Anyone watch Christmas movies? How many of you know FAO Schwartz? What about ice skating at Rockefeller Center? The Macy's Windows? I keep travel alerts on Trip Advisor so when air fare gets ridiculous to my choices I can book tickets cheap. We booked three of us from Denver to New York for under $550! Months ago.
New York at Christmas time! What a dream. So shortly after Europe I wasn't sure until two weeks out if we would go at all. So much to catch up on work wise. Then we learned we'd only get $50 on our non refundable tickets if we cancelled, so we made it work after all. I felt like a kid in a candy shop with a $50 dollar bill. Richard couldn't stop talking about his childhood home in New Jersey that we also planned to visit.
First, where to stay? We priced hotels. NOT. Turns out the every day high prices are twice that in December for the very reason we were going. It's full. New York is FULL in December. So we went to plan B. Friends had recommended JetSetter.com and airbnb.com. We tried both. Best results were on Airbnb. We were able to search with a map and pinpoint the area we wanted to stay. The second place Richard found was PERFECT! He found a tiny one bedroom apartment in the lower eastside, near Little Italy and a subway line and walking distance to the infamous Katz's Deli, where the famous scene in "When Harry met Sally" was filmed. The "I'll have what SHE's having" scene. There was a couch for Nicho to sleep on too.
This was also a chance for Richard to revisit his childhood home. He had a near idyllic childhood in an ancient home from the 1700's sitting right next to tiny "Fayson Lakes" in New Jersey. They swam non stop all summer, and skied all winter long. Imagine a school bus taking you daily up to the slopes. Sure they were small hills, but still, what a life!
We landed at La Guardia at night and looked for a place for dinner. The Buccanneer looked like the spot. Later Richard said "How did you pick it?", and I shared my travel warrior secret, you look for a packed parking lot with nicer cars. This was so perfectly New York. The diner was well lit, had an extensive menu and included a wise cracking waitress who didn't hesitate to tell Richard where he should put his iPad during dinner! Ahhh, New York! Or in this case, Queens! We then drove through the city to get the full effect on our way out to New Jersey.
Unfortunately, the tunnels were still being pumped out after Hurricane Sandy and only half the lanes were open so it took us awhile to get to Kennelon. It's near Parsipanny. We couldn't see much at night, so we left quickly and booked it to our hotel 10 miles away.
The next morning Richard and Nicho went in search of breakfast, we had slept beyond our hotel freebie and what a blessing that turned out to be! They came back with the best darn bagel, lox and cream cheese I had ever had. Nicho commented that the bagel was "chewy" and we explained THAT'S how they are SUPPOSED to be. His first "real" bagel.
Then onto Kennelon. Richard had a hard time recognizing roads. Much had changed and he was very chagrined to determine it had been between 15 and 20 years since he'd been back. There'd been a reunion some years ago but he had not attended. The "big deli" and the "little deli" were identified for us, and he showed Nicho the path they'd run along to go pick things up at the "little deli" for his mom when they were younger. The hill they'd sledded down to end slipping out onto the ice on the lake. The starting blocks for the swim lanes on the lake. And most importantly, the house! And it's a lovey house. We have an oil painting of it in our own house. One of the trees in the painting is gone now. Richard recalled the two 90 year old siblings who had come to visit once when Richard had lived there, saying "That's my tree, and that's yours!". Time does pass.
It was reassuring that there was a yellow lab up on the porch. That warmed Richard's heart. It's his favorite breed of dog. The house has it's own historical marker, it was truly built in the 1700's and had a stream of water running through the basement. In Indian attacks they could barricade and survive because of that stream. In more recent years it's been covered up. The water wasn't safe to drink anymore.
Richard said those oft repeated words when going "home"; "It's smaller than I remembered it"! The painting makes it look larger than life. And that's how it was for those who lived there. It was the gathering place, so near to the beach that it made all the sense in the world to be the party house. And the 60's were pretty much "party years" for so many people, including Fayson Lakes. At least one party goer was found asleep in a snow bank, thankfully discovered before freezing to death. And no drownings that anyone in the family can recall.
Once a year they were all allowed to swim across the lake to the "little beach" on the other side. With the help of the only motorized boat allowed, the lifeguard boat, dozens of kids would take to the water and swim a quarter mile out to the other side. They camped on the shores overnight. Richard recalled one time when his parents let he and his brother Lee camp overnight on the island in the middle. Lee had a row boat and Richard had a small sail boat.
Fortunately for Fayson Lakes, being banned from the beach was enough of a horror to keep those kids in line. There's a marker now for the wonderful woman who spent 40 years of her life checking those kids' ID badges, she passed away a decade ago but is still fondly remembered by Fayson Lakes.
All that took reminiscing took about two hours. Then we had three more hours to kill before dinner with a childhood friend. I asked Richard what there was to do and he realized a) Fayson Lakes is paradise for kids and b) there is not much to Kinnelon. We hung out at the "mall". Very loosely used term here, it included a karate studio, pizza parlor, hair salon and grocery store. That was about 30 minutes, including the pizza lunch. Then he asked how long to get to the ski resort, expecting we could squeak it into 3 hours round trip.
He was shocked when I discovered it's a mere 38 minute drive! To his 12 year old self he was sure it was at least an hour. So we drove up there and looked at the runs he learned to carve on. Then back for dinner with his friend and our final night in Jersey. Next stop, New York!
We were in heaven. The lovely young woman who owned the place met us at the apartment and let us dump our bags early. She walked us through everything and was a fabulous host. Airbnb allows you to rent your own space out and she was taking advantage of her trip to Puerto Rico to make a few bucks over the holidays.
Day one was all about Nicho. We headed to FAO Schwartz but bumped into Rockefeller Center, the tree, the ice skating rink and the enormous LEGO store! Perfect start to our trip.
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