NYC, New Jersey '08

Its been a long time since I went anywhere or did anything other than working my two dead-end jobs and going to the gym every morning trying to get in shape. But things are not as grim as it often seems. Through my new job I was able to participate in a very neat event taking place under the Hudson River in the Lincoln Tunnel.

I was invited to attend the Lincoln Tunnel Challenge, a 5k (3.1 mile) event benefiting the Special Olympics of New Jersey. I had never done any such events before so in all honesty I had no idea what to expect, however I was very excited to participate in a charitable function and invited my sister and best friend to attend with me.

The plan for the event was to go to the Coach USA garage and take mass transit as was advertised on the event web site and highly recommended by the people from the company. However after getting home late the night before, being burned out and unable to get out of bed in time I overslept that opportunity.

Not to worry there was plenty of parking and after arriving in Weehawken in much less time than it would have taken if we were to take a bus, we were on our way to register in order to receive our numbered bibs and the timekeeper RFID chip. Shortly after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had the southern hole of the tunnel blocked off and we were walking towards the start finish line. My sister had just received a ticket from EZpass for going through the wrong lane on the GW bridge so I made sure to take a picture of her on foot at the EZpass toll booth... not paying the toll again, as usual! ugh...


I had been going to the gym every morning for the past few months so I had full intentions of running the entire length of the tunnel and back, but since it was crowded and my skater shoes made my feet hurt right away, a nice stroll through it was what my sister and I actually ended up doing. We took pictures throughout our walk, especialy at the dividing line between New York and New Jersey under the Hudson. My best friend though ran, and finished the challenge in half the time that we did, which was impressive. The tunnel itself, which was apparently cleaned before the event was quite dirty, the air in there was very stuffy but nevertheless it was all right. It surely provided for many great picture ops on both sides of the river, and the presence of all the NYC Grey Line sightseeing busses added to the ops available for us. I had never been on a double-decker bus before so it surely added to the memories.

I cannot wait to do this again next year!

New York City, NY in August 2007

Seems like forever since I last traveled and as ironic as this trip to Manhattan was over the course of the past few days, it was still enough for me to feel like I got away from the mundane life I've been living, or rather working my ass off...

The occasion appropriatately enough was my buddy visiting from Albaquerque, New Mexico. I've always offered folks a tour of NYC on the forums and finally someone took me up on that offer I guess, but we certainly had a blast.

First order of business was of course to get his Charger SRT8 out of the trailer and line it up with the New York City skyline for some fantastic early evening shots. One of my favorite spots along the Hudson River is actually on the Jersey side, well there are two of them separated by about a thousand foot cliff drop. So there we were at the new Port Imperial Ferry terminal when the things didn't go as planned. Luckily Arthur's Landing Restaurant was in the same parking lot so we simply brushed the problems off and had a relaxing dinner in an outdoor patio right on the water overlooking midtown Manhattan.


The following day I was up bright and early on my way, fighting rush hour traffic of course, to the Holiday Inn in Fort Lee to take my friends on the tour of the big island of Manhattan. First order of business was to hit Fifth Avenue for some upscale shopping. I took the scenic route of course following Park Avenue from its start on the Harlem River Drive all the way down through the Met Life building. It was neat to show my buddy the different neighborhoods of NY, starting in Harlem following the side of the aboveground Subway all the way until it goes down under and changing the outlook of the city from the Projects into some of the most expensive real estate in the entire boro. Right as we were about to go through the Met Life building and drive over 42nd street we saw a new NYPD Charger cross the street in front of us, for a Mopar fan my friend was impressed.


After a lengthy walk down Fifth Ave and a quick stop at Tiffany and Co, we headed down to the Empire State building via Times Square and past Radio City Music Hall. My friends ran up while I circled around in my Explorer and after a short wait we were back on the road. My friends were very impressed with the views from the observation deck high atop the Empire State building. I still have to do it one day... Its amazing how much us locals take for granted, I think I find it easier to take a trip to Los Angeles than going to New York City right under my nose.


