We drove into New Jersey on Thursday 21^st May.  Booked into a campsite to visit Manhattan from Saturday we thought we might have a couple of days on the beach beforehand.  Sadly, it was pouring with rain all day Thursday so it become a boring chores day.

 

We drove towards the shore and got to Ship Bottom (tee hee) where the original Ron John surf shop was.  Spent hours in there and a small fortune.  Hung out on the very windy beach and decided the weather wasn’t on our side so maybe the sunbathing would have to wait.

So we headed straight to the campsite we had booked for the city hoping we could get in there early.  Actually on the Jersey side of the Hudson river, just behind the Colgate sign in Jersey City.  Not the most beautiful part of town.  However, it was in the harbour there, part of the car park set aside as a campsite.  People park up there to catch the ferry service over to the financial district.

 

The feeling of driving towards the city all lit up was just fantastic.  Dad has lived and worked in and around NYC for over 20 years so I have spent a huge part of my life over here and it does feel like a second home.  John and I have been here together twice before and we were so excited to be here to share it with the kids.  From our pitch we could see the freedom tower and the statue of liberty.  Love it!!!

  

Saturday 23^rd May we woke and the sun was shining in a bright blue sky. Love New York city!!  10-minute walk to the ferry terminal.  10-minute ferry ride.  Brilliant.  Got straight to the bottom of the Freedom Tower.  I felt so excited to be back in NYC and with my family.  Last time John and I were here it was December 2001, just after 9/11.  Ground Zero was still burning.  This time we arrived in the week that they opened up the Freedom Tower to the public.  We headed straight to the Memorial Pools.  The 2 sunken waterfalls are in the exact spots that the twin towers stood.  They are 43’ deep and are submerged into their original foundations.  They are absolutely breathtaking.  Each one has the name of the victims of that fateful day engraved into the ledge around them.  A truly stunning memorial.  The gardens are beautiful and peaceful and include the Survivor Tree which was a tree they saved from the rubble of ground zero and planted here.

      

We had booked a slot in the busy museum for 3pm and it was well after 7pm when we finally emerged back into the sunny evening.  All set underground in the foundations of the original World Trade Centre it is an incredible museum.  The exhibits, photos, plans, plaques and films are both detailed and yet hugely respectful.  It was a very honest and somehow inspirational dedication to the people who died here and the impact it had on the world.  One to visit in person I would say but a few bits that stuck in our minds were the chilling video footage of 2 of the terrorists going through airport security with ease; the wallet of an English guy, including his Sainsbury’s reward card, an exhibit of photos of all 2977 people who died, a fire engine with the front blown off.  One VT of a woman saying she had shouted out to a young fireman hurtling up the stairs into the fray that he should get out quick – his retort? “It’s my job lady.”  Too much to take in.  But the children were brilliant.  Most museums we are lucky to get 2 or 3 good hours out of them – so 4 is a record.  You leave the museum by escalator taking you up back into the sunlight.  The most beautiful uplifting gospel music accompanies the ride – somehow ending the whole experience on a very positive and life affirming note.

  

Sunday we had promised the children a more ‘fun’ day.  Not sure we actually accomplished that but we did have a really fantastic day.  We caught the little ferry over to Liberty State Park then through airport type security to get on to the ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island.

  

What an amazing place.  12 million immigrants came through here and 40 million US citizens can trace their ancestors as having entered the US through this little place.  You can feel the echoes of history here.  Easy to imagine the thousands of people that passed through these halls as each ship from Europe arrived.  Subjected to the ‘6 second medical’ as they ascended the stairs into the registry room they were being watched for a limp or breathlessness – anything that would suggest they were unfit to enter the country.  Once up in the main hall they would be marked with a chalk sign on their jackets if they needed further investigation.  But one thing they all endured was the check for trachoma with a button hook. Having witnessed one of these up close I expect it was the perfect end to a journey of several weeks across rough seas to the ‘promised land’.

