Best trip ever, part five: Back to New York

The last day of the trip required getting up in Massachusetts and then driving off to New York. I seem to remember us taking a slightly different route than we'd taken before, where we stopped off at a very green rest area or two. We ended up back in New York a few hours before our flight, so we looked up things we could do and ended up in the Bronx. We went found a place in a much-less touristy area than Times Square for pizza (it's still fine) and then drove up to a place that I came to love. It's called Wave Hill, and it's a public garden in the middle of the city, but not like Central Park is. Central Park is very much a part of the city. You can see taxis in there, and it's surrounded by streets. At certain parts of it you can hear sirens and traffic. With Wave Hill, it's very quiet. At the top of its hills you can see over the water and spot the Brooklyn Bridge, and that's all you see of New York. I'm also a huge fan of flowers and love photographing them, but I am also an enemy of bees. I'm not allergic, I'm just petrified of them. And this was the site of the biggest damn bees I have ever seen in my life. There are trails you can walk and see more of the place, but after one too many bees I stopped just short of running screaming and we ended up sitting out on the lawn for a while instead.

When we left, we still had time, and still had gas in the tank, and Nick was determined to return it to the rental place with all the gas used up. We killed some time by going to Liberty Park in New Jersey. Now, Jersey had done us absolutely zero favors so far. We had not one good experience there. We thought that maybe this might be it. Maybe after all of this, the state would come through.

Nope!

We got super lost getting there because the GPS seemed to say "lol nope," and we ended up cruising around not-great streets and I think a couple of alleys before we found the place more or less by accident. Admittedly, the park itself is kind of neat. There wasn't a ton to it, but there's a 9/11 memorial with what I think is a girder from the Towers, and yes, Nick and I do tend to find a lot of depressing stuff on our trips. There's also an amazing view of the New York skyline, and another part of the park has a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty.

As we were leaving, I checked in on what was Foursquare at the time and noticed that the app listed the park as being in New York.

"After all this," I said, "did our one good experience in New Jersey actually happen in New York?"

That was the last thing we really got to do. We had to get to the Newark airport for our flights back, and we were using up so much of the gas, and then we got stuck in traffic. It was very hot, and we were suddenly worried that we would run out of gas on the highway before we even got to the airport, so we kept turning everything off. Air conditioning, radio, everything must go. We pulled up to the rental place at the airport with three miles to empty. Nick is still very proud, even if he's said we could have cut it even closer.

I could end it there, but then I don't get to tell you how the Newark airport was even against us. I don't think it had air conditioning. At one point I stopped in the bathroom and noticed that my eyebrow makeup had melted off above one eye, so I got my makeup bag out of my carryon and started to fix it... and the lights went out, followed by alarms. I couldn't do anything and wasn't sure what was happening, so I got out of there, only to find that it wasn't happening much further outside. Nick had no idea that had even happened. We stood at the charging table between our gates and talked for a while, and then our separate flights were called, and we got on separate planes home.

I got on a plane with one eyebrow. Suck it, New Jersey.

Flashback post: Best trip ever, part four: New Hampshire to Massachusetts, but also more than that

After leaving Boston, we drove up to our next stop, New Hampshire. We stayed in Concord, in what was our nicest hotel (not my favorite). There wasn't anything to do at that time of night, so we ended up leaving to walk to an Applebee's across the street and order dessert before coming back and calling it a night. And in the morning, we found out that there isn't really that much to do in New Hampshire, period. We just couldn't find anything. We ended up going to Zimmerman House, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house just in a neighborhood. There are tours, but we couldn't really wait, so we stopped outside and took pictures even though we weren't supposed to. Oops.

For a little state, it takes for-freaking-ever to drive through New Hampshire diagonally. Don't get me wrong, it's really pretty, and full of trees and lakes, and state liquor stores. (Which I thought maybe New Hampshire was small enough or had some kind of weird law that there was just one liquor store for the state, and then I kept seeing them and getting confused.) But it seemed like it took several more hours than it should to get anywhere. We also saw a moose crossing sign. I didn't know there were moose up there. At first it was a novelty, something cool for the area. Then we saw another one, and I decided to get the camera out to take a picture. It took too long and I figured we'd seen the last one, so I put the camera away... and missed it when another sign came up. So I got the camera out again, only when I managed to snap a picture it was too late and I only got the highway in the shot. I'd wait for the next one, and it'd take so long that I'd put the camera down, or check Instagram or whatever, and then I'd miss the sign.

