My family and I went on a fabulous,
eventful family vacation the first week in April!! We purchased tickets
to match our bucket list goals, packed up the van and headed East to New York
City! It was Opening Week for Major League Baseball and Monday, April 1,
was our first stop for Opening Day Chicago Cubs at PNC Park in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. As Cubs fans, it doesn't get much better than that!
The morning began with a wintery drive, but luckily the snow subsided and the
sun came out in time for the game. (It
was still cold though!) We bundled in double sweatshirts, winter coats,
hats, gloves etc. and followed the crowd down the street, along a path near the
river, across Roberto Clemente Bridge, down the middle of the closed highway,
and into PNC Park. Our seats were in the outfield and although we were slightly
behind a pole, we could see. I took photos of the players, mostly the Cubs, as
well as photos of Shawn and the kids in the stadium. I also took a few photos
of the Pirates. Despite the cold, it was a good game and the Cubs even
won! “Rizzo” of the Cubs hit a home run and we ended up in the crowd in a
photo in Sports Illustrated. How cool is that?!
The next day, we arrived in New York
City via New Jersey, the Holland Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel; through many
lanes of traffic, toll booths and a few stressful moments. As our van hit the
main streets of Manhattan, we were greeted by near-rush-hour traffic as taxi
cabs and other cars were honking and lurching forward amid green lights, yellow
lights and even red lights; while crowds of people rushed across the streets
despite the fact that we were trying to drive through the intersection and the
light was actually green! With stiff necks and pounding hearts, we pulled
into the parking area of the hotel before 3pm. We made it!
In our hotel room, we were amazed by
our view of Times Square from the 25th floor. Eventually, we tore
ourselves away from our view and the security of our room, mustered up some
bravery, and headed downstairs and out the front door. We were greeted immediately by gazillions of
people all walking at a hurried pace, most seemingly dressed in dark colors
with headphones and cell phones and busy schedules. We attempted to step into
pace with them but were a bit dizzy as we tried to check out the sites, gather
a few photos, keep track of where we were as well as where we were going, all
while making sure we didn’t get run over by vehicles or even pedestrians. We
were in awe at large TV screen billboards as we walked down the street and
found our way to the Minskoff Theater where we would be attending a Broadway
production of Lion King a few hours later. In time, we grew a little more
accustomed to our surroundings and the pace of the city. We easily found
the theater and our tickets and our way to our seats. We had seats in the
mezzanine section in the second row …. Great seats! The play was amazing, the
acting was fabulous, the costumes and set were brilliant and the experience
gave me chills as the play began. It was also enjoyable because it was a movie
we had watched many, many times when the kids were very small! Even Shawn
seemed to enjoy the show and was amazed at the set and costumes. I think the kids enjoyed it too even though
they didn’t want to admit it.
As soon as the play ended and
the applause was over, we headed out of the theater and quickly made our way
over more than 10 blocks down Broadway to Madison Square Garden where we hoped
to get last minute tickets to the NIT Final Four Iowa Hawkeye basketball game
that had just started. The next few moments were quite a story to be told as we
attempted to get into the game. To make
a long story short, we made it in and enjoyed an unexpected bucket list item
that night! (The story is another blog all of it’s own). Anyway, our seats were pretty high up … but
we didn’t care … we were inside Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four
game with the Iowa Hawkeyes!
The next three days we tackled the
sights of New York City. You name it, we probably saw it, even if we only
caught a glimpse! We had the opportunity to view the city from the
observation deck of the Empire State Building. We could see for miles …
the tops of very tall buildings … the skyline … the Hudson River … the World
Trade Center … Statue of Liberty … etc. It was quite cold outside, which,
although it required coats and hoods etc., it also probably kept a few people
inside so we could have a better view with fewer people (can’t complain about
that!)