 

For the lucky few it was only another 4 hours of hanging around and working out where to catch a bus to etc. then they were on their way.  Interesting to see how they ‘advertised’ or ‘sold’ different parts of the US by way of the industry or settlers already there.  It must have been so very daunting to arrive and work out where you should head in this vast country.  They would change their money and then buy tickets for their destination.  Wow – what an adventure!!

 

 

We made our way round the exhibits and tried out the ‘test’s about where we would have headed with our families etc.  When suddenly Charlie pipes up that in fact the whole of the USA is made up of immigrants except of course the Native Americans.  Of course.  And Ellis Island showed us how it is that various pockets of nationalities would have ended up in the same place across this vast country.  Explaining how each state feels so very different to the next.  How incredible it felt to suddenly see it so clearly like that!!

 

Onward to Liberty Island originally named Bedloe Island; to see the State of Liberty.  The pedestal she stands on was USA funded. But the Statue herself was a gift from France. Designed by Bartholdi it was intended to represent US Democracy and Freedom (which he felt were sorely missing in France at the time).  The Interior design of the sculpture was done by Eiffel who later designed some tower or another in Paris…  We climbed the 190 steps up to the top of the pedestal.  John and Will climbed them twice as when we got to the top Will realised he’d left his sunglasses in the toilets at the bottom!! Stunning views of Manhattan.

          

That night Dad and Carol drove down to visit us, bringing Betty (Carol’s fabulously glamorous and witty 90-year-old Mother).  We had a lovely evening with them.  It turns out both Betty and Wally’s parents arrived into the USA via Ellis Island so it was really interesting to chat to her about her memories / stories of that epic journey they made across from Germany.  We had a lovely meal in the harbor restaurant Surf City, sat on their deck looking over to Manhattan.

The rest of our time in New York was all about Damian.  We knew he was going to be in town at the same time as us so we’d hoped to meet up.  We’d booked a boat tour for Monday morning but the rest of the week we had no real plans; a list of things we’d like to do but no itinerary as such.  Little did we know that once the kids had found Damian they weren’t interested in doing anything at all that didn’t involve him.

 

Monday 25^th May we did our boat cruise round Manhattan.  It seemed like a good way of demonstrating to the kids that Manhattan (which means Island of Hills – so named by the Algonquin Indians) is an island, which it makes it all the more incredible that it is home to 1,600,00 people; the Bronx is the only part of the city not on an island. Lower east side part is filled in land; the rubble came from bombed buildings from the UK during the second world war.  Came across on empty boats, used to help their ballast.  13 miles long and 2 miles wide at the widest point, the boat took us round the entire island in an anti clockwise direction.  Sun was shining and the guide was a chap easily in his 80’s whose knowledge and anecdotes about the Big Apple were incredible.  William said he had a great sense of humour.

 

We headed from the boat tour to the Empire State Building.  Kids enjoyed the view but not as much as they enjoyed John’s discomfort at the sheer height of it!!

  

Then we had a call from Damian who had just got back into town after a weekend in the Hamptons (kids hugely impressed and convinced he must be rich and famous – he wishes).  We caught a cab down to the Meatpacking district where he is staying.  It never ceases to amaze me how damn exciting it is to meet up with people from home when so far away.  Damo and I had met up when I was back in the UK back in March so not that long ago really (in fact we’ve seen each other more possibly in the 12 months I’ve been away than we did in the preceding 12 months!!). But it was lovely to see him!

Now Damian was travelling in quite the different way to us.  Renting a trendy loft apartment in a very hip part of town, surrounded by bars and restaurants; while we are parked in a harbour car park.  The contrast continued as he took us into Soho House for a drink.  Kids again, beyond impressed with the décor, charming staff and of course the crowds of the ‘beautiful people’ all enjoying the holiday weekend a roof top pool party.  To say we stood out would be an understatement.  Damo affectionately (?!?) calling us the Griswold’s was actually pretty accurate.