The next order of business was very important, it was dinner time and my Italian amigo had only one place in mind Little Italy! So we headed downtown and found our way on to Mulbery Street. The cobble stone streets were a nice authentic reminder of the place we got to although the pot holes and uneven pavement took us on a rollercoaster in the freaking capital city of the world, I think Mayor Bloomberg should spend a lot more money on road construction because that was pathetic.


After a short walk in the center of Little Italy we grabbed a table at Da Nico Ristorante. The food was fantastic although as usual it took some time before the main courses found their way to the table. But it was great to see some fresh off the boat weighters working the tables with a very distinct and authentic Italian accent. Very impressive, considering since I haven't dinned in Little Italy (even though I've driven through there about a dozen times in the past few years) since I was on a high school field trip back in 1996.


As day turned into night the last stop on our tour was to hit the World Trade Center site so my friend can pay his respects. Surely no trip to the WTC would be complete without a quick detour through the Financial District and I found my way through parts of Wall Street to show them a glimpse of the Exchange building which was blocked off to traffic, and a nice view of the ass of the Bull as we went back towards Battery Park for a quick glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance. We spend some time at the World Trade Center and headed back to Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel.


Anybody from this area would surely know that taking the George Washington Bridge would be the one and only way to reach Fort Lee, but I had another trick up my sleave. Immediately after coming out of the tunnel, I showed my friend the views of the opening scenes of the Sopranos and quickly turned down onto JFK Blvd to show them my other favorite spot overlooking NYC skyline, the Hamilton park atop the cliffs in Weehawken. The views were breathtaking as cheesy as it sounds, its true. We snapped some shots, enjoyed the views and headed back to Paramus for a quick stop at a local Dodge dealer where we just had to take a peak under the hood of a Top Banana Yellow Daytona Charger for informational purposes obviously...


The following day my buddy followed my instructions to find his way to the Liberty State Park in Jersey City for a ferry to the Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I wanted to join him so bad but since I've taken so many vacations for travel before I had to cover other coworker's days off as she traveled to Mid America, go figure! Thats another place that I wish I would go to more often as I was on the Statue of Liberty last in 1996 on another high school trip. Although I am definitely one of the few civilians who can brag to have driven a vehicle onto the Ellis Island! Yep, its true, while the island is an island, obviously... there is an old military bridge that US Park Police use to get to the island where they have the command center for this National Monument.


Anyway, I should just follow my own preaching on the company web site and become a tourist for a day and explore the magnificent city right under my nose here instead of going thousands and thousands of miles away to Miami, Chicago or Las Vegas... although stay tuned there will be seven new flight segments coming up in the next two months.


Links:

NYC Visit
Statue of Liberty
Empire State Building
Little Italy
Chinatown
World Trade Center
Port Imperial Ferry
Arthur's Landing

Southern Maryland in May 2007

What could be better than making crazy memories on Memorial Day? Nothing, thats for sure. Especially if you're friends with the Speedycop. This time around I was glad to get an invite for an event that I could actually attend because all previous years I found myself at work putting in boring hours while everyone else was having fun with their families, well no more!

There wasn't much planning involved leading up to this trip, I didn't even get a chance to get my car washed, but I figured after 256 miles drive through several Mid-Atlantic states it would get dirty anyway. So on Monday morning May 28th I headed down the Garden State Parkway to Brandywine, Maryland. I met up with my buddy Vin in Central Jersey and we hit the New Jersey Turnpike all the way down.

The drive was event-less, knock on wood. I was the lead car and we cruised at 80mph without bothering anyone along, and without being bothered ourselves by the police. We got to Jeff's house an hour and a half before we planned to do so, but the fun started that much earlier for us than everyone else...

The first thing me and Vin experienced was just how crazy the Speedycop really is. We jumped in his newly aquired (just for the event mind you) Jeep Cherokee, and hit the trails in his back yard at full speed. I almost lost my glasses on that ride, bouncing around the rear seat. We were going so fast, into so many different directions over no particular road, hitting tree stumps, loose gravel, ditches and mudd, it was the most fun I've had in years.

