(Jenn) We had about half of the day free on Saturday and were DYING to get out of the house, so we hopped in the car in the afternoon and headed to Staten Island. It was about a 45 minute drive from our house to the east side of the island -- a pretty reasonable distance for a short trip. Staten Island is one of New York City's five boroughs (along with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx), so I guess I was kind of expecting it to look a little like the other parts of New York City. At least I was expecting it to look like an East Coast town where lots of NYC commuters would live. Ben and I were both shocked with what we found when we drove onto the island: we felt like we had been magically transported to California, minus the palm trees. Seriously, it was a little bit eerie how "West Coast" it felt -- probably mostly due to the wide roads, strip malls, large parking lots for lots of chain stores, and the fact that nothing was older than 50 years old. Most of the houses and apartments looked like they were built in 1980 or later. Also, when we looked at the people around us, we didn't feel like they wanted to hurt us! I guess this is not too unusual, but it just wasn't what we were expecting when we entered the 5th borough of NYC.
We were happy we went though, and it was a pleasant place to spend a Saturday afternoon. We spent most of our time on the boardwalk and the beach. Henry got to play in the water and sand (in his diaper because we weren't actually planning on swimming, so we weren't prepared). He loved getting splashed by the "wabes" and throwing rocks into the water. We left in time to stop at Carrabba's, our favorite Italian restaurant, before heading back to New Jersey. Carrabba's is actually the reason we chose to try Staten Island for the day -- S.I. is our closest Carrabba's location, and we're willing to travel great distances for that food! It was well worth the journey, by the way (side note: I over-ate by a few bites and felt no gall-bladder pain, yet another reason to rejoice!). Henry was also really happy at the restaurant because our waiter brought him a ball of pizza dough to play with while we waited for our food (a genius idea).
(Jenn) We had about half of the day free on Saturday and were DYING to get out of the house, so we hopped in the car in the afternoon and headed to Staten Island. It was about a 45 minute drive from our house to the east side of the island -- a pretty reasonable distance for a short trip. Staten Island is one of New York City's five boroughs (along with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx), so I guess I was kind of expecting it to look a little like the other parts of New York City. At least I was expecting it to look like an East Coast town where lots of NYC commuters would live. Ben and I were both shocked with what we found when we drove onto the island: we felt like we had been magically transported to California, minus the palm trees. Seriously, it was a little bit eerie how "West Coast" it felt -- probably mostly due to the wide roads, strip malls, large parking lots for lots of chain stores, and the fact that nothing was older than 50 years old. Most of the houses and apartments looked like they were built in 1980 or later. Also, when we looked at the people around us, we didn't feel like they wanted to hurt us! I guess this is not too unusual, but it just wasn't what we were expecting when we entered the 5th borough of NYC.
We were happy we went though, and it was a pleasant place to spend a Saturday afternoon. We spent most of our time on the boardwalk and the beach. Henry got to play in the water and sand (in his diaper because we weren't actually planning on swimming, so we weren't prepared). He loved getting splashed by the "wabes" and throwing rocks into the water. We left in time to stop at Carrabba's, our favorite Italian restaurant, before heading back to New Jersey. Carrabba's is actually the reason we chose to try Staten Island for the day -- S.I. is our closest Carrabba's location, and we're willing to travel great distances for that food! It was well worth the journey, by the way (side note: I over-ate by a few bites and felt no gall-bladder pain, yet another reason to rejoice!). Henry was also really happy at the restaurant because our waiter brought him a ball of pizza dough to play with while we waited for our food (a genius idea).
1 comment:
Your blog is darling and so is Henry. I love the video clips! Your life seems super exciting in New Jersey. It's fun to hear how you guys are doing. We will have to get together, when we are both in town, so you can officially meet Benjamin.
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