Day 56

Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Have been crazy busy. I'll try to cover the days I missed.

Vacation Day 11: Went to downtown Philly. In the morning Carson and I toured the battleship New Jersey. The gals weren't interested so they sat in the park and talked.

The afternoon involved deciphering the intricacies of parking in Philly. Once that was conquered, we saw the Liberty Bell, walked past Independence Hall, visited Betsy Ross and snuck down Elipher's Alley.

Vacation Day 12: Went downtown Philly again. This time it was to catch our train to New York City. Left our vehicle in the parking garage by the station. The station was huge and had that mystique. Got on the AMTRAK at 11 and were in NYC by 12:30.

First time riding the train. Kinda like riding in an airplane without the seat belts and long delays from the gate to the air. I liked it.

The only way I can describe walking out of Penn Station onto 7th Avenue in NYC is that it reminded me of getting off the plane in Santo Domingo when going to the Dominican Republic. New sounds, smells, faces, speed of life. Amazing.

Our Holiday Inn Express was two blocks away so we just hoofed it. 15 floors. Kids were disappointed there was no pool, but we wouldn't have time for it anyway. After dumping our luggage in the room, headed toward Central Park. Sal and kids grabbed Chinese food from a hole in the wall and right next door to them I found a guy selling lamb gyros. Delicious. Sat on the second floor and watched the world stream by.

Some of our favorite spots on the way to Central Park were: Hershey's shop, M&M store, Quicksilver, Late Show with David Letterman. The Park is like 30 blocks from our hotel. Sal said 12 blocks equals a mile, which if true, meant we walked like two and half miles to get there. Didn't tell the kids that. Then had to go back. :)

Rested up and then met Sal's cousin Brent for supper. Brent works for Daktronics. Daktronics builds the huge marquees in the Times Square. Daktronics has an office and apartment on Times Square and Brent travels during the week to NYC to service boards and take care of clients. Had supper at Virgil's BBQ. Very good.

Then we hung out with a few of our new "friends" in Times Square.

Vacation Day 13: Late start in the morning. Took the subway downtown to Ground Zero. Not much there yet. Kinda disappointing from a tourist attraction. Walked to Battery Park. My brother warned me to get tickets ahead of time for Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island. Taking his advice put us in front of an hour long line. Still had security and loading lines to go through. Amazing to be so close and see the Statue.

It was late afternoon by the time we took the subway back uptown to our hotel. Took a short nap and then headed two blocks over to Madison Square Garden. The NBA draft was being held there. My brother has a friend from LA who is an agent for Kobe, Boozer and Hardin (to name a few). This guy also was representing some of the guys in the draft. He had a ticket for me to attend, but with Sal's help I was able to make a very wise decision to spend time with my family rather than leaving them huddling on a street corner, on a dark night, in downtown New York. Yes, she's a good woman. And very patient with me.

Instead we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper. Had a great time eating, talking and hanging out as a family. Very good food. Ordered a cup of coffee at the end. A $4.50 cup of coffee I found out later. Food wasn't that expensive, but they nickel and dime ya with the little stuff.

Vacation Day 14: Woke up at 4 AM. Still don't know why. So I surfed the web on my phone for a while. We all got up early anyway as we were going to Rockefeller Plaza to watch the taping of the TODAY show. I must have been giddy with excitement to see their concert in the plaza...wait for it...Maxwell. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him either. Last week was James Taylor and next week is Maroon 5. I get Maxwell. Thanks. Kevin James was there promoting his new movie. Sal and Carson got to shake Meridith's hand. I talked to a cop about what he was doing on 9-11. Pretty amazing.

Walked back down 5th Avenue to our hotel. Got our bags and headed to the train station. As we were walking in, walked past Kevin Durant. Crazy. No. No autograph. Didn't even ask.

Picked up car in Philly. Drove to Lancaster, PA. Took some back roads to the little town where our hotel is. Beautiful country side, farms, valleys. Ate at the Lititz Family Cupboard for supper. Great food! "Home Cooked" meal.