Family Trip To The Northeast July 2003
"The Story" 
Written By J.C.
Originally Posted Sunday, August 3, 2003 5:30pm ET

Monday, July 21, 2003 - Trip Beginning

Our trip began today.  After spending the entire day on Sunday preparing, then going to bed Sunday night about midnight, Karla, Amber & I got up am at 2:30am and drove to Tampa International Airport to catch an 8:05am flight to New York's Laguardia airport.   It was Amber & Karla's first time in the air and was quite a thrill to them.  We landed about 11am.  Karla had severe ear-equalization problems.  She later felt better.  We immediately noticed that we were in a "big city" by the hundreds of yellow cabs parked in rows at the airport.

We picked up our rental car and off we were to explore the big city.  However, not having slept more than 2 hours the night before, not being familiar with NYC traffic, and not being familiar with NYC roads, we quickly headed OUT of the city!

We crossed a body of water (the Hudson?).  Not sure which bridge it was we went over.  Eventually we caught I-80 and headed west.  We passed through New Jersey, then into Pennsylvania.  We stopped in a small hilly quiet town called Arlington (?).  Karla spent about an hour tracking down inexpensive hotels and off we headed to Tannersville.  We stopped at several scenic locations and took pictures (pic1 - pic2 - pic3)

Exhausted, we checked into a very nice Ramada Inn up on a hill.  

After getting some rest, we headed out to Walmart, in search of some odds & ends, and some wine.  We quickly learned that Pennsylvania is a "dry state" and we would have to drive for miles to find some wine.  However, as luck would have it, next to Walmart was a little package store.  We were able to get some wine!

Then we went to a Chinese restaurant in a strip mall, also near Walmart.  I parked on the curb in front of the restaurant, as Karla headed in to get some take-out.  While Amber & I waited in the car, the wind picked up and I saw flashes (lightning?) in the distance.  Also, I began hearing an up-down tone, much like a fire engine's siren.  After about 5 minutes of hearing this up-down tone, it occurred to me that the pitch nor the intensity of it hadn't changed.  By this time, the lights of the strip mall blinked several times, and the wind was blowing intensely, and the flashes in the distance were getting closer.  I rolled down my window and quickly realized that the siren was no fire engine, but quite possibly a TORNADO SIREN!!!  After all, what else could it have been???  I ran inside, leaving Amber in the car, to ask the Chinese guy at the counter what the heck the siren was for.  He said he never heard that before.  I quickly ran out to the car, grabbed Amber out of her seat, and carried her with one arm to the restaurant where I began to look for cover!  After a while, though, the storm passed and the siren went away.  We drove back to the hotel and went right through the storm again.  Boy was it intense.  Much like Florida summer storms.  Later I learned that the siren was for "severe weather", and not necessarily for warning of tornados.  Here we were having a very rough travel day, with no sleep, and a tornado was going to hit us.  What a day.

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Today we felt very refreshed after a good night of sleep and figured we'd have a leisurely day.  The alarm clock went off at 6:00am (gee thanks dear), but later learned that the clock was ahead 1 hour so it was actually 5am!!!  We headed down for the continental breakfast and enjoyed a spectacular view to the east - 2 tree laden hills in-between which was a valley filled with fog, and behind all of this to the right, the sun rising.

We decided to visit Grandma K. (M.).  So that is what we did.  We didn't know what to expect.  We found where she was at, and I met her again, after about 25 years.  Apparently, she has Alzheimer's.  I talked with her much, and showed her pictures on this website.  I was not able to understand much of what she said.  She repeated the same phrase over and over.  It was sad to see her in this condition.  We gave her a type of lava lamp that has floating sparkles that get pushed around by the light's heat currents.  Amber met her Great Grandmother.  That was quite a thrill to her.

Later in the day, we drove through the hills & mountains and observed the scenic cornfields, and houses on hill tops.  Also, I inquired about visiting Niagra Falls (a 6 hour each-way trip).  After I found out that a 4 hour tour would cost $65 X 2 plus the kid rate, and with the fact that it would be a 6 hour drive (ugggg), we decided not to do that.

For dinner, we stopped at a seemingly delicious buffet in Tannersville, and quickly were disgusted with the place.  The food was terrible, people were smoking like chimneys, and the help was less than helpful.  It was a mile-walk to the bathroom.  We learned that the place was a truck stop.  

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Today was another relax day.  We drove through the hills & mountains of the Poconos in search of wild animals.  We saw many deer signs, but never any deer after seeing those signs.  We passed a state park near a lake and decided to stop.  I saw canoes and paddle boats and before you knew it, Amber & I went on a paddle boat adventure to the other side of the lake.  We had a ton of fun doing this (video: hi Res - low Res)

Amber wanted to see animals so we headed to a recommended outdoor zoo called Claws N Paws, which I later dubbed "Critters & Things".  At Critters & Things we saw the following animals:
Black Leopards, Otters, Black Jaguar, Green Macaw, Agouti, Badger, Snow Leopard, Prairie Dog, Iguana, Alfred the Lion, Giraffe, Deer, sheep, Red-Neck Wallaby, Albino Wallaby,  Emu, Squirrel Monkey, Patagonian Cavy, Fennec Fox, Coati, Rock Hyrax, Bobcat, Wolves, Lynx, Cougar, Black Bears.    Amber's favorite animals were the Squirrel Monkey, and the Prairie Dog.  Amber milked a cow. (video "Critters And Things": hi Res - low Res)

For dinner, we had pizza at Nino C Pizza.  Had to do laundry too.  Waaaa.

