Vacation 2013-MA-NYC-NJ

OK, so the first week of the semester has come and gone, and life has gotten busier.  Cliff noticed the effects of this in the fact that I hadn't continued with the vacation posts for over a week.  So, in an effort to get back on the horse, here we go!

After we left Lake Winnipesaukee, we headed down to Massachusetts to visit our friends Gary & Jenna.  Gary and Cliff came to Georgia College as new faculty at the same time, and we spent time hanging out with him and Jenna our first year in GA.  However, both Gary and Jenna ended up with new jobs in New England the following year, so we hadn't seen them since they left.  It was good to see their new home and visit with them.

We started our visit with lunch at the house, followed by a brief, but rugged hike through Purgatory Chasm.  Nathan in particular loved the challenge of climbing up and down the rocks.

After our hike, we went to a local park that had both a lake and 3 water slides, along with plenty of picnic tables in a big, shaded grassy area.  Both kids tried their first water slide experience.  Nathan did OK, but was happier to hang out in the lake.  Laura, however, could not get back up to the top of the slide soon enough after coming down.  Like her mom, she was hooked instantly on water slides!

After the water fun, we went out to a nice dinner together before calling it a night.  The kids thought it was cool that Gary & Jenna set up their tent in the basement so they could "camp" in the house.

Dinner out at Zorba's.

The next day, we were off once again.  We headed down into the greater NYC area and made our way to Liberty State Park in Jersey City.  There, we had a great view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty.  The kids enjoyed getting to see these things for the first time despite the scorching heat that day.

Lady Liberty!

Manhattan skyline.

Hot and hazy, but you can make out the Empire State Building in the middle.

Brooklyn Bridge

After our brief NYC pit stop, we headed to our hotel stop in central New Jersey to prepare for an evening at Six Flags Great Adventure.  Since this park is so big, we decided to do some of it in the evening, and then go back and do the rest the next day.

Dinner at BK before Six Flags Great Adventure.

Ready for Six Flags fun!

We went back to Six Flags the next day.  The bad news: it was over 100 degrees out.  The good news: no one wanted to be out in the heat, so we had almost no lines to wait in all day.

Enjoying having the kiddie rides all to themselves.

Six Flags lunch break in AIR CONDITIONING!

Six Flags sea otter show.

Six Flags sea lion show.

One more photo op before hitting the road.

Around dinner time, we hit the road to get a few hours in before our long day of driving south the next day.  Great Adventure is a great park with lots and lots of family friendly rides.  Despite the heat, we had a blast!

Post-Six Flags exhaustion.

One more leg to go!  Hopefully, it won't take me over a week to post it this time!

Gina