Saturday.... and our NYC Finale

Here it is – the last day and the wrap up.  I’ve been slow in getting these last few out, but I’ve been enjoying the luxury of time.      So this is it, the final chapter.   We had some random quotes that didn’t make previous entries (I’ll post at the end), and I also wanted to add some pictures that I left out of Friday’s blog.  I wanted you to see the lady with the parrot (who, incidentally we saw later in Central Park with her parrot perched on her park bench as she read), the yellow highlighter hair, and Dana’s panoramic photo of our view at Yankee’s Stadium.  

Also at the end, we had a goal to post pictures of the 8 things that we should never post pictures of… we’ll see how we did.    And I’ll post a list of what we did and who we saw.   J

Parrots in the Mac Store

The yellow doesn't show as well in the pic - but you get the idea

My swamp water

Now, notice the level of her tea - HOURS after she got it

Also, I found a picture of BP on the train up to the game with her tea – now keep in mind that this is her first tea and that the rest of us have had two glasses of tea this size (and finished them) while we sat in the tea shop for a period of at least an hour - and a picture of my "swamp water" tea. So BP has been able to drink this much tea in a very long period of time.   

   OH!And we reviewed video of us at the Today show and I captured some frames of our moments of greatness just in case you blinked.   Also at the end, we had a goal to post pictures of the 8 things that we should never post pictures of… we’ll see how we did.    And I’ll post a list of what we did and who we saw.   J

Me, BMc and BP with Al on air

I'm in the white, BM in the teal and BP in the peach

Here we are with Matthew...

And with Hoda and Kathie Lee

It’s Saturday, our last day, our 9^th day in the city; and today we have thoughts of HOME!    We are walking wounded.  I have a blister that no shoe I have will accommodate, Becki has knee twinges that we’re still not to speak of,  BM has a red rash, BP has foot issues and her shins are starting to hurt… Dana is the only one that I haven’t heard about aches or pains, but she can be stoically quiet about that stuff sometimes, so I’m sure that there’s something.

We clean up the apt and I finish up the Thursday blog – yes it’s Saturday and I’m finishing the Thursday blog (this is how I got so far behind).  I swear Thursday kicked my hiney in so many ways.  I was so brain dead that I really didn't take notes during the day, it just took longer to reconstruct it with the detail that we like (I know it makes for a book, but it's for us and the ya-yas that couldn’t make the trip to remember it by).  I didn't do anything to it on Thursday, I needed to just go to bed.   Then I worked on it Friday morning, and again last night until about 3:00 (we all got to bed late after the Yankee game and the Empire State building, so it pushed back my time to work on it too)... Then I finished it up today while we were all packing.   It was the day that would never end.

People have asked how I managed to remember the amount of detail that I included in the blog, and typically my process is to write notes in complete thoughts as they happen, the more complete the better.  Instead of writing a quick text to someone, I just have a notepad open and keep little quotes or moments documented as we go – the others have even gotten into the habit of turning to me and saying “blog that”.   I’ll have time while we’re on the train or cooling off with our tea, and then I just string together the stories. Even that takes a little while, but it's fun, not tedious.  With little or no notes, it’s tedious; more work and the blog doesn’t have the same feel to it. 

So Saturday…  we clean up and get packed.  Dana has been "finishing packing" for two (or maybe three) days now.  I’ve been chuckling at her every time she says that, we get back and we’ll sit around, or I’ll work on the blog, and Dana packs.  I'm not sure how to take that long to pack - but certainly not the model packer, I'm definitely on the other end of the packing spectrum.  We leave in a few hours and I haven’t even given a thought toward packing, I just pile things that are mine together in a corner and put them all in my bag.  I think Dana must have a plan and a system. She’s a master packer.  If you need a packer, she’s your girl.  I think we may need to make a tutorial video on packing with Dana as our instructor…  Ok Dana, I’ll stop razzing you about packing… I kid. 

We eat up the remaining food or at least nibble on the rest of the crumb cake, the black and white cookie (it's more like the texture of a cake than a cookie, it's like a "cake cookie".  I tried one a few days ago from Carve and talked about it...even blogged about it…  Mentioned it again
today...). And then BP tries the cookie -it's her cookie from the Cake boss - and she exclaims, "HEY! This really is like a cake.  Like it’s like a CAKE, like a cake cookie...".   Um yes I've been saying that.  BP says "I know that, but I didn't think that it was like a cake-cake"... It's not, I tell her.  “It's like a cake-cookie”.

The Brittanys head out to Time Square for one last trip, they have last minute items them want to get.  Bmc has been comparison shopping for hoodies and she's going back for the one that she loves.  It's an iconic "I heart NY" sweatshirt, but it's embroidered instead of screen printed.  They get one last hotdog from a street vendor and he’s really flirting with BP – he thinks that she’s like 17 and says that BMc looks 20…  and he really, really, really hopes they had a good time in NYC.

Black and white cookie

Our land lady Ludy (say that 5 times fast) comes by and offers advice on how to get back to the
airport by the subway (there are many transfers and busses are involved).   We're just going to take a taxi.   It's about a $30 trip total and when we split it, it's definitely worth it - but she
continues to explain the process in great detail despite acknowledging that a taxi is a good decision.   We gave her a deposit for damages and she doesn't look around at all, but she gives
us the full deposit back and just asks us how our trip was.  We thank her for the advice about the unlimited metro pass - we got our money's worth out of it for sure.  It was great to have to freedom to be able to get on any train or bus that we wanted without worrying about the fare.  The city of New York lost out on that deal.

It’s about 11:00 and Ludy has previously told us that we could be out by 1:00, but has amended that to 12:00 because the people need to clean and she has new people coming at 1:00 to check in.   That’s cool – we’re flexible, we’re interpreters.  I’m now jealous of Dana’s three days of packing and wondering why I didn’t do that.  J  We text the girls that they have an hour less then we thought, so they start to head back – I get the blog up and starting gathering things from the apt and throwing it in a pile.   Everyone is cleaning and sorting stuff and food – and while it’s earlier than we expected, we figure that we might as well head to the airport.   By the time we get packed and find a place for our bags and get some place, it will be time to go anyway.   And we’re not really sure how long it will take us to get to the airport and get checked in. 

