Belated Post 1: New York and New Jersey

The weekend before Thanksgiving this year, I had a conference in New York City. So Ken and I stayed in New York a couple of days and then went and stayed with Grandma Meenen in New Jersey. Our relatively cheap hotel was right off Times Square and, as you can see, it wasn't much but it was a place to stay.

I'm inspired by the mint green paint...makes me want mint chocolate chip ice cream :)

We had an excellent time exploring the city.In fact, my advisor and I apparently misunderstood the conference schedule and we were both there a day early so the three of us went and explored. We visited ground zero and also go some half price tickets for a Broadway musical called Memphis. It was EXCELLENT!!!!

We came across the Fox building and low and behold: look who's face we saw flash across the screen! (Of course we had to wait probably another 15-20 minutes for his face to show up again so we could snag this shot :)

Ground Zero



Next, we went to a very different Times Square in Harriman State Park in New Jersey. This is where the Pruiksma's frequently hiked when they lived in NJ. It was beautiful!!! As you can see the weather was pretty misty and rainy but I think that made for a very interesting hike!






Love Birds...


We treated Bob and Mary to Starbucks after a chilly hike :)

We also took Bob and Mary on the public transportation to visit Ellis Island and Liberty Island. I think we ended up riding on two different trains, a shuttle, and a ferry to get there. Ellis Island was pretty amazing. We tried our hand at looking up some ancestors who may have arrived there, but we did not have any luck. We also saw the Statue of Liberty but I don't seem to have those pictures at the moment.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Fred and Ruth's. As always, Ruth's cooking was AMAZING! Ken also made a chocolate cheesecake to have at dinner which was also AMAZING!!!

We had a wonderful time staying with Grandma Meenen. We played lots of Rummy Cube and, as you can see, Grandma usually won!

Not sure if this one is meant to be posted but I could resist :) Ken made a make-shift kilt when we were waiting for his jeans to dry....and he was proud of it.