East Coast Days #14 & 15 - Atlantic City, NJ & NYC

We finished off our trip with a short trip to the Jersey Shore...mostly because we love walking along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. It's one of the best places to run- cool ocean breezes, wide enough to run without having to dodge people, and because it's actually made of real wood- easy on the rickety knees. Perhaps this is why I flaked out on 3 out of the 4 designated run days on our trip-

NYC - "I'm having way too much fun! No way am I spending a third of my day running!"
Scranton, PA - "I'm coughing and too congested. Better take it easy."
Amish Country - "Eh. No reason. Just lazy."

I finally ran out of excuses on our last full day on the trip and managed to crank out...wait for it...a whole four miles. Four whole miles over 15 days. Very impressive self discipline. But aside from failing to do 75% of my runs, we had a fabulous end to our trip. We drove 90 minutes from downtown Philly over to Atlantic City and checked into a gorgeous hotel on the water (I will gloss over the fact that we left Ryan's blanket at the hotel in PA and then drove back to get it the next day on the way back to NYC...because that's crazy). ;-)

Loving the ceilings of the Showboat Casino (where we stayed)...which was right next door to...Trump's Taj Mahal. Ugh.

This picture doesn't reflect it...but the glass ceilings reminded me of Italian Murano glass. Gorgeous.

Cruising the boardwalk

Checking out the soothing shoreline

Hunting for seashells

After getting up early to take turns running, we drove back to NYC ($12 in tolls, $13 to cross the bridge onto Staten Island...all for a 90 min. drive!) so we could enjoy our final evening on vacation in the city. We each chose our favorite least meals- Rich had more lobster bisque from the Soup Nazi, while I opted for my third round of Chipotle. ;-) And we ended our last day there the way we started our trip- at a park. Central Park to be exact. My happy place.

Our hotel was only 3 miles from JFK...right on the water (this was the view from our room) in Brooklyn.

Jerry Seinfeld was not kidding. You don't mess around with the Soup Nazi. 

Saying goodbye to Central Park for awhile...

The 10-hour flight between Honolulu and NYC is always a bit brutal (though no one makes a flight as pleasant as Hawaiian Airlines), but I'm already dreaming of a return. I've been trying for years to persuade Rich to take a sabbatical so we can live there (he's not as keen). It probably didn't help that while we were there, we found out that the Tsarnarev brothers were headed to Times Square from Boston with 6 more bombs when they got caught. NYC to me, pulsates with amazing energy, but post 9/11, also has that element of danger (which is why we're here, and not there with our little boy) that leaves you just a little bit unsettled in heavily populated areas. Still, the city captured my heart years ago like no other, and I can never get it completely out of my mind. So someday...someday. :-)

Huge thanks to the baby daddy for driving us all over the place to fulfill his wife and child's every whimsy...to Ryan for always being a such a patient and happy travel partner, to my parents for holding down the fort, and to the universe/God for getting us there safely and back. I have much to be thankful for.