The Long Road Home

I maybe snoozed for an hour while James was finishing up his blog there in the hotel. My alarm went off rather annoyingly at 4am letting me know it was time to get moving. James was still awake and we had both already packed our bags hours before, so all that was required was putting on my shoes, and rolling out the door and catching a cab down to Penn Station.

We were not prepared for the sight that greeted us. The bars in NYC close at 4am... and apparently a lot of people try and catch the 4:30 and 5:30 morning trains back to whatever suburbs they've come from to reach the city and indulge in their decadence. Perhaps I should say OVER indulge. It also just happened to be gay pride weekend. So you can imagine the sights. lol, most of them were rather harmless and it was quite a visual spectacle of color and interesting fashion choices.

It was the homeless that kept my attention more often as not though, especially the man having a three way conversation...all by himself.

Still we probably didn't look much better, I for one know I felt like a mostly dead zombie and moved like one. My stomach wasn't too keen on waking up and trying to digest breakfast at 5am...

"Just make it to the train" became my mantra, and once on the train it changed to "Just make it on the plane". I knew once I was through security and on the plane we'd finally be able to catch up on at least a couple hours of sleep.

We rolled in to Ron-Kaaaahn-conan as we called it around 7 in the morning with plenty of time to catch the shuttle out to the airport.


James and I were both heading up to Chicago for our first flight, him to meet up with our fun loving cousins Tommy and Theo, and me to catch a connecting flight down to Louisville and then a hour and a half ride to Campbellsville. It's always unexpected when the end of a great time finally comes, whether it's a weekend of fun or an amazing week like what we had in NYC and just like the family reunion, it always seems to go by so quickly.

I was sad to see him go, we'd had a lot of fun this past week and I knew that there wouldn't be that many more times, if any, to be had as life went on. But, even as we were saying our goodbyes I was already thinking of the trip out to Australia for my cousin Crystal's wedding and getting back together with all the family.


With James's genorisity I was Group A #1 boarding the flight to Louisville and had the pick of the spots on the airplane. As I was finally boarding the flight the cleaning crew was removing the last of the barf bags from the plane. With an ironic smile the stewardess welcomed me aboard and at my tell tale glance towards the leaving cleaning crew she informed me that they had run into a little turbulence from the wind on the decent to Chicago, and that they expected to go through it again on the way out as well as during the decent into Louisville. Nothing like ending the trip on a wild ride in an airplane! It wasn't that long ago that I was riding the roller coasters at Kings Island in Ohio, and though I'd say those rides lasted longer and pull more G's... there's something about being 5,000 feet off the ground in a tiny aluminum plane...when the bottom unexpectedly falls out and your stomach ends up in your throat... it's definitely a wilder ride!

I'm back home in Campbellsville now and enjoying telling my family and friends some of the stories from my NYC trip, but I'm also excited and recharged and ready to get to work towards my own goals in life. And if I start next week, at $35 a pop every time you give plasma... I can make enough to cover my air fare to Australia by next year!

The last day of the Big City

Last night was a good night in the City. And if you come visit the city I hope you have enough luck to have some old family friends who live in the city and an awesome door man at the hotel who know the good dives to hang out at and the best joints to grab a bite to eat.


It was a lazy day, got to enjoy a classic all American burger with James, and met some of New York's finest police. They were all in their late 20's and easy to get along with and talk while grabbing some lunch. You know, a lot of people think of New York as a big seedy city where you can get mugged at every corner, and though we DID see a mugging, I feel safer in this city at 3am in 90% of it than I do when I'm locking up the shop in downtown Campbellsville in the middle of the night.

I knocked out my souviner shopping in a couple of short hours and checked out a few lil shops and flea markets where I was awful tempted to have my fortune read by Madam Pearl. But, she just didn't feel authentic to me... there was no incense and the crystal ball was cracked and I wasn't getting that "I'm a psychic" vibe out of the scene...

Got back to the hotel and got to relax and sort through all the amazing gifts my friends are going to get. HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!!! riiiiiiiiiiiiight

Any big Seinfeld fans? James was able to scope out the cafe they always grab a bite at and we decided to hit it up for dinner before catching up with my cousin Andrea and her friends at a lil chill bar later that evening.