It went on like this for hours.

Our next step was Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which we went to specifically because I wanted to see a lighthouse. In my head I'd never seen one in person before, though people pointed out that I lived near one in Long Beach, CA, and that they had them on Lake Michigan. That was not the point. I wanted to see a real lighthouse, which I guess meant the one in Maine at Portland Head Light. It started raining as we were getting close, and by the time we got out of the car there was a good light rain going. I think because of the weather the lighthouse itself was closed that day, but we could still wander around, and there weren't many other people around. This place was everything I wanted it to be, and the rain made it perfect. It made the waters around us choppy, and there was just enough fog and mist that it looked like the perfect New England day at the perfect place for it. We took pictures of the monuments and cliffs, and I started a little ways down a trail to get different pictures, and it's one of the highlights of the trip. It also stopped raining and cleared up more or less as we got to the car to leave, because the weather was looking out for us that day.

We stopped for lunch at Becky's Diner, which turned out to be a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives location, and it's located in an area that I looked at and thought "This is so Maine that it hurts," even though I had never been to Maine before. Then we had to turn right around and go back the way we came through the neverending roads of New Hampshire, where I continued to be teased by the existence of moose signs, and finally by the existence of moose themselves. Years later when at a bar with some friends, I would declare them fictional.

We also stopped in Vermont, which was a state that posed some challenges. Mainly, we couldn't find much to do. We'd see things like "stop at this general store," which is great but that doesn't take long, as it's a long way to go to pick up snacks. There's Ben and Jerry's, but that's much farther north than we were and we didn't have the time to make that drive. So we found Molly Stark Trail, which things online told us was a leisurely drive that would take us about an hour to drive through, and we could stop often and take pictures. Well, the address we found took us to Molly Stark State Park, which was a) not the right thing, and b) closed. After searching online we found where the trail was supposed to go, and it was not a leisurely drive. It was pretty much a two-lane highway, and maybe it was because a lot of the road was under construction, but we didn't find any real places to stop. It was gorgeous, and I was snapping pictures like a crazy person, but the most memorable parts of it were spent whizzing downhill through construction while having to keep speeding up because the cars in back of us were tailgating us to make it happen while Nick had a white-knuckle deathgrip on the wheel.

So, 10/10, would recommend, unless you're Nick in which case you probably have a different opinion.

On our way to the next location, we got our moose. Sort of. We had stopped in a town for gas or coffee or something, and as we're driving through the streets, I saw a giant statue, screamed "MOOSE!" and Nick immediately pulled over. We got out of the car, went over to the moose, and took pictures with it. I still claim they're fictional until I see a real one.

Mythological creatures: dragons, griffins, unicorns, moose...

Our last stop for the day was back in Williamsburg, MA. We got a room at the Willows Motel, which was adorable. The room's fine, nothing to write home about, but I liked the feel of it. Our room overlooked a cute patio, and there were seats outside where people would sit outside. We could hear people from the room with the windows open, but it wasn't anything bothersome. The staff was very friendly and gave us all the necessary information right up front, and I think they live in the front house? When we checked out the next day they had a breakfast where you could sit and eat at little tables by the front desk, but when someone called for someone to come to the unattended front desk, someone came out in their pajamas. There was just something really charming about the place and I loved it. It was also in a neat little neighborhood, where we decided rather than getting dinner we'd just get ice cream at a place down the street (I got maple, because that's what happens when you spend time in Vermont). There were mountains pretty close on the right, and I kept marveling at what it must be like to live in one of the houses on that side of the street, with nothing behind you but a view of those mountains. We ate ice cream and looked out at them, and it was a great way to close out our last night of the trip.

One more day to go...

