Escape from New York

This past Christmas Heather's bosses gave the whole family a trip to New York City.  They took care of the plane tickets and the hotel, so all we had to worry about was the cabs and any of the sights we wanted to see.  I wasn't all that thrilled about the prospect of spending my time in a big city, what with New York being a favorite haunt for terrorists, alien invasions, and Godzilla.   Had I known beforehand the wealth of blog material that the Big Apple would present this weekend, I probably would have been much more excited.  Well, I struck gold on that count. I might have too much to put into just one blog installment, but we'll see how it goes.

We started our trip by heading to Richmond International Airport.  As we were loading the van, we received a call stating that our flight was delayed.  We figured we had plenty of time, but wanted to get there early just in case, so we climbed into the van and started off.  As we were getting into the van we got another call informing us that our flight had been cancelled!  Not what we wanted to hear.  Heather would have none of that, so she shifted into Facilitator mode and made a bunch of phone calls.  She found another flight that would take us to Philadelphia, where we could connect with a flight to New York.  I dropped her and the girls off at the terminal, then ended up parking the van in Economy Lot C, which had to be the furthest lot away from the terminal.  I caught the shuttle back to the terminal and met the girls just as they were calling for boarders on our flight.  As luck would have it, the ticket desk had printed Emily two boarding passes, and not one for me, so they wouldn't let me through security.  Heather had to run back to the ticket desk and have them correct the ticket.  We got to the plane just in time.

The flight itself wasn't bad.  Only about an hour.  We landed in Philadelphia around 7:30pm.  We grabbed something to eat.  The girls were wired.  Emily's doctor just put her on an oral steroid for her allergies, so she was all full of energy, and Amanda was just herself.  I wonder if we can get some sort of pediatric tranquilizer for the next time we travel?  We caught our connecting flight on a small turboprop plane.  It was also a rather pleasant flight.  The humming of the engines was kind of soothing.

The flight was only about half an hour, or so, and we arrived at New York's LaGuardia Airport without incident.  Since we only had carry-ons, we didn't have to deal with baggage claim. 

We caught a ride from the airport to the hotel.  Our driver was Danny, a very nice and talkative guy.  He was from Africa and had been in New York for 30 years.  He pointed out some of the areas as we drove through them and told us about the city.  His driving style concerned me, though.  I had to trust that his was just the legendary New York City driving and that, although we appeared to be in a constant state of immenent collision, this was actually normal and safe driving for the area.

The hotel was very nice.  It was midnight when we finally arrived there.  We were pretty wiped out and went to bed pretty quickly.

We woke up a little later than intended on Saturday.  The Heather and the girls woke me to wish me a Happy Birthday.  I had forgotten that it was my birthday.  Since you asked, I just turned 9 for the 4th time. Mom Sandy also called me to wish me a happy birthday.

On that note we left the hotel for our day on the town.  We headed for the waterfront for our harbor cruise and visit to the Intrepid Museum.  We took the subway to the street we needed, and then walked the four long city blocks to the waterfront.  We only walked because we couldn't seem to get a cab.  Oddly enough, we didn't see many when we needed them. 

The cruise was nice.  It was about two hours, and took us along the length of one side of the island and back.  We were able to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. 

Once back at the docks, we walked to the next pier where the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid was berthed.  It was a long wait to get inside, and it was a hot day.  We finally got in and then waited in line to walk through the Cold War era submarine, the "Growler".  It was pretty cool.  I walked through a Los Angeles class submarine years ago on a Boy Scout trip, and this sub was pretty small and cramped compared to the newer one.  We entered the sub through the cruise missile bays.  The sub originally carried two of these missiles, each of which were roughly the size of a Korean war era jet, and looked kindof like one, only without the cockpit.  Once we decended down the ladder into the sub proper things got really tight.  I was stooped over for most of the tour.  Those early sub crews must've been tough-  and very, very short.  There were bunk beds three and four levels high, stuffed in places not much bigger than my closet.  I definitely could not have been a submariner.

We exited the sub and went over to the Intrepid.  We started our tour on the flight deck, where most of the aircraft are on display.  This is where Will Smith was driving golf balls in "I Am Legend".  I was in heaven.  I had been aboard the U.S.S. Eisenhower during that same scout trip mentioned before, and this was a much smaller carrier.  I had never been aboard a WWII carrier, and we were able to explore most of the areas of the ship. 

