h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm just wondering... how do they manage to slip a firetruck onto the island if the need arises? Are there special flatbed ones, or do they use helicopters?

Hi Bossel!

There are more roads on Long Island than the parkways! And Long Island is a very big place! I just did a search to see if the number of fire departments on the island were listed anywhere, but I couldn't find it. Then I did a search to find out how many towns were on the island, but it was too long to count (I counted 57, and had only gotten up to E)! So assuming there are hundreds of towns, each having at least one fire department (some have 4 or 5), each having 3 or 4 firetrucks ...

Actually, the fire departments have it all worked out! I've seen them on the parkways on their way to fires, they know just when to get off to avoid the bridges!

All of the bridges and tunnels onto Long Island accomodate large trucks as well as cars. We're literally connected to Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx by bridges and tunnels!

Hello, and thanks for that instantaneous and comprehensive answer! Silly me, should have been able to guess that apart from parkways there are other roads as well
Looking forward to having a glance at them

Are you going to be on Long Island, or just in the City? Where else are you visiting on your whirlwind tour?

Nothing has been fixed yet. Of course NYC with lots of museums & such, then Washington (the Smithsonian/Air&Space is high on my list) ...

I visited Washington for the first time since a school trip, last summer. There was so much to see! I spent an afternoon at the Air & Space Museum. Very, very cool! A word of advice: don't go on the "rides" - there's a room with what they pretend are sort of virtual reality rides, they charge you $6, and it's a lame movie in a pod that rocks around. But latch onto a tour if you can. They're free, and it gives you a super overview of the place, and you learn lots of info that isn't written near the exhibits. One other word of advice: beware the gift shops! My downfall ...

NYC has tons of museums! Downtown has lots of galleries, too. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is my favorite, favorite place in the world! No matter what kind of art you're into - they have it. From ancient Egyptian (mummies!), Greece (statuary and urns), Asian (there's even an indoor meditation pond), Indian (totem poles, masks and canoes), Persian (there's a cool sitting room - I had been going for years, and just found it last time!), African (masks and statuary) then all the wonderful paintings (you wander around saying "I know this one..."). I know the place like the back of my hand, but I could still go and spend two weeks!

You'll have a wonderful time!

Oh yes, I can guess that! My To-Do-list is growing and growing, the more research I put into it , and you didn't even mention must-see places like Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and, and, and...

Being the typical New Yorker, I didn't do any of the tourist-y things until I was an adult! A friend of mine from college was appalled that I hadn't seen the Empire State Building, and took me. I didn't do the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry Tour until I was about 27. Central Park is ... well, a park! I don't think I've gone to see anything, just gone when friends were having parties and stuff!

If you're into this sort of thing, check out FAO Schwartz. It's the most unbelievable toy store! You may want to visit the South Street Seaport, too. 42nd Street has been Disney-fied, but I'd recommend checking out Times Square one night. When it's all lit up at night, it looks like a futuristic movie!

Ironically, but I've decided to take a trip to London this summer! My income tax return turned out to be more than I was anticipating, and I had the decision to either pay down a credit card or take a trip. Guess which I picked? I was there in 1985, with a friend that was into 'shopping'. I want to do museums and stuff this time!

Okay, forgetting for a moment the glaring ommisions about Long Island schools, parks, historic sites and famous sons and daughters, I am shocked and amazed that you would devote an entire section of your entry to low bridges and neglect to mention Robert Moses. The low bridges and highly dangerous on/off lanes that exist on Long Island Parkways were not only designed to deter commercial traffic but for vehicles whose top speed was no greater than 40 mph. The man has a State Park named after him, had planned on building a bridge to span Long Island Sound and is widely regarded as the architect of the infrastructure of most of Nassau County. Just a thought.

Since this wasn't an Entry about Long Island schools, parks, historic sites and famous sons and daughters, I felt it was fine to omit them.

I started to write an Entry about Robert Moses, but it's been languishing in a rather incomplete form for over a year now. Feel free to write one yourself!

Nothing about Fire Island or The Hamptons either Shea! What have you got against gays and the super rich

Ah, you did mention The Hamptons

After having just spent an hour driving through the Hamptons the other day (not intentionally, just to get to Montauk), I'm not impressed. Too much traffic and expensive shops.

And Fire Island? Fine lighthouse! I've really only been there once, but I'll give you a description: Expensive rental houses on a tiny strip of beach with lots of deer and no cars, only little red wagons.

Howzat?

That'll do for me

Mostly harmful



That'll do it too ...