Long Gone: The Great, the Not So Great, and the Empire State

-whew- What a crazy week! We faced the largest city in the United States, our first taxi ride, and a car accident--thankfully it was minor and no one was hurt, although our car is a little banged up...

But let's start at the beginning. After visiting some family in Ohio, we headed up to Niagara Falls for the 4th of July. We were expecting a grand fireworks display over the falls. The falls were pretty awesome, but the 4th festivities were pretty disappointing. Just a 10 minute fireworks display down the river put on by CANADA! Come on 'Murica. You can do better. Anyway, we still enjoyed seeing the falls and moved on toward Boston. After camping a couple nights on the way, we made it. We figured out the subway system pretty quickly and explored the Boston harbor and historic north end. Boston is definitely a diverse and exciting city and we all hope to return someday. The best part was getting to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (we had the coolest taxi driver ever take us there). The Red Sox beat the Marlins 4-3.

We left Boston the next morning and explored Cape Cod. Definitely a unique and interesting area! We climbed the Pilgrim's Tower in Provincetown for some amazing views.

As we started to make our way to New York through Connecticut, we literally "ran into" our first major problem of the trip. As we were driving down the interstate, traffic slowed quickly as we moved into New Haven. We couldn't slow down quickly enough, and neither could the 3 cars in front of us. We were on the end of a four-car fender-bender. The most important thing is that everyone was ok. Ace (our car) might need some help though. He still drives fine, but one of the air bags deployed and a seatbelt is locked. We're looking into options to get him fixed right now.

Once we realized there was no serious damage to the car, we decided to press on to New York City. It is definitely unlike anywhere else in the United States. We explored Times Square and Central Park, took the Staten Island Ferry, went to the top of the Rockefeller Center, and took in the best street music performances we've ever seen. It was definitely different with the crowds and noise, but the diversity and artistry in New York City definitely left us wanting more.

We're in Pennsylvania now visiting family and looking into options for the car. We could probably use some prayers for a relatively quick and inexpensive solution to make it safe to drive.

Hope you enjoy the pictures--thanks for following!