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On the way back to Garner from NYC/NJ, I decided to stop for a bit of a break at the newest branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum that is located next to Washington's Dulles International Airport (IAD). For me, there were a few stars of the show like the Enola Gay (Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima), Lockhee'ds famous SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft 17972 produced at the Skunk Works…

The weather has taken a turn for the dreadful compared to the past few days which have been glorious VFR (visual flight rules). Mind you, it wasn't quite as depressing as Batman's Gotham but you can certainly see how Bob Kane was inspired to make his fictional Gotham a dreary place. As a result, most of today was spent being a bit more subterranean and wandering about on the subway with occasional forays to the…

After doing the lap around Manhattan, the next point of interest was Rockefeller Centre, particularly the observation deck dubbed the "Top of the Rock". The observation deck on the 70th floor allows a full 360-degree view round the building that is just plain stunning. If you look carefully, you'll be able to catch planes landing and departing from LaGuardia (LGA) and John F Kennedy (JFK) airports. My favourite views are of Central Park and the…

After a nice night's sleep thanks to utter exhaustion, today's adventure would start by hopping a train back to Penn Station and work my way over to the Circle Line Tour pier on the Hudson River right at the end of W 42nd Street. This involved a subway and transfer to the bus but thanks to my trial run the night before and a much better subway map, this mass transit journey went much smoother!…

I rolled into New Brunswick NJ round 1900 and got checked into the hotel after the long drive of lighthouse hopping. But I had a mission to complete to get my attractions pass from the Planet Hollywood in Times Square and that meant taking a train from New Brunswick to Penn Station right in the heart of Manhattan. The first leg of the journey was relatively painless...depending on which train you take with NJ Transit,…

Having completed the set of lighthouses that adorn the North Carolina Coast from Oak Island and Old Baldy all the way north to Currituck in the Outer Banks, it was time to go walkabout to collect some more lighthouses on the way to the hotel in New Brunswick NJ where I'd be staying for a few days of wandering about in NYC. Our journey starts in Norfolk VA where I stayed overnight to ensure that…