My first trip to Staten Island, and 4 of the 5 boroughs of NYC in one day!

 December 12th was an awesome trip for me and my brother. We set out to Staten Island, NY, which was the only borough neither of us had ever been to. We had to fix that! Just a heads up, this is a longer post, because we did a TON of stuff!

We started by going down into New Jersey, and heading to Staten Island that way, it's actually the easiest.

Seeing the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Not knowing yet we'd be there later that day...

A foul smelling swamp in New Jersey.

The Meadowlands off in the distance.

The new American Dream mall at the Meadowlands

Newark, NJ. Pretty sure the round building bisected by the pole is where the Devils play.

A plane coming in to land at Newark airport

A different plane taking off from Newark

crossing the Goethals bridge, which connects New Jersey to Staten Island

The GPS had a little problem with the bridge

Now on Staten Island for the first time! When people think of New York City, I'm guessing this is not the first thing that comes to mind. 

We saw the World's Largest Hummel figure, which is about 7 feet tall.

Driving around in Staten Island

Every time I've been to NYC, I've seen old cars.

We stopped at a muffler shop that has sculptures made out of old car parts. Their website said they were open on Sundays but it wasn't. 

Just on the other side of the fence is a canal and boat storage

Spotted a NASCAR ad, which I didn't expect! And got our Edge's reflection as well. 

And now we're at New York Harbor! Also there is the National Lighthouse Museum, which will get it's own post. We're actually in their parking lot at this time.

The Staten Island Ferry

BIG ship with Brooklyn behind it

Actually, not ship. Ships, plural! 

the Verrazano Narrows bridge and Brooklyn

I know I'm posting a lot of pictures of this but it's just so impressive.

Note the scale of the 18 wheeler on the bridge compared to the ships. 

This building dates to the 1860s and was originally part of the lighthouse depot complex. 

After we finished at the Lighthouse Museum I got the idea to maybe drive by Rockefeller Center and see the Christmas Tree. There's a small window when you are on 5th Avenue where you can see it without getting out of the car...so we typed it into the GPS and off we went.

Christmas decorations on Staten Island

come comic themed art on the side of a grocery store

another old car!

We ended up going across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn! Kind of unexpected but good because I did not have Brooklyn on my Places I've Been Project. (When we were there before we had my brother's car, no GPS screen to photograph)

And there's the open Atlantic Ocean! 

Now in Brooklyn. 

You can just feel the despair radiating out of Brooklyn. 

Driving that big limo around must not be fun with the tight turns you encounter in NYC!

Neat old vehicle ad.

And we ended up going through the Battery Tunnel, which goes under the Hudson River and into Manhattan!

In the tunnel. Hard to take pictures because of the lighting.

First view of Manhattan after coming out of the tunnel.

After taking the Battery Tunnel, we made a sharp turn and took the Battery Park underpass, which goes under the Battery Tunnel (I think) and puts you out on FDR Drive, which goes up the east side of Manhattan Island. Confusing! 

Yes, there are trees in Manhattan. A lot of them actually.

Empire State Building

Looking across the East River at Brooklyn

I like the large Pepsi Cola sign on the far left

That big square building is the United Nations

And we went up 42nd street. Manhattan was packed, and a lot of roads were closed. You can see the Chrysler Building here.

two pictures of Grand Central Station decorated

Technically also Grand Central

now in Times Square

Looking out the roof of the car

Giannis Antetokounmpo sign in Greek!

Why are there cones on the top of the cars? LOL!

a pear sculpture I didn't even see until I looked at my photos on my computer the next day.

You can see how many roads are closed or blocked. There was just too much traffic and too  many roads closed so we decided not to try and circle back to get to the tree, it just wasn't worth it...not to mention the fact that I have to take my medicine on a schedule and was already going to be 2 hours late.

The required photo of the Enterprise

No comment needed. 

Not sure what this is, it runs a long way in Manhattan but I've never seen any cars or people on it.

George Washington Bridge

Interesting architecture

I have no idea what this building is but I love it. It looks like it might be abandoned. It's in Tryon park.

Now in the Bronx, you can barely see the Tappan Zee bridge off in the distance.

The GPS sent us to the Taconic, for some reason. Did see a deer, with Antlers, and get a few new places I didn't have photo documented, so it wasn't all bad.

famous bridge over Croton river

back in the Hudson Valley

We ended up at KFC for dinner

I ended up adding 9 towns in New Jersey and 17 in New York to my Places I've Been project, bringing me up to 599 total places. Not bad considering I only hit 500 on September 11th. 

All in all, I shot 1683 photos, the second most I've ever shot in a single day. After taking the Lighthouse Museum out for it's own album, and removing the blurry ones and other rejects, I ended up with 1278 photos in the album, which you can see HERE if you want to see the rest. Thanks for reading!