Standing in the Hall of Fame.

After several fast and furious days in Manhattan and an incredible visit to Yankee Stadium, we got a rental car for our next leg of the trip. After almost two hours of waiting and a minor meltdown by me in the lobby of the Dollar Rental that is about the size of my kitchen, we finally drove out of Manhattan through New Jersey and to upstate New York. The further upstate, the more snow and ice and abandoned farms we encountered and in our little Chevy Impala, let me tell you that was quite the experience. Nothing like driving in the middle of nowhere in a state you are not familiar with and in a car that has seen better days in the ice and snow...but it was a total adventure and a wee bit thrilling :) We got off the freeway to my excitement and drove, and drove, passed a cow or two and then drove some more, and passed a small town with some more cows and maybe a horse and would show slight signs of civilization, drove a few more miles and then bam. there it was. The Baseball Hall of Fame. After hours in the car we drove right up and parked up front. As I got out of the car and looked up at the beautiful brick building with the snow coming down softly, I got a shock through me and choked up. I was finally, here.

It was nothing I imagined and so much better at the same time. Three stories of baseball heaven and a great hall - aka the actual Hall of Fame filled with plaques of all of the inductees in chronological order. With high ceilings and a dome that filled the room with beautiful light, it was awe-inspiring. Too bad it was ruined by a child watching Dora the Explorer. I didn't exactly want to hear "say Map! Map!" while I was meditating in my mecca. (I would later get into a minor altercation with the mother as I didn't realize it was the mother standing next to me when I commented to my mother about the lack of respect these people had. the mother said, you must not have children, and I said, you must not have heard of headphones. oopsies!). At the end of the Hall there was a path that lead back to the broadcaster's hall of fame, the baseball in movies section and what I am sure is an incredible artifact and library. We started on the first floor with the history of the museum and watched a movie about the history of the game, I wont give it away, but it was a fantastic way to start our experience.

 

We moved room to room slowly taking in the history of the game and seeing the game's greatest players jerseys, cleats, bats, balls, awards and personal effects in front of us. Then there was the Babe Ruth Room. Jackie Robinson's Room. The Yankees tributes, the record breakers for every.litte. thing. and then there was Hank Aaron's room, Latin baseball and every.single.world series ring. There was a Baseball card room, a Souvenir room, and current in baseball with each team's locker ...  and my favorite...the tribute to the All American Girls Baseball League which was absolutely incredible. I could have stayed all day, all night and all week.

                                               The Babe's uniform

 

                                        Mickey Mantle's Uniform

                                   1996 World Series Team...Jeter and Bernie William's jersey's and bats

                             

 

                     A picture honoring the 2004 Red Sox World Championship team. Drought broken!

At the end, we explored and spent way too much money in the incredible souvenir shop. In a previous post I wrote about spreading my Dad's ashes, but that is what ended the day, under a beautiful tree that faced the water and the building as the snow fell. We strolled up and down the strip going into stores and seeing even more interesting momentos over the years. The snow made the day even more beautiful and magical, and it was with happiness and sadness that we drove out of Cooperstown, back down the road and to the nearest Best Western where we had pizza and beer, cried and marveled at what we had just experienced. The next day would begin our next journey: Our drive to Boston.

New York, New York, I love New York!

Better late than never I suppose? I am finally getting to posting my memories about my incredible trip back east a mere twelve months ago....I have always wanted to go to New York, and could.not.wait. to finally be going. The premise of the trip is fairly well known (and can be read about in posts below). While it was a whirlwind trip that went from warm spring like sunshine, to rain, a bit of snow, high cold whipping wind that chapped your face and bitter cold temperatures, the experience was absolutely and beyond a doubt incredible.

