Morning in Mystic, ferry to Long Island, and first night in NYC - Sunday, July 19, 2009
We woke up early and took a wrong turn on the way to Mystic, CT which turned out great. We went to a Submarine museum and actually went into a submarine. We drove through modern Mystic (not so modern), and then went to Historic Mystic Seaport. Al and I were surprised to learn that it was like a museum, we thought it was just shops, etc. In fact, it is a port city with buildings that were preserved and then integrated with new exhibits, etc. It was really nice. We rented a row boat and rowed on the Mystic River. The kids really enjoyed it. We kept losing control of the boat so "Chaser" had to come out and rescue us twice. Dad was not too happy.
We left there around 3:00 p.m. so we could drive over to New London, CT for our 4:00 p.m. ferry to Long Island, NY. Jake was very excited about driving the car onto the ferry. We were on the ferry with 300 boy scouts ages 11-18. It was cool to see so many in their uniforms. Al, of course, interrogated them about badges, what they were doing, etc. and wants to put Jake in it as soon as we get back to Miami. I agree, it would be a good, non-typical Miami thing to do.
The ferry left late and took about 1 hour 15 minutes. It was super hot in the interior part of the boat. I was so hot that I went up to the top deck and sat in the sun because at least there was a heavy wind blowing. We arrived in Orient Point port (Montauk port was not available with cars). We had to drive down to a fork in the island and then turn to go east to Montauk. We never made it to Montauk (to at least see it) because we drove through South Hampton, and East Hampton and then it got dark. It wasn't worth continuing to Montauk beause it would be too dark.
We drove around the towns as they have beautiful shops and cute restaurants. We got take out from a Mexican restaurant called La Fondita. It was delicious. We drove to a public beach, in the middle of a neighborhood with beautiful homes just like in the movie "Something's Gotta Give." Ana wanted to find a place that looked like that. We flew a kite on the beach, the kids played Kadima, and I took beautiful photos. The sky was a gorgeous with layers of pink, orange, and blue...perfect! I took pictures of the homes on the beach (just like in the movies) and then got awesome shots of a plane flying right over the shore. It was a spectacular sight and a perfect evening.
We drove through Long Island to New York City (NYC). We arrived in NYC around midnight. We needed to arrive earlier because the girl that is staying at Tita's house (Nicki Borges, sister of Gabi and Manny's friend Javi) had to go to work at 5:00 a.m. It was embarrassing to arrive so late, but we couldn't help it with all of the traffic. At that time, we had to unload the car and take everything up. It was exhausting. However, it felt great to know we would have five whole days in one place and time to relax.
Showing posts with label ferry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ferry. Show all posts
Daytripping to Nantucket island and Cape Cod Baseball - Thursday, July 16, 2009
Daytripping to Nantucket island and Cape Cod Baseball - Thursday, July 16, 2009
We woke up around 7:00 a.m. and drove to Hyannis for the high speed ferry to Nantucket. The ferry ride was uneventful as we were inside so really couldn't see anything on the way out of Hyannis nor into Nantucket. When we arrived in Nantucket, it was so beautiful. There are hundreds of little shops and boats. All types of boats (sailboats, yachts and regular boats). It's a very small and beautiful island. We were undecided about what to do and we thought of renting bikes, which is a very common thing to do there, but decided against it because we were afraid of the kids riding bike on the edge of the streets as there was lots of summer traffic.
We walked around and went through the shopping district. We even got to see the Whaling museum where we saw the history of whales, whale replicas, and the importance of whales to the area. Then, we took a shuttle to Surfside beach. Alex read about this beach in the "500 things to do with your kids before they grow up," which has guided us on this trip. They recommended this beach because of its beauty and also because it has a hamburger stand with awesome burgers. We arrived and immediately ordered lunch and then walked to the beach and had a picnic with our hamburgers, etc. It was beautiful. The summer has been extremely mild throughout the northeast. We've even had to take jackets and/or sweatshirts to some activities because of how cool it's been. This day was no exception. We were cold when we arrived in the morning and now at the beach with the wind, we were still very cold. We were too cold to go in the water, but my daughter wasn't as she was dying to go in. I changed her into her bathing suit and she went in the water. She had so much fun and was the brave one!
We played Kadima or just sat and relaxed and enjoyed the moment. We left there and went back to the town as we thought we'd take a tour, but the tour guide did not want to take kids as it was really for adults. However, he highly recommended for us to take the town shuttle to another town called Soskotchen via Poipus Road and we'd see most of the beautiful sites they see on the tour. He saved us about $100 and we thought it was great. We took the scenic shuttle over and took hundreds of photos of all the beauty. We got ice cream when we arrived, and walked around. We went through streets and streets of beautiful homes with roses growing on their facades. One of the houses had an outdoor dining table with beautiful candlescapes set up and it was located high on the hill overlooking the ocean. It was straight out of a magazine. We saw some kids on a bridge over a road throwing water balloons at the cars as they went by. I hope my children don't ever do anything like that!
