Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Friday in NYC

Friday was our last day and our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30 pm. We packed up most of our stuff before we left in the morning. We rode the subway uptown to Barney Greengrass for Lox and Bagels. We had bagels smeared with cream cheese, loaded with salmon, topped with a slice of white onion and tomato served with a dill pickle….for breakfast. Very quaint little restaurant with very crowded tables. On weekends, they accept cash only. Exceptionally nice wait staff.

Following breakfast, we ventured back to the Brooklyn Bridge. My camera battery had died on our trip the previous day so we went back to get pictures.




As we found throughout the week, most things take much more time than we expected. We were hustling to get back to the hotel to get checked out in time. We checked out, stored our bags and went a couple of blocks up to Ray’s Pizza for our final NYC meal. The pizza slices were huge, and tasted great.

We returned to the hotel, retrieved our luggage and caught a cab by about 2:00 pm. We were worried that we might encounter Labor Day traffic either in the city, or at the airport or both. We arrived at the airport by about 2:30 and placed our names on the standby list for the 3:30 flight from LGA to DFW. When the standby list first posted, we were number 14 and 15. We figured…no way are we going to make it on this flight. But luck was on our side and we made the earlier flight.

We arrived back home totally exhausted, but had an amazing week. It was a perfect celebration of David’s 49th birthday. I warned him not to expect this to be outdone for 50!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Thursday in NYC

Thursday morning we opted to travel south to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Ground Zero and into Brooklyn to walk across the bridge looking toward Manhattan. Our original plan was that we would see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and be in Brooklyn for lunch. NOT!.


The Statue of Liberty is definitely amazing. One thing we learned that we did not previously know is that Lady Liberty is positioned in a forward motion. Her left foot is stepping forward while the right foot is slightly raised as she is proceeding forward. We have always thought she was standing straight.
Ellis Island was very interesting. We could have easily spent several hours at Ellis Island and would plan to do so if/when we visit again. The tour actually walks you through the various rooms as if you were an immigrant who had just arrived at Ellis Island. Realizing that we were well past lunch time, we grabbed a chicken sandwich at the Ellis Island café.
Once we were back in Manhattan, we ventured to Ground Zero. It was not as overwhelming as I expected. At this point, it is primarily a large construction site. We did walk through the small museum which was very touching. We left Manhattan and took the subway into Brooklyn, and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge. There are two paths…one for walkers, and one for bikes. Word to the wise….don’t walk on the bike path. They move very fast and are not very friendly if you get in their way.
Back in Manhattan, we encountered an artist using spray paint and putty knives to paint panoramic views of the city. When he was ready to dry the paint, he would light the surface with a disposable lighter to dry the paint. He used small caps, plates, etc to make arcs, moons, etc in the paintings. Simply fascinating. We probably should have bought one of his paintings.
We passed back through Grand Central and purchased a triple decker club sandwich from Junior’s, then went into the grocery/deli market and got smoked pasta salad and cole slaw which we took back to our room for dinner. We had anticipated hitting Times Square at night on Thursday evening but after almost 11 hours on our feet, the room and TV seemed like a better option!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Wednesday in NYC

Ok friends...I know I started this and then never got back to completing the blog of our trip...but here goes. Better late than never!

Wednesday morning we got a much later start and ventured to the TCKTS booth to see if we could grab some discount Broadway tickets. The line at the booth was about like the line for a Six Flags ride on a very busy day. Ultimately, we decided that we probably would just not see a Broadway play this trip. We ventured north to the highly recommended Gray’s Papaya hot dog stand. Supposedly the best hot dog and recession lunch deal in the city. We got two hot dogs with seasoned kraut and onions plus a beverage for $4.45. David had a coke, and I got the recommended Pina Colada. It was awesome. After we finished lunch, I went back and got another drink….which costs $2.45! But it was worth it.

Not that I needed it, mind you! We walked through Central Park and encountered a 3 piece band, The Dirty Urchins. They were actually pretty good, and we bought one of their CDs. We figured we were going to drop some $$ in the guitar case anyway, and we just as well get the CD. We haven’t listened to it yet, but we expect it to be entertaining. (Actually, we have listened by now and it's pretty good....a very unique group!)


