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 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.
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