4 hours round trip from Meadowlands, NJ?
 

We have another day to spend in NJ as our flight leaves tomorrow evening. We have done the NYC tourist stuff and don't want to go in again tomorrow. I think the area we are in is called East Rutherford. We would like to drive to a scenic area where we can walk and have lunch prior to heading back to Newark. Any ideas?

Drive north toward George Washington Bridge and take Palisades Interstate Parkway to Bear Mountain State Park- http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/13/details.aspx . It's about a 45 to 60 minute drive from East Rutherford.

There's scenic walking trails, a zoo and a place you can have lunch. The Parkway will take you through some interesting countryside and past several lakes and ponds. There road near Bear Mountain is also called Seven Lakes Parkway which gives a clue to what you'll find.

If you go north towards Bear mtn.you could also visit Storm King art center. www.stormking.org


Bear Mtn & adjacent Harriman St. Park where 7 lakes drive is located is just south of the US Military accademy/West point. Storm King is directly north.

From Storm king it'd take you about 90min to get back to Newark Airport, which may be further than you wanted to drive.

Another option is to go to the Jersey Shore - somewhere like Sandy Hook Natl Rec area - about 1hr drive to Newark airport.

Another idea in the same general north direction is to visit the Rockefeller estate Kykuit.

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/content/view/12/42/

You would take the same route roams mentioned - palisades pkwy, but cross over the Tappan Zee bridge.

Grounds for Sculpture-Hamilton, NJ

Ditto for Grounds for Sculpture. They have a very good restaurant on site, Rats....

Sculpture sounds good but G for Sculpture and Storm King are shut on Mons. We'll probably take the Bear Mt. suggestion - thanks.

In fact we had so little time left, we took a different option and visited Liberty State Park. There's a really good view of manhattan plus a cheap and much less crowded ferry service to Ellis Island and the Statue. A very good ending to our trip.

Thanks for updating lynny2. There used to be a wonderful view of the Twin Towers from there!

My previous trip to Manhattan was in 1999. I went to the top of WTC and took lots of pics. Unfortunately my camera was stolen from our hotel room so I didn't get to develop the photos.
They are building a memorial to the NJ people who died on 9/11, in Liberty State Park.