Sitting at the counter we got to talk with old Pete, he's not the owner, but he's been running the place for about 20 years and his thick Greek accent and straight forward manner was a lot of fun to experience. And though the diner has become a tourist attraction of it's own, very few of the hundreds that come to Tom's Restaurant actually take the time to grab a bite inside. I have to say, we had the lamb gyros with all the fixings and between that and the company it would be hard pressed to beat.

That shirt came from the band I saw with Patty and Jeff, it was listed as a medium... I wish they'd mentioned it was a kids medium, I DID feel a bit like the hulk though. lol I decided to change back before heading out, can ya blame me?

Columbia Univeristy is just up a block or so, and there's always a nice crowd that comes in to get some artery clogging deliciousness, and I expect that old Pete is going to be there for a good number more years.

After that we jumped back on the A train to downtown near the world trade center area to catch up with Andrea. I was pretty impressed with me and James navigational skills, all we had was a street corner to go by and we were able to get within 30 yards of this place. It IS called The Hideaway, so we had to ring Andrea who was kind enough to come flag us down from the corner and point us in the right direction.

Andrea and her friends where a lot of fun. It was a nice little neighborhood bar and a great place to have a drink and catch up with new friends. Andrea's in film school and has been putting together her portfolio films, one of her friends does some improv acting and even has a tv show she posts on youtube that has a nice following. Her friends are a great group of people as is Andrea, I'd say getting to just relax and swap stories and get to know more of the family was the perfect way to end the evening and a great trip.

We stopped off so I could catch up with Russel and Liddy one more time before they jetted off to the other side of the world. There's that nice little diner right next to The NewYorker hotel, and though we were too late for dinner, we did arrive in time to have some dessert and catch up on the last couple of days of the trip. Russel can always be johnny on the spot with a few good stories, being in New York just makes it too easy for him! lol, and Lidy I think enjoys the free show she always has and just get's in her zingers when Russel takes a breath lol

It was a great few days here in NYC, James was a blast to hang out with, we had a lot of common interest but a diverse enough interest that we were able to both get out and see some things we normally might not have done. It was a total blast here in the city, the sights, the food, the people and all the attractions, both the world acclaimed and the small little dives. But, whether New York or down in the small town of Campbellsville, getting to spend time with family is what makes it a lot of fun--and I can't wait to see the family again back in the Land of Oz!!!

A Taste of the Guggenheim and the MET

But first, The Apollo. and being a small part of the makeshift memorials that are popping out all over, but especially at the famous Apollo Theatre.



Michael Jackson had an interesting life, and to see the crowds at the Apollo and around the world, his image as a pop icon lives on. It seems poeple are focusing on more of the earlier and happier times of his life and trying to put behind the years that were full of trouble to say the least.

James was able to add his own thoughts to the memorial, but I was content to just absorb the experience and see the people of all races, nations and backgrounds come together for this unique event.

I do have to mention though, leaving the subway we were walking behind two African-American youths who were discussing the death of Michael Jackson--and how the white power was still reaching out and killing off the black man and it would only be a matter of time before the world would see more of leaders of the black community taken out. That is pretty much a straight quote.

We had decided to check out a couple of key museums, though in truth we knew before we even set out that we wouldn't be able to do more than just get a feel for all the art/architecture/culture that can be found here with in and with out of the museums.

After being surrounded by the tall narrow square buildings so common in NYC outside of the city skyscrapers it was a unique sight walking up 5th avenue and seeing the curve of the Guggenheim Museum. Inside was just as unique but the building itself is just part of the attraction. There are various Impressionist and Contemporary Art, but I focused more on the various sketches and arhitectural models of Frank Lloyd Wright, many of those drawings from the early and mid 1900's would fit well in many of today's landscapes and still be considered somewhat cutting edge.

From the Guggenheim Museum it's a short few blocks down 89th street to the MET, but for some reason that neither James now I can explain, we went back down 5th avenue and ended up walking at least a half hour or more that what we would have needed to. But, we persevered and arrived eventually, and we burned off a few extra calories, so all's well that end's well.

