The last day of the All Star vacation....

The All Star Game 2008

First I want to congratulate my dear friends CC and Jimmy on the birth of her first grandchild! God bless her! That makes my second friend my age with a grandchild...thanks for making me feel old....lol ;)

Ok, this was the only day of our trip without a hotel catastrophe. We woke up showered, had breakfast and off we went into the city. We decided since we were leaving after the ball game to head to CT, we would drive into the city, and take public transportation to the game. We parked at the Marriott Marque for $58 a steal in NYC and off we went. We visited with my BIL and niece for a little bit, then walked around Time Square. Some how a new lens for my camera made its way into my life...lol. I walked into one of those NYC electronic stores and asked to look at it, t hen the bartering commenced. It suddenly went from $499 to $200, and all I had said was that I was planning on looking around first before I bought something. I probably could have gotten it even cheaper had I held out, but I wanted it. Judy just sat there smirking at me. Thanks Judy :)

We went and watched the All Star red carpet parade which took place down 6th Ave in Manhattan. They actually throw a huge red carpet down the middle of the Street and drive Chevy trucks down the middle with the players and their families in the back. It was quite entertaining to hear the roar of boo's come down 6th Ave as a Red Sox or Mets player approached. I have to say though that Judy, Katerina and I wore our Red Sox Jerseys everyday and until today we had no problems. People were downright nice! It was very hot and Katerina and I decided to find some shade under a tree while the tall one in our group took some of the pictures below at the parade. It is nice to travel with people that don't complain every two seconds about things that can not be controlled. After we met super secret hotel man and his wife at their hotel(Where else but at a Sheraton) for that all important All Star Game ticket exchange. It was nice to see him again, as always and he looked great as did Anne. We got our tickets and off we went!

Hank Aaron

"YOUK!!!!!!"

We ate at Planet Hollywood. I am a tipper, I was once a waitress in another lifetime, so I tip well, but this waitress was horrible. Hardly served us, never asked if we wanted more drinks and seemed pissed off to even serve us, so she got 10%, and she was lucky.  Katerina found the Jonas Brother hand prints and it made her day! (I remember those days, only for me it was Sean Cassidy or Donny Osmond) As we left the restaurant we encountered naked cowboy. A Time Square institution he was there in all his glory. Ok so he does wear a Speedo, and he was probably real "hot" in his day, but now he has leathery looking skin that even I can see with my old age eyesight from across the street.  He could have used a shower that day too...Katerina was fascinated that he was allowed to play a guitar like that in public...Who is this kid? She can't be mine....lol.

After all that we headed to Yankee Stadium. We had directions from the doorman at my BIL's place and off we went. We were about to get off the train to make a connection to Yankee Stadium when a woman tells us to stay on the train and she would tell us when to get off. Judy in her quick wit asks the lady if she was going to give us "special" directions because we were Red Sox fans, and we all laugh. Ok, but in the back of my mind I am thinking of all the stories I have heard about Yankees and Red Sox fans, we are going to come out somewhere horrible in the Bronx...But I was so wrong she got us right to the stadium without switching trains or anything!!!

Our tickets were split so Judy sat with Randall on one side of the stadium and Katerina and I sat on the other. We kept trying to spot each other from across the stadium and finally did it. Poor Judy missed the Village People doing Y.M.C.A as she was walking to her seat before the festivities started. Are the Village people still the same ones from when I was in high school, or do they get replaced, cuz these guys could still move. In the 6th inning Judy was able to come sit with us since there were open seats!

The game was incredible. The longest in All Star history, thank goodness it ended when it did because there were no more pitchers for either side to play. Since the game counts as the winning team's league get home field advantage for the World Series. The game needs a clear winner. We left in the 11th inning because we needed to get back into the city. Having the Stealth bomber fly over your head at an incredibly slow speed was something. You wonder how that thing works. The ceremonies started with Sheryl Crow singing the National Anthem, and then out came the largest assembly of MLB Hall of famers ever in one place. Legends like Hank Aaron, and Rollie Fingers...real baseball players who played for the game and not money! Sorry Manny that means YOU!!!! Josh Groban sang God Bless America in the 7th (it was sung again in the 14th). One of the pictures below are of the snipers on the roof of the stadium, they were there every game. It was a game to remember and I couldn't have shared it with better people. 

Our one bad incident came during the game. There were some guys sitting a few rows ahead of us that clearly had had to much to drink. In about the 7th inning one of them got up to scream something and fell over the four rows in front of him taking out the people who were just so happened to be sitting there. A few minutes later he said something to his girlfriend and she threw his beer at him. The police escorted him out of the park, but not before he informed his other buddies that he was their ride so they had to leave. They weren't that drunk yet and common sense prevailed and they stayed as he was escorted out. Well his buddies were jerks and every time a Red Sox fan went left their seat they had plenty to say to them. I got up three times two of them with Katerina, and they made some comments. I chose to ignore them twice on the third time I told them what they could do to themselves. As we were leaving he made another crude comment and I gave him the finger so Katerina could not see. I got down to where the policeman was standing and told him someone was going to beat the crap out of the guy if he didn't shut up...as I was talking he made another comment and right there in front of the policeman I flipped him the one finger salute. He was told to shut up and sit down by the cop then or he was leaving. I hope the dirtbag got escorted out eventually.

