September 11th, 2021 was the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City. When I got up that morning, I knew I would be ending my day with my town's memorial service, and I knew I would be going to New Jersey...but I didn't know I'd be seeing the Manhattan Skyline from a whole new perspective that day!
Since the Manhattan Skyline is so impressive, and likely will be the favorite part of this adventure, I'm just going to lead off with the four best photos.
All of these were taken from New Jersey, and you can clearly see such landmarks as the Freedom Tower and the Empire State Building!
Even though I've seen the Manhattan skyline in person before, and even walked around down there, (which is still hard to fathom) seeing the skyline in person never disappoints, it's always spectacular. The last picture is actually as we are driving towards it in New Jersey.
OK, now to detail the adventure...
Since I've been updating it, here's the progress on the toll booths at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
We stopped at the Ramapo Rest Area for lunch, and this bird hopped up on the bench next to me. He wouldn't leave until he got a french fry, and seeing birds flying around carrying french fries and being chased by other birds seeking fries is hilarious! It turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the trip!
Welcome to New Jersey
I really hate driving in New Jersey! All these crazy loops because you can't make a simple left turn.
Here's the reason we had to go to New Jersey that day! After not seeing a showcar since 2008, I've now seen two in just under two months.
Me with the show car. You can see the little stand full of Hero cards, which I got as well. Been a long time since I got a new one of them in person!
The fire truck was obviously heading to Manhattan for the 20th anniversary ceremonies.
Just driving around New Jersey
I messed up the spacing, but the picture above this one is the Meadowlands! Where the Nets and Devils used to play! The Jets and Giants and some soccer team play there now. The second picture, I have no idea what that building is, but that's the largest satellite dish I've ever seen. From a distance we both thought it was a ferris wheel!
We ended up on the very start of I-80! I-80 is one of the more important roads in the entire country, running from coast to coast. It starts in New Jersey, right here, and goes all the way to California. If you stayed on it, you'd go right over the Golden Gate Bridge. I've now been on I-80 in 5 states- New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
This is a photo of the actual start of I-80
Back in New York
Old building
Duck in the pond at the Newburgh exit of I-87
At 7 PM we went to Meiser Park to attend my home town's September 11th Memorial. It lasted for an hour. There is a flag in the part for every person killed that day.
Everyone got glow sticks.
Here are a couple of pictures from a few days before when my Mom and I stopped by to see the flags.
This bench is in honor of the Wappingers Falls resident who was killed at the Pentagon. My Mom had him in her cub scout pack back in the day.
Mom actually appears in this picture
This one was taken from the gazebo seen in the photos.
It was a bit of a somber ceremony but there were also uplifting things about it too. I'm glad I went.
There are a few photo albums from this day on my website (they also have the GPS on my phone turned on so you can check and see exactly where in New Jersey I took these) :
I also added 46 new places to my Places I've Been Project, 25 in New Jersey and 21 in New York. I actually hit my 500th place photographed in that project, which happened to be Undercliff Junction in New Jersey. I had only two places photo documented in the state beforehand, so that was a big boost. I expected that I would get a lot of places when I went to the NNL East model car show, but the pandemic prevented that show from happening in 2020 and 2021.
Please note that in the New York picture I missed adding one to the screenshot.
I can't believe you didn't do a map for our NJ trip! LOL
ReplyDeleteNo way they have crazy roads!
DeleteImpressive! I love the NY skyline.
ReplyDeleteI liked the skyline and seeing how others in the country paid respect. Also had a similar funny bird experience, made me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteIt was a really nice ceremony... apparently they do it every year but I didn't know that, the presence of the flags and a couple banners they hung around town alerted me.
DeleteI enjoyed the pictures, as I posted once I dont' get to see other states so this was nice. That looked like a great ceremony as well.
ReplyDeleteI bet you could make it to NY considering it's pretty darn close! I could be in Vermont in under 4 hours.
DeleteSeems like it would be a weird to travel on in that part of the country.
ReplyDeleteIt was weird. I definitely was more on edge then I usually am, and I'm always on guard outside the house.
DeleteLooked like an honorable ceremony.
ReplyDelete