circum-skate New York City harbor

On Thanksgiving Day, Sharon and I tried the adventure of making a loop
around the main harbor of New York City.  I skated thru New Jersey, Staten
Island, and Manhattan -- mostly like this 43-mile bicycle route:
http://roberts-1.com/bikehudson/r/r/verr_gwb/map

The city is famous for the great skating in Central Park and the 100K race
in Prospect Park.  But it also has some fun adventures skating out on the
streets and roads -- supported by the best city public transportation
network in the US:  metro trains, ferry boats, buses, bridges -- which could
be used to make a shorter loop than the one we did.

Sharon did the loop on her bike, and I was on my Salomon Mag Elite skates.
I found it challenging and fun.  There's some long stretches of enjoyable
smooth pavement thru that part of New Jersey, and some great views across to
the Manhattan skyline.  Then a pretty ferry boat ride -- and even longer
stretches of smooth pavement on the west side of Manhattan, sometimes just
two meters away from the water of the Hudson fjord.  Here's some photos:
http://roberts-1.com/bikehudson/v/r/verr_gwb/photos/nov-03

I also wrote a detailed report about the skating conditions on the route:
http://roberts-1.com/sk8hv/v/w/gwb/nyhc/reports
We did it on a special quiet day when many Americans stay home to eat and
watch TV, so we found the vehicle traffic low enough for us to manage.  I
wouldn't try it on a normal weekday.  But I'm ready to try it again on the
right quiet day.

Ken

P.S. For more photos of another road skating adventure from New York City,
visit Skate Hudson Valley -- SK8HV:
http://www.roberts-1.com/sk8hv -- and click on the picture in the lower
left.