I doubt it's possible to see everything in one day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I could easily see myself spending a week there studying and going through each exhibit learning the history and function of various pieces. So, we decided to concentrate our efforts on the Egyptian exhibit--Egypt being a place James would dearly like to visit, full of history and culture.

When first walking in to the Egyptian wing you find yourself facing what I thought was a replica of a smaller Egyptian official's tomb, when in fact it was the actual temple resurrected from the sands of Egypt.





There were two such tombs, the second actually being set up as it would have appeared as close to it's original form as possible. The engineering skill of the Egyptians and the artwork that is part of their religion and writing form is something that is worth seeing other than just on the History Channel on TV. When you're there you can't help but look at a serving dish and wonder what type of meal and who would have eaten from it? Or think of the quarry worker and masons and workers who strove to build, carve and decorate the various obelisks, temples, tombs and more.




The Temple of Dendur, Temple, Dendur, 15 B.C
Roman Period, Augustus Caesar
Egyptian; Nubia, Lower Nubia, Dendur; Nubia
Aeolin Sandstone; L. from gate to rear of temple 24 m 60 cm (82 ft.)
Given to the United States by Egypt in 1965, awarded to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1967, and installed in The Sackler Wing in 1978 (68.154)























There are definitly a lot of photos that will be in this blog, and not so much of my own words added in, a picture is worth a thousand words, and it's hard to express the thoughts and questions that come to mind with each new piece of art and function. So, enjoy!
















































There were tons more, we barely even got to browse the famous paintings, tapestries etc, so at some point I will be making another trip, perhaps pilgrimage would be the proper term, back to the MET. lol

NYC - A Stair Too Far

We called it an early night last night in order to drag our sorry carcasses out of bed early so we could get out to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. We met up with Russel and Lidy around nine thirty this morning at their hotel and grabbed a subway train all the way down town to the South Ferry "Miss Liberty".

Security was every bit as tight as trying to get through airport security, but luckily we didn't have to remove our shoes, still I always feel like I should have been asked to dinner and a movie before removing my belt and going through the metal detector....


I do have a gripe though, it wasn't until we arrived at Liberty Island that we discovered we could not actually climb up the Statue of Liberty. You have to pre-purchase designated time tickets AT LEAST ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE!!!! They definitely did not have that very well signed and advertised. i was looking forward to this since they opened the crown back up a week ago for the first time since the September 11th attacks; but I'm a silver lining in every cloud kinda guy, so we headed down to Wall Street and then on to Ground Zero and enjoyed the view of NYC and the statue from the base of the statue.

I didn't remember Wall Street being so narrow, it's a bit of a mind trip to think of all the billions and trillions of dollars moving hands and through countries in such a small area! Even with the down economy, it's still the financial center fo the world... for now.
(of course it's empy.. but at least it's not full of IOU's")

They're doing construction on Ground Zero, working on the base of what will be the new Freedom Tower and the reflection pools that represent the old twin towers. There's a small visitors center/temporary memorial near Ground Zero. Inside are various videos and personal accounts from those there on that day, it's intense, emotional... my last time here in NYC was late March of 2002, only a few short months after the September 11th attacks, then they were still cleaning and sorting through the giant hole that was the site of the world trade center.
(copies of the missing poster put up around St. Peter's Church... I remember seeing those still hanging at the church months after September 11th....)

Now, it just looks like one more of any numerous construction sights, but then again, no one will forget what was there and what happened.

From the sight of Ground Zero me and James headed off to hunt for China Town. I was hoping to find a pair of aviator sunglasses and maybe some foakleys. China Town was an interesting mix of sights sounds and colors, but it was in little italy that I was able to score some aviator glasses, but no luck on the foakleys.

Still, I think I enjoyed China Town the most; James equeated it to being in a place like Thailand, and I have to admit we two towered over everyone else on the sidewalks. It was like escaping to a little island of foreign culture in the mdidle of one of the largest American cities.


