New York City

     When we turned into the Hudson River from the Atlantic, we could just barely see the skyline of Manhattan and it really was exciting.

     Both Art and I had been to New York before, but this was our first time seeing it from the water, or from any distance for that matter.  Usually, we find ourselves right in the middle of town looking up instead of getting the big view, as we did this time.  As we got closer, there was so much to see that I almost forgot to take pictures and many of the ones I did take were useless, so don't be too disappointed.
      Other than the skyline, our first real landmark was Coney Island, but I didn't do so well with this shot either.  It was a hazy day, but you can see the parachute drop and to the left of it, the Ferris Wheel.

Can you see Nathan's Hot Dog Stand?  Me neither.

     Our biggest anticipation was seeing the Statue of Liberty and here she is in all her glory:

     And right next to her is Ellis Island, but I couldn't get the whole place in one shot (we were too close!), so here is each half in the next two photos:

     At this point, we are right in the heart of town on the Hudson (right where Sully crash landed his plane last year) and there was so much going on, as well as so much to see.  We had been told that the ferries stopped for no man or vessel and to give them a wide berth unless we wanted to end our trip at the bottom of the river.  We gladly gave them the right of way, slowing down to let this one pass, and he roared right by.

The Staten Island Ferry

     As we got closer to the Manhattan high rise buildings, Art pointed out where the Trade Center towers once stood.  From the water, you can only see a few construction cranes working where they once stood and an obvious hole in the skyline.

The twin towers stood a little to the left of the dip in the center of the skyline.

Here's another view from a little farther away.

     As we continued up the river, we passed this cool railway station, and then came across these rather interesting tour boats:

This station started out as the Erie-Lakawanna Rail depot, but is now known as the Hoboken rail and ferry terminal, obviously on the New Jersey side of the Hudson.

Amazing what you can get a tourist to ride on.

     A little further up the river, we turned into our marina, which was on the New Jersey side because we wanted to look back at the New York skyline, and our view was toward the Empire State Building:

Can't you just picture Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan finding each other at the top?  The Chrysler Building is to the right with the pointy spire.

     Getting back to our marina, it was quite a place.  There were a lot of permanent boaters there who literally set up household on the docks.  Check out all the BBQ's, sinks and tables lining the pier:

This is a better shot of our marina with the New York skyline in the background.

     We arrived in New York on Memorial Day and that night, the Empire State Building was lit up in red, white and blue lights, a pretty neat thing to see:

     And even the next night, when they went back to the regular white lights, it still looked pretty good from the back of our boat:

     Obviously, New York is pretty impressive no matter where you look, and we were glad to have the opportunity to see the city from a new angle.  But after three days, we were ready to move on and head into the Hudson River Valley and a more rural setting.  That's next.