Well we did it. We checked Brooklyn off the list and we visited all five boroughs. We actually didn’t see very much of Brooklyn as we headed straight to the south point of Coney Island. It’s kind of a long trip and because we were meeting Yong and John’s friend Brenda we couldn’t stay very long.

The main reason we were visiting Coney Island is for the hot dogs. More specifically Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. We wanted to see where it all began. I mean, you can get Nathan’s hot dogs in other places, but we wanted to see the place where they first sold them. According to legend, Nathan wanted to be the first place a person saw when they got off the train to Coney Island. As they say in the biz, it’s all about location, location, location. And true enough, it was pretty hard to miss as we exited the subway station.

Overall, Coney Island is kind of an old place. While it is a throwback to the old-timey boardwalks, it is also kind of sad. Our friend, Pete, who’s from New York told us not to bother going there because it wasn’t worth it. I wouldn’t go that far, but I will say that it doesn’t offer much. Mostly eateries, gift shops, games and a small amusement park that reminded me of the 50th state fair.

There it is right on the corner

It’s a little more than the original price of 5 cents

I guess they go through a lot of hot dogs!

Here’s what $3 got me

They even sell hot dogs (not Nathan’s) out of vending machines!

Like I said earlier they have a small amusement park. One of the more interesting things we saw was the “Shoot the Freak” game. Basically you get a paintball gun and you can shoot at a dude holding up a shield. Interesting concept. It was pretty popular too. I saw at least three people ponying up $3 for five shots or $5 for fifteen shots.

It would have been more impressive if he didn’t have a shield

After eating some food we wandered around and I noticed the large wooden roller coaster dubbed the Cyclone. This is one of more famous wooden roller coasters. Now, I usually don’t like to ride wooden roller coasters because they are pretty rickety and jerky. The last one I went on was the Ghost Rider at Knott’s Berry Farm on my honeymoon. After riding that one I felt like my fillings had been jarred loose. But since this was such a historical roller coaster, I felt I needed to ride it.

It costs $8 a ride with the option of a reride for $5. Yup, I pretty much hate wooden roller coasters. It actually wasn’t that jerky but I took my preferred seat in the last car in the train and there was apparently a bar under the seat cushion. We went up and as we were going down the first drop all the jerking made my butt come up off the seat and then land hard on that bar over and over again. My tailbone was so sore after that first drop I dreaded every drop after that (and there were many). By the time the ride ended I was in so much pain (even as I’m writing this, my butt is still sore!).

The world famous Cyclone

After walking around for a bit, we spotted this candy shop. Another thing that Coney Island is famous for is their salt water taffy. But as I was in line I spotted this sign for an interesting treat. Since I’m such a sucker for gimmicks I decided to try one. Actually John and I both had one.

After reading this I had to try one

I bet you were wondering what the heck I was talking about

I think John like it too!

After returning from Coney Island, we had to turn around, find Yong and head straight to New Jersey to meet up with John’s friend Brenda. For dinner she took us to Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse. Of course, since we had so much beef yesterday (see: Carnegie Deli and the Old Homestead) what did John and I both order? Shrimp of course. We had 24 shrimp for $12.99. Very reasonable. In Hawaii that would be at least $5-6 more expensive. Maybe Keao and I should move to New Jersey.

Doesn’t that look delicious?

Here we are post meal

After that we headed over to Giants Stadium. The game itself was rather uneventful as it was the last preseason game of the summer and that meant that many of the starters were sitting out resting. That meant no Tom Brady and no Eli Manning. It was pretty boring. We watched for a while and then we left sometime during the fourth quarter.

On the way out we had one of those “you-had-to-be-there” moments. As we were walking down from the upper tier we had to walk down a big spiral. Sometime during that walk Brenda got the hiccups. Yong made some comment about the way she sounded and then out of nowhere he yelled and lunged at her! Brenda jumped like three feet in the air and screamed (and then she promptly hit Yong). While we were all laughing hysterically Yong tried to explain that that was his way to stop hiccups. He just had to scare them. And you know what? The darn thing worked! Now, I’ve tried that technique many times, but that was the first time I’ve ever seen it work.

John and I between the legs of a giant Giant

Brenda and John

Yong and I before we left

Lastly, one of the things that we wanted to do before we left New York was to eat a hot dog from one of those street vendors. I don’t know why I thought they would be better than a normal hot dog, but John and I did try one out before we got back to our hotel. I must say, it was pretty ordinary. Basically I could have done the same thing at home. There’s $2 I’m not going to see again. Oh well, you live you learn.

Well that’s one more thing we can check off the list

To view the rest of the day’s pictures click here.