We say goodbye to our little apt – it served us well.  I’m a big fan of roomarama.com – if you’re going on a trip I recommend it.  It’s a safe and secure way to negotiate a vacation rental.  We used it all through Europe and it’s the 2^nd time I’ve used it in NYC.   It’s much better than a hotel in my opinion (especially in New York where the hotel tax is nearly the price of your room, so even if you think you got a good deal on a room, double that) – and you get your own kitchen so you can buy food and eat cheaply for breakfast or snacks.   And because it’s negotiated through a 3^rd party it’s safer and there is a system for handling issues.  You can use it to go almost anywhere, check it out. 

We head down to the lobby to talk to the concierge about calling a cab since we need one that will fit 5 people and bags – but he’s not into that.  He says that we just head outside and hail a cab.   I am not a fan of this plan.  While there are MANY cabs out there, we need a specific cab, and I think that may take a while to randomly drive by where we are, and in the meantime we’re wandering the streets with all our bags (not really concerned about the safety factor as much as we’re tired and these bags are cumbersome).  So in short, I LOVE THIS PLAN.   I get a little dramatic at this point – I’m so grateful for travelling companions who put up with my antics.  The doorman of our building is supposed to help us hail a cab, but he’s a little green – he says that he JUST got to NYC, like *JUST* - we tell him we’re going to Laguardia and he doesn’t know where that is… its in Queens… I don’t know where that is… across the Brooklyn Bridge.. I don’t know where that is…   EAST.  Across the river…  I don’t know where that is…   Ok.  You are so helpful during this time of need.   I’m not sure that he knows where HE is.

We walk a few feet in the direction of 9^th Ave because there will be more cabs down that way than on 50^th, and as we walk we come to the conclusion that we’re going to have to take two cabs – and it’s probably practical anyway because we’re on two separate flights.  BMc and I booked on Delta and the other 3 are on Southwest.  We decide that in the future we will all book together, and the flight will be non-stop.  None of this all day travel thing with lay-overs.   We’re all leaving at about 3:30, but BMc and I are on a direct flight and will be home by 5:30pm.  The others have a 3 hour layover in Baltimore and won’t be home until 9:30.   The Southwest flight has already been delayed, but because of the layover it won’t effect them really. 

As soon as we decide that we’ll probably need to take two cabs, Dana is on it!   She hails a cab like a pro – the speed of it really surprises the rest of us.  It was like it was barely out of our mouths… and BAM, cab!    BMc and I load up because our flight is leaving first because of their delay – and we part way pretty abruptly.   The others continue walking down toward 9^th Ave and we wave goodbye – See you in St. Louis!   (They’re parked at my house, so I’ll be going back to the airport to pick them up).  Becki texts and says that at the time she didn’t realize that this was goodbye – we wouldn’t be seeing each other until we landed since we were at different terminals…

BMc and I have a nice cabby – he feels the need to justify all of his traffic decisions.  He’s taking the tunnel if that’s ok… we have no idea – he could totally be taking us for a ride (ha!).   We’re flying out on Delta and there are two terminals for Delta:  Delta and Delta Shuttle.. but he takes us to terminal D (for Delta).  There is quite a line to check in, and then once you do the check in you have to wait in another line to drop off your checked bags.   BMc and I have developed system of sharing a checked bag so that we’re not both paying and it’s worked well for us.  By the time we’ve dropped off the bag we get a text from the others that they’re through security.   WHAT?   How did we leave first and they’re already through?   We don’t even have security in sight – turns out that we are Delta Shuttle, so we have to go to C terminal.   Just before we head out the door to find the bus I spot the sign that I posted on Facebook that make for fun conversation.  I turn to Britt and ask her what she sees… I wish I had a picture of her face!    Just picture wide eyes and wide mouth…

Seen at the airport - "vagina" in an energy ad

We head outside (heat) with our bags and wait for what seems like forever in the line for the bus to the other terminal.   We get a text that the others are at their gate.  Dude.  A bus pulls up and only 5 people can get on.  The bus is like a small school bus, the system seems flawed.  At the stop the driver has to get out and get out the bags of the people getting off the bus, load the bags of the people getting on the bus, and then move on to the next terminal.  It’s a much slower system than when BMc arrived and headed over to the Southwest terminal to meet the others.  There was this huge bus like a city bus, you got on with your bags and put them in a luggage rack if you felt you needed to; but it was very efficient.  I’m wondering where that bus is, and I ask the Delta lady that is helping keep the people in line in check (not very well, there are a lot of crabby people who have been waiting for a bus for a long time and then told there wasn’t enough room)…  I ask about the big bus and she cocks her head and looks at me like I’m speaking another language.   I go into further detail, it’s a large bus, big, white, you get on with your bags, it stops at each terminal…   We don’t have that.   What??  I say, “Well, that’s not true because we used that bus when we arrived – you can’t tell me that it doesn’t exist – we used it”…   Oh, do you mean the A-C terminal bus?   Well… does it fit the description that I have been giving you?   Yes?  Well then I think that must be the bus…  I don’t really get any further answers from her because another short bus arrives.   Some people are so cranky that they’re defying the rules and want to just get on the bus with their luggage – that is nipped in the bud.  You MUST load your bag at the back and then get on the bus, or you don’t get on the bus.   The bus has stopped further back than the other bus, so now the people at the back of the line are of the mind that they’re at the front of the line and that doesn’t set well with those of us that have seen more than one bus come and go… but its an empty bus and we all get on and get going eventually.    As we’re get going we spot the other kind of bus on the inside track of the terminals – while our bus has to go through regular traffic and takes a long time to get from terminal to terminal.  We figure that maybe the other bus is owned by the airport, and may be for arriving flights, not departing – but it sure beats this Delta bus.   

