Julia and her Grandparents

Mark Brauer, Julia Brauer, Mary Brauer, Lynn Phelps, Glenn Phelps

We spent a nice, relaxing day with Lynn and Glenn.  Went to see Sing Sing prison (the outside) and went for several walks.  John, Nancy and Julia joined us for the afternoon.  It was wonderful to all be together.

Westchester-Putnam Bike Trail

Westchester-Putnam Bike Trail

We put the bikes on the car and drove north about 50 miles to Yorktown Heights and rode a beautiful paved bike trail.  It was mostly flat and shaded by tall trees.  It was really green, quiet and peaceful.  It had rained that morning and the moisture was still in the air.  We rode about 15 miles; 2-1/2 of them were on the road to the great little bar/restaurant we stopped at: Healy's Corner Bar.  They had Mark's favorite gluten-free beer, Estrella Daura, and made fried foods in a special fryer for people with Celiac Disease.  So we had chicken wings, french fries and nachos for lunch, accompanied by several beers.  Then road back to the car -- it was slightly downhill on the way back.

From there we drove to Lynn and Glenn Phelps home in Croton-on-Hudson.  We sat on the porch and watched a storm blow in, and then headed to White Plains for a dinner at Legal Seafoods.  We had wood-fire grilled fish.  On the way there and back, we had to take several detours because of tree branches down from the storm.  

We spent the night in their guest room.  It was the first quiet, comfortable night's sleep I've had since we've been out here.  It was wonderful.

Dan and Natalie's Summer Birthday Bash

Natalie and Dan have birthdays about one month apart, so they hold a birthday party for both of them in the park across the street from their apartment in Inwood.  They had a wonderful selection of beer and snacks, and offered Bocce and Frisbee for activities.  Mark and I met two of their friends (Dave and Tim) in Battery Park City and rode up the Hudson River Greenway from one end of Manhattan to the other.  The ride started out hot, and then got really windy as a storm blew in.  Around 125th Street, the trail was closed, so we had to ride on streets the rest of the way up to 218th Street.  There are some STEEP hills around there.  We also got rained on for awhile, but we pulled over under some trees so didn't get too wet.  It was a pretty grueling ride for me, but Mark says he wants to do it again before we leave.  Maybe if it isn't a hot, windy, stormy day ...?

Hot Hot Hot

105 degrees

So it's been a hot weekend.  This picture was taken in the garden of our apartment building on Friday, July 22 when it was 105 degrees.  It was quite the experience.  The wind was hot, and heat radiated from the sidewalks.  Friday morning, we rode our bikes to Liberty State Park and around the trails.  It was an 11 mile ride and it took us over an hour.  It was already 90 degrees by 10 a.m.

On Saturday, the forecast was for 100 degrees, so we decided it would be a good day for a museum.  We've been wanting to go to the Whitney for some time, so we took the PATH to World Trade Center and walked over a few blocks to catch the #4 Subway.  Well, it was packed with fans heading to the Yankees game in the Bronx!  Went to the Whitney -- some of the exhibitions were a bit too "out there" for my taste, but I liked the permanent collection.  Unfortunately, my knee was bothering me so we only stayed a little over an hour.

Then we headed down to Union Square to go to L'Annam, a Vietnamese restaurant that has a gluten-free menu.   Mark is the designated "stir fry" chef in our house, so it's a treat for him to have someone else make it!  Then we stopped at the Union Square Farmers Market and bought some fresh tomatoes -- YUM.  By this time (mid-afternoon) it was pretty darn hot in Manhattan, so we headed back to New Jersey for some rest and frozen margaritas.

John and Nancy's Sunday Social

Nancy, Julia and John Brauer

John and Nancy hosted a Sunday afternoon get-together at the local Jersey City Beer Garden, inviting friends and family to spend a relaxing afternoon together.  It was a beautiful (although a bit hot) afternoon.  Julia was in attendance, and Nancy's mom and dad were there, Dan and Natalie, and lots of John and Nancy's friends.  We had a really nice time visiting and drinking beer.  The women's World Cup game was on TV, and the place was packed!  Lots of excitement, although disappointment at the loss.  We are really enjoying the opportunity to spend quality time with our family while we are out here for the summer.

Date Night

Enjoying an evening in High Line Park in Manhattan

We went to Manhattan on a Saturday night.  We took the PATH to 33rd and walked over to 30th Street and 10th Avenue, the end of the new section of the High Line Park.  This is a fabulous urban park that was developed over the last several years on an abandoned raised railway platform that runs along the west side of lower Manhattan.  We have been to "Section One" several times during past visits, but "Section Two" just opened a few weeks ago.  It's a wonderful example of landscaping that incorporates the urban environment.  It's immensely popular.

After walking the High Line, we walked over to Risotteria in the Village.  John had given Mark a gift certificate for this restaurant.  They specialize in gluten-free Italian fare.  We had a wonderful meal, and then headed to a nearby park to sit on a park bench and enjoy the evening.  New York knows how to do parks right -- you never have to walk more than a couple of blocks to find a spot of greenery with benches and usually one or more sculpture.

Queens for a Day

         Oops!

Wrong pictures!

Here's what I meant to post:

Flushing Meadows Park


(Site of 1939 and 1964 Worlds Fairs)





Today we took the subway to Flushing Meadows in Queens.  This is where Citi Field (Mets) is located, as well as the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (U.S. Open).  Flushing Meadows Park (and the adjacent Corona Park) is large park that includes sculptures, a museum, soccer fields, pitch-and-putt golf course, an art museum, and a fantastic science center and playground.  We spent a couple of hours walking through the parks.  There were a couple of really interesting exhibits at the museum:  one was a "panorama" of New York (all five boroughs) that was created for the 1964 Worlds Fair.  It was a 3-D model of the city, and it took up an entire room; there was an elevated walkway all around it so that you could view it from all sides. See it HERE.  The other interesting exhibit showed the watersheds for the New York area (also a large 3-D model.)

Then we headed over to the Corona neighborhood of Queens to get an Italian ice from the Lemon Ice King.  (I had lime and Mark had banana/strawberry, with real bits of fruit.)  We sat in the shade in an adjacent park and ate our ices.  Then we hopped on a city bus and went to Chinatown in Queens.  This Chinatown is huge, second largest in the U.S. (San Francisco is the largest).  It was like we were transported to another country.  Bustling sidewalks, Chinese signs, Chinese being spoken almost exclusively by those there, unusual sites and smells.  We didn't stay very long because we had been walking a lot already that day.  Took the subway back to Manhattan.  It's not really a subway as most of it is above ground, giving us a chance to see other neighborhoods in Queens.