Day 1: Our trip started off with a bang at SeaTac where I may have over packed and had to pay a hefty oversize fee. In my defense, it turned out to be FREEZING most of the trip and all of the coats I packed came in handy, where my Mother froze and had to buy warmer clothes in the end. Just saying. We then realized as we were about to go through security, that my dear Mother still had a full Nalgene bottle. Not wanting to lose the bottle, we chugged that thing, well mostly my Mother chugged it. There may have been some clapping by the people around us and an "impressive" from the guy behind us. After a long flight, we finally arrived and proceeded to take a crazy ride through Queens and the streets of NY, where our car driver and a  bus driver got into a screaming match that ended with the flipping of the bird  and a lot of cussing and honking. After more than one quick turns, slamming of breaks, more honking, lots of traffic and finally two hours after we landed, we made it to our hotel...barely in one piece. Our room had a little sliver of a view of Times Square, and my Mom and I were both giddy with excitement to head down to explore.

First view of Times Square above. Our hotel had two main doors, if you went out either the left or the right you were literally in times square after a few feet. We were also right next to ABC Studios and Good Morning America!

The sliver of a view from our room.

We were absolutely starving as  we had been traveling all day and mostly just had snacks, so we headed to Sardi's in the theater district, a popular place to go and where famous performers on Broadway are characterized on the walls:

We then hit some of the shops - Yankee Shop to get our game day sweatshirts, The M&M and Hersey stores, and of course the tacky souvenir shops along the way. We also had to explore the giant Disney Store for Melissa, which was absolutely incredible!

 

Exhausted, we headed to bed for an early wake up call, and Easter in NY!

Day 2: Happy Easter! We got dressed in our Easter finest and with Starbucks in hand excitedly walked up 5th Ave seeing the sites and watching a bit of the Easter Parade as it traveled past us. Basically people wear all kinds of crazy Easter bonnets and walk and sing and dance down the streets, a tradition that started in the late 1800's. We popped into the Trump Tower, and roamed around and also had to enjoy our first pretzel from a cart on the street. We walked passed all of the beautiful churches - St. Patrick's, St Thomas and their Easter decorations, and finally could see our destination. The Plaza Hotel:

The Plaza is absolutely stunning inside and was everything I had imagined it would be. You couldn't help but feel elegant just being in the hotel itself and it didn't hurt either being a huge Eloise fan and that The Great Gatsby was coming out which added to the excitement of being in this famous and legendary Hotel. However because it was a holiday and a Sunday, sadly the Eloise store was closed, but she still made an appearance in the hotel:

I have never ever eaten at a fancier restaurant then at the Palm Court at The Plaza. We were seated towards the back, against a window wall, where people walked by with pure jealousy :) from where we sat we could see the entire rest of the restaurant and were able to watch all of the different types of people that came through - to the very rich who were dressed to the nines to the commoners like us! We had an amazing 3 course meal that ended with an incredible dessert buffet, and I mean...incredible. They had chocolate easter eggs that were decorated on the outside and had different fillings on the inside, and every type of dessert conceivable. Giant chocolate bunnies decorated the table.

 

 

Mom and I after an incredible experience! Next we headed over to Central Park and rode in one of the horse drawn carriages around the small loop. We wanted to explore it more, but we had to head back to our hotel and get ready for Chicago!

 

 

 

 

 On our walk back to Times Square, we popped into St. Patrick's Cathedral which was unfortunately under renovation, however we still got to experience  the beauty and grandor inside. We lit some candles and walked to the altar and just took in the grandness of it all. [Celebrity Sighting: Victoria Gotti] It was starting to rain, so we quickly walked back, but not before catching a little more glimpse of the Easter Parade:

dancing in the streets in their Easter finest! [Celebrity Sighting: Minka Kelly] After a quick rest and change of clothes we made our way to a PUB and had an appetizer and a couple of beers before seeing Chicago, which was absolutely fantastic. After the show we stepped out to realize it was absolutely downpouring, which did not bother these Seattlelites one bit! It was incredible to see how Times Square cleared out and we practically had the street to ourselves. Something that caught our eye were the amount of police officers on horses all around the city, even in the pouring down rain! It was a magical moment I will never forget.