Flashback post: Best trip ever, part three: Boston!

This brings us up to the Boston portion of the trip. Hello, Boston!

We had breakfast at our Cape Cod hotel, which... not a great idea. Nick thinks he got some light food poisoning and I barely touched my food because it was just gross. We also missed pretty much all of Cape Cod except the way we took back to the highway, which sucks, but it got us to Boston faster. We got there around 9 or 10 am after parking somewhere near Boston Common, which is a park full of monuments and statues, with souvenir stalls and people in 1700s period garb happy to talk to you. It's also the start of the Freedom Trail, which takes you along the sites of the American Revolution. You follow a red line in the sidewalk and it leads you through sixteen sites. There are tours available, but we walked it on our own and it was fine. It takes you through the State House and cemeteries and meeting houses, and it was at the site of the Boston Massacre, commemorated with a giant marker in the sidewalk, that I realized how weird it was to be standing at the site of a massacre, no matter how long ago it was. Also, the Old Corner Bookstore is now just a plaque because it is now a Chipotle, and I will never stop being sad about it. You can stop inside places and there are people who will answer questions, and you can stop at Samuel Adams' grave, where every day someone puts a bottle of Sam Adams on it. It's across the street from a pub, which is also fitting.

Sup.

It's a good way to see the city, a mix of the old stuff and the new. I took pictures of tall buildings as seen from outside buildings that were built in the 1700's, and in one area, I think outside the visitor center and City Hall, we watched a guy on a unicycle juggle babies. Just in case you thought street performers were only in New York. We walked across the Charleston Bridge to see Paul Revere Park before deciding to abandon the trail because we were on some time constraints. So Nick somehow got us to cut across the Italian part of town, where the streets weren't as well-paved and it clearly wasn't touristy, and I have no idea how he managed to get us anywhere near our car, but he managed it. And it was a neat detour! Parts of the town are definitely divided up, where you know when you're in the Italian part of town based on the restaurans and you definitely know when you're in the Irish part because there's an impressive amount of Irish pubs, but it was nice to see something off the beaten path.

And before you ask, yes, we went to Cheers. It is a working restaurant/bar, and is a good stop if you like some kitsch. There's a shooting bar, which looks like the bar from the TV show except way better lit, but it was too crowded that day, so we ended up in the restaurant section. I sat under the Sam Malone jersey, and felt really weird about just ordering water there. But at least everybody knew my name. You know, theoretically.

We stopped at Boston Public Garden, which is very pretty. It's a big park filled with flowers and monuments, and there's a lake where you can ride a swan boat around. We went through one section and then out to see Trinity Church, which is gorgeous, and then off to Copley Square.

So, two weeks before we went on this trip, the Boston Marathon bombing happened. Even Copley Square, where it happened, looked okay, and you might not have known it happened except for all the memorials around. You'd see "Boston strong" written in chalk on sidewalks and statues or as graffiti in the bathrooms at Cheers. Outside churches there would be ribbons tied to the fence; you picked up a ribbon, wrote your message of support on it, and tied it on. Copley Square was of course the biggest reminder. It was still very new, so people were there to pay their respects and sometimes leave things at memorials. There were literal signs of support, and the whole area was filled with groups of things people had sent. There was a wall of baseball hats people had sent from around the country (including one from a grudging Cubs fan), and a section for stuffed animals, for signed shirts and American flags. Some people had taken Sharpies to the ground to declare their love for the city.

And there was this feeling there that I'm not sure I can describe. It was something heavy that everyone there seemed to feel. Anywhere else in Boston you could find someone talking and having fun, but here it was somber and almost funereal at times. It made my heart hurt. At one point I felt my cheeks were wet and realized I was crying, and I tried to hide it but the fact was I wasn't the only one doing it. After wandering around by myself for a bit I met up with Nick and we decided to leave, he said, "Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I saw this woman walking around pushing two cats in a stroller. And I thought, life goes on."

