New Jersey

The pose.

 In the dunes, between the boardwalk

 and beach, just south of Atlantic City.

Gateway National Recreation Area-Sandy Hook Unit.

http://www.nps.gov/gate/index.htm

Climbing the last 9 steps up the ladder to the light.

The Sandy Hood Light has been in

 continuous use for over 250 years.

After a picnic lunch, a short stroll on the beach, 

NYC in background.

Just down the shore from Gateway NRA is a location used by

 seven presidents to escape the summer DC heat.

 (Grant, Garfield, Arthur, B. Harrison, McKinley, Hayes, and Wilson)

Garfield recovered from an assassin's bullet here.

We also visited the "Church of the Presidents" in Long Branch.

To our surprise and good luck, friends Margie and Dean Loveland 

were in our Thousand Trails RV park when we arrived. 

 They are native to and very knowledgeable of the area. 

 They were a great help with our broken fridge, 

supplying ice, freezer space, and info. 

 Dean is a great pickleball player and took

 Dennis with him several days to challenge matches in Ocean City.

THANKS!

After a morning on the boardwalk and on the pickleball courts,

 we enjoyed a local joint for a seafood feast.  

There are always chores to do--but alas,

 I had to take the motor home to a 

dealer to get the fridge fixed. 

 Fortunately, it was under warranty!

A great display of the wildlife in the area of the

Great Egg Harbor River National Wild and Scenic River.

http://www.nps.gov/greg/index.htm

A wild and Scenic National River.

http://www.rivers.gov/rivers/maurice.php

On a lake created by damming the 

Great Egg Harbor River near Mays Landing.

The above rivers are inside the Pinelands National Reserve.

http://www.nps.gov/pine/index.htm

We took a short hike around a lake in the Pinelands 

to view carnivorous plants.

Here is the Round-leaved Sundew.  

This Pitcher Plant and the Sundew were not doing enough,

 because Judy's legs were more bug-bitten 

than the bugs were plant-bitten!

After the fridge was fixed promptly 

(in at 8 and back on the road at 10.  

thanks, http://www.scottmotorcoach.com/)

 we  drove to Morristown and 

visited the first National Historical Park.

This beautiful building was built in 1935 as a museum 

and monument to the winter of 1779 encampment.

http://www.nps.gov/morr/index.htm

Washington wintered here, with Martha, in the 

worst winter (1779-80) on record.  

The troops stayed about 5 miles from this mansion.

Another presidential and National Park site.   

With the fridge fixed, a good night's sleep,

and icewater in tow, we headed from a parking spot

 to visit a couple of National Park sites.

Patterson Great Falls NHP is the place where 

Alexander Hamilton envisioned an independent America.  

That America must manufacture its own goods. 

 This place of water power provided that 

beginning well before the Revolutionary War. 

The Patterson Great Falls.

Between the two National Park sites (in Caldwell, NJ) above and

below sits the birthplace of Grover Cleveland.

We had a great tour of the building and 

grounds by a very knowledgeable historian. 

Cleveland was our 22nd and 24th president.  

We also visited the re-constructed church of his father.

West Orange was our next stop, and a visit to Thomas Edison NHP.

 What an amazing and enlightening tour! 

 We also enjoyed a phonograph demonstration, 

a walk through the plants, 

and a visit to the Edison ground and mansion.

In one of the plants.

  Although nearly deaf, Edison chose all of the music to be recorded! 

 His machines, although better than the competition's, eventually failed.

  Two reasons--Edison did not like jazz (very popular at the time)

 and his recordings were played at 80 RPM's.  

Victrola and others standardized.

  

Visiting the Edison mansion.

We could live here! 

Florida to New York City Wedding

Augusta Canal National Heritage area.

 With the building of the canal, Augusta, GA, became

 a manufacturing city of the south.  

