Catskill Mountains and New York pt 1

The last week we spent in two fairly magnificent state parks - the Adirondacks and the Catskill Mountains (points for the cool park name there). Both of these are in New York State. The Catskills is quite the remote place, and we saw heaps of deer and even another bear crossing the road. Very peaceful places, although at one stage our GPS sent us on a dirt road over a mountain for 6km, the dodgiest 6km of driving you'd ever want to do in a 3,000kg campervan (we passed a 4WD on the one lane road). Well, we made it at any rate. Lucky as well, because just 150km later we sputtered into Poughkeepsie, the town we planned on taking the train to NY from. So the campervan is spending some quality time with a mechanic while we are in New York.
We've been here for 24 hours so far, and it's a super-busy place. We are staying on Manhattan, up near the northern part of Central Park. We've already taken the ferry to Liberty and Ellis islands (to see the Statue of Liberty).

We took the elevator to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. The view up there was pretty great, but if it wasn't kind of raining and completely cloudy, we think it probably would have been better.



One of the views from the top of the Empire State building.






We wandered around the bright Times Square as well.







Today Dave and Mel decided to go their separate ways and discover different sections of NYC. Mel went on a theatrical 'experience' called The Accomplice. I can't say too much about it (it kind of ruins it if you know too much about it), but lets just say that it is a Mafia-inspired trek through the streets of New York, where participants are introduced to a number of shady characters - and a frog. Mel had a great time and even managed to see a few sights through the clouds. Dave embarked on a massive walk from the South St Seaport all the way back to our hotel - a three hour journey which left him tired, but well acquainted with the city.
Tomorrow brings more shopping. Mel is planning on visiting the big stores - Macy's, JC Penney and Bloomingdales. When in Rome... In the afternoon we are going to meet up with a friend of Mel's from high school (hi Jess!) and then we're heading to the theatre to see 'Avenue Q'. Woo hoo! Here's hoping the New York weather improves so that we can see more of the city.