We took the ferry from Highlands to 34th street in Manhattan on Saturday morning after dropping the pups off at a doggy day care called Dogs on the Farm off of Navasink River road. It was only a 10 minute ride to the ferry landing in Highlands. We bought our round 
trip tickets and boarded the boat once it arrived and disgorged its passengers from NYC. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, but was a bit brisk in the wind on the water.
It had been many years since I saw NYC from this vantage point, I was maybe 10 when my father and I took his little Chris Craft up the Hudson and then around Staten Island on the Kill van Kull River. Other than the view of Manhattan, the only other notable thing was me sitting on the bow watching for telephone pole sized timbers floating down the river. They would have probably had us swimming if we hit one of them.
Anyway, the boat was very fast over the water. It looked like a catamaran when it pulled up to the dock. We got to the 35th Street pier in about an hour, and after getting off we headed up 35th to find the Empire State Building and maybe something to eat for breakfast.
We found the entrance to the building and proceeded to walk up to buy tickets.. Geez, $105 bucks later and we were off to the elevators, first to the 80th floor where we had to walk all the way around the building and then wait on another line for the elevator to the 84th floor. At least there we could go outside the building for a bit where it was a lot cooler and a magnificent view, 
but then we had to get back on another line for another smaller elevator [one like the olden days in the movies with the scissor gate] that took us to the 102nd floor observation floor. It was a really spectacular view!! And we had a gorgeous day to do this. I guess there has been a bit of inflation as I think it cost $5 the last time I was there back in the late 70’s.
We made our way down, again lots of lines for the elevators, but did finally make it to the street again where we walked around the corner to the Chipolte we had seen prior to going in. By now it was lunch time.. so much for breakfast..
Afterward we headed outside to catch an Uber to 42nd street to get on a Big Bus for the uptown tour. After checking out the schedules, we should have had time to do the uptown and then take the downtown tour and get out on Wall Street to catch the ferry there.
We found a great seat on the upper deck of the bus to see the sights. A few stops later and there was a waiting list for the top floor, so we did good. The traffic in Manhattan had other plans for what we were going to see. For some reason, there was a Labor Day parade, a week late from my POV, but it snarled the whole city that Saturday afternoon and we couldn’t even finish the uptown tour. We did see some wonderful things: Times Square, part of the theater district, central Park , the outside of the Cathedral of St. John the divine, Grant’s Tomb, Apollo Theater in Harlem, and drove by the Guggenheim 
Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and had many of the stars’ homes pointed out by the tour guide. A funny one was the actual storefront of The 
Soup Nazi from Seinfeld!!! But 3/4ths of the way thru the tour route, we had to bail to catch a taxi toward 35th Street. More unbelievable traffic, but the cabbie did get us near our destination, 2nd Ave & 35th.
There was no way he was going to get us to the ferry in 8 minutes, so we jumped out of the cab in the middle of the street there and ran down 35th. About 1/2 way to the pier, I felt my knee pop and the ensuing pain of some pulled ligament. We had to make that ferry if we were to get to the doggy day care before they closed. The next ferry would get us there more than an hour after closing time.
I yelled for Kathy to run on and hold the boat [ha, ha] and I hobbled on at a slow pace. The pain was bad, but I had no choice. I made it because the boat was a few minutes late, and as I hobbled up to the pier, we were the last passengers to make it before they took off. I was able to limp on and find a seat. Kathy then brought me 3 Bourbon and 7s to ease the pain.
When we got back to NJ, it was even more painful to get to the car. I guess the Adrenalin had worn off and now the real pain was poking me. It took me a long time to hobble the 100 feet to the car.
But we made it with plenty of time to pick up the pups.
The following morning it still felt pretty bad, so I went to the urgent care. They took x-rays. The doctor figured they wouldn’t show anything, but they would be needed prior to getting authorization to do an MRI from my insurance co.
I left there with some anti-inflammatory meds, a knee brace, and crutches. I hobbled over to my brother’s for a later dinner than originally planned. Sorry Jeanne…
