I'm kind of at a loss, really. I mean, what can I say that hasn't already been said about this city? What an amazing place! I really find myself at at a loss of superlatives.
We took the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station and walked upstairs to the street level. You know thost shots in the movies where when someone goes to a new place and they turn around looking up and the camera moves around them from above? That's kind of how I felt, there at the corner of 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. Just taking it in, and experiencing sensory overload. The people, the buildings, the cars, the life, and the livelihood.
Any plan we had when we were riding in, flew out the window as we got to city...when walking up to the street and seeing all this...
We walked several blocks over to the Empire State Building and we figured as long as we were there, we would take the ride to the top. Pretty cool view from up there...it was kind of a different world up there. The motion without the noise.
From there we walked back over to Penn Station to catch the subway to Battery Park, where we hoped to catch a ride to the Statue of Liberty. We didn't get there with enough time to see that, so we walked around, took a few pictures, and walked up to Wall Street. We looked at the NYSE, went to South Street Sea Port to have a bite to eat, went to Ground Zero which was quite a moving experience, took the subway back up to Penn Station, ate some dinner and jumped the train back to Long Island.
A few observations:
- If it wasn't for New Yorkers, I think Steve Jobs would be out of a job. It seemed like every third person we walked by was using an iPod.
- New York-style pizza is nothing compared to actual New York pizza.
- If you go to New York, bring your walking shoes, and make sure they're comfortable and broken in. I can't think of how many miles we covered in walking yesterday.
- The spirit of the sadness and heroism of September 11, 2001 is alive and well at Ground Zero. It was truly hallowed ground.
I love to play golf. I don't know why. I'm really terrible at it. I suppose it's because of the quality time I get to spend with the folks with whom I play.
This morning was an early one, with a 6:30 call time. I was extended an invitation to play a friendly round with Dad, Drew (Raquel's oldest brother), and Rob (Uncle Bobby and Aunt Adele's son) at Bethpage Black. Our golfing readers (are there any) might remember Bethpage Black as the home of the 2002 US Open. As the picture above might hint at, this is "an extremely difficult course" for "highly skilled golfers." Yeah, nothing subtle about that, is there? The sign should just say, "You probably suck. You have no business playing here." But somwhere between my saying, "I'll think about it." and Drew clucking at me because I'm too chicken, I got roped into showing up this morning.
I was somwhat relieved when Drew announced that a reservation opened up on the Blue Course which amounted to a nicer day of golf. I still suck, but I truly enjoyed myself. Drew and Rob are amazing golfers, Dad is really good, and I...well...I enjoyed the company.
I met Drew last year when he and Tara came to Dallas for our wedding. I've not really had the chance to hang with him for longer than a few minutes, but I really enjoyed his company today, and the fact that he thought to invite me along this morning. And if nothing else...hey, just one more place I get to add to the list of "Places I've Walked In The Tracks Of Tiger Woods."
~~~~
Tonight, Uncle Bobby took us (Dad, Roberta, Adele, Raquel, and me) to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the harbor. We got a VIP table (not really, but that's what it felt like) on the second floor. It was a very nice time. But the highlight of the night for me (if not the entire day) was when Uncle Bobby let me drive his brand new car to and from the restaurant. What a life. I could easily get used to this.
Today was a good day and tonight my eyes long for sleep. Tomorrow brings my first ever trip into New York City. We'll ride the train in and see where wind blows when we get there. So many things to see...
Today felt like a really full day, but it doesn't feel like a whole lot went on. Today was another day surrounded by copious amounts of family. It was truly a great time. We went to this beautiful cathedral for the baptism service. It was a little weird for me personally with the whole not being Catholic thing, but when my brothers-in-law and I started swapping Office Space quotes during the service, I became at ease. It was a nice time though.
After the service, we walked to a nice restaurant about a block or so from the cathedral where we spent the next four hours. What do you do at a restaurant for four hours you ask? Well, pretty much the same thing we did yesterday, just indoors.