We ventured on through Central Park and found our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You could quite literally spend a full day or more, but after a few hours, we had seen a sufficient amount of artwork . As we left the Met, we realized we were about 30 blocks from our hotel and there were really no subway lines back to our hotel. A long walk back and we had just enough time to freshen up before we went to Frankie and Johnnie’s Steakhouse. It was restaurant week which means they offer a prix fixe menu. The steaks were very good, but I would not recommend this particular restaurant as the service was definitely substandard if you ordered from the restaurant week menu. There was a vast difference in the attentiveness of the wait staff at our table vs. the tables around us. Following dinner, we rode the subway back to Central Park and enjoyed a 45 minute carriage ride through the park. Jimbo was our guide horse.






Sunday, February 14, 2010

Best Attic Find

A sweet friend of mine has offered to help us get rid of some excess clutter. We have already cleaned out the garage attic, but decided to tackle the house attic as well before the big sale/donate process. So, a couple of weekends ago, we cleared everything out of the attic. We virtually filled our 500 +/- SF gameroom with boxes from the attic...most of which had been there since we moved in back in 2002. Last Sunday, I decided to get serious about getting through all the boxes. My office is also in the gameroom and shall we say it was a bit claustrophobic. We knew we would find some great memories, some "why did we save this" and many other "treasures."
David and I are notorious for boxing clothes into Rubbermaid tubs and piling them in the attic thinking we will wear them again in the future...when we are smaller, when it is colder, etc. Yet, our closets always seem to be full to the max! So, I decided to really clean out the clothes boxes and just get rid of most of it.
Back when I worked full time in a professional office, I had a red wool knit suit that had a very long jacket and long pleated skirt. I wore this suit frequently in the winter. I found it in one of the attic clothes boxes. And thought to myself...."it was beginning to get some moth holes, and was a bit snug the last time I wore it (prior to 2002) and further, it probably just isn't in style anymore", so I put it in the "donate"pile.

In order to provide the background, when David and I married on 6/4/1983, my Mom gave us a small cartoon style ceramic elephant that was in a velour pouch which she had made and embroidered on the front, "My love for you is bigger than an elephant." For years we played the game in which we hid the elephant for each other never telling each other when we had found it and re-hidden it. Several years ago, probably about the time we moved, we realized that neither of us had seen "the elephant" for quite some time. Since we never told each other when we found the elephant, we had no idea who had hidden it last. We really thought that it had been lost at some point when something was thrown away or donated with the elephant inside a pocket, etc.

Once when I traveled overseas on a trip that I was really nervous about, David found a picture of an elephant on the internet, printed it and put it in my computer bag. It definitely conveyed the thought, but not the same as "the elephant."

Now back to the donate pile. Every since we realized the elephant has been "missing", we never donate anything without checking through all pockets, cubby holes, etc. And as I was folding my red suit, the pocket felt "full." I dug in and guess what......I FOUND THE ELEPHANT! We were both so excited and I had to immediately call my Mom and let her know.

Obviously David was the last one to hide it, so the elephant has once again been placed in a special place waiting for David to find it and be reminded of my love for him!









Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Tuesday in NYC

On Tuesday morning, we awoke early to go to the Today show. It was recommended that we arrive by 6:00. It was about 6:10 am when we got to the Today show plaza, and there was no one there. We initially thought….”Wow, no one else is here.” When I inquired of the security guard if we were in the right place, he instructed us to go down the sidewalk and around the side of the building to line up. When we rounded the corner, we found a line of about 50 people who had arrived before us. At about 6:30, they began letting the crowd through the security checkpoint. I had bought a spring loaded curtain rod to run through the top of our sign to make it easier to hold. The security guard confiscated it and threw it away! But no biggie, we would do just fine without it. We were not real close to the area that the Today show anchors would be broadcasting from, but held out hope that we would make it on the show. During one of the breaks, the film crew came outside and initially set up a demonstration by the “balloon guy” across the plaza from us. But then it appeared as though he saw our sign, and moved the balloon guy to right in front of us. He gave David a top hat he had made from red balloons. David being as he is proudly wore the hat for the entire show! We did make it on TV and both sets of our parents recorded it for us.
After the show, we returned to the hotel and had breakfast. We then returned to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and went on the NBC Studio Tour. We saw the MSNBC news room, the desk that Brian Williams broadcasts from each evening, the Sunday Night Football stage, and the SNL stage. Near the end of our tour, the guides asked for 2 volunteers. No one else jumped on the opportunity, so David and I volunteered. On the last stop of the tour, David portrayed a news anchor reading from a teleprompter and I got to be the “weather girl.” Believe me it is harder than it looks to read from the teleprompter while trying to point to the correct places on the map (presented from a screen behind you) at the same time!
After we finished the NBC tour, we ventured to Grand Central station where we had lunch at Junior’s. We both had an awesome 10 oz. hamburger. It was simply not possible for me to eat all of mine, but it was delicious. It was served with slaw, dill pickle, steak fries and onion rings. We left from Grand Central Station to find the stadium complex for the US Open via subway. We just wanted to be sure we knew where we were going and how to get back to the hotel via subway late at night.
We returned to the hotel and had to move rooms. Our first room did not have internet access, and the air conditioner was very noisy. Once we were in our new room, we had very little time until we needed to head to the tennis tournament. We went to the same subway station we arrived in on our trip from the tennis complex to our hotel. Got on the train and rode a couple of stops until we figured out we were headed downtown instead of uptown to Queens. We got off the subway and began trying to figure out where we needed to go. Unfortunately, we were in the ‘hood and felt very uncomfortable. We walked very briskly for a few blocks until we located another subway station. At that point, we realized you have to be careful to follow the subway signs to enter the terminal headed the right direction. So, one forfeited subway fare, and a very uncomfortable walk, but all was well.
Our seats for the tennis tournament were awesome. I had purchased them through Tickets Now which is a Ticketmaster site which allows season/other ticketholders to sell tickets they will not use. We were on the LOGE level, Section 196 – center court of Arthur Ashe stadium. We were in a “box” of 6 seats. The 4 other people in our box were two couples who were there more for social hour than to watch tennis, as were the guys sitting behind us. Somewhat annoying, but tolerable. A family of 6 people was sitting across the aisle from David. It appeared to be Mom, Dad, 2 early 20s girls, one mid to late 20s guy, and a teenage boy. David began to realize that the teenage boy was repeating virtually everything the announcer said. Then we realized that with each swing of the racquet by the players, he was imitating the swing alternating left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand. As we began to watch and listen to this young man a little closer, we surmised that he was probably autistic…possibly a savant. He seemed very knowledgeable about tennis. The first match was Maria Sharapova (she won US Open in 2006) and Tsvetana Pironkova, an unseeded player. It was a good match, but Sharapova pulled it out.
We ventured to the concession stand between the women’s and men’s matches for hot dogs and a soda. Believe it or not, the stand was out of foot long hot dogs, and the pretzels were cold. This was well over an hour into the evening events, and they were totally unprepared! The men’s match was Andy Murray (won US Open last year) and Ernests Gulbis. Another good match and Andy Murray won. The young man across the aisle apparently really liked to say “Gulbis” because he repeated it very often. It was somewhat fascinating watching his enthusiasm for the game. After the match, we rode the subway, with thousands of our new closest friends, back to the hotel. We were exhausted.
Little known facts from the US Open. Backpacks are not allowed. Only single compartment bags with dimensions of 12” X 12” X 16” are smaller are permissible. All others must be checked in large trailer lockers outside the gates. The towels used by the women are red while the men have blue towels (over their seats). The men obviously sweat more than the women as the ball boys/girls also keep white towels available to the men at all times. For this particular tournament, Chase logos are placed on the edge of the net. Between the women’s and men’s matches, the Chase logos are removed and replaced with Lexus logos. As the sun sets on Arthur Ashe stadium, it gets chilly!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Monday in NYC