 

Day 3:  Opening Day at Yankee Stadium & Night Tour of NYC and Brooklyn
I wrote about my experience at Yankee Stadium in the post before this, but I would like to add in a few things...We got up early and after a quick breakfast hopped on the Subway to head to the Bronx. It was easier than expected! The best part of the trip was listening to the four cops stationed on our tram gossiping in their new York accents. it was quite entertaining. Our seats were the equivalent to our Terrace Club at Safeco Field, except that the club part was not connected to our seats and we had to have special wristlets to get in and out. But the special "wristlet" only club was way cool. They offered free popcorn and non-alcoholic drinks (awesome!) and all sorts of special foods you couldn't find anywhere else in the stadium. They also had a full service bar (in addition to the one outside) and private fancy bathrooms with attendants. It was clear it was a fancy hobknobing type of club and since the game was a blowout there were more people visiting than watching the game. They offered a roped off area too outside with comfy chairs and a full bar, which we delighted in sitting in the sunshine and having a Whiskey and Coke before the game started. Good thing because by the time the game was over, it was a total downpour.

It was so exciting to be there for Opening Day and fun to be amongst the Yankee Faithful and to hear the bleacher creachers live. The weather went from nice and warm -- I got sunburned! to freezing cold, blistery winds and pouring down rain! They even had to stop the game to pick up all of the trash that had gathered on the field. It was crazy. While the stadium cleared out, I was not about to leave until the very last play of the game. and so we stayed. Boston creamed the Yanks that day and it would be a sign for the season ahead. I begrudgingly headed back to the Monorail after wishing to buy things in the Yankee Team Store I could never afford. It was such a fantastic experience and I loved it.

 

 

 

 When we got back to the City the weather had turn from pleasant to stormy and we embarked on a tour of the city on a big red bus by night. Nevermind that we almost froze to death, but we literally had the worst tour guide imaginable. (personally, I do not care that there is a Panera Bread to the left of me, I can see those at home!)  while it was cool to see the city at night from the top of a bus in the freezing cold, we couldn't get off the bus and back to our room fast enough!

                                                            Bryant Park

                                          New York

 The Flat Iron Building, one of my favorites...Thank you Mr. Curtis

 the Famous Canal Street

 

 

Day 4: Was our last day in Manhattan and the coldest day of all. While I slept in, Linda got up and headed down to brave the freezing cold (it was like 4 degrees that morning. No thank you!) and to watch a little bit of Good Morning America! We layered up and hopped on a bus and headed down to Ground Zero. I still remember 9/11 like it was yesterday and it was a somber and haunting experience. It was crazy to be in this bustling city that never sleeps and be in spot that is dead silent. We watched them work on the Freedom Tower and visited the two fountains and watched the water run in silence and thought about day. We didn't last very long, between the somberness of it and the freezing cold, but I am so glad that we went and paid our respects to those lost that horrible day.

                                      
we then headed back uptown after driving past the UN on our little tour bus and had lunch and explored a little bit around Rockefeller Center.

We also ventured into Saks 5th Avenue, however we were dressed so casually we stood out like sore thumbs and hastily got out after being looked at oddly by the rich and famous. [well not really, but I was wearing a stocking cap, a trench coat, jeans and tennis shoes. classy.] By this time, we were so cold, and so tired we headed back to our room for a nap and warming up before we headed out to Macy's to do a little shopping. We were so excited about our Macy's trip as we are avid Macy's Day Parade watchers and loved being able to shop in the amazing shoe section, looking at all of the furs and all of the incredible clothes.

 

 

They had amazing window displays, and it was something we will always remember. We ended our evening at Guy Ferrari's amazing BBQ restaurant

 Had one last look and walk through at Times Square at night and got ready for our next great adventure....

Cooperstown.


Celebrity Sighting the morning we left: Nick Cannon coming into our hotel.