We eventually get to our terminal and it’s vacant.   If we would have gone there first there would have been no lines – but we still have plenty of time.  We are pretty happy that we left for the airport when we did, we would have been nervous if we had left later with all the time it has taken us to get to this point.   Security is a breeze – although I do get stopped because I have a foot bandage.  I wrapped a little of self-sticking bandage around the bottom of my foot to keep the blister from rubbing.  They swab it and do their bomb chemical test on it;  but it’s the nicest group of TSA people I’ve ever seen.   We get to the gate and find food – BMc wanted one last slice of New York pizza, but that’s not an option.  We do have a sit down place with interesting sandwiches (very good) – Britt has a pastrami and I have a Cuban.   The service is just awful though – they know that they’re the only game in the terminal and if you don’t like their service you can just go hungry.   I consider that at some point while standing at the bar doing by best impersonation of “the invisible man”… at some point my disguise defies be and they actually see me, only to tell me that it will be just a minute…   anyway, we eventually eat and hang out waiting for the flight.    In the bathroom I overhear a sweet little girl and her mother – I didn’t get to see her, but she sounds to be about 3 or 4… she’s saying “Come on honeybun, let’s go honeybun” in a cute little sing song voice.  Her mother asks, “Honeybun?” and she says, “That’s what I call myself!”   Awww… it was so great.   I love seeing glimpses of that kind of power and confidence in little girls (before it’s crushed and jaded) ….

Our plane is FULL – there are kids all around us and we are so interesting to them; like we’re the monkeys in the zoo.   There is a little girl about 1 or 2 years old in the seat in front of BMC and she’s just STARING at Britt through the crack in the seat.   Britt stares back and even startles the girl by saying “HEY!” (when Britt is startled by looking up to eyeballs peering at her through the crack) – it doesn’t make her any less interesting.   The girl’s brother is sitting in the row in front of us but across the aisle.  He takes no shame in just constantly staring.  He lays on his arm rest, head on folded hands, and is looking at me like I’m tv.  His father tries to get him to turn around, his mother even pushes his face (lovingly), trying to get him to turn around, but he is not to be swayed.   I feel a little like Snoop Dogg at a Yankee’s game…

Gotcha!

I overhear our stewardess talking to the girls behind us, they’re about 10 years old, two of them travelling with what looks like an older sister about 18 years old.  She asks them, “Hey, are you the rollercoaster girl?”  They say yes, and talk about how they got to be on the Today Show and they met Kathie Lee and Hoda – and Channing Tatum was on that day so they chatted with him in the green room.   I’m trying to place “roller coaster girl” and keep listening – they talk about how funny her dad was screaming – and I know who they are!  We had seen their video on the Today Show – the youtube video is called “Never Again Grace”.   She and her father were on a ride and he’s screaming like a little girl, and she’s just laughing and having a great time.   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeBUCvxlPEk) – it’s really funny, you should check it out. We hear all the back story.  They were at a park and the ride had video camera in the seats; instead of looking at pictures of you after the ride, you can watch and purchase your video.   Grace really wanted to ride it, but because of her age she had to have an adult with her.  Her mother usually goes on the rides with her, but she wasn’t there, so her dad who hates these rides, went.   They start the ride and his reaction is immediate – his face looks like a 3-month  old crying baby stuck on a adult’s body, that’s what makes it so funny.  They actually stop the ride before it’s supposed to be over because he’s screaming so much – so you see the ride stop and then him say, “oh we’re going again?”… he doesn’t want Grace to have to get off, so he continues.   They get off the ride and they head down to where you can watch the videos and there is a HUGE crowd gathered around laughing hysterically… he gets up there to see what it’s all about it, and “Hey, that’s ME!”…  Great story!  You have to see it!   But the Today show played it on the show Tuesday, and then after it had such a great response they invited them to come on the show.  So they were contacted Tuesday and told they had two hours to pack and be at the airport!   The older sister was supposed to be going on a school trip and they had to intercept the bus she was on and get her to the airport so that she could travel with them (not sure why the parents couldn’t go).  And Grace’s friend was with them – apparently it was actually her dad who posted the video to Youtube so she gets some credit.  They had a great trip, Today Show sponsored their stay from Tuesday to Saturday and they were able to go to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Central Park…   But she’s our celebrity of the day; Grace, the roller coaster girl. 

All of these people peed

 The entire plane is peeing.  We are in the second to last row, so maybe that's it but I have never noticed any group of people having to use the restroom more than these.   Even the stewardess just came back to check on it to make sure everything was ok because "it's been used a lot".  The people sitting next to us agree, they said they had just made the same observations.  We don’t think that it's just because we're in these seats, although it does make it a little more annoying because we’re in the “exchange” position, where the people coming and going must share the aisle to get by one another, so every person that has used the bathroom has also invaded our space, and there has not been a time when there hasn’t been someone waiting, so we’ve constantly had people standing right over us.   We agree that everyone single person on this plane has peed, and it’s a small plane (only two seats on each side of the aisle) - I think some had to have peed twice.  I want to poll the plane by a show of hands and get a count of how many people have used this restroom.  We’re about to make our descent and the pilot comes on to say that this is the time to use the restrooms before we land.  I don’t follow that logic, I think that now is the time to sit tight and wait to pee when we land.. in just a few moments.    We have this discussion with a very nice Indian woman in a beautiful sari (who is waiting for the restroom), she has also noticed how busy it’s been and is concerned that it will be clean.  

We land without incident, and despite leaving about 30 minutes late, we’re 30 minutes early… doesn’t make sense. It’s a balmy 105 degrees in St. Louis.  The stewardess asks us if we’re from here as we get our bags together, and after we say yes she says that she figured that, almost didn’t ask because she figured that no one would be vacationing here, it had to be your home city.   I know that she’s saying that because of the heat wave, but still…   Patti picks us up and BMc heads home to spend time with her hubby…

MEANWHILE...............

In the meantime – I asked Becki to blog what was going on with the Southwest peeps.  This is their blog – I make a few parenthetical comments, can’t help myself:

We grabbed a taxi about 5 min after Susen and Bmc- he was very polite and very quiet. I had to cover my eyes several times and there were many sharp intakes of breath as we navigated NYC traffic.  We really did expect to hit a car once or twice. Scariness.  We got to Laguardia- no lines anywhere and flew through check in and security.  Again- BP is a second class citizen. She is in the B boarding section while Dana and I are both A.  (And they had all checked in the night before, on the way out BP had never heard of checking in 24 hours before the flight and ended up in C group, and almost missed the plan altogether when the steward closed the door without boarding the entire C group).

Downside- no sit-down restaurant, so we've been piece-mealing things together from the various shops and fast food restaurants. Our flight was originally set to leave at 3:35. Then I got a text it was delayed to 4:10. Then I got another text that says the delay is changed to 3:45. The board currently says 3:55 takeoff but no info has been announced/texted to that effect. It's a crap shoot at this point.