I was able to get a hold of my dad's old family friend, Patty Murray who lives here in NYC. Her and her husband Jeff invited me out to hear a friend of theirs play at a local dive bar here in NYC. The band, named after the lead singer, "Andred Tinker" was actually a lot of fun.
(Jeff, Patty, Me)
They opened with a tribute song to the recently deceased Michael Jackson: Billy Jean, and Andrew's moon walk was right on the money and got a good number of applause and cheers from those at the bar. They were a fun band, full of energy and played very well. They had come all the way from Denton, Texas (which is just outisde of Dallas).


I think I made a new friend with the bartender, they were nice girls out of Wisconsin, in fact, I've only met one native New Yorker during my time in NYC. Ah, but, lots of fun. Patty and Jeff where a blast, and if I end up with the opportunity I'm going to see if I can't make it out to Mamma Mia if only to be able to wave at Jeff down into the pit and be "That Guy" at the show. hahahahaa.

Today may have seemed like a short day on this blog, but walking around china town and lil italy took a lot out of me, so I snuck off to the hotel for a nice short... um... two hour nap before hitting the night life.

Tomorrow we're going to get a dose of artistic culture. The Guggenheim Museum, the Met and whatever else we can find our way into.

A little drizzle won't slow us down

The WJ hotel has a regular wake up call around 9am, works pretty well--having the maid banging on your hotel room door is pretty effective at waking ya up outta bed.

But, we got up and with the rain and all the low hanging clouds we decided to skip out on the Statue of Liberty and check out a few of the other sights like Central Park and Rockefeller Center. An old family friend of my dad's turns out to live just a couple of blocks from where we're staying here on 51st, Patty Murray.

I was thinking maybe we could grab some lunch with her and get a few pointers...heck no! She fit us into our schedule and met us at the hotel and walked us around a few blocks pointing out some good places to grab some food, the different clubs that her and her husband play at (bummed we'll be gone when he get's to play the jazz club) and explaining to us which trains to grab to get to the different places we want to go. She was super nice, a lot of fun, and went out of her way to be way more than helpful. A cool chick.


We grabbed some lunch at a lil deli/grocery store and picked up a few snacks and drinks to tide us over till dinner sometime later.

It was a relatively short walk up to Central Park, and you know you're getting close when you see the little bit of green from the trees peaking out around the corners of a couple of towering skyscrapers.

About the time we arrived the rain really started picking up, and I could say that wanting to escape the rain was the reason for taking a spin on the famous Central Park Carousal....but, we would have done that anyway! lol


From there we wandered around the park, taking the less used "Ramble" path around the lake, over the bridges and finally down The Mall to the Central Park fountain. This famous landmark had at least a half dozen artist painting the scene with their watercolors or charcoal, I made sure to set a good pose so that I would be a pillar of perpetuatud and magnanimousity. Hahahahaa...


From there it was a short walk to Strawberry Field and the John Lenin memorial they have there, we rolled up just in time to catch a bit of the tour from a group outta Wisconsin... I was tempted to ask if they had any cheese curds to snack on, don't knock it! Those things are damn tastey.

With Patty's advice fresh on our minds, we were able to catch the subway from Central Park all the way down to 50th street and Rockefeller Center. 20 plus blocks in about 3 minutes, not bad for $2, and waaaaaaaaaay better than hoofing it.

Stopping for lunch at Qdoba ( I was craving one of those super huge burritos), we pulled up a seat at the dining counter at the front window. The food was good, but it we didn't know we were going to get dinner AND a show! With out having to leave the comfort of our seats we got to see an "authentic" NYC mugging! I bet there are tourist who would have paid good money to see that. lol. The mugger wasn't what I would have expected, he was camaflauged well in his slacks and polo, but the give away should have been his well treaded shoes. He wasn't good enough to lift the wallet w/out getting felt, BUT he was strong enough to wrestle away and out run both the mark and a couple of the hotel security guards. Ah, day 2 in the big city! lol