For some reason, that was exhausting. So when we got back to the house, I laid down for a while and the rest of the night we watched the incredibly lame MTV VMA's and for a while I played Hold 'Em with Dad, Dylan, and Joey (Raquel's two 12 year old cousins). I've been out for 30 minutes. Dylan and Dad are still going strong, although, I think Dad's ready for bed.
On tomorrow's plate: I've been invited to play an easy round of golf with Dad, Drew, and Tara's dad, John. We're playing the black course at Bethpage. Yeah, that Bethpage black. Lord help me.
Until tomorrow...
|W|P|112528793449171406|W|P|New York : : Day Two|W|P|peaelare@gmail.com
We are here. Vacation has arrived, despite it's best attempts to take as long as possible.
After staying up until near 2:00AM Friday night/Saturday morning to pack, we barley made it on time for our flight yesterday...which was subsequently delayed for an hour. It's interesting to me how a hurricane in Miami will delay a flight from Dallas to New York, yet somehow, that's what happened.
Anyhow, we arrived at Uncle Bobby and Aunt Adele's house (read: mansion) on Long Island at about 4:00 yesterday afternoon. This place is absolutely stunning! After getting our bearings straight and settled after a long day of travelling, the family started to arrive. Our new nephew, Jonathan (Drew and Tara's baby) is getting baptised this morning. As you may imagine, in this part of the country which is traditionally Catholic, that's a pretty huge deal. So everyone is here. Raquel's brothers, sister, Dad, Roberta, and of course the local family. This feels like our wedding all over again.
We came downstairs after getting cleaned up and sat out on the back porch which has an amazing view of Lloyd Harbor and talked and ate for hours. Eating, drinking, laughing...just like a good New York Italian family knows how to do. Just great.
After dinner, I was starting to fade pretty quickly, as can happen on only four hours of sleep and a day of travelling. I headed inside to sit down in a quiet room only to find that my Denver Broncos were on the TV. Nice. Winning. Nicer. Against the Indianapolis Colts. Greatness! Pre-season. Ah well. It's still the Broncos.
We finally turned in at about 11 or so last night. We fell asleep watching TV and just being relieved that we are able to take a nice, long, relaxing vaction and with such great people. I am blessed (or lucky) to have married into this family.
Today is the baptism. And a huge party. Should be a good time. For now, I should head upstairs and get ready to go.
|W|P|112524333879505726|W|P|New York : : Day One|W|P|peaelare@gmail.comIt's been a long time since I posted here. I've been really busy trying to maintain my own page and even that's been slipping as of late. But I thought I'd drop in to say "hi".
Life for our small family has been really busy lately. We moved last month and July was pretty much entirely consumed by packing and preparing for the move...that is, when we both weren't working our butts off. July started off quite nicely when I was given a promotion and a raise at work which was a huge answer to prayer. As Raquel wrote in her I Need a Miracle! blog (see below), we were really hoping on the Lord to help us out a little bit. I wrote a bit about it. If you're interested in reading that, you can see it here.
We got moved into our new apartment with the help of some gracious friends in some ridiculous Texas-summer heat on July 23. It's a nice place but it definitely accents the "temporary" living that we hope it will be. Next time we move, it will be into our own house, Lord willing. We've been slowly but surely making this place home since then, with my office being the only room that still needs to be unpacked and put together. That will come this Saturday...maybe.
Later this month we will be going on a much-needed vacation as we head out to Long Island to stay for a week and a half with Raquel's family. I am extremely excited about this as I will have the opportunity to visit New York City for my first time ever. We'll have plenty of time to relax, see the sights, and we'll even get to spend the night at the Waldorf Astoria for our first anniversary. Such a nice time it will be. I can't wait to get out of here for a while.
I've been compiling pictures throughout this year as we've done our many different activities and with some luck, I will be putting together a photojournal of sorts of "Our 2005 So Far" before we head out to New York. Keep your eyes on your e-mail, as I'm sure Raquel will put something out there to all of you.
I'm off to maintain some other sites. Please leave us a comment below...let us know how much you enjoyed reading this.
Much love to all of you.
|W|P|112381687770066027|W|P|Patrick Speaks|W|P|peaelare@gmail.com