My dad called and said there was a big storm in Washington DC and thousands are w/o power. Guessing that may be why the delay since we’re flying through Baltimore.  Dana and I are marveling at people traveling alone who are sound asleep at the gate. What if they sleep through boarding? What about their stuff? No one’s watching it. The cutest little guy is sitting near us. He's definitely a card. He reminds us of Amy's Jason. He is excited about *everything* and wants to see planes, planes, planes!

 And our latest update is takeoff at 4pm... Someday we'll get home Boarding finally at 3:45.  (With the Delta delay, they actually end up taking off before us).  The world’s most annoying flight attendant is on our flight; repetitive and overly happy. We may use seat cushion/flotation device to knock her off the plane. The flight attendant reminds us of the mother leaving answering machine message in Rent. Very sing-songy And high pitched, “Don't forget to buckle uu---up”;  “Make sure your tray tables are in the UPright poSIIItionnnn..”;  “There's plenty of seating back in the rear of the plaaa-ane…”.   She starts to sing something else, and her fellow steward stops her, “Don’t do that.”   Whew!

We touchdown in Baltimore 10 min early but have to sit on the runway until our gate is cleared. There's only 3 hrs til our connection. We may not make it.  (Sarcasm noted).

We finally get to our gate and run for those cushy chairs with the outlets so we can charge our phones. And we find out- lovely- they're not working. Turns out the airport is running on minimal power. Yay.   BP notices an outlet by the window and as soon as someone gets up, I zoom over to use that one. It works! So I charge and try to pass the time til our 8:05 flight.  (With the time difference, the others have already been home for an hour and an half before we board).  Looking for refreshment at BWI, BP notices a Jamba Juice, but got upset because they don’t serve juice, just smoothies. False advertising!

On the plane, BP finds a kid pack and crayons in the seat pocket – it keeps her quiet for about 20 minutes.  J She starts practicing her Spanish via the kid pack, and she’s wearing her Southwest wings… 

Nice wings

 BP and Dana are seated next to each other and BP starts reading Dana's kindle over her shoulder (even after I offered her a magazine) and asking Dana questions about the characters in the book.  Dana was little puzzled by this joint reading effort, BP doesn’t see anything wrong with it.   She’s so cute.  We get cheese nips on the plane for a snack which really excites BP… "I love me some cheese nips".

 We land about 9:20, get bags and meet Patti and Susen for pick up… heading home after a long day of travelling.

LOOSE ENDS AND OTHER STUFF................

We all had what we called our “welcome to New York” moments – some noteworthy ones that may not have been mentioned….   BP says that hers was when we first went to Rockefeller Center we were crossing the street and we heard this cat meowing…  we’re looking around for a cat – and we soon realize that it’s a homeless man in a wheelchair who is heading our way.  He’s just meowing away.   You’re welcome. 

 
McKay says hers is when we were at the Today Show for the Kenny Chesney concert and a guy drove by and squeezed a rubber chicken at her for no reason.   And of course we’ve had several interesting encounters with people on the subway.   My favorite is still the man with the hand gestures.  I still do his little dance. 

 Random quotes that I just couldn’t leave out but that for some reason didn’t find their place in the blog:

Dana: “Can you burp me?” (she had some pain in her shoulder blade and felt that “burping” her may help – I’m still not sure what happened there, or how shoulder blade pain is related to being burped, much less why you would need to BE burped, versus just burping…)

BM:  “I share much better than I did when I was 6.” – Becki gives her an cock-eyed look because she just had a sharing issue with cheesecake where she told us all to back off and not touch her… BM defends herself, “Well, I just didn't want to share cheesecake.   That might have been a small piece...”

BM:  She’s ready for her after dinner meal and we point out that we have snacks at the apt, like hummus… “Hummus is for when I get back to the apt and my dinner has worn off because I walked 12 miles to get back to the apt.”   (Ahhh… I was wondering what hummus was for)

I think my favorite one that got left out was when we were on the double-decker tour bus and Brittany was sitting next to a couple that got up and moved, but left something on their seat.  BP was very nice and ran up to them with the thing that they had left – but they were not grateful at all.  They just look at her like she’s bothering them, “We didn’t need that”… no thank you for the effort or anything.  Just total blow off.   They make the observation that New Yorkers really ARE rude.   I laugh and tell them, “There are no New Yorkers on this bus”… oh yah. 

And I’ll end with a BP classic… “Everyone in new York has been on jail.”  (What??)  “Well half the people in my town have been in jail. And New York is a lot bigger.”   Oh well, yah, when you say it like that, it makes perfect sense.  We love BP. 

Believe it or not, BMc has convinced me and Patti to go back to NYc in August, a little more than a month from now, so we’ll have some addendums.  This will be a short weekend trip so that Patti can see Tribes and Brittany can try to hang out with Russell (even though she has yet to be approved as a friend on Facebook, unlike myself – smile)..   We found cheap flights and an even cheaper place to stay, so it’s totally doable.   I know people that make annual trips to Vegas, and I think that I could be that person that makes annual trips to NYC to check out a show and restaurant.  

Here’s a list of what we did during our time there… 

·         Time Square
·         Peter and the Starcather – Broadway Show
·         Had NYC hotdogs from street vendors
·         Today Show
·         Rockefeller Center
·         Double-decker bus tour – Uptown, Downtown, Night tour
·         Soho
·         Greenwich Village
·         The Mac Store
·         FAO Schwartz
·         Dylan’s Candy
·         Bloomingdales
·         RENT – off broadway
·         Harbor cruise around the island
·         Statue of Liberty
·         Dash (The Kardashian’s store)
·         Lombardi’s in Little Italy
·         Bryant Park – Tropfest
·         Mani-pedi
·         Bought shoes at Foot Locker
·         Toys-R-Us Time Square
·         Street Fair
·         NBC Studio Tour
·         The Daily Show Live Taping
·         Washington Square Park (chess and the Arc)
·         Grimaldi’s Pizza in Brooklyn
·         Junior’s Cheesecake in Brooklyn
·         The Way Station (Bar with a TARDIS!)
·         Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan
·        Cake Boss in Hoboken
·         “One Man, Two Guvnors” (Broadway show with Tony award winning actor)
·         “Tribes” – Broadway
·         Central Park – Carousel, Literary Walk, Strawberry Fields, Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain, Friends fountain, many rocks..
·         9/11 Memorial
·         Katz’S Deli
·         Trump Tower
·         Breakfast at Tiffany’s
·         Wooster Street Social Club
·         John’s Pizzeria on Bleeker Street
·         David’s Tea
·         Yankee’s Game
·         Empire State Building

