New York

After years of dreaming of going to the Big Apple, I finally go my chance this week. My neighbor Colleen Bird is a Jet-Blue employee and I spoke with her about taking her 17 yr old son Skylar to see a Yankee game at Yankee Stadium back in Jan. We then planned to go the week after school got out because they would be playing the Red Sox. Colleen then said why don't you take your wife and I'll come along too. So that was the plan. Two weeks ago Janalynn broke her ankle, those details will be in another blog, so she couldn't go. I would be just me and Skylar.

The trip began with us flying to Long Beach where we had a five hour layover. We passed the time by taking the bus to downtown and milling around downtown. the highlight was there was this suit place dumping thier inventory, so prices on hot suits were around $99. I found this nice light green pin stripe suit for $99. I couldn't pass it up even though it was kind of a pain to lug around. We ate at this greek diner that was actually a great place. We barely made our plane cause the bus was slow and no times were printed. We flew from 9 pm pst to 6 am est. It was really only about 5 hours, but it was packed and hard to sleep.

Even at 6am NY is a happening place. We took the subway into town, took about an hour, and hit this French place for breakfast. I must say the prices were pretty high. Skylar got 3 pieces of French toast for 9 bucks. I had a good sized plate of bacon, eggs, and homefries for 7 bucks. After that we went to Times Square. Let's just say that has to be about the most happenin' place in the world. Oversized signs, neon lights, thousands of people, big builidings, brought on a rush like nothing like I've ever experienced. We took int he sights, then went to Ground Zero, not much to see, and the Statue of Liberty. At this point in time I had a good handle on the subway and overall directions. Manhattan is a pretty easy place to navigate. We had lunch at a little pizza place. Did some more walking, went to the Empire State Building and then decided we were tired. Jet lag, sleep depravity, and a lot of walking did us in. We went to our little hotel, the West Side Inn and crashed. I must add that the inn was a hole. My bed had missing slats underneath so I pulled the mattress off and slept on the floor. About 5 we decided to head up to Yankee Stadium. The whole yankee experience will be the subject of another blog. I will say it was unforgettable and overall a pretty cool experience, but not one for women and children. Took the subway home and slept in til checkout at 11. It was raining so we decided to just eat lunch at this all you can eat sushi place Todai which I might add was one of the highlights of the trip, great variety and taste, great place. Did some shopping and then came home around 1 am.

So that was the travelogue, here are my thoughts. New York is a very cool place. Plenty of places to see and eat. The subway is a great way to get around and pretty easy to navigate. Some quick random thoughts. First I was worried about the subway being a tough place, I found it far from it, it was just like taking a super long bus. Second the people were extremely friendly and helpful. Third the streets are packed, the taxi drivers are just like their stereotypes, nearly a wreck every second. Fourth a lot, and I mean a lot, of people smoke. Fifth there was every nationality. Sixth the buildings are freaking huge. Seventh profanity is just used as a common verb. Eighth, you could eat at a different place everyday for every meal for probably two years and still have new places to eat at. Ninth, Yankee fans are passionate, profane, vulgar, lewd, mean, knowledgeable, loyal, and hate anything and everything about the Red Sox. The rivalry is very real and probably on a different level than any other rivalry in the U.S. I have to admit I thould NY was great, I'd love to go back, especially with Janalynn. It was a cool trip, if you are considering going, do it.