During the Civil War,

 (or as some of my southern friends call it, 

The War of Northern Aggression) 

the plants supplied the Confederates with arms and ammunition.

http://www.nps.gov/auca/index.htm

 Woodrow Wilson's boyhood home in Augusta.

Woodrow was friends with next door neighbor, Joseph R. Lamar,

 who was later appointed to the Supreme Court by W.H. Taft.

On to our Thousand Trails Park on Hartwell Lake and

  the Georgia border, but in South Carolina.

We enjoyed a short hike to the base of Twin Falls

 in the Blue Ridge foothills.

And a longer hike to the top of Twin Falls.

In Dover at the Capitol building and on the 

grounds of the First State National Monument.

http://www.nps.gov/frst/index.htm

 New Castle, DE, is where William Penn landed in the "colonies".  

It became the first Capitol of the first State. 

 The building was also used as a court 

and a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The New Castle Capitol Complex in 

the First State National Monument.

After a 3 hour drive, we arrived in the city.  

This is the view from our hotel roof garden.

We took an afternoon/evening stroll on Broadway.

One of our National Park visits in the city. 

 When we arrived at our hotel we learned that our good friend,

 Jim, had been hospitalized with a tick related disease. 

 He is OK, but that left us with lots of time to tour. 

http://www.nps.gov/thrb/index.htm

The next morning we took the subway to South Ferry

 to begin a very long day of sight seeing.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are in the background.  

We have visited each before, so a few

pictures and short visit were in order.

http://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm

Castle Clinton (New York Harbor defense) National Monument.

http://www.nps.gov/cacl/index.htm

The Immigrants.

Stone Street, where on July 9, 1776, 

the Declaration of Independence was read

 and King George's statue was toppled at nearby Bowling Green.

Federal Hall National Memorial, where George Washington 

was sworn in as our first President.

http://www.nps.gov/feha/index.htm

Root Sculpture of sycamore tree that helped protect

 Trinity Church on 9/11. 

It is near the Twin Towers.

Alexander Hamilton is buried here.

(Our first US Treasurer and the man on the 10 dollar bill.) 

Walking toward the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Memorial.

www.911memorial.org

The Memorial.

Make shift memorial in St. Paul's Chapel, where several first 

responders took refuge and rested before another shift.

One last stop before lunch, subway ride, and a nap.  

This great urban archeological site is the location 

of as many as 5000 Africans.

http://www.nps.gov/afbg/index.htm

Another subway ride gets us to a late 

afternoon walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

On one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world.

1875.  The Manhatten Bridge is in the background.

Another day and we are passing through Columbia University.

A beautiful walk.

General Grant National Memorial.  

The largest tomb in the country.

http://www.nps.gov/gegr/index.htm

A long walk in Riverside Park and up the hill into Harlem, 

gets us to Hamilton Grange National Memorial. 

 We visited on the 210th anniversary

 of Alexander Hamilton's death here.

  One of the most famous personal conflicts in American history,

 the Burr–Hamilton duel arose from a long-standing

 political and personal bitterness that had developed 

between the two men over the course of several years.

 Tensions reached a boiling point with Hamilton's journalistic

 defamation of Burr's character during the

 1804 New York gubernatorial race in which Burr was a candidate. 

 The sitting vice President (Burr) and the ex Secretary of the Treasure (Hamilton) shot it out!

http://www.nps.gov/hagr/index.htm

We also enjoyed a walk through the City College Campus.

A limo ride to the wedding.

At Summit Rock with Maya. 

(Ring Bearer and Groom's Niece)

Janine Catherine Desiderio and James Matthew Turner,

 taking their vows. 

Summit Rock is the highest point in Central Park, so the pose!

http://www.centralparknyc.org/

And a copy with Maya.  

Janine and Jim in one last photo in the park.

The ride to the reception.  

Jim and Lynda (proud mom).

Sunday brunch with both sides of the families.  

Here is Jim with his nephew, Sebastian, Maya's brother.

Janine gets her turn, too.