Who we saw…

·         Christian Borle (Smash, and Tony Award winning actor)
·         Naked Cowboy
·         Kenny Chesney (from afar)
·         Lester Holt
·         Doctor Who (look-a-like)
·         Hugh Jackman and Rose Byrne at Tropfest
·         Naked Indian
·         Hoda and Kathie Lee
·         Jon Stewart
·         Russell Harvard
·         Mare Winningham
·         Judith Light
·         Jeff Perry (Grey’s Anatomy and Prison Break)
·         Al Roker
·         Ann Curry
·         Matt Lauer
·         Matthew McConaughay
·         Jennifer Aniston
·         Snoop Dogg
·         Roller Coaster Girl

OH – and last thing – our Facebook challenge:

1.    DON’T POST: Every single piece of food you ate – I think it’s easy to say that we definitely did this one proud… I personally like to see pics of people’s food at interesting places.   Maybe I’m in the minority. 

2.    DON’T POST: Comments about how much better this trip is than your real life…     I think that we covered that.  Although toward the end we were all ready for our “real life” beds, if not our real lives. 

3.    DON’T POST: You, and absolutely nothing else – Here’s a quote from the article about what they hate about this… “please resist the urge to stand in the foreground of every single picture you take. We’ve all seen that pose, the arms by your side, sort of an awkward half-smile. “Well, here I am, in front of this thing,””…   I don’t see an issue with that.  I’ve always heard that you should have subject in the photo… we have lots of those… look here’s a few now:

BP with "THE" rock

Becki blocking the box

 

4.    DON’T POST: You looking like an idiot.    Hmmm… It’s hard not to do this with this group (see above).  They count things like pointing at things or anything with your tongue out.   Using that as criteria, we definitely have this one covered.   I won’t show you the most apt example – of me sprawled out on the chariot in the carousel in Central Park.  You’re welcome. 

5.    DON’T POST: Anyone that is less than 75% clothed ....  Well, it wasn’t us – but we saw those models scantily clothed and posted that…

6.    DON’T POST: Feet -   We saw this as a personal mission… there were lots of feet.   Feet in NYC, feet with new shoes, and feet in “first class” of the Southwest flight…

7.    DON’T POST: Beers in a dimly lit bar. Beers on a dimly lit street. Beer OMG beers!Technically no beers… but we do have a couple of nice shots of alcohol and the souvenir cups that they came in.   It was one of our favorite parts of the Broadway experience, drinks brought to you in your seats.  

Becki's "liquid love letter"

8.     DON’T POST: Pictures out of a plane - I did this one just to complete the list…   So I think we did it!!  Yay!

It's FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY... ooooooooohhhh!!!

It is presently Monday as I type this – possibly Tuesday before it gets posted and you are reading it.  I’ve heard from a few people asking when the blog would be up – and I honestly didn’t think that anyone would miss us.   Awwww….

 How much has this trip beaten us down?   Whoa.   And I’m off during the summer, so I have even more respect for those Ya-yas that went back to work today. I’ve put together a list of notable things that we did and people that we met along the way and I’ll post that at the end of the Saturday blog.  We went full steam all day every day for 9 days – it was a great trip.   NYC may have gotten and few hits in on us, but we definitely hit back and got to see so much.

Crumbcake... ahhhhh

SO – Friday…   the theme of today is “left overs”…  we have so much food in the fridge and we leave tomorrow.  It’s FULL of boxes from the Cake Boss, left overs from Katz’s deli, and remnants of our trips to the grocery store.   For breakfast we have crumb cake from the Cake Boss and cannolis… OMG – so good.  They should have a show or something.   The crumb cake is THICK with “crumb” and we have finally found cannolis that are worthy.   The got us regular ones and chocolate ones – they’re both amazing.  I think they’ve ruined me for all future cannolis.   I even eat the other half of my reuben from Katz’s – it’s an interesting breakfast. 

It’s also a left over day in the sense that we have things on our list that are things we just didn’t get to the rest of this week and we want to be sure to do.   So while in the past we’ve done Central Park days and Brooklyn days… today we’re going to be literally all over the map.  

Cannoli for breakfast

BMc takes a “body shower” – a term that she uses as if we know what she’s talking about, but that we have to get clarification on.  I’m not sure that I’ve heard anyone say that before – a body shower, as opposed to what other kind of shower?   A non-body shower?   She says that she means that she’s not going to get her hair wet – ahhh… I see, but I really don’t know that I’ve ever taken a body shower before, I guess that’s why I didn’t have a need for that term up to this point.  

Becki is going daring – wearing a cute little dress that she says that she wouldn’t wear at home – But all the people at home are going to see her and have the same reaction we did.    And she’s so darn cute that we don’t know why she wouldn’t just wear any ole thing that she wanted to.  J

We get all our stuff together, and make sure that we have our “prop bagels” for our breakfast at Tiffany’s – we’re going to hit a Starbucks to have our coffee for the pics.  We’re a little goofy – but we always have fun.   The plan for the day is to head to the Mac Store again for Becki to return her juice pack – it doesn’t work with her iphone because it can’t make the connections; then Tiffany’s…  look for the “Doctor Who” rock in Central Park,  find our way up to the Castle in the middle of the park…  then down to Tribeca for Wooster Street Social Club Tattoo (New York Ink), eating at John’s Pizzeria in the Village, Yankees game, and top of the Empire State Building….    Should be no problem.   Right?

 

We’re heading to Staples so that Becki can print out her Empire State Building ticket – we discovered last night that she just had the receipt and not the actual ticket printed – we figure that we’ll do that tonight as the last thing that we do, it will be a great way to say goodbye to the city.   As we're crossing the street, we have a white man, but there are many sirens and vehicles going through lights so we're a little scared to go...  I say, “I don't trust the white man.  Especially with the police around… “  That sounded much better on the way out than it did in my head.