 

We thought we may have out stayed our welcome so took the kids out and onto the High Line.  This is an old railway track elevated above street level that has been out of use for many years and now has been transformed into a fabulous urban green space.  We walked and talked, especially loving the ‘street theatre’ section where you can sit and watch through glass walls down onto the streets below.  Damo keeping the kids entertained with a huge array of stories about our time together at University and the usual barrage of inappropriate jokes.  When we left him to head back to the glamour of the car park we had to promise the kids we would spend the next day with him as well.

    

So Tuesday we spent the whole day with Damian ticking off a load of things from our Tourist Tick List.  Grand Central Terminal, Fifth Ave, Trump Tower, Chrysler Building (always been my favourite), St Patrick’s Cathedral.  At the Rockefeller Centre I was excited to tell the kids this is where I did ice skating as a kid (oh and the big Christmas Tree is in the film Elf).  Kids more excited about the huge Lego Store.

  

Having built up how fab the toy shop FAO Schwartz was, we were really disappointed to discover it is due to close down in July and as with so many things that we remember from childhood, it just wasn’t the same somehow.  We headed to Carnegies Deli for lunch only to discover it closed with a health notice slapped on the door.  Found another diner in which to buy a $20 sandwich and remembered why we normally bring packed lunches.  Up past Carnegie Hall and into Central Park for a wander round the boating lake and out to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic.  Then Damian managed to prise himself away from the kids as he was off to the theatre that night.

      

The four of us wandered down to Times Square and did a bit of people watching – found the Naked Cowboy and some very seedy looking Buzz Light-year and Minnie Mouse characters.  (We heard a few weeks later that Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse got arrested for a bitch fight).  Charlie and I were desperate to catch a show on Broadway so we got ourselves tickets for On the Town (what else when in NYC?) and John and Will headed off back to the campsite without us.  We had a really lovely evening – very special to do something just us!

  

We spent our last day in NYC with Damo (of course).  He’d had a night ‘on the town’ himself the night before so probably didn’t really need another day of our kids harassing him honestly.  We took our bikes over on the ferry and met up with Damo at the Irish Hunger Memorial (honestly I didn’t make that up – a beautiful wild garden in the Financial District).  There he hired a Boris Bike (can’t remember what they are called in NYC but that’s their name in London) and we took our lives into our hands cycling round Battery Park, through South Street Seaport where we stopped for lunch.  All very different down there now from when Dad worked here and we spent a lot of time hanging out here.  Saw a lot of familiar haunts including Jeremy’s Bar which I recall had all the bras hanging around the walls – fairly sure I never left one of my own there, but I wouldn’t swear to it!!

 

We biked over Brooklyn Bridge (having first found our way onto it via a huge flight of stairs which we carried all the bikes up).  Really lovely to be the other side of the island looking back onto Manhattan.  We caught the ferry back and then the kids persuaded Damo to come to our campsite.  So it was that the 5 of us, with our bikes, left Manhattan for the last time surrounded by suited commuters; very out of place.

  

  

We had a really lovely evening with Damo in Surf City.  Kids proudly showing him their project books before we suddenly realised how late it was and rushed to get him onto the last ferry back to Manhattan.  No time for long drawn out goodbyes which was just as well as we were all in tears after we had waved him off. Not only sad to say goodbye to Damo but that this was to be our last night in Frankie on this part of our trip.  We loved our time in NYC and it was so exciting to share it all with the kids.  But truly it would not have been the same without Damo.  He has made friends for life in our kids – if they liked him before they now absolutely adore him.  Not to mention of course the invaluable life lessons he gave them; gems like “never touch your willy after chopping chili” – thanks Damian!!

We were really sad to leave the city, sadder still to be charged $57 to cross the George Washington Bridge – really???!!!!  We were only headed an hour up the road to Mamaroneck, but to avoid any toll roads (which we had hoped to do) the GPS wanted to take us on a 19-hour trek via Montreal – so the $57 seemed a small price to pay!!

 

We met John and Diane, back in July last year in Lake Louise.  You may recall we fell in love with their gorgeous Airstream; in fact, I think someone may have commented that they had a suspicion as to where this year would end up taking us due to that…  We’d kept in touch with them over the intervening months and had constantly referred to the notes I took during our many conversations with them about where to visit / campsites and restaurants to try along the way.  When we had contacted them about maybe calling in for a cuppa on our way from NYC to Dad’s house they had insisted we stay with them for a few days.  So we did.