On a bus tour, we managed to catch some
sights and learn a few things as we went past a variety of sights including
Wall Street and the Wall Street Bull. We saw the ball that is dropped on New
Year’s Eve. We saw areas affected by Hurricane Sandy and the Brooklyn
Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge from a number of angles. We saw a variety of sights where
movies were filmed including KATZS restaurant from “When Harry Met Sally”, the
bar from “Coyote Ugly”, sights from "Friends" and "Sex in the City", buildings from
"I Am Legend", "Ghost Busters", "The Proposal" … etc. We also saw one site where they
were in the process of filming a movie right then. We saw buildings where
famous people had lived and were told that we probably had seen a variety of
famous people walking among us in Manhattan, although we hadn’t noticed. We went
through China Town and Little Italy. We saw the American Girl Store, Saks
Fifth Avenue, and a variety of shops in SOHO. We went by the Waldorf Hotel, the
United Nations, the Chrysler building, flat iron building etc. We didn't
experience much of the food in New York City ... we didn't have time! We actually ate one meal at McDonald's, one
at Applebees, popcorn in the baseball stadiums and a quite a few bologna
sandwiches in our hotel room. We experienced traffic
jams, irate tourists and New York City folks trying desperately to prove they
are not as rude as some may think!
We viewed the World Trade Center
Memorial and took a few photos. They were in the process of constructing
the new towers which will include an observation deck. We walked up a number of
blocks to the “Staten Island Ferry” where we hopped on a Harbor Cruise to see
the Statue of Liberty. However, we could not actually go onto Elis Island or into the
Statue of Liberty due to continued damage from Hurricane Sandy. (I think people
will be permitted to go there later this summer). We saw the sites of the
city skyline from the harbor and also went under the Brooklyn and Manhattan
bridges. Again, I took lots of photos. It was nice that we managed to fit in a “boat
ride” as we do on almost every family vacation.
We also went on another tour where
we saw lots of amazing, historical architecture including churches etc. We drove by the New York Ballet, New York Philharmonic and Manhattan School of
Music. We saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Gugenheim Museum. The
architecture of the Gugenheim was very different and something to see. We saw
Grant’s Tomb and the site where John Lennon was shot which has a memorial
candle burning. We went by Central Park from all sides. We went down the
streets of Harlem where we witnessed people living their day-to-day lives and
we saw sites where Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had been. We saw graffiti
on a wall that said “Harlem Shake”. Since "The Harlem Shake" is such a big thing these days,
I tried to take a picture … but so did the guy behind me … so I didn’t get
it!
We got off the tour bus just
in time to head on down the sidewalk to catch the subway to the Bronx for the
Yankee’s Game. Getting on the subway, we had to be careful not to let the
doors close before we all hopped on. We didn’t want to leave anyone
behind in the subway station! We clung to the poles and each other so we didn’t
fall down onto the other subway riders (I think the whole family was afraid I
would be the one to lose my balance …. Imagine that!) Anyway, we hopped off the
subway in the Bronx and headed to the stadium with others in the crowd. I took
a few photos of the stadium. Our seats were in the bleacher section of the
outfield. Although it was quite cold out, it was the warmest of the three
games we went to. It was fun to experience our surroundings as we
listened to the Yankee (and Boston Red Sox) fans around us. They all had
Eastern accents which was fun to listen to (even if I already hear it often from Maura). As is typical of all the
games and stadiums we have been to thus far, we had a spectator near us that
was comical and amusing as well as another spectator that thought he knew
everything about the game of baseball. The crowd sang YMCA and other
songs in addition to the typical “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”, during the
seventh inning stretch. We enjoyed being able to see #42, a closeout pitcher
for the Yankees who will be retiring soon. The Yankees won, and when the game
ended, we followed the crowd out and onto the subway and headed back to our
hotel. One of the fans commented on Christian wearing a Cubs
stocking cap.
Friday was our last full day
in New York City. Early that morning we headed over to NBC Studios in
Rockefeller Center where they were filming the Today Show. We walked by the
window as they were reporting, but we apparently weren’t on camera. Then, we
continued on to stand along the fence line where they were filming. We watched
and I took photos and later we watched the show that my mom had taped ... and there we were on the television behind the
boy in the blue coat as the camera scanned the crowd two times. Cool!
We walked around Rockefeller
Plaza. We had some time to kill so we bought coffee and a donut from a
street vendor and we sat by the water fountain and people watched. It was sunny
out and was just fun to sit and watch the various people, many hustling on by,
as well as a man and a woman who attempted to entertain us by singing and
playing guitar. Later, we ran into a
man (with an official looking badge) who was asking for donations to the soup
kitchen. After being humbled by many homeless people on the streets that
week, it was nice to give in a way that we felt may hopefully benefit a
few homeless people. Later, we headed into Radio City Music Hall for a tour.
