Happy Tuesday friends! I hope that you are having a wonderful week so far! Today I am excited to share a bit about our stay at the Hyatt Place Fairlawn/Paramus in Fair Lawn, New Jersey that mom and I stayed at after her surgery. When mom was released from the hospital in NYC after her surgery and we found out that we would need to stay for a bit longer in the area I quickly looked for a hotel that would fit our needs. As much as we have traveled back and forth into the city and are familiar with NYC, we needed something that was close to the city but not in the city (due to finances).
If you have been around the blog for a while then you know that I have worked with Hyatt in the past and have stayed at different Hyatt properties around the world. After some brief research we chose to stay at the Hyatt Place Fairlawn/Paramus in Fair Lawn, New Jersey for the first five days. At the time we thought that was all we would need to stay, but for the brief time we were there it definitely fit our needs. Overall the staff were incredibly nice and welcoming and while I do have a few reservations about our time, I would recommend the property if you are in the area.
The Hyatt Place FairLawn/Paramus is conveniently located to numerous places that made it convenient for me to go get supplies for my mom, pick up food for our meals, and also be close to the city for all of our appointments.One of the things that was also nice about this location was that it offered free parking.
The website did make it clear that the property was undergoing some renovations so we were aware of that before we booked our room, but there were a few things that made it a bit interesting.
First, our room was incredibly dark. There was only one area that had lights and that was over the sink. In order to have light in the room we had to have that light on and it still didn't give us good light as the sun went down so we were using our phones with our flashlights all the time.
Second, while we were staying in a handicap accessible room for my mom due to her knee surgery, we did find a couple of issues with this room. Unfortunately we found the bed was extremely low (it was not at a handicap accessible height) and the bathroom had an odd configuration of having a shelf and a painting that stuck out that you would hit each time you were in the restroom.
My belief is that the hotel is undergoing renovations to update lots of things, including these two items (we even saw a room being worked on and they were adding lamps to the room *smiles*) so overall I would still recommend the property and look forward to seeing the renovations when it is completed.
Last Sunday mom felt well enough to get out of the hotel room so we took a little drive over to the area of Fort Lee to view the George Washington Bridge from afar. Over the last year, but especially these last several weeks we have driven back and forth over this bridge countless times. I had never explored the history of the bridge and when I did it was truly so fascinating to learn. I hope you enjoy these pictures and the history behind the bridge!
The George Washington Bridge spans over the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York City. At the time it was built it was twice as long as any other suspension bridge and is still considered by many to be the marvel of suspension bridges.
The building of the bridge presented quite a challenge to those who worked on it as it was difficult to find out a way to span the Hudson River. For over a 100 years this was the challenge. Finally Othmar Ammann, a Swiss born architect and engineer, proposed a design that was ultimately chosen. Nearly a hundred years ago (he proposed the bridge design in 1923) what seemed like an impossibility was going to become a reality that would help millions of people each year, including us.
Construction on the bridge was started in 1927 and was opened to traffic in 1931. In 1932 (the first full year of use) more than 5.5 million vehicles used the bridge and in 1962 the lower level was finalized.
It is amazing to think about how this design that was created in 1923 has stood the test of time, been added to, and continues to be a main point of crossing each day for so many people!
I shared a reel on instagram about the bridge that you can see HERE!
Interested in reading about other bridges that I have shared about on the blog? Click on the links below:
Confederation Bridge (Prince Edward Island)
Information on the George Washington Bridge was taken from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Website.