 

We arrived on Thursday and finally left Saturday although we would have all been happy to stay on longer.  They live in a lovely little harbour town and their beautiful 100-year-old house was such a treat after the confines of Frankie.  They completely spoilt us by taking us out for the day on their beautiful sail boat, Tenacity.  We sailed over to Long Island for lunch at Louie’s Oyster Bar where we had the most delicious cocktails and clam sandwiches.  The kids completely at home on deck between sunbathing and helming the boat.  The views of NYC were breathtaking.

      

As if being invited to a beautiful house, sipping cocktails on their porch overlooking the pretty gardens, the kids playing basketball in the garden, being fed delicious food, sailing to Long Island and meeting their lovely friends wasn’t enough… the family business is Millers Toys in the town. Now owned and run by their daughter Brooke and her husband Tako.  So the kids tried out the trampolines and then spent the afternoon playing with their lovely kids; twins Audrey and Ozzy (7) and the adorable 3-year-old Evie.  She let me help her decorate her pink mirror with stickers and glitter glue which was an honour indeed.  The boys ended up fighting over her and we were all really sad to say goodbye to them.

 

  

You never know when you make friends on the road whether away from the glow of the campfire you will still have much in common.  But that couldn’t have been further from the truth with John and Diane.  They are the most charming and considerate of hosts. Diane and I talked books for hours and John and John found much in common; cars, boats, motorbikes…  A couple of classic lines that we have all been quoting since…  Sat on their porch as someone drove past at great speed John stood up and yelled “Slow down!” at great volume and with great passion.  My John now longs for a porch of his own so he can sit on a rocking chair and yell abuse at passers by.  Also when Charlie refused butter for his toast John asked him “Are you a communist?” which tickled us all.  It was lovely to share all our stories of places we have all seen in and around Canada and the USA.  We were honestly overwhelmed by their generous welcome and hospitality and were touched by how lovely they made our time with them.

 

Reluctant to leave but excited to be finally arriving in Bethel with Dad and Carol.  Reunited with an awful lot of kit that we have off loaded to them at various stages on our journey – none of which we actually either still fit into or deem necessary at all!!  So it was with a huge sense of relief mixed with sadness that our journey is nearing an end.

 

We got tot hem on Saturday 30^th May and had until Friday of the next week to unpack, repack to go home, do various repairs and spend some time with Dad and Carol.  Truly I don’t know how we managed to fill 5 whole days with sorting out Frankie but we did.  Endless washing, cleaning, sorting, mending the fridge that was on the blink again, polishing the van.  We positioned Frankie and the trailer on their driveway where they would wait for us to return in late July to complete our trip.  We did have to fit in an entire morning at the hairdressers where the lovely Jen made us all presentable to return to civilization – well school anyway for the boys.

       

But the kids had a lovely time doing lots of lovely Grandparenty things.  I know this seems incredible after 368 days with the kids non stop but I cried when they first went out with them and left us behind…  Trips to the shore for ice creams.  Trips to the cinema…  Days at the driving range…  Mini golf…  Movie nights while John and I had a night out on our own…  Hikes in nearby Huntingdon State Park…  Hours in their hot tub (sorry that they had to drain it after our departure due to the levels being ‘off’ – must have dirtier than we thought!).

 

On Friday Dad drove us and all our luggage off to Boston, MA where we caught a flight back to the UK early the following morning.  We all sobbed as we drove away from Frankie.  It felt absolutely heart wrenching to be separated from our precious ‘home’ and knowing that we were returning straight back into a life of routine. We had a lovely ‘final’ meal, all the while telling ourselves that this wasn’t really the end and that we were just taking a short break from our EFA.

      

By Saturday night we were back in the UK.  Sat in Mum’s kitchen.  Lovely to be home.  Monday morning boys were at school.