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Oh woe is me! cried the boys the next moaning (intentional misspelling). The toxic combination of Guinness, Bushmills, and Scotch made the morning heavy on the boys heads. Bone determined that they needed fresh air and there is no better place to get fresh air than on the Jersey coast. So with high hearts and heavy heads the boys rented a car and headed to one of Bone's teenage visits. Seaside Heights!!!
Checkin' out the sites, at Seaside Heights!
Seaside Heights is a nineteen year old boys dream, with great beaches, a cool board walk and bars, it creates a potent mixture, hence right up Mike and Bone's alley! However the thought of alcoholic beverages of any sorts created a (literal) sense of nausea, so the boys toured with juices and water.
The "SEE" side Heights Board Walk
Getting "high" in Seaside Heights
A slowly sobering Bone and Mike
One of the many attractions of Seaside Heights is the Ski Lift, which give a rider a great view of the Boardwalk, beach, and ocean. After riding the ski lift the boys had quite the appetite. Why you ask? well they hadn't eaten all day even though it was noon, due in larger part to the prior evenings festivities. So they delved into one of Seaside Heights culinary specialties: The Italian Sausage.
What makes a masterpiece? the colors of the paint?, the position of the characters?, the passion of the fennel? What makes a Seaside Heights Italian Sausage is the unique mixture of high quality meats, the grilled onions and peppers, the high-quality bun, and the fennel. After having a near religious experience at lunch, the boys decided to head up the shore and pay homage to the home of BRUCE !!!!
Greeting from Asbury Park: Springsteen Not!!!
The boys are accustom to slums, originating from Detroit, however they were not prepared for the squalor they found on the beaches of Asbury Park. Any glory from the days of Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was long gone. After visiting the beach for 10 minutes the boys were contemplating their immediate future: South to Cape May New Jersey; West to Philadelphia or, o n l y 45 minutes north, to, the Big Apple !!!!!! AND, only 30 minutes to Coney Island! Time for a nutritious dinner: Hot Dogs at Nathan's!!
Careening to Coney Island
The boys drove up I-95 in record time, entering New York City through Staten Island. Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City, but it's bucolic country panorama, does not in any way look like Manhattan. After crossing the Verazano Bridge which enters Brooklyn, they headed for that little slice of Brooklyn that is bordered by a little stream, known as Coney Creek, which separates Coney, the island from Brooklyn, and the long sandy beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.
Viewing Astroland: @ America's Original Amusement Park
Bumming around the Coney Island Boardwalk !!
Paying homage to the Holy of Hot Dog Holies: Nathan's Famous
Now any true hot dog connoisseur knows that the "hot dog" sausage was created at Nathan's of Coney Island. Now despite eating only an hour and a half before, the boys decided that the trip, nay their very lives would be incomplete if they didn't sample from the wellspring of hot dog holiness.
Another American Original: Nathan's Famous of Coney Island
Nathan's Famous is truly the original home of fast food. Is there a more famous food outlet?!
Nathan Handwerker was born on June 14, 1892. He travelled to Belgium from Poland at the age of eighteen and two years later he stepped foot on American soil. He washed dishes and later worked the counter at Max's Busy Bee in Manhattan. He started to work weekends at Feltman's; splitting rolls and making deliveries for the famous restaurant. Although Feltman invented the hot dog, Handwerker brought it to the masses. Even today you can still see deep lines at the windows to Nathan's on a sunny summer day. Let's go back and see how this hot dog Mecca began.
The hot dog was invented by Charles Feltman in 1874. Although his fabulous restaurant (where Astroland Park currently sits) is gone the hot dog lives on at Nathan's on the corner of Stillwell and Surf Avenues. It is here that a resourceful immigrant bested Feltman's (the island's most successful restaurant). Between the first and second decades of the Twentieth Century Feltman's grew from serving 900,000 to 2,000,000 customers. One famous postcard depicted a clam, lobster, fish, an ear of corn, a hot dog, a crab and a mug of beer all walking to "Feltman's famous restaurant." One additional person who walked in was Nathan Handwerker (German for hand worker, or "day labourer"), a Manhattan restaurant manager. He responded to the HELP WANTED ad in the window and within a year (thanks in part to his ability to eat hot dogs for free while on the job) Handwerker had saved over $300 that he invested into the rental of a building at the corners of Stillwell and Surf Avenue. Here all those years later, the boys had shown up to indulge in another famous America Icon.
Two Weiner's stuffed with Hot Dogs
"Man !! That was one heckuva hot dog @ Nathan's !!!
The boys truly relished Nathan's dogs with Mike have both of his New York-Style with sauerkraut and mustard, and Bone having one New York-Style, and the other Detroit style with chili, onions, and mustard. Sitting on at a picnic table looking over the Coney Island Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, the boys experienced a hot dog nirvana. After their truly heart smart meals, the boys continued their stroll along the Coney Island Board walk, viewing the faded glories that once the Coney Island Amusement Park.
Give my regards to Broadway!!!
With the evening fast approaching, the boys decided to spend the evening in the center of the known universe Manhattan!! Mike was a little frantic about driving in Manhattan, but with a little teamwork and luck, they weaved through Brighton Beach to the Manhattan Bridge into Lower Manhattan, then straight up 5 avenue (AKA Avenue of Americas) to 52 and Broadway, to their old haunt, the Marriott Manhattan.
Wandering the Upper West Side
After a quick shower the boys went to Martini's outdoor cafe for a few cold ones on 52 street, then they headed up to 90 street in the fashionable upper West Side where they drank Guinness's in the Parlour" Irish Pub. Not having fortitude from the previous evening, they called it an early one at 12:00.