Once everyone showed up for the BBQ and after a few burgers, we started our paint ball games. The first two teams of 5 went out on the huge redneck back yard, we had two Jeep Cherokee's now (one older Jeep Wagoneer was bought just that morning from Jeff's neighbor just for the event) that were modified just for this battle which included removing all rear windows so that the gunners can shoot out of the back and started playing bumper cars with full size vehicles, it was insane. I drove one of the Jeeps the first game as the other four guys manned the windows, one sat next to me shooting out of the passenger window, two guys behind me shot out of each side window and the guy in the middle covered the back. It was incredible to say the least until of course I found myself going full speed into the ditch, that wasn't fun at all because as soon as the truck stalled we started taking fire and one of the paint balls splattered all over the back of my head. Another kid, one of my own crazy gunners, tried to fire forward and hit my driver side mirror splattering the front of my mask as well. It was nuts!


Besides the offroading, four wheeling, and smashing up junked cars, there was also a huge swing for some amazing pendulum fun, test driving other people's modified cars and catching up with old time friends and some new faces from the Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland area... the Beltway Bandits, many of whom wear a badge for a living in the District of Columbia.


The following day I went home via Reagan Regional airport dropping off one of Jeff's buddies. The drive there was awesome and I was very impressed with the George Washington Parkway that follows the Potomac River on the Virginia side, it reminds me a lot of the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New York and New Jersey. I went into downtown D.C. to do a little sightseeing, but decided to head home as the traffic the day after Memorial Day was supposed to be real bad, sure enough it really was. I did get to see Marine 1 on the front lawn of the White House with the propeller on, I think GW was heading to New York City metropolitan area too, but his travel time was far shorter.


It took me nearly twice as much time to get home as it did to get down there, but it was cool nonetheless. The trip also almost paid for itself because I bought my dad some smokes at nearly half of what he spends locally so everyone was happy. I got to do this more often. The last time I think I was at Jeff's house is when I did a ride along with him in Washington D.C.

Be sure to check out video's from the event on YouTube:

- The video of me taking fire as I'm shooting.
- Vin's video of the Jeff Paint Ball Game

And check out Jeff's web site at: www.Speedycop.com

Atlantic City, NJ in April 2007

If there's one thing I'm known for its being spontaneous. And what better way to spend a cold spring evening than with a quick trip down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City. The stars aligned just right for this trip. It was totally unplanned, I heard about an opportunity, made a couple of phone calls and two hours later I was strolling down the Boardwalk, enjoying the breeze.

There's a lot more to this story than I'm willing to share but the bottom line is I was very much pampered on this last minute adventure. I met up with my uncle at the Borgata where he was staying for a convention, went out to eat at the Bobby Flay steakhouse and of course pigged out on some crab meat appetizer and a Philadelphia 42oz steak. Then we went for drinks at the Tropicana, and concluded the night with a relaxing walk on a completely empty Boardwalk.

I like Atlantic City. For what its worth, the place isn't all that but for me it brings memories. I started going to the casinos in AC at an early age. My father enjoyed drinking and gambling and I was the designated driver. I got my very first speeding ticket on the way to Atlantic City from a super tropper at the very last exit on the GSP before the AC Expressway. We also used to go there as a family on our way to Wildwood for a summer vacation. Recently though the trips are far and few inbetween so I was very happy to head out there even for one night.


This was also cool because just a few weeks back I was driving up and down the Las Vegas Blvd and the Strip in Las Vegas. Although I didn't check out any place in particular there it was neat to see where they got their ideas in Atlantic City, but of course on a much smaller scale. I do like however the atmosphere there and Borgata is by far one of my favorite places to stay at. I've stayed at the Showboat before and my father adored the Taj Mahal, but for me Borgata hits the spot. I guess since I'm not a gambler I only know it by the places within it, like the Old Homestead Steakhouse or the Metropolitan Bar and Grill where I had breakfast this morning before heading back to work. Everything just seems perfectly new and very lavish. I like that.

On the trip back I was trying to make up some time and almost paid dearly for it. The trooper that clocked me started pulling out very slowly as I approached him, naturally I slowed down when he started going after me but was relieved to see him pull over a white Firebird that apparently was going faster than I was. I need to do this kind of travel more often, and with summer on its way I'm sure I'll get a lot more chances in the near future.

Links:

Atlantic City Tourism

Borgata Casino & Resort

Atlantic City Convetion Center