We departed Monday morning and arrived NYC shortly after lunch. We caught a taxi to the hotel and were able to check into our room upon arrival. We asked the representative at the “theatre tickets” counter for a lunch recommendation and headed to the Stage Deli a couple of blocks north of our hotel. We shared a Tiger Woods Reuben and an order of homemade onion rings. The sandwich was huge and all was very delicious. Our waitress, Barb, was very friendly and we had great service. She was an older lady, and had raccoon eyes, but she was absolutely delightful. We went back to the hotel and tried to determine what we should do first. We opted to take a walk through the city and go to the Empire State Building. We rode the elevator to the 86th floor observation deck and listened to the audio tour. The tour positioned us at 8 points around the top of the building and described the various sites and “areas” of Manhattan. It was a great way to start our trip as we gained a general understanding of where all the sites were, and the areas referred to as Upper Westside, Upper Eastside, Queens, Brooklyn, etc. We were able to see the East River and the Hudson River where Captain Sullenberger landed the US Airways plane in January. It was fascinating to see in real life. We ventured back to the hotel and opted for fast food for dinner.

Monday, September 7, 2009

NYC...The Surprise!

In November 2008, David’s grandmother, Virginia Mason Pointelin, left this earthly life. Several years prior to her death, she had asked David’s mother to set aside a certain amount of money for each of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. At her memorial service, David received an envelope with this gift of cash. At that time, we decided that we would use Grandma ‘Ginia’s gift to fulfill our dream to see New York City.

I had been considering planning a trip to New York for David’s birthday. However, once I began investigating the cost, I talked with David and we decided it was just going to cost a bit more than we wanted to spend right now. Also, David had just changed jobs within Alcon and didn’t really feel it was right to ask for time off work soon after his transfer.

Shortly after that discussion, two of our dear friends, Kim and Anthony Brandon were killed very tragically in a car accident. They left behind 3 young daughters. Alicia and Shelby had just graduated from high school, and Vanessa had just recently gotten married. This was a tremendous wake up call for all of us, and I decided it was time to “Carpe Diem” and try to surprise David with a trip to New York for his birthday.

My brother, Shaylor, works in the Alcon group which David had just transferred to. I asked Shaylor if he could check with David’s boss to determine if it would be okay for him to have a couple of days off work. David’s new schedule is Friday through Monday, four days 10 hours each. I asked if he could possibly have a Monday and Friday, either or both, off work. Shaylor followed through with David’s boss noting that this would be a surprise and the days off were approved.

One thing that we have always desired to do is to travel the Grand Slam Tennis series. David’s birthday was on a Tuesday and the US Open first round games were in progress during our stay in NY City. I purchased airfare and tennis tickets and made a hotel reservation. Both of the boys knew, as well as mine and David’s parents but we tried our absolute best to keep it a secret from him.

Given that we would be in New York on David’s birthday, I made a canvas sign for him that read, “I’m celebrating my 49th birthday TODAY”. The TODAY show logo was on the bottom of the sign.

We were flying out on Monday morning. Given that B&Z are in school in Stephenville, I suggested that we meet the boys and David’s parents for dinner after he got off work on Sunday afternoon to celebrate his birthday and then we would have dinner for the 2 of us on his actual birthday.

As soon as he left for work on Sunday morning, I began checking off the tasks to be completed for the day. Packing for both of us was the biggest challenge…but I just threw in everything I could until I reached the luggage weight limit. I made a hotel reservation for us to stay near the airport on Sunday night to make our Monday morning drive a bit easier. I checked us into the hotel (to get rid of our luggage from my car), took a cake to David’s parent’s house and then picked him up from work.

David was all set to go to dinner once we met up with the boys and his parents. But I knew that we had to let the cat out of the bag. So, I suggested we open gifts first. He opened a couple of things and then I gave him the box with the card, the NYC guide books and maps, and the sign for the Today show.

He was totally shocked. He understood that we were going to NY, but figured it would be in a few days. Then I shared with him that he would not be going back to work before our trip and that we were flying out on Monday morning. We enjoyed dinner with the family at New York Joe’s, returned to Margie and Gary’s for cake and then made our way to the airport hotel. He did have an opportunity to review what I had packed for him, and the only thing I really missed was that I got the wrong pair of dress shoes. Still wearable, but not as comfortable as his preferred pair.

Stay tuned for a day by day summary of our trip.....