McKay is still having red bumps issues – the girls were going to get up and go see Adam Levine and Maroon 5 this morning, and were going to go at like 3am to try and actually get in close, but BM has had this red rash, like a prickly heat rash all over her since yesterday.  She set the alarm for 3 to check on the rash, and if it was still there then the plan was to just go back to bed and not wake up BP.   Well, at 3am Dana and I get the light on so that BM can check for the rash – I think BM was still half asleep.  But they didn’t end up going.  It was going to make for a rough day anyway, getting up that early and they don’t let you into the plaza until 6, and they don’t start playing until about  8 or later… so that’s a long time just waiting and standing.   We all got up later than normal, about 9am or later – Becki and I turned on the Today show to start to get the others to start to stir – it was ironic that they had plans to go down and see Adam Levine and then they were almost going to sleep through the whole show.    We hear them say that there were over 12,000 people down there in the plaza, and the Brittanys are very happy that they’re not there.   BP is also having issues – her feet and heels are still in pain from our day of heavy walking (and wearing flip flops with no support).

The rash was better in the morning, but just in the short walk to Staples it is back and spreading quickly.   Becki gets her ticket printed and we’re off to catch the train to the Mac Store.   On the way to the subway BP makes a discovery… she has left her metro card in her other purse!   UGH – so frustrating, because we’re not close enough to the apt to go back for it and we have a full day of train riding.    So new card for her...  We find our train.   Waiting for the subway is stuffy!!  Not so much the temp, but there is no air moving.  None.  We could solve the problems of the subway, just need like an attic fan or even one of those big industrial fans in each stop..  Even the train isn't very cool.  Becki is fine with all of that.  She is completely unaffected by climate, humidity or heat.  It’s like a super power.  The rest of us are overheated and yes, moist, and she looks like she’s just stepped out of a climate-controlled hermetically sealed room.  The humidity-impaired among us are just a little envious. 

On the train there are no seats available, so Dana tries subway surfing a bit – I demonstrated a few days ago.  You just have to take the “surfing” stance, arms out, feet set… and take on the movements of the train.  But she needs to put her feet into it a little more.

We get off at the Mac store and in the short walk there we are already at an elevated core body temperature.  It’s in the 90’s today – not as bad as our friends back in the Lou, but NYC has a special mugginess and lack of air  - we figure we can get our body temps back down while Becki does her bizness.   We look for a “visitor's center” and find empty seats at the "genius" table.  The guy kicks us out. There are 6 stools around the table, we occupy 3...until we are booted and told that “We have to keep these reserved for people with appointments”.   I get a little snarky, but not loud.. (just commentary), “I say that's ok, we'll just stand here and lean and
watch no one sitting in these seats.”   Two other people are sitting on the other side - "so is only this side for genius'?   Which prompts him to ask the others if they have appointments -  One lady does have an appointment.  But she's here too early.  So she can't sit there either.  “We” have to keep the seats open for the people who aren't here.   What can't anyone understand that?? (I’m not really not angry, and maybe this sounds like I am – I actually just see humor in this situation – 6 open seats, no waiting – but we need to keep them open… for. all. these. people.)    In other strange observations in the Mac Store, there is a woman walking around the store with a parrot on her finger.  Picture our mouths gaping open at the image of a woman with a live parrot perched on her finger walking by us as if that is the most normal thing possible. We're not sure if it's part of the store - but pretty sure she's just a customer, she’s not wearing a Mac shirt… .  Another lady has yellow, no, seriously YELLOW hair.  It’s the color of day-glow yellow highlighter…  We have no service in the Mac store.. We think that's ironic.  Big time cool geek/tech spot, we should have uber ablity to connect.  But we have no service.

We’re done with the Mac Store, they took back the juice box with no issues.  Tiffany’s is next on our list; it’s just two blocks down on 5^th Ave.   But we need a Starbucks so that we can get our prop coffee to go with our prop bagels.  We say we need an app for that... turns out there is one.
But we won't have it loaded by the time we need it, we’ve arrived at Tiffany’s.   Trump Tower is just next door, and on a whim we go in… and lo and behold – STARBUCKS!  Turns out that you don’t need a Starbucks locator in NYC, you just need a dead cat to swing around.

Becki gets a frozen caramel (and a hot white chocolate for our pictures), I get a mocha… we try each … we decide that hers is very sweet, and mine is very mocha.  J   BM gets the strawberries and cream and BP is not sure what to get so she consults her barista… she wants something sweet, he leans in and says, “Do you trust me?”… she is puzzled.  Trust you?  I can barely hear you!   But she is pleased with her final result.  I let her taste my mocha light frappiccino, and she is disgusted by it – “that’s COFFEE!”… well… yes, I assumed that part was understood. 

We head outside and take turns “eating breakfast” in front of Tiffany’s.  We feel superior, if in a geeky way, to those other people getting their pictures taken in front of the store sans breakfast props.   We feel their jealous gazes and silent recognition that we are in fact much cooler than they are.  We each get our Breakfast at Tiffany's photo opp... And go in and look around.  BMc has added to her wish list.  Watch out Scott!  

Breakfast

She wants!

Bulgari - my sunglasses are behind BP

Models... we could do that...

We’re on 5^th Avenue, the area of the big stores, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Bulgari (Ranger’s fragrance from the Janet Evanovich books) – BM saw some in Bloomingdale’s but she’s super excited about a whole dedicated store.   We cross the street and go in – and I instantly feel that we are not their crowd.  BM is a little disappointed that there is no wall of fragrance there, but they do have one called “Man” – we assume it’s for men…  We also find that the store that I’ve been saying as “Bulgaria” is pronounced “BULL-ga-ree” I find some sunglasses that I like… for only $440.  They are just sunglasses.  Wow.  I think that even if I had that kind of money that I would never find it ok to pay $440 or more for sunglasses.

We witness photo shoot outside on the street...we actually first witnessed a woman in a red barely-there dress and then follow her movement to the photo shoot.  They’re posing on the street in front of a construction area and steamy manhole cover with Trump Tower in the background.   If we find a steamy manhole cover and construction,  we'll be recreating these poses later.

