We spent a wonderful 3 days in the Big apple. I've modified NYC's name to be: New York, New York, a lot, a lot!
There is a lot to see,
We saw a lot
A lot we didn't see.
A lot of concrete, bricks, glass, asphalt, and metal.
People! A lot of people.
Taxis, cars, and busses....a lot.
Restaurants, theaters, clubs, and bars.
Museums, and museums, and even more museums.
We walked a lot, covered a lot of sidewalks, but left much more un-trod.
We looked up a lot.

New York City is intoxicating in it's extravagance and excess.

It's changed little since we lived there in 1967-68, but there are a couple of major changes; The sex vendors and hookers from old Times Square and 42nd street are no longer garishly conspicuous. And the numbers of street vendors have diminished dramatically. All the taxis are yellow cabs now, at least in lower Manhattan. We didn't take the time to learn the subway system this trip but from what I saw, the names of the different lines have changed since we lived there. The twin towers had not been built yet.
Before we left for New York, Karen gave us their recent Sept./Oct. issue of AAA's Going Places magazine. In that issue is an article titled Let's eat, Manhattan. It gives ideas and suggestions for places to eat in a 3 day, weekend format. The interesting item that immediately caught my attenttion were the Korean restaurant recommendations. Our centrally located hotel was only a few blocks from K-town so after our bus tour we headed down to West 32nd street. Almost immediately did we encounter the Mandoo Bar (2 W. 32nd St.), where we saw women handmaking Mandoo (Korean dumplings) in the storefront window. Only a few doors down and across the street, we located the Korean BBQ; Kum Gang San. We did sup there and it was everything I expected and more. D. had the teriaki chicken, and I had bulgogi and plenty of kim chi. Unfortunately, these were the only places from the magazine article that we sought out, but rest assured we didn't go hungry, or lack for wonderful places to dine.

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Our train ride aboard Amtrak was a pleasant one on a bright sunny Autumn day and we saw Bannerman's Castle and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. The train was late leaving and later arriving but since we were playing our itinerary by ear we weren't stressed at all. We arrived at Penn Station at 1330 and took a taxi to the hotel. We could've walked if we'd known how close it was, but live and learn. Since we were early for check in at 1500, we had them store our bags and we had the concierge make reservations for us to take a bus tour. It wasn't the overbooked one I'd tried to schedule before we left, nor was it the Greyline tour recommended by the Frommer's guide, but it was recommended by our concierge and so we went with that and it worked out just dandy.

Our hotel; the George Gershwin is located on East 27th St. just off 5th Ave.
Besides being centrally located; If you look up 5th Ave you can easily see and get a decent picture of the Empire State Building, and if you look south you get a great view of the Flatiron building, so named because of the shape of it's roof.
It does need to be pointed out here that right adjacent to our hotel building and exactly on the corner of E. 27th St. and 5th Ave is the Museum of Sex.















Above left: Bannerman's Castle, above right: West Point. Both taken from moving train across the Hudson River.

I'll leave you here, on the corner of E. 27th St. and 5th Ave to peruse the Museum until the tour resumes later.

Enjoy!

In this little corner of the world, father's day weekend was a huge success. Jay and Kristi arrived late Thursday night and left mid-morning on Sunday, making a long weekend for all to enjoy. We bar-b-q'd Friday and Saturday nights and had roaring fires in the Chiminera that the kids gave to me for FD.
The four of us went to the Bedrock for dinner Friday night and were thoroughly sated as usual. But the story of the weekend, there's always a story isn't there? was the 5K run/walk race Saturday morning.

Six weeks or so ago, d. decided to start a walk/run/healthful diet regimen. She has been faithful to her program and makes sure she gets her 10,000 steps in everyday. Her conditioning has improved accordingly. In fact she was feeling so good about her progress, that when she read about the 5K that the Chamber of Commerce was putting on, she asked me if I'd do it with her. I said sure.

This being her first race she was plagued by the usual questions and jitters, and had decided that she would come in last and that she was OK with that.

The forecast for the day had been for rain all day but it turned out to be only overcast and muggy. Being overcast kept the sun's heat at bay but the heavy air made efficient air exchange a little more labored. D. began to experience the difference between running/walking at home by one's self, and running in a group of other runners. At the half way--turn-around point, Dedra, who had jogged for most of the first half decide to finish by walking with us. About 75 to a 100 meters from the finish line, which was also around a bend in the road and unseen for the next 30 or 40 meters, D. suggests that the 3 of us join hands and finish with a flurry, running to the finish. And so we do...oops, there is the newspaper's sports reporter, camera in hand ready to photograph the exultant trio approaching the finish line. D. who disdains the lime-light was mortified by the prospect that her picture would grace the local sports pages Sunday morning.

Sunday morning while out for my morning training run, Bonnie and Dick yelled over to camp to ask D. to come over and autograph her photo. She couldn't deny that the photo op was of her own design!!!!!!