Zero. any more?????

What a eye opening trip for the family.
Depending on when youse go, I'd suggest adding the NYC Philharmonic in the Park Series to your itinerary. Here's a link with dates:

http://gonyc.about.com/od/summer/a/philharmonic_2.htm

I started taking my kiddos there before they could walk, dressed for the occasion in their pajamas, LOL, picnic in hand. It's a true NYC experience and varies by borough. In Manhattan, it's an opportunity to see Central Park at night and eat al fresco (Citarella's, Fairway's, Zabar's and Whole Foods can provide you with made on site good foods to eat); in parts of Brooklyn (Marine Park?), it's lawn chairs galore and no food. When in Manhattan, I find the area, north of the Pinetum, conducive for small children, as there is a small playground nearby and you can still hear the music.
Here's a link to locating the "Arthur Ross Pinetum" : http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/...layground.html


Don't forget to stop in Century 21 department store after visiting Ground Zero(bring money) or have lunch/dinner in Chinatown. There is a fine permanent exhibit at St Paul's dedicated to the memory of the 9/11 first responders.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ng...ine_extra.html

Depending on your travel route in or out of the city, you might want to see an authentic "medieval castle" transported to the US via the Rockefellers, in Inwood Park (prolly some of the oldest growth trees in NYC). It's called the Cloisters and is probably one of the most unique museums in the city IMO:

http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters
By the way, where are you camping around NYC? NJ?


For the RI area (wuvvvvvvv the smallness of that state!)
Here's a link for regional food:

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurants/...8853&ob=LatLon

Have fun!!!!!

[matee5]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Thanks all for the info. We are excited and will definitely keep you all posted.

NYC we are actually up at West Point, so a bit out of town but we have friends to meet while there. This is what happens when you are a military family, everywhere you go people want to catch up.

Im really looking forward to seeing ground zero for the memories and to see how the rebuild is going. I was on exchange in 2000 with the NYFD and spent some time around there and I havent had the opportunity to go back until now.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Long Summer Trip

matee, consider yourself forewarned, ground zero, now looks like nothing more than a giant construction site.
This is good and bad and I'm sure you know what I mean having been there in 2000.
I walked in and out of WTC daily in it's last years as I did a subway transfer there. Used to jump out of one train, grab lunch at the Japanese restaurant in WT2, then back underground for the trip to Brooklyn. The memories are kind of surreal for me.

My "professional family" are hotel and restaurant peeps so I understand the military attachment and always having a "hole to crawl in" :D.

West Point is not too far away from NYC and such a pleasant world away. You'll be right outside of Bear Mountain, so do see if you've the time to do a bit of exploring. You'll also be near 2 or 3 oldtime diners and I'm sure your friends will steer ya in that direction for a meal or two. Unfortunately, I don't recall any of the names...just how to get there, LOL. Oh yes, and taking the NJ/NY Palaisades Pkwy, part of the way into the city is quite beautiful, complete with road suggested "Scenic Outlooks".

We look forward to your updates!.

[jason]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Hey matee5 You had a great time. It would be great if you can share some pics.

[matee5]

Re: Long Summer Trip

OK so we are back and very tired. We had a spectacular time visiting and just relaxing. Kids got their first genuine bushwalking trip in the mountains (Adirondacks) I will post some detailed trip reports soon with loads of pics, just need some time to get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately we didnt have internet (or cell for a lot of our time) so we didnt get to post during the trip.

The biggest thing to come out of the trip is the tent (Kodiak Cabin) was absolutely amazing!!!! I know it has been spoken about lots; we had rain for a four days in NY, wind for three days in the Boston area and bugs (daddy long-legs by the 100's) and heat in NY again. So through all the options it stood up like a dream and with three little kids we had no real issues; no leaks, nothing blowing down, no breakages. My biggest concern was for the rain and if we would have enough space. The arrangement we had allowed lots of flexibility and no real cabin fever at any stage.

So as I said; more to come and definitely more nights under canvas to come.

[LezlieP]

Re: Long Summer Trip

I'm pretty sure that it will be a great long summer trip and I'm looking forward to know an update about your trip! I guess there are a lot of people out there who are looking forward to a family trip this summer, and they realize exactly how irritating it can be for it to get postponed. I know that everybody wants to go on a road trip with their children, purchase paying for gas and food is costly. You can use a payday cash advance to cover all these things. Take your family on vacation before winter starts and everybody begins to work.

[matee5]

Re: Long Summer Trip

This was our first campsite. Barber Homestead near Westport NY. Absolutely great location, grassy, spectacular ammenities, quiet and wonderful hosts. Westport is on the shores of Lake Champlain and east of Lake Placid. We did some great walking in the Adirondacks (kids first real bushwalk), visited the Lake Champlain Maritime Museam and saw a few other sights. We had a lot of rain this week so a bit of a downer but we still got out and saw lots of stuff. We eventually set up the walls as well which are awesome. With the walls up we basically have a tent that is 12ish x 17 so lots of space to get organised for a long stay. (We used the screen in NY as a change and they work well but obviously not waterproof so reduce the amout of usable space if it is likely to rain. We had millions of daddy long legs so the screen was a blessing.)

This one is of our site south of Boston at the Air Force Recreation Area. An old gun battery has been re-purposed as a campsite for military personel and their families. Great location, we got in to Boston and down to Plymouth to see the rock. The Aussie in me had a great time learning all the history of the area. Tent sites were great on the top of a small cliff but unfortunately the showers and toilets were a bit of a walk for the tenters (always amazes me how this always happens, RV's dont need them but tenters use them all the time!!!) The beach was great for swimming and rock collecting, lots of realaxing to be had.

If you look closely at this pic you may notice that the awning is about two feet lower than the tent. For privacy reasons (it was 4th July) we pushed our tent way up into the corner of this site, as a result we really only had enough space for the actual tent to sit on flat space. Amazing how well the tent still worked, the ridge poles in the awning articulate really easily with their design so other than the fact I couldnt set up the kitchen sink we got on fine. (our privacy plan also didnt work as there are no actual designated sites and some woman decided to set her tent up about 5 ft from ours. When she and her man friend decided to have some interaction at about 8:30pm our kids {3,5 & 7} who were tryint to go to sleep got an education. We also learned her name!!!)

As we packed up two of the kids were still asleep so we picked up the cots and moved them out into the sun. Slept for another half hour while we packed everything up. As you can see the cliff top is fenced as it is only about 15 feet away from your site. Could be a bit windy up here as well but the sunrises were spectacular.

I seem to be missing the pics of our campsite at Westpoint NY so they may have to wait.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Long Summer Trip

Looks like a great time was had by all on your end!
LOL, children sleeping whilst camp breakdown goes on brings me back to memories of my grrlies (7 and 12 y/o) deciding that they dinna need to clean up their breakfast places on the last day of camping sooooo the crows and seagulls were having a war over the picnic table. Was surprised the wild turkey didn't join in. Which stopped me from breakdown so I could find lil grrlies in tearful goodbyes to their new camping friends. Almost didn't have the heart to pull out my stern adult voice on 'em but but somehow mustered the strength:D.

Your new tent is quite impressive and gives me an acute case of summer abode envy. Certainly something for me to re-explore when the Copper Canyon bites the dust what better not happen for at least another 5 years.

Looking forward to hearing more of your trip as time allows ya .