The night was set for a relatively relaxing time full of laughs at the Comic Strip down on 2nd avenue. It was a good crowd and some really good comics, though, there were a couple of comics that were killing the crowd and got pulled rather quickly, but I have to say, if you get a chance, you ought to go, I can't evcen come close to doing it here.....lol although, when one of the comics was asking the crowd where everyone was from--there's no way I was going to mention Kentucky, that's like leaving a fat hanging curve ball for the guy, it's just too easy! Unfortunately the kid from Indiana wasn't that quick thinking....lol, but my "Hooooosier daddy!" comment came right at one of those unexpected silences, what can I say, I got a couple of laughs at a New York comedy club. ;-)

With plans to meet up with Russel and Liddy in the morning to tour the Statue of Liberty, me and James called it an early night and headed back to the hotel, yet another exciting and unique ride in a NYC cab, I have to say, it's about the same kind of excitement of a class 4 or 5 white water rafting trip, there's just enough safety but just enough doubt that keep that adrenaline going!

Arriving in the Big City looking to make our mark

Normally rolling out of the rack at 4am is a bit tough, but with the excitement of getting under way to New York City, I was up out and ready 15 minutes before the cab rolled up at 5am. Not a lot of traffic at 5am in Louisville...

And so began our 6 hour trek to NYC, which in hindsight, much more relaxing than an 16 hour road trip! Thanks James!

We flew in to Long Island airport and opted to take the 1 1/2 hour train ride into Penn Station, which was a lot of fun watching the sights and people as we rolled through Queens and lower Manhattan into Penn Station. From there we caught a cab with Mr. Umar Aziz, I remember his name b/c I thought his driver's license picture would have been the last face I ever saw. He was a definite believer in they "Come on officer! The LIGHT was PINK! not red!" and I learned that the mercedes and bmw's and other pricey cars would give way to a large yellow bumper on the taxi! hahahaa

Checking into our room went smoothly, but despite what everyone told me, I was not sufficiently prepared for the size of the room, which is spacious under NYC standards for the price we got it at. I'm pretty sure my grandmother's closet is bigger than this room, and I know my dorm room at UK is! But you CAN NOT beat the location! We're a couple blocks from Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Broadway and Gershwin Theatre is the next street over... it's worth it all, we're not here in the room much anyway.



Grabbing lunch in Times Square with James was first on the list of things to do. Sitting at the window on the second story of TGI Friday's (first time there for James) we knocked back an ice cold beer and their own twists of the quesidilla. We killed time walking around checking out our options and thinking about putting together some kind of plan, and found ourselves riding the elevator up to the top of the Empire State Building. From the observation platform it was clear enough to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but, we left all the little peon's below and shelled out the extra bucks to go all the way to the 102 floor, to go any hirer you need a bite from a radioactive spider... and I'm not a big fan of spiders... lol, but there we made a couple of friends, and talked horses with the eleveator operator... the ORIGINAL elevator, when I pointed out it didn't have all the modern safety conveniences the new ones have... well, not something I'd recommend WHILE in the elevator with a load of strangers...




Came back after the state building, and what luck! 30 yards outside our hotel was the House of Brews! I was able to score some good fish and chips and try and Brooklyn Lager (a good smooth tasting beer) and with James's accent the waitresses where giving us their favorite night spots to visit.

But it was a never met cousin here in Brooklyn that gave us the idea of going to first and first streets to find some fun. Wandering around like the lost out of towners that we were, a couple of nice New York ladies took pity on us and invited us to sit at their table. It wasn't long before we had a group of a half dozen or so people catching up, swapping stories and having one of those great nights where everyone just jelled and fed off the good vibes and positive energy of everyone else. Didn't know till much later that the two fellas in our group, one was the owner of the One and One Bar and the other the French restaurant that was right next door. They gave us the VIP treatment and I'm pretty sure I've got a half dozen new friends coming to the Kentucky Derby in 2010!

(Me, Terry and James)

James and I made it back to our hotel around 3am after walking around some more to see the city lit up at night, even at that hour, I see more people out in one block than you'd even find packed into the Wally World back home. lol

Can't wait to see what the next day will bring, supposed to hit the Statue of Liberty, for the first time since 9/11 they've re-opened access to the ladies crown.


It was a great first day, and we hadn't even been in the city for 16 hours yet.... 4 more to go.