We went back through the Public Garden to get to the car, and buzzed past Harvard because we had to, and we got out on the road up towards New Hampshire just before the rain started. And after a day of walking around looking at historical sites and getting our hearts ripped out, we turned on the TV and laughed that The Town was the first thing on. Which was followed immediately by a shot of the Charleston Bridge and us going "Weren't we just there?"

That was Boston. Going into the trip, I always thought that it'd be one of my favorite cities ever. I think starting the trip with New York might've wrecked that, because I loved New York so much that everything else paled in comparison. But the timing also means I feel a little connection with this town, and next time I go back, hopefully I won't end up sobbing in public.

Flasback post: Best trip ever, part two: NJ to MA

On day three of the best trip ever, it meant that we had to leave New York. It also meant that we got to check out of the worst hotel ever, so, plus. This was also the day we did five states in one day, driving out of New Jersey and up through New York, which is really pretty when you get further upstate. About an hour north we started passing signs for Westchester and joking that we should find the Xavier School from X-Men because we are huge nerds. The city was gone, leaving us driving through wooded areas and occasionally taking little backroads into areas with roller coaster hills. We'd pass little lakes and farm houses, and then stopped when we got into Connecticut.

After getting breakfast at a little roadside diner, we stopped in Stanford because we'd been attempting to use Nick's iPad to listen to music and podcasts, but there was some issue with the cord/port, so we found a Target where we could get a new cord and stock up on stuff while we were there. The new cord didn't really work. I know we got to listen to some podcasts on the way, but I want to say it was actually on my phone, because we had to keep flipping to the radio when we could get a clear station. And somehow, we only heard about four songs for the entire road trip, because that's all that was playing in every single state in New England. If it wasn't "Clarity," "Blurred Lines," "Mirrors" or that duet with Pink and the lead singer of Fun, we didn't hear it. But I have a special love for all those songs now, because it's impossible for me to hear them and not think of this trip. There are worse things.

We were supposed to visit our cousin and her family while we were in the state, but that fell through not long before the trip and so Nick managed to find a backup plan, which was Essex Steam Train and Riverboat. For $30 it's exactly what it sounds like, and I found it pretty cool. We got there a little before our 2:00 departure time, and that meant we could go around and check out the old train cars they had there. I think the gift shop was in a caboose. When they announced boarding, we got on the train, which seemed to be filled with families, which makes sense since this would be great for kids. The train ride itself wasn't really anything special, though we got to see a lot of greenery, and some of the houses on the way. It stopped at a dock, where we got out and then loaded ourselves onto a steamboat that went around the Connecticut River. It takes you past Gillette Castle and a gorgeous old opera house, towards a bridge, and then brings you back. By now the sunny day we'd left in New York was over, and it was starting to get cold and gray. The waters were a little choppy, so when we went out onto the top deck to take pictures, I couldn't leave my hair down without it constantly ending up in my face, and people were a little surprised when another boat would come by and we'd get the wake on top of already rougher waves. You could stand at the top and watch people hiking or walking their dogs at Gilette Castle State Park, or you could watch speedboats race past you, and there were all these little islands that got me all excited because I read the Babysitters Club books, dammit, and all of a sudden it made sense that there could be an island where Dawn and Claudia would get shipwrecked, and if it happened to us I knew what to do because I had read that super special.

If you were unaware that I'm a giant dork, hi, I'm Natalie. Nice to meet you.

After the boat ride, the train took us back the same way and dropped us off at the station, where we got Diego and started back up to our next state, Rhode Island. It's somewhere I wish I had more time to spend, because from what I understand it's great, but we wanted a full day in Boston and had already decided on the boat that we would end up stopping for the night in Cape Cod, so we didn't have a lot of time and not a lot of ideas on what to do. We stopped for dinner at a pizza place at a mall, which had outdoor seating so you could look up at the capitol building. And that same mall houses a PF Chang's that Nick actually worked on, so we got to go there and take pictures.

State capitol, yo.

Aaaaand that was it for Rhode Island. It was cloudy and going to be rainy, so there were some great clouds but no sunset on the drive to Massachusetts, and by the time we got to Cape Cod it was dark. But five states in one day is an Accomplishment, and part three means getting to one of the many highlights.