Here is are driving in Ohio. This is the halfway point from Grand Rapids to New York City.
We arrived in Tarrytown, NY by crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge (actually the Mario Cuomo bridge). Locals refer to the bridge as the Tappan Zee. The bridge crosses the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester county. I grew up in New Rochelle which is close to Tarrytown. During our visit we stayed in Tarrytown since the hotel rates are way lower than in New York City.
The easiest way to commute into the city is by commuter rail. The Hudson North line conveniently takes us from Tarrytown to Grand Central terminal in about an hour. This is the station in Tarrytown.
The commute from Tarrytown passes by several small villages and cities along the Hudson RIver. Here we are crossing the Harlem River between Bronx and Manattan.
Here is my wife Kris and tree of the grandkids in the iconic and spacious Grand Central terminal.
Our first stop was at nearby Bryant Park where the city sets up a skating rink for the winter.
In addition to the winter skating rink, Bryant Park is filled with dozens of small vendors selling holiday decorations and gifts.
While our granddaughters are past the doll stage, they wanted to visit the American Doll store.
Here are the skaters that braved the cold at the famed Rockefeller Center rink. Unfortunately we didn’t see the Christmas tee lighting that took place a few days after we visited.
Some of the nice holiday decorations at Rockefeller Center.
We visited St Thomas Church on 5th Ave
The peacefulness of the church is such contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city.
This “look” stopped us with curiosity. It’s the Louis Vuiton building being restored with a suitcase covering.
Here’s another striking storefront belonging to Louis Vuiton. Amazing showmansip.
This spiral staircase take you down from 5th Ave into the Apple Store. The store was crowded with holiday shoppers.
Outside of the Apple Store was a mirrored sculpture. Like many others, we wanted to get a selfie.
This colorful storefront is Dior. It seems like many of the stores are trying to outdo one another with creative and amazing designs.
Just a few blocks away is Central Park. It was filled with visitors and locals enjoying the sunny (but cold) weather.
This area in Central Park is known as Bethesda Fountain. As you can see from the crowds, it is a popular gathering place.
Across from the south entrance to Central Park is Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Building. This is photo from its wall-to-wall windows.
The Time Warner Building as many full service shops. Upsatairs is The Tintinary a nice lunchs spot which we often frequent.
You can find a cool gingerbread house in the building’s shopping area.
The next day we drove a few miles from our Tarrytown hotel to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. This place is noted for the fictional story of the “Headless Horseman”. BTW, we didn’t catch a glimpse of the so-called person.
Sleepy Hollow was originally settlled by the Dutch. Many of the headstones date back to the 1600s and are difficult to read due to the aging.
The subway took us from midtown Manhattan to Chinatown.
The windows of Chinatown are filled with roast duck, chicken and pork ready for purchase.
We walked from Chinatown to Little Italy where we met family and friends for a small celebration. The food and service at Il Cortile was fantastic.
Outside of the restaurant was this wooden soldier to help decorate the holidays.
The MET is New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses one of the largest art collections in the USA.
One of the Met’s many paintings from the 17th century
A statue in the Met’s Asian collection
The next day we crossed over from New York City to New Jersey. This is the George Washington Bridge.
We wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty and took the ferry from the New Jersey side to Liberty Island.
From the docks in Jersey City we had a great view of the Manhattan skyline.
One of our granddaughters plays for Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ. We finally were able to see her play that evening.
Here we are after her game saying goodbye before we were on our way home back to Grand Rapids.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in New York during the Christmas Holiday Season and the first time for three of the granddaughters.
While the weather was cold, it was clear and sunny the whole time we were there. We had a short but enjoyable visit.
I’ve made countless cross country trips by car usually traveling our Interstate Highway system. When I pass by a “strange” name, I’ll jot the name down and do some research on the place when I return home.
One of these places is Beowawe.
Bewawe is located in eastern Nevada a few miles south of Interstate 80.
Some say that its name is derived from the Paiute language who inhabited the area and means gate. But there are several other interesting and humorous tales about the origin of the town’s name which you can read here.
In the late 1800s, nearby mining operations sent the ore to Beowawe for shipment by rail. The railroad also brought supplies for the ranching operations. For decades it remained a small town to support the nearby ranching industry.
During the 1940s and 1950s several visits by the USGS to examine the hot springs and geysers in the Whirlwind Valley area where Beowawe is located. Researcher Nell Murbarger discovered that this “remote pocket in the mountains of north central Nevada with a colorful terrace and boiling pools provide an amazing spectacle for the few people who venture over the treacherous road that leads to this spot.”
Geyser Field in Whirlwind Valley, Bewawe – Photo Credit: Oleh Melnyk, 1978
In the late 1950s tests were conducted to determine if these natural hydrothermal features were capable of generating electrical power. Consequently a plant was built to capture the hot water and steam. Unfortunately the geysers of Whirlwind Valley disappeared with the plant’s construction.
Photo Credit: “Plazak, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia CommonsResources: Murbarger, Nell, “Geysers of Whirlwind Valley” Desert Magazine, January 1956, Vol. 18, Issue 1. To visit Beowawe take exit 261 off of I-80 and drive a few miles south.
Still Interested?
Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of –
We’ve found that early fall is a good time for a vacation. Most of the summer road repair is completed, the places that we’ll visit are less crowded, gasoline prices have come down and lodging is less expensive. So it’s off we go.
We decided to skip the camping this year and instead enjoy the comfortable hotel beds at the stops along our planned itinerary. This trip is probably a 5000 mile journey, but I like driving and my wife Kris doesn’t mind filling in once in a while. She has plenty of books to read during the long hours in the car.
From our home in Grand Rapids we start with a long initial drive to Salt Lake City to visit our grandson in college. Next across the sparsely populated central Nevada to Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite to view its sweet valley and giant sequoias. It’s a short hop to Reno for a few days stay with family. Then it’s through the mountainous forest of Idaho and Montana to do some hiking in gorgeous Glacier. We’ll head south to northern Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley and then traverse the torturous Beartooth Hwy before the snow falls. Finally traveling east again we’ll hit Badlands and then head home again through South Dakota.
The car is filled with snacks and drinks for the long hours on the road. And as always I have my photo equipment ready to travel.
We’re going to place a few stickers on our car from our sister company StickItToYourCar.com
We’ll have some new photos from our travels here when we return.