Gabriel Iglasius was scheduled to perform there that night. While we were
touring, they got the stage set up for him and as we left we saw his tour bus
that had arrived just moments before. We enjoyed the tour and the historical
architecture of the building that had been there for many years, paintings that
had been restored, and photos of people who had performed there. We sat in the
auditorium, toured the bathrooms, went in lounges where famous people had been,
though even they were not allowed to sit on the historical furniture. We saw
costumes worn throughout the years by the Rockettes and we even got to talk to
and get our picture taken with a real Rockette. I don’t know who enjoyed it
more …. Karissa because she was talking to a dancer or Shawn and Christian
because they were having their picture taken with a young woman with really
long legs! I enjoyed it because I finally got at least one family picture
for the vacation!
Friday the weather was a
little nicer so we decided to leave a little early to get to the Met's game
(our third and final game/stadium of this vacation) to watch batting practice
and hopefully get some balls! We took the Subway from Grand Central Station to
Queens for the game. It was fun to go through Grand Central Station because now we can honestly use the
phrase “It’s busier than Grand Central Station in here!” Eventually we
found our way to a ticket area where we refilled our Metro card for the ride to
Queens and back for the Mets Game.
After a 45 minute subway ride,
we arrived at Citi Field. This was a newer stadium and was a bit different than
other stadiums … rounder and had an escalator in the center. We walked around
the stadium, took some photos and found our seats in the outfield. In our
section, we headed to the front wall and watched batting practice. One of the
workers offered to take our family picture. We watched the players bat and the
weather was nice (for a while anyway). Christian was excited when one of the
Mets players handed him a ball. (I took his picture). Next, a ball was hit to
our section and Christian and another young guy ran around trying to find it …
in the meantime, Shawn found it …. So I took a picture of Shawn and Karissa
with ball number two. Then, as we continued to watch, the Florida Marlins took
the field for practice and a player named Fernandez handed Christian yet another
ball. This time they took MY picture with this ball. Finally, the
game began. Although it started out the nicest night for a game, it
turned out to be the coldest one yet because the wind was blowing strong!
WE FROZE!! We froze so much we ended up leaving in the middle of the ninth inning.
(The Marlins won). In the cold, we proceeded to take the Subway back to Grand
Central Station and then walked back to the hotel where we crashed in
anticipation of an early morning with plans of driving out of NYC by 6:00
a.m.
Saturday morning dawned early
and we got out of bed, gave our bags to the bell boy, checked out and met the
valet with our van. The kids slept much of the drive that day. We drove to a
Perkins in Pennsylvania for a real meal with a big breakfast! We then proceeded
driving. We made a stop in Canton, Ohio and went through the Football Hall of Fame. By 7:00 that night, we arrived
at a Hampton Inn in Fremont, Indiana. We talked to the front desk who found a
Dominoe’s for us because we had promised Karissa the entire trip that we would
eat Dominoes in our hotel room at least one night on the trip. We enjoyed
eating the pizza and just enjoyed hanging out that night in the hotel. The kids
swam and we enjoyed some quiet family moments where life seemed a little more
our pace in Fremont, Indiana.
Sunday morning we were up
early once again and were soon back on the road. Later that afternoon, after many hours of driving, our
van made its way onto the quiet streets near our home. We took a few moments to take a picture of the mileage (almost
2400 miles) and gather up the luggage. Before Shawn and I were
even out of the van yet, the kids were in the back yard getting ready for some
family baseball!! As we made our way
into the house, the phone rang to let me know the kids had my glove in the back
yard! Shawn finished bringing in the luggage and the kids and I started playing
ball. Karissa soft tossed to Christian
and I fielded the balls as he hit. Karissa later practiced pitching softballs
while Christian caught. Eventually, Shawn joined us outside where Christian and
Shawn played catch! Yes, after a week filled with Opening Season baseball, we
were enjoying the best Opening Day ball game yet to be had …. that of Kleve
family baseball in our very own back yard!!