There is also something we've noticed while traveling through the Northeast: beautiful and big dogs. We have seen many sheep dogs and other furry/large dogs that I can't remember the names of. We went back to the town, shopped some more, walked around and took photos. We returned to Hyannis on the 7:00 p.m. ferry. When we were arriving in Hyannis, we noticed just beyond the parking lot that there was a baseball game going on. This was another suggestion in the "500 things to do..." book. The author suggested seeing a Cape Cod league baseball game...and we did!
We caught it in the 6th inning. They have players from different universities playing together in this league who come from all over the country for the opportunity to play and spend a couple of months in Cape Cod. It was situated around a hilltop where we sat for most of the game. The whole vibe was very pleasant and Americana. It felt perfect in that it was the most typical and American thing to do. We loved that we stumbled upon it and were able to experience. As we look back, it is one of the top 5 experiences from this whole trip. After the game, we drove back to Plymouth. We tried to go to sleep early, but it didn't work out. We were up until very late again. By the way, we loved Hyannis and next time we'd like to stay there instead of Plymouth as it makes it easier with the ferries.
We woke up around 7:00 a.m. and drove to Hyannis for the high speed ferry to Nantucket. The ferry ride was uneventful as we were inside so really couldn't see anything on the way out of Hyannis nor into Nantucket. When we arrived in Nantucket, it was so beautiful. There are hundreds of little shops and boats. All types of boats (sailboats, yachts and regular boats). It's a very small and beautiful island. We were undecided about what to do and we thought of renting bikes, which is a very common thing to do there, but decided against it because we were afraid of the kids riding bike on the edge of the streets as there was lots of summer traffic.
We walked around and went through the shopping district. We even got to see the Whaling museum where we saw the history of whales, whale replicas, and the importance of whales to the area. Then, we took a shuttle to Surfside beach. Alex read about this beach in the "500 things to do with your kids before they grow up," which has guided us on this trip. They recommended this beach because of its beauty and also because it has a hamburger stand with awesome burgers. We arrived and immediately ordered lunch and then walked to the beach and had a picnic with our hamburgers, etc. It was beautiful. The summer has been extremely mild throughout the northeast. We've even had to take jackets and/or sweatshirts to some activities because of how cool it's been. This day was no exception. We were cold when we arrived in the morning and now at the beach with the wind, we were still very cold. We were too cold to go in the water, but my daughter wasn't as she was dying to go in. I changed her into her bathing suit and she went in the water. She had so much fun and was the brave one!
We played Kadima or just sat and relaxed and enjoyed the moment. We left there and went back to the town as we thought we'd take a tour, but the tour guide did not want to take kids as it was really for adults. However, he highly recommended for us to take the town shuttle to another town called Soskotchen via Poipus Road and we'd see most of the beautiful sites they see on the tour. He saved us about $100 and we thought it was great. We took the scenic shuttle over and took hundreds of photos of all the beauty. We got ice cream when we arrived, and walked around. We went through streets and streets of beautiful homes with roses growing on their facades. One of the houses had an outdoor dining table with beautiful candlescapes set up and it was located high on the hill overlooking the ocean. It was straight out of a magazine. We saw some kids on a bridge over a road throwing water balloons at the cars as they went by. I hope my children don't ever do anything like that!
There is also something we've noticed while traveling through the Northeast: beautiful and big dogs. We have seen many sheep dogs and other furry/large dogs that I can't remember the names of. We went back to the town, shopped some more, walked around and took photos. We returned to Hyannis on the 7:00 p.m. ferry. When we were arriving in Hyannis, we noticed just beyond the parking lot that there was a baseball game going on. This was another suggestion in the "500 things to do..." book. The author suggested seeing a Cape Cod league baseball game...and we did!
We caught it in the 6th inning. They have players from different universities playing together in this league who come from all over the country for the opportunity to play and spend a couple of months in Cape Cod. It was situated around a hilltop where we sat for most of the game. The whole vibe was very pleasant and Americana. It felt perfect in that it was the most typical and American thing to do. We loved that we stumbled upon it and were able to experience. As we look back, it is one of the top 5 experiences from this whole trip. After the game, we drove back to Plymouth. We tried to go to sleep early, but it didn't work out. We were up until very late again. By the way, we loved Hyannis and next time we'd like to stay there instead of Plymouth as it makes it easier with the ferries.
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