Date visited: 2/18/2023

This New York City park features a bike trail, athletic fields and a great view of the Throgs Neck Bridge. The bike path connects to Fort Totten . We followed the All-Trails route that goes through both parks.

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Date visited: 2/18/2023

This is a former US Military Installation, but is now owned by the City of New York. Most of the site is now a public park. There is still a US Army Reserve facility on the site, as well as some FDNY and NYPD buildings. While the park grounds are very nice, many of the buildings are unused and are in various states of disrepair. The old run down hospital looks like it could be from any number of horror movies. I mean, it must be haunted! The building that looks like a castle used to be the Fort Totten Officers' Club but is now the Bayside Historical Society. This was a fun walk, mainly because it was a different kind of place than we usually visit. Combined with Little Bay Park, we walked a total of three miles here.

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Date visited: 4/23/2023

When we started these adventures at the start of the COVID era, these kinds of crowds were just a memory. But now, it seems like everyone is back to the pre-COVID era, because this park was packed! This is the site of the 1939 & 1964 World Fairs. Obviously, the Unisphere is an iconic landmark. We walked for four miles around the park, but the nicest section of the park is the area just around the Unisphere. Kids were kicking soccer balls all over the park, not just on the soccer fields. There's a photo below where there is a soccer ball next to the dogs. I shoot photos with a high shutter, so you can't tell that ball was in motion, and the photo snapped a split second before the ball hit Mandy (she was fine, it wasn't moving that fast). The atmosphere here was pretty crazy. It made for a fun adventure.

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Date visited: 9/22/2024

This is an interesting park and beach located in the Rockaway section of Queens. It's part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and dogs are allowed here from September 16th through March 14th. It was the first day of fall, but it felt like summer here today. The waves were ripping. We started near the eastern end of the beach and headed west to Fort Tilden. A short section of the beach was closed opposite the old bath house that is under construction, so we walked the boardwalk (which is actually a cement sidewalk) through that section. After exploring the fort, we headed back along the beach. The eastern end of the beach is the LGBTQ+ section of the beach, a fact that I was not aware of initially, but it certainly explained some of the more unique swim attire I observed (and also lack of said attire)! Our entire walk, (along with the Fort Tilden section that you can read about here) was about five and a quarter miles. This was probably the nicest of the New York City beaches that we have visited.

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Date visited: 9/22/2024

Fort Tilden is the site of an old army base, and was the site of two large cannon batteries built to defend the coast during World War I. The site remained an army installation until the late 70's, when it became part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and became a National Park. We walked along the beach from Jacob Riis Park, crossing over to Fort Tilden Beach. The beach section has the same dog rules as Jacob Riis Park. Dogs are allowed from September 16th through March 14th. You can see some of the old fort ruins from the beach, but for the rest of the fort, you have to walk down a gravel road, or a trail from the beach. We headed down the gravel road first, and arrived at the site of the two, identical former fort batteries. One of them, has an old wooden staircase that leads to an observation platform above the fort. The platform offers great views of the ocean looking south, but also great views of the Manhattan skyline looking north. We hiked the sandy trail leading back to the beach on the way back. One thing to be aware of regarding the beach....it seems to be "unofficially" clothing optional, and there were a few people who opted not to wear any on the beach!

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