We walk north a few blocks to Central Park -  It's time to find "the rock" from Doctor Who.  I know most of you have no idea what Dr.Who is, so the idea of finding a rock in central park (and believe me, there are many rocks) that was used in a taping of an unaired scene in a show that you’ve never heard of may seems a little ridiculous, but we are nothing if not ridiculous.  We’re also very lucky to have very patient travel companions as we wander, looking for a rock.  We started saying, “Look there’s a rock!”  But we DO find it... and BP and I are more excited that is probably warranted… We actually find two of them (we discover from comparing the pictures that there were actually two different scenes with two different rocks).   The show hasn't even aired yet, so it's hard to gauge exactly. We got pics – but it’s not until we were leaving that we find the buildings that were in the background, so we got the right rock, but just the slightly wrong angle – we’re ok with that, we were there..  .   As we're heading off to the subway stop we find the fence that is behind the second rock and so we lag behind and get pics there too…

The Doctor and Amy on "the rock"

Me on same rock - see the same funny shaped buidling?

BP on the second rock...

And this is still the first rock (but same buildings as in BP's pic)

Fruit-tea (Fruity, get it?)

 Walking to the subway is about half a mile through winding paths in the park and we're steaming.   We stop in to cool off at our new favorite healthy tea place, Argo Tea (it’s the place that we went the day before while we were waiting for bikes) – they have fun flavors of tea.  Dana got a sangria tea with fruit chunks in it.  She wins.  It's a drink AND a snack.  Cooling off then heading to Wooster street and John's Pizzeria for lunch.  While we’re chatting, the girls are talking about “50 Shades of Grey” and who they would cast as Christian (I haven’t read them, but most of the others have) – we find a website that has speculation over casting and I’m SUPER excited to see that Tom Welling is on their list (we can see that, he had some great moments as “dark Clark” on Smallville).. Matt Bomer (Suits and Magic Mike) is also listed.. But we think that we might have gay residue there.   Love him, love that he’s out – but this is a very sexual role, and we just don’t know.  Who would you cast?

We start back up and head for the subway… we're looking for the 1.   Just like The Matrix.  (BP said it, and it made my day).    On the subway it’s really crowded – we have to be assertive to make it on the train, someone actually walked through us and pushed us aside as they said “excuse me” – using our displacement to further their momentum upstream.   I don’t think that they know what “excuse me” means… it doesn’t mean, “allow me to come from behind you and push you off the train so that I can have your spot”… but then again, maybe I’m wrong.   Dana is face to face with a guy who is actively blowing air into her face in the movement of a lawn sprinkler.   We can’t help but laugh openly, and we share a Doctor Who moment (there is an episode where he goes to a diplomatic event where they bring gifts from their home planet – he has just dropped in and is gift-less, so he breathes on them and says, “My gift: air from my lungs”).  So we thought maybe this guy was just trying to share a gift with us too. 

Every time we emerge from the subway it’s always a challenge to get re-oriented for directions.  We walk around the block but find our way.  Becki exclaims, “HEY! Is that Jennifer Anniston??” … we’re all like, “WHERE?!?!”…  on that billboard.   What??  We were all looking on the street, ready for our “celebrity roaming free on the streets of NYC” spotting…  I’m totally counting it.  We saw Jennifer Aniston in Tribeca.   As we walk in the heat, the best part is feeling a burst of cold air from the stores as we pass by – just as “air from my lungs”, we enjoy the gift of “AC from our store”… Our destination is the Wooster Street Social Club – it’s the tattoo place from “New York Ink”.  I don’t watch, but I think everyone else has seen at least one episode.  BM is ready to see and meet Ami.   But he’s not there.   We get pics (and wander pretty freely about the premises) – they have a healthy respect for air conditioning.   I’m very happy. 

 We walk to John's on Bleeker street. It's the pizza place that Jon Stewart recommend to us, it’s on BM’s list of best pizza places, AND we just saw their veal meatballs on Diners, Drive ins and Dives last night.   It's in the village, we walked past it when we were walking around before Tribes.  It’s about .7 miles away according to our navigator – and in this heat it’s almost too long, but by the time we walk to bus or subway stops and wait, we could have walked it.   So it’s a toss up, but we decide to walk.   My hair is poofed to the max – it’s like that episode of Friends episode where Monica’s hair continues to grow and grow.  I’m not going to get my hair braided, so I’m learning to embrace my hair.  Hair, by Humidity.  We are HOT.  Overheated HOT, core-temperature elevated hot - and we are looking forward to a cool restaurant and colder water.  We come in sit in the booth, which is way cool – but not in a temperature way.   There is zero air circulating and the temp is so not cool enough.   But place has character – the table and surround booth are covered with initials and names scratched into the wood, there is cool wall art, and the food is amazing.   I get a side of the meatballs that we saw and we share… Becki gets pasta with CHEESE (I mean cheese), and we order pizza - Bm does it again, masterful ordering skills, meatballs with mushrooms and extra cheese.

In the process of reaching for plates I spill our cherished pitcher of water… water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink... but it’s a refreshing lap treat for Becki.    BMc shares that she has to pee – which makes her remember “the other pee”.   “That pee hurt.”..Becki almost
spit.   You're welcome.

The table

The booth

The meaballs...

And the pizza...

We are fed, but still not cooled down so we have a choice of an ice-cream shop or a tea shop – and we opt for the latter.   These tea places seem to be the new thing – it’s David’s Tea and we learn that there are 178 tea choices there (check them out online) – we were a little overwhelmed.  But there is a great tea lady there, she talks you through what you like and what you don’t like, and then you can smell the tea before you decide.   She's great at getting you to your tea place.

David’s Tea hit the spot - The tea is so good - we have fun picking out different flavors.  And it’s cool.   Everyone except for BP actually has two big glasses of teas in different flavors BP (she only drinks about ¼ of her first drink, and says that she thinks that she's had too much to drink today.  She physically can't hold any more liquid – and she demonstrates by trying to sip some tea that goes right back down the straw…”See?”.  This is why we love her.) – BM chooses “luscious watermelon” as her second glass because "it's luscious".  And it was.  I had “Swamp Water” that actually had pieces of candy in it – we’re not sure why they would call it Swamp water until we see it brewed.  It looks like swamp water, with little green algae floating around in it.   

