New York is the furthest we pushed ourselves northwards and eastwards. We will now start slowly climbing down.

After leaving New York, we entered New Jersey and after about an hour of driving stopped at a Starbucks in one of those service areas on New Jersey Turnpike to plot our second half of the road trip.

After a lot of consultations with Google Maps, I think our rough idea is to come down along the coast and enjoy a couple of days of rest on the beach somewhere. But for today, we are going to see downtown Philadelphia, have dinner in a restaurant by the Delaware river and then drive a little more and check into a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware.

Planning is in progress here…

We got to see Natasha!!!

The entire time these two just could not stop talking!!!

Never thought we will make it into the Big Apple when we thought of a road trip through the mountains and beaches on the East side of America.

I don’t think Sharmila thought that I could make it to the Big Apple and out with her humongous SUV without putting a dent on it.

That I would do it completely unaided by anybody else in a gas station in the middle of nowhere is a story for another day 🙂

For now, it is all about the energy of New York… and the anticipation of seeing Natasha!

… we left New Jersey and drove straight into Manhattan in New York City. I am not sure when was it the last time I ever drove in New York city. Maybe 25 years back??

This was just before we went under Hudson river to emerge on the other side in Manhattan.

The western skies as seen from Jersey shores…

Sharmila and I were thinking of what to do once we left Pennsylvania. Initially, we thought we would head out to Philadelphia (this would be our second attempt). But some well timed text message exchanges with my school friend Partha and his wife Jaya later, we actually we landed up in New Jersey. In fact in the Jersey shores.

Is it not too apparent that we were having way too good a time?

Sharmila and I went to Penn’s cave near State College, PA. Took the boat ride inside of the half mile cave. Some very fascinating formations of stalactites and stalagmites. Would certainly recommend the ride…

It was difficult to capture the pictures with the phone but here is one shot. (The red color is due to a light put in there for viewing).

Yesterday, Sharmila was driving around Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. The road kept twisting around hugging the wide Susquehannah river closely. And then suddenly, I saw this sight… in the middle of the river there was a small island… and on that island was a replica of Statue of Liberty!!!