I’ve heard that New Yorkers hate when people say this but we have enjoyed saying this phrase 10+ times a day.

Yesterday evening, Esme, Nova and I went for a walk and got her picture with the little Liberty too. 

We also saw robots delivering food orders with Uber Eats.

Nole, Cal and Asa’s flight was delayed so we didn’t get back to the camper until after 1am.  I guess it’s a good thing they weren’t on a 1am flight that was delayed though!

We had a savory breakfast this morning, breakfast burritos, and also made french toast for those that don’t like breakfast burritos.  Since cooking for 13 is kind of difficult and our schedules are going to be so unpredictable, we’re only doing breakfast together with the Yatzecks from now on.

It rained off and on during the night and continued to rain most of today. We decided to brave the rain and head into New York.  On my Walmart trip yesterday, I picked up some more umbrellas so now we each have one.  The weather is forecast to be rainy all week. 

Joey, who stayed back at the camper yesterday, decided to join us.  Cal did a little research and found a jazz museum he wanted to visit today that had no admission fee.

We need to take two forms of transportation to get from New Jersey to New York City. First we take the PATH train into New York. Then we take subways and buses to get around New York City.  Each has their own payment system.  We decided to pay for each ride on PATH since we each only need to take two rides per day.  For the subways/buses, we bought a 7-day OMNY pass.  This allows us to take as many trips as we need to get around NYC. 

Walking from the campsite to the PATH station takes about 5-10 minutes.

It was crazy hot waiting for our train underground. 

We’re in New York!

We got each person their own OMNY card.  First, we planned to all take a subway to the jazz museum but Cal suggested Chinatown first and suggested walking there so we did that.

I was underwhelmed by the part of Chinatown we saw.  We had all worked up an appetite though so I found a place for us to eat lunch. We picked an assortment of things off the menu and shared it.  My favorite was the BBQ pork over rice.

Some of the things we ordered were a bit odd.  The BBQ chicken was cut up right through the bone.  And some of the BBQ items were served chilled. 

That thing on my plate that looks like an egg is a “rice wrap” which was glutenous rice (mochi) with different fillings (we ordered shrimp).  It was different but we ate them all.  I also ordered 2 orders of “crab pearl balls” which from the picture of them and Google’s description, seemed like crab cakes.  They looked tasty but tasted like donuts and were filled with mochi which was difficult to eat due to the chewy texture. 

After eating, we split up after lunch.  Nole, the girls and I searched for a candy shop at the girls’ request.  After looking around a bit, I found “Economy Candy” which seemed like a good choice since candy stores can get pretty expensive and the girls were spending their own money.

They had fun and got some favorites. I also got some unique candies to share when everyone is back together at the campsite later. 

Esme found a $100 bill on the ground and deciding it would be impossible to find the owner, Nole and I let her keep it.  Quite an exciting day for her!

Next, Nole requested a National Historic Park and chose Teddy Roosevelt’s childhood home.  On the way, he also spotted a Barnes and Noble and we decided to go in to get a break from the rain.  Esme found this horrifying sphinx cat which turned out to be a puppet. 

We saw this game which might be interesting to play sometime.

I also noticed this book.  Melissa and I have been doing some sporadic bird watching on this trip.

We made it to Teddy Roosevelt’s home.  Esme did the Junior Ranger booklet but unfortunately, they were out of the site specific pin so instead they took our address to send us one when they get them in.  They gave Esme and Nova metal pins for visiting.

We stopped at one more store, Miniso which has lots of cute stuff the girls like.

We were near a PATH station so we didn’t need to take another subway.  We saw the biggest roach I’ve ever seen in the subway.  It was about 2.5 inches long!

We accidentally went to the platform going the wrong direction and had to swipe again to go the correct direction, oops!

Back in Jersey, we noticed this sign advertising free concerts on Wednesdays, just a few blocks from the campground. 

Nova got a “Mini Brands” surprise toy at Miniso and opened it when we got back to the camper.  One of the surprises was her favorite snack in miniature! 

Nole and I walked over to the restaurant on site to check it out and got some fries to share. 

The three boys returned from their adventure.  They had gone to the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.  The next 2 photos are from Cal.

And got some very spicy chicken from Dave’s Hot Chicken (apparently Cal had to sign a waiver in order to get the chicken.  Joey and Asa ate more than Cal did.  I asked if it made them sweat and Joey said “I was sweating from my eyes”. 

We tried some of the candy we bought and then the boys played with the pickleball set I brought. 

We have an early day planned for tomorrow with a visit to the Statue of Liberty.