Once we are cooled off and our thirsts are satiated we head out again.   It’s about 6:00 by now and we have tickets to the Yankee’s game in the Bronx which is about a 30 minute train ride north.   Becki is having knee issues, but we’re not to speak of it.   If you don’t talk about it, it isn’t happening, and this isn’t happening.  

The train is so cold.   I'm in love with this train.  I want to marry this train.  It’s *packed* since it’s rush hour and we’re taking it from downtown, through uptown and into the Bronx, but we were lucky to get on downtown, so we got seats.  BP is sitting at crotch level with a group of cute, young business men – who keep adjusting themselves, as she gets redder and redder.  We are really enjoying the show.    We reach our stop and ¾ of the train gets off with us.   We spot “The Yankee Tavern” across the street and make note – our friend Bob Lister (of the Mars persuasion) has requested a shirt from the Yankee Tavern (repeatedly), so his requests are under advisement..

The smell flip top

BP perspective

BIG

Yankee Stadium is huge - feels bigger than Busch because there are so many open spaces.  They have a huge jumbotron in the lower level concourse with the game on it.   We walk out to the lower level to see the field, and then we hit the team store and look around.   The shirts are little pricey (but way soft), but BM finds one she likes that says “Yankee Stadium” and BP find one too.   I find BMc checking out and join her, and come in on the tail end of her conversation with the cashier – she’s explaining why the Yankees are so great, they have HISTORY, they’ve been around since the 1900’s, and they are LEGENDS, and that’s why everyone hates them.  I’m beginning to think that maybe people hate them because of their attitude problem.  Or maybe it’s that they give everyone else an attitude problem – they’ve just given me an attitude.  Later BMc explains that the first half of the conversation involved her saying that she was from St. Louis, and the cashier saying that they had a great history.. just like the Yankees… so I guess I need an attitude adjustment.

From our seats

We're in section 434 - way up and way out - but we paid $12 for the seats ($19 with express shipping) so we're good, we just wanted in the stadium.   We haven’t really decided who we’re rooting for – we figure that the White Sox are rivals with the Cubs, so the rival of our rivals is our friend… but then again we’re on Yankee turf and we have no beef with them, so why not go for the home team?   One thing that we do know is that we love the breeze.  The Yankees started off with 4 runs, Chicago answered with 5... ooooh…. gonna be a heated game..  until the Sox go ahead 14-7.   We’re rooting for the Sox… that’s the ticket.

About the 4th inning a familiar looking guy heads up the steps of our section.  People are screaming, everyone is standing and facing us with their cameras and phones...  It's Snoop Dogg.  It LOOKS so much like Snoop Dogg, but there is no way that it’s Snoop.  In the nosebleed section?   We look for signs that it’s a look-alike to confirm our beliefs that this is impossible that its Snoop Dogg, but everything we see actually confirms the opposite.   He has about 6 bodyguards on all sides of him, and as more and more people get word that he’s here we have a lot of visitors to our section.   Stadium staff set up ticket check points so that only people with tickets in this section are allowed in it – and some fans get really ticked off that other people trying to get pics of Snoop are now blocking their view of the game.   We still can’t figure out why he’s not in some private box - Bmc says that she's read a lot about him and he likes to
hang out with his fans like that - it really really looks like him. Before the security tightens, people are getting autographs and he's waving.. One girl in front of us is really cracking us up.  She's standing up and sticking her tongue out, dancing and gesturing toward him.  I tell Britt that she should stand up and take a picture, "oh, and shake my tits at him, cause that's what she did."   There are a group of girls in front of us who seem a little shy, they’re afraid to stand up to get a picture – but she laughs at BM’s comment…. "You're welcome."

SNOOP!

Later in the game that same girl turns around to Dana and asks very politely (in what seems to be a British accent), “Excuse me, but can you tell me how you get points?”… she laughs a little when we react with silent looks of awe, but she says, “I know this sounds silly – but I could explain the rules of Cricket to you.. “    Ahh.. international guests.  We can’t really decide where they’re from, they sound British, but Becki can see bits of their facebook app over their shoulder and it’s in French.   Dana and I explain the basics of the game and she’s surprised to know that our players “specialize in either throwing or hitting”… in Cricket they players have to bowl and hit both.   We do add that in real baseball, in the National League, that the pitchers do have to hit.  

Nathan's dogs

We want to leave early – we still have to get the Empire State building (and possibly the Yankee Tavern), so about the 6^th inning we head down and we get Nathan’s hotdogs and a Yankee souvenir cup, and then head out.    BP waits in the AC of McDonalds while the rest of us head over to the Yankee Tavern.   This is not a tourist spot, this is the real deal, filled with real Yankee fans bellied up the bar, watching the game.   We ask the bartender for shirts and they’re much more affordable than the ones in the club store – I’m a fan.  And yes, Bob, we got your shirt.  In fact we got one for Scott too, and I got one for myself.  We chatted with what BMc considers to be a “real” New Yorker while we were there, and he was really nice – we talked about where we were staying and he told us some places to go and eat.  Wish we had more days to fit them in…

Back on the subway – heading down to 34^th street for the Empire State Building, our last official act of our NYC trip.   We get off the subway and this time I figure that instead of orienting ourselves by maps and street signs, that we can just look up.    Becki looks up and heads in the wrong direction – it’s been a long day – I chuckle just a little and then bring her attention to the very large building in front of us.   OH.  

Just look up

 There are miles of lines to get to the observation deck, and then you get to get in an elevator up to the 80^th floor.   We get in and according to BM, it smells like a bowling shoe.  I love that phrase; even more so because it’s true.  NYC has something against proper ventilation.  Once on the 80^th floor we have more line walking… group pictures.. and we’re almost there.  They offer us a chance to bypass the line to the elevator by walking up 6 floors.  If this were not the end of a very long week and we were further back in line, and if I weren’t absolutely sure that there would be zero air circulation in the stairwell.. then we might consider walking.  But as it is, we stay in line for the elevator.  We get up there and it’s beautiful at night.   We spot New Jersey, Brooklyn, Time Square and Chrysler Building, and Tower One…

We are subway pros now and we find our train, actually heading in the right direction – and for the first time we exit out of the correct exit and end up just a block from our apt.   It’s been a long day.. a long 8 days and we head home tmw!    We’ve had a great time, but we’re kinda ready to be home.

Tower One in the distance