Day two....who says all firemen are created equally

We got home the night before about 9pm and ordered room service. Nothing like getting a wheeled table brought to your room with pretty linens and silverware, even for sandwiches and desert. We all fell asleep almost instantly....

Then at the bright and early hour of 6:30 am the hotel fire alarm went off. I have never seen my daughter go from deep sleep to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. I swear she went from lying in bed to standing at the foot of the bed without her feet ever touching anything. Poor kid was so scared. I sleep in a huge t-shirt and could not go down that way, so I went to the bathroom and got pants on, as well as used the facilities. When I came back out, Judy was hugging her she was so afraid that we were going to die. We went down the stairs, and exited out the front of the building with everyone else. Of course it started to rain while we were out there. The range in age of firemen ranged from just out of high school looking to one older man that had to be extremely close to retirement age, who you knew had seen more than he wanted to. Squidly if you are reading this you are still my hot fireman!  2 hours later they let us into the hotel, but there was no power (Try going to the bathroom in a hotel without power...lol), and we finally left at 11:30 am to go into the city! The fire had been electrical but fire trucks from four different NJ towns responded to the call. Every hotel guest got a free continental breakfast that morning, and vouchers for a free full breakfast the next day.

Of we went into the city, again.  This time we took the bus into the city. We drove our car to a nearby stop and waited for the bus. We didn't trust "Fred" to get us there for less than the national debt, so we risked NJ transit and NYC transit. Fred had his own vacation under the seat of the car for a few days! I won't even talk about the NYC transit. How people can squeeze themselves in those tin can subways, day after day. I will never know. Just the people in NYC should keep the Ban Roll-on and Speedstick companies in business. Instead of hand sanitizer they should have people raise their arms as they go through the turnstiles...eeek! Not to mention that sardines have more room in their tin cans than transit riders, and all this for a mere $1.50 a ride, a bargain at half he price. We took the train to Ground Zero. The place still gives me the chills. We visited the fire station across from the buildings, and I am going to include some pictures, but it is still heart wrenching. Hard to put into words what you feel looking into that space. We also went shopping at Modell's and got lots of All Star stuff. Just what we needed more stuff right? Yup, more stuff :)

What is left of the original outside structure of the Fire Station next to Ground Zero

Ground Zero

Memorial in Fire Station next to Ground Zero.

We braved the subway again, and rode it to Time Square. We ate at the ESPN ZONE where even the women's bathroom had TV's in the John. We found some of the All STar Statues I mentioned somewhere before ( tough being old and forgetful) and here are a few. They are now up for auction on the MLB.com site starting at 5K. The Red Sox one was going for 8K we never got to see it as it was hidden far away from the center of things....lol

Off We went again after visiting with my inlaws who live in the only residential building in Time Square over the M&M store. Time to get on the D train to Yankee Stadium, and got there in good time.

Off to our seats in right field this time between first base and the foul pole!! We had a great view of Hamilton and his 28 record breaking home-runs! It was a beautiful night with lots of fun, great time with my daughter and Judy. The pictures below say it all. I was hoarse by the time I got back to the room!

We left the stadium in the last round because it was after 12 am and we had to take a train to the city and the last bus out to NJ was at 1 am. We made it with only 10 minutes to spare to the bus terminal. We get on the bus and get to thinking, and we don't exactly know which stop is ours. The stops are on streets and we didn't know the area so quick thinking Judy remembered that we parked before the stop in this direction and after a while just started looking for her car. Luckily we saw it and got off at the right stop. We get back to the room and the room is a mess. It was never done up and there was an small incident that resulted in $50 being taken off our bill.

Even with all the stuff going on this was the best time ever!

A trip to remember!

What can I say...to all my friends who are reading...eat your hearts out! It was awesome with all the adventures and all!  It all started last Saturday. Phil dropped Katerina off at Cuffy's right before we left. We all climbed into Judy's Escape and off we went. We stopped for a not so quick meal at Friendly's in CT and then drove to our hotel in Stamford, CT for the night. We stayed at a Hilton so you would think it would be ok...right? NO!!! We got there and there were no rooms with double beds (which is what we had requested) so they promised us a cot. We waited, and a half hour later no cot (DID I mention it was 11:30 pm?) So, I called down to the front desk where they proceed to tell me there aren't any left and that they were going to move us to another room. Now it is 12 am and I have a very sleepy 12 year old, and crazy red head and me the hot headed Cuban with steam coming out of her ears....We are told that they are moving us to the 8th floor (but we were on the club floor :(  now we weren't), because we were now getting a room with a queen bed and a queen sleeper sofa. We walk in and it is the same room we had upstairs, there was NO SOFA!!! I adjust my glasses, but no still not there, so I go down to the front desk. Steam coming out of my ears...red eyes and flaring nose...Never cross a tired, grumpy, Cuban! I get down there and I ask the girl why I was given the same room I just had, and now I don't even have club privileges? It is now after 12:30am and I am ranting and raving when miraculously a double room appears! WOW, just what we had asked for over and hour ago! We are now on the 2nd floor...steerage here we come! We did get a free breakfast, free valet parking and a free $4 bottle of water (because at 1 am there was no soda in the vending machines). Judy and I had fun and exciting ways of waking up Katerina in the morning when she was sleeping to late for us....this particular morning it was having two grown woman jumping on her bed :) Yes, we are cruel! We got our free breakfast, even if we did have to track poor Antonio to get it...We checked out of the Hilton and we were off to Fanfest in NYC!!! We won't even talk about "FRED" the good for nothing male navigational system in cahoots with the NYC toll authorities! We proved "Fred" is male...he never gets the right directions or the most direct route. I had a few choice words for him. He kept making sure we paid the maximum amount of tolls...lol. All an adventure though!

Fanfest was fun. We made a contribution to a children's organization and got fast passes to one...yes one activity. We got two passes we could use to cut to the front of a line. Judy and Katerina used it to do the virtual batting cages! Katerina went up against Schilling and Judy broke the cage! Ok, she didn't...it malfunctioned. First she kept getting the wrong pitcher. Then she got Randy Johnson for one pitch and hit the ball! Finally she got Wakefield and hit him too! She did better than most of the guys we watched!! Then we walked around, had our pictures taken catching balls over the wall...or in a baseball card! Then we went to the baseball marketplace...lots of fun!

After a while off we went to Yankee Stadium! To all you Yankee fans, I have to say it was something being at the park, knowing it was coming down. It isn't a Fenway Park but it was cool! You guys definitely have the best popcorn containers! Loved the atmosphere....I have tons of pictures I will add to this as soon as my DH brings me the cord to download them off my camera! We watched most of the the Futures game and the Celebs vs. the oldtimers game. We had a good time! We had some great seats and we never encountered anyone bugging us about being in head to toe Red Sox stuff! Anything Mets or Red Sox was booed by fans but they were very nice to us for the most part (I say that cuz the last day my middle finger and a yankees fan had an incident). Got back to the hotel around 9pm our only early night of the trip and had room service! More to come later tonight!!! Best things we brought on the trip Sprintzer bottles Judy bought us at BJ's so good when it is hot as hell up in the nose bleed seats!

Randall my friend if you are reading this you ROCK!!!!!! Katerina and Judy you guys are fun companions!

COming up....A fire alarm at 6 am....more crazy Cuban front desk antics (my name is on the Hilton hit list)...."Fred the GPS" gets the boot, and the Stealth bomber and snipers!!!! Keep on reading for more ALL STAR WEEKEND FUN!!!!