Connor Family Travels: USS Intrepid, High Line, and DUMBO

First on our agenda today was touring the USS Intrepid. It is a World War II aircraft carrier turned museum. To get there, we took the subway and then a short ride on a bus. The buses are part of the Metro transit so a subway pass will also work on the buses. The bus was packed with tourists and was standing room only when we got on. We learned very quick to hold on tight.

This next photo gives a more accurate picture of how the kids really felt about riding the bus.

Luckily, it was a pretty short trip and soon we were at the Intrepid.

There is also a submarine available to tour as part of admission so we started there. The USS Growler was a Cold War submarine stationed off the coast of Russia carrying nuclear missiles. The submarine could hold around 90 men and was submerged for 2 months straight at one point. This sub was capable of launching nuclear missiles onto Russian soil. If given the order to launch, they would have had to surface first, which would likely give away their position and result in an attack. Luckily, the order was never given. It was fascinating to see what life would be like on a submarine.

Officer's quarters

Periscope

Crew's mess hall

Crew's quarters

There were a few beds in the torpedo room and the guide told us that they were the best place to sleep on the ship. It was more spacious and quieter in there with the torpedoes.

Next we boarded the USS Intrepid. We saw the junior officer’s quarters (more spacious than on the submarine!) and the hull where the anchors are raised and lowered. The ropes were enormous.

We headed to the upper deck to check out the planes next.

All kinds of special activities were taking place all over the city for Fleet Week and we got to see a few minutes of the US Army Silent Drill Team performing their routine.

While a large crowd was gathered watching the drill team, we snuck past into the Space Shuttle Pavillion where they had a space shuttle on display and a small museum dedicated to our exploration of the moon and the Apollo program.

We’ve been to NASA in Cape Canaveral a few times so we moved through this exhibit pretty quick.

We were getting hangry too so we went down to the pier for a snack. The Concorde airplane is also on display here, but you have to pay extra to look inside. Rodney and I have seen inside when we came here 20 years ago (back when I’m pretty sure it was included with admission) and the kids were satisfied with seeing the outside from afar.

Rodney could have stayed here all day exploring and reading, but 5 days of NYC was starting to wear on all of us and it was hot. We decided to try to tour a couple of active German military ships here for Fleet Week before we left the area.

When we had arrived, we’d seen a very long line of people waiting to tour the active aircraft carrier USS Bataan on the pier next to the Intrepid and we were hoping that the line for the German ships would be shorter since it was further away. Unfortunately, there was just the one line for all the ships so we didn’t see any of them. We did get a picture with the USS Bataan, though.

The whole area around the Intrepid was insane because of Fleet Week so we started walking towards Hudson Yards to get on the High Line for a more serene stroll through the trees. The High Line used to be an elevated railroad track that has been turned into an elevated walkway between Hudson Yards and Chelsea. It was a fun and interesting 30 minute walk.

Our friend Mike had recommended a biergarten at the end of the High Line so we stopped in for drinks and a giant pretzel at The Standard Biergarten. This place was great and the German food here was much better than our experience at Rolf’s. We were able to grab a table after waiting a few minutes and the bartender told Rodney that it was much less busy than usual today. Every table was taken so it must be crazy on a normal Saturday.

We felt refreshed after our “nature walk” and snack so we braved the subway yet again to get cleaned up for our big event of the day - dinner with Mallory at Cecconi’s in DUMBO. Luckily, we had a reservation and were able to score an outside table during sunset. The weather was absolutely perfect, the views were amazing, the food was delicious, and the company was top notch! DUMBO (which stands for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a cool area on the East River in Brooklyn between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. It was only a 20 minute walk from our hotel, but this was the first time we’d made it down there. It was busy on a beautiful Saturday night and we enjoyed the views of the river, Manhattan, and both bridges as the sun went down. Mallory has been in New York for 2 years now and it’s been about that long since we’ve seen her. It was great catching up and hearing all about her exciting city life.