New York - here we come again,,,

First day in NYC. Arrived at 5 am at Newark Airport and it took us almost until 8 am to get to our apartment in Harlem by public transport. After unpacking (what a relief to stay at the same place for a week instead of constantly moving around!) and a short nap we went out again for our first appointment: a tour at Barclays Center, the Brooklyn basketball stadium (left and below). 

Before the tour we were well taken care of at Love & Honey Fried Chicken, a new little restaurant we had to check out. It was delicious! Freshly fried, crispy chicken of all kinds with a variety of dipping saucees and tater tots.

 

Below the stadium from different perspectives. The Brooklyn Nets (NBA) as well as the (more successful) Liberty (WNBA - women) are playing in the stadium, plus, there are all kinds of events taking place, concerts, boxing, Disney on Ice, etc. We had a private tour and got to see all the fancy club rooms (who would have guessed that they have a wine cellar and velvet wall covering?).

Isn't it fancy?

The new "Modelo Bridge" - a combination of four bridges in NYC and used as another club:

Being in downtown Brooklyn already, we decided - considering the sunny, warm weather - to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. It was sure crowded, vendors everywhere,,,

Top level for pedestrians, next one for bikes and underneith the car lanes. Right photo: sort of a shrine on the bridge.

Above: View towards Midtown with Empir State Building, Hudson Yards and Chrysler Building.

We continued on to the World Trade Center Site, where on Sept. 11th the 25th anniversary took place.

9/11 Museum (left) and footprint with name plaques and waterfall below.

F

Bidding Farewell to the "Wild West"

1638 mi /2636 km driven in total in 12 days in our KIA Soul Mini-SUV. Considering that we only drive around 5,000 km in a full year at home, quite a distance! Returned the car on Monday evening after another full day of exploring and driving. Car had been okay, in this smaller category there is at least not always something beeping and talking to you,,, for other road conditions/weather, we would have taken a rental car a bit larger.

When we left Hot Springs in the morning, clouds hung low, it wasn't too warm, but roads were straight, traffic light and landscapes great all the way through North Dakota into Nebraska. Landscape changed in Western Nebraska which known for its vast grasslands and - approaching Scottsbluff - for the Scotts Bluff National Monument - a 800 ft high landmark along the North Platte River that served as a natural marker for 19th-century settlers traveling the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express trails. We explored the region extensively in 2022 (see: http://travelingtramps.blogspot.com/2022/10/unknown-gems-in-western-nebraska.html), but wanted to at least pass by again.

On we drove into Wyoming and to Cheyenne, the Capital of the State, famous for its Cheyenne Frontier Days, held annually since 1897, the world's largest outdoor rodeo and called "The Daddy of 'em All". Still on our bucket list! Furtheron, there is the Cheyenne Depot (photo) and the Wrangler Western Wear store among other attractions in town which we had seen already. Stretching our legs we strolled through downtown, drank a cup of coffee in the Depot and watched the endlessly long freight trains there. 

Next: Into Colorado and approaching the Rockies again. In Fort Collins we stopped for a stroll, too, and checked the downtown area. Since it's a college town there are many nice little local shops, cafés, restaurants and bars. And, last but not least, some breweries like New Belgium and Odells as the bigger ones.

Even before we reached Fort Collins, traffic became denser and when we departed we had partly stop & go and slow moving traffic in the late afternoon. Only about 1.5 hours to drive to the Denver Airport, but we still had to fill up the tank before. Arrived around 6 pm at the rental car station and the rest was easy. Only departed at midnight (pic below shows DEN Airport), on time, which gave me time to catch up with this blog and with the photos. 

We flew on a "red-eye", 3 hours only, but 2 hours time difference to NYC. The plane was packed, but, for a change, we lucked out and one of the two seats which stayed empty, was our center seat!!! 

Nevertheless, the flight was too short to nap, and, touch down in EWR (Newark) was at 5 am. Luggage arrived quickly, the trip by bus, train and subway into town took much longer. At around 8 am we arrived to our apartment in Harlem. Photo below shows the descend over New Jersey, further below our strenuous trip by public transport from Newark/New Jersey to Harlem.

Bikes, Native Americans, Presidents and Bison

Sunday morning: Leaving Medora/North Dakota towards Denver. First morning, since we were in the U.S. which started with light rain and temps around 50 deg F/ 10 C. 

We drove south through Bowman on US Highways into South Dakota. First stop there: Good Old Sturgis, the "bikers' capital" and place of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (photos below). Not much going on on a "regular" fall Sunday afternoon,,,

 

 

In Rapid City we revisited one of our favorite stores U.S.-wide: Prairie Edge (pics below), a family-operated shop with fantastic native American (and other) art, artwork and Native American accessoires like beads of all kinds, bells, drums and feathers and so much more. 

It had always been a place where regional artists can showcase their culture and artwork, a conduit for the Native American culture. The merchandise as well as their clientele roots often in the Lakota culture.

 

Rapid City is also famous for its "Presidents" - 44 life-sized bronze sculptures of U.S. presidents (photos above) and for the Old Firehouse, where nowaday a brewery resides (below, left).

Since the weather had considerably improved in the course of the day, we spontanuously decided in the afternoon to explore the Black Hills further and to stop by at famous Mount Rushmore to pay the four most important presidents of the U.S. homage.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial features the 60-ft faces of four American presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - representing the country's birth, growth, development and preservation. Known as America’s Shrine of Democracy, it's the fantastic work of sculptor Gutzon Borglum (Danish roots) and his team, 1927-1941.

Below a picture of the Avenue of Flags, leading to an observation platform. There is also a trail around the monument, which we walked, about 1 mile long with spectacular views of the portraits from below, from different perspectives. Along the trail is the Sculptor's Studio (which was closed), but I took a photo through the windows.

 

In the main museum (above and below) visitors get to know more about the process of designing and sculptoring, the hard work to get the monument accomplished. Also, there is plenty of information about the Presidents themselves.

It's been a wonderfully sunny afternoon, a beautiful drive. Since we haven't visited the National Monument for a long time it's been fully worth the detour!

On our way to Hot Springs/SD (our overnight destination) we encountered two bison on a parking lot along the road. They came pretty close to our car!

Were they reading the historical marker or just enjoying the views?