We climbed the tower into the command and operations bridges and stood where the officers would have watched for the launching and returning aircraft.  Below, in the hangar deck, were some more aircraft of the type that the Intrepid had actually carried during her years of service.  There were several interactive exhibits for the kids, and some flight simulators.  One of the exhibits was a mock up of a ship hull, from the waterline to the top deck, with a large net hanging from the side.  Both Emily and Amanda climbed up and hit the button at the top to set off the blue light to show they had reached the top.  I didn't think Amanda would climb all the way up, since the thing was probably a good 15 to 20 feet high, but she scrambled right up the thing and then jumped away from the top so the staff could lower her to the floor.  I was so proud!  Unfortunately, our pictures of the occasion are rather blurry.

We were pretty tired by this point.  It was almost 6pm.  It took us a while to find a cab to Times Square.  We endured another white-knuckled drive through the streets of NYC.  Our cabbie was not as talkative as the last.  I tried to remain stoic and impassive, but inside I was screaming as we tore through the streets, swerving around cars and running between lanes and around horse carriages and such.  Honestly, I don't know why they bother painting lines for the lanes in that city. 

Times Square was insane.  Giant video screens were all over the sides of the buildings.  The crowds were there, but as we would see later, it was not as crowded as it could get.  TV just doesn't do it justice.  We went over to the Toys R Us store, where I endured a ride on the indoor ferris wheel.  I noticed the other Dads who seemed to be wearing the same look I was sure was on my face, as they rode around.  The Dads unlucky enough to land in the Barbie and Pretty Pony cars didn't even make eye contact.  At least Amanda and I ended up in the Scooby Doo car.

When we left Toys R Us and entered the square, we could smell smoke and the police were putting up barricades and pushing people out of the area.  The crowds were pretty intense and they were moving the barricades away and walking through them.   Those NYC cops are just like you see them on TV, only tougher.  I can see why, now.  They were hollering at people to get back behind the barricades, making the ones who had gone through turn around and go back, all the while reminding them that the barricades were there for a reason.  We didn't know for sure what was going on.  Fire trucks were across the street and traffic was being diverted out of the square.  We heard there was a car fire.  We were just trying to get across the street to the McDonalds. The push of people was so tight that we were literally pushing shoulder to shoulder, holding onto the kids for dear life just to cross the street.  We decided to skip the McDonalds after seeing the crowds.  We instead went through the M&M's and Hersheys stores.  When we left those stores we could see that the police had cleared even more of the square.  Having seen enough, we headed to the hotel.  It wasn't until later that I saw on the news that they had evacuated the McDonalds that we decided to skip.  They still weren't saying anything about a bomb, at that time.  Didn't hear about that until Sunday morning. 

From what we could see on the news, and what we saw Saturday night, our cab driver had dropped us off on the corner just down from where a car bomb had been left.  We were in the Toys R Us for about an hour, so it had to have been left while we were inside.  We walked by that corner again when we left the store, and the Fire Department had blocked the road at that point.  From what I've heard we were lucky it didn't explode.  With all the people that had been in the Square, it would have been a mess.

Sunday was our last day.  We started that out by walking a couple of blocks down the the F.A.O. Schwartz toy store.  That was where they filmed the scene with the big piano in the movie "Big".  There was a show with the piano, and then afterwards the kids were able to walk on it and play for a little while. We wandered around for a while.  Heather and Amanda went through the Barbie area, and Emily and I went another direction. 

"This is the best toy store ever!" exclaimed Emily as she danced through the aisles of stuffed animals.  "Nuh-uuh!" I cried, skipping gaily after her through the life-sized stuffed bears. "It's the best toy store in the whole history of ever!!! uh -after The Home Depot and Northern Tool and Equipment: 'where warriors prepare for battle'!"

Upon leaving that store we crossed the street into Central Park.  The first thing we saw was the huge statue of General William Tecumseh Sherman. The man burned the Shenandoah Valley, so in the interest of politeness there will be no further commentary.  We visited the Central Park Zoo.  That was ok.  It was even more humid than Saturday, and we were still hurting from all the standing and walking from the day before.  Really couldn't see a whole lot there. We decided to get a cab and visit the Museum of Natural History. 

The cab ride was almost an exact copy of the last.  The Museum was pretty cool. Really. It had great air conditioning.   It was a little difficult to follow, but the exhibits were really awesome.  We stayed until closing time and then caught (gulp!) another cab back to the hotel to pick up our bags.  Then it was time for the final cab ride back to the airport. 

The flight home was uneventful.  All boarding passes were correct, there were no delays, and we were home in bed by 11pm.  It's nice to have experienced New York, and I wouldn't mind another visit in the future, but it's nice to be home.