The Arrival

Arriving in Newark was a breeze. However renting a car - not so much. It seems that Corporate America has moved away from getting the sale and customer to doing absolutely whatever it takes to make it EASIER for them.

Our day started with the Budget Rental Car counter, to which we had a reservation 1 week plus 2 days, for approx $300. GREAT DEAL! Think again. To start, DEBIT = not accepted. CASH = "what's that we don't take cash". Oh my goodness. What is corporate America coming to when the U.S. Dollar is no longer acceptable. What makes the difference between Visa Debit and Visa? You get my money right then, right now vs. a charge card I can dispute and get the charges reversed.

So moving on, we are told that only two other rental agencies accept debit. One was almost twice as much as our reservation and the other, hold your pants, $1014. Yes, it is true.



DAY ONE: Leaving the dreadful taste of Newark's Car Rentals behind us- we begin our journey!



Moving on to a fun and event-filled week, we headed from Newark straight to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island.




Richard has been battling Vertigo and oddly enough the ferry rides were not as bothersome as we anticipated. The weather was beautiful and Lady Liberty was simply breathtaking. Monument passes and Crown passes were already sold out when we got there but the park was a great experience. We had lunch at the Liberty Park. I was expecting it to be high priced but we had a child's all organic chicken tender meal with organic french fries and organic juice for $5.25. Very affordable and everyone enjoyed. We boarded the Jersey bound ferry again and headed back to the port. It was an great experience.

From there we headed to Queens/East Elmhurst to our hotel. Traffic was not nearly as aggressive as we anticipated but it took us over an hour to go less than 25 miles. It was a bit crazy but not aggravating so that made it a pleasant road trip. Bryce was fantastic. Not being able to run about or be silly was tough for him however, he was a joy to be with during the grid lock.

For dinner we headed back over to Brooklyn to Grimaldi's Famous Pizzeria. We waited in line under the Brooklyn Bridge for about 30 minutes before we were seated in this TINY restaurant. Loud and packed we began to worry about our decision but after ordering a large (16") pizza with pepperoni and 3 cokes we DEVOURED every bite. 3 for Richard, 3 for me, and 2 for Bryce-a-roni.





Our full bellies walked the boardwalk under the Brooklyn Bridge where Bryce and Richard proceeded to eat an ice cream cup from a local creamery as we took pictures of the city lite up against the water. It truly seems like a different world here in New York.