Thursday, July 24, 2003

Today we got up with no real direction in mind, then about 9:30am I suggested we head down to Washington D.C., a 4 hour trip.  So we did!  We got about 45 minutes behind when I didn't take the turn I was supposed to in Harrisburg, PA, but we arrived in DC about 4pm or so.  Traffic was miserable.  Parking was worse.  We went to the Washington Monument and the White House (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4).  We were not able to go into the Washington Monument because we would have had to been there at 8:30am to get tickets for this.  While in front of the White House, we observed a rifleman on the roof, as well as a lookout man to the right of the front doors.  The lookout man was using binoculars to look back at us.  Amber waved to the lookout man and to our surprise he waved back!!!  We caught this moment on video tape (video "White House Security Waves Back At Amber": hi Res - low Res).  We saw the Capitol building in the distance.  The old-style architecture in Washington D.C. was quite appealing to the eye.  

For dinner we had good old KFC.

We drove back and ended up back in Tannersville about 10:50pm.  What an exhausting day!

Friday, July 25, 2003

Well last night was our last night in Tannersville.  We spent the morning at the pool.  After that,  we headed back East, and went through Bushkill Falls.  We saw streams and to our surprise we saw wild deer for the very first time.  We fed the deer cornbread we had in the car.  Amber was excited to see all the wild deer.

After that, we hit the hi gh road and went south into New Jersey.  We found another Ramada Inn and checked in.  This one was in a business park type of setting.  The room was very very nice.  There was also an indoor pool, exercise room, and sonna.  

We were waterlogged by the end of the day.

For dinner we ordered Domino's delivery.  But somehow we forgot to order any toppings so we ended up with just a cheese pizza.  Waaaaa.

Saturday, July 26, 2003

Today would be our last day, but a big day.  This was the last day of our trip.  Today we drove into New York.  On the way we stopped at New Jersey's Liberty State Park and observed the Statue Of Liberty.  The torch could be seen for miles.  It was very brightly lit, and very visible, even in broad day light.  We ended up going through the Holland Tunnel which is approximately 1.5 miles long, and traverses underneath the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey with Manhattan.  Once in Manhattan, we headed south to the World Trade Center area.  We hung around that area, buying souvenirs, and looking around for a few hours.  Traffic was unexpectedly light, and parking was easy.  

Later in the afternoon we headed east on the Long Island Expressway, to accomplish one of my final objectives of the trip:
Visit the towns my parents grew up in - East Moriches, & Center Moriches.  By the time we arrived there it was probably 7pm.  Not much time for seeing the towns, but we did the best we could.  We saw the church my parents were married in.  We saw my Mom & Dad's old house, as well as my Dad's dad's old house.  We saw the area where Our Body Shop was.  We went to the Cemetery my grandfather is buried in.  The cemetery was closed so we scaled a picket fence.  Not having done all of my homework before the trip, we searched until it was pitch black but were unable to find the  plot my grandfather is buried in.  While in the cemetery, we heard gunshots miles off in the distance, as well as some screaming.  No kidding!  The screaming was some kids at a nearby residential neighborhood, and the gunshots were probably some hunters, we later learned.  But how eerie I thought it was to be in this big cemetery, with little to no light (there were absolutely NO lights except by the only building in the cemetery), and hear gunshots and screaming.

About 10pm we called my sister & she invited us over.  So off to Riverhead we went.  I met my nephew Chris again after about 16 years.  It was a pleasure to see all three of them.  We visited until after 1am, then we had to leave to get back to the airport.

On our way to the airport, we passed the Amityville exit.  Karla had been excited about possibly seeing the Amityville house (she is in to all of that ghost stuff), and I pulled over to calculate the time we had remaining.  Unfortunately, I felt we would be cutting it too close and may miss the flight.  I regretted this decision because after we did arrive at the airport about 3:10am Sunday morning, we had about and hour and a half of excess time.  It would have been a thrill to Karla to see the Amityville house in the middle of the night!

Well, Sunday, we got on our 6:00am flight.  We changed planes in Atlanta, and were back in Tampa about 10am.  Exhausted, we drove home.  Then we rested the rest of the day.

Trip Summary

The trip was well worth all of the thrills we had.  We had never taken a plane trip as a family and I felt it was time.  We drove 1217 miles in the Northeast.  The experience was well worth it, and we will remember this trip for many many years.  We saw many deer signs, but early on in the trip Amber pointed out to us that whenever we see deer signs, we would not be seeing deer, because it was when we did NOT see the deer signs that we saw deer.

Highlights of the trip included:

Meeting My Grandmother
Visiting Washington D.C.
Visiting the town my parents grew up in.
Visiting My Sister & her family.
Critters & Things
Driving through the hills & mountains.
Seeing wild deer.
The pool (pic1 - pic2)

Don't forget to see our other  ONLINE TRIP VIDEO CLIPS!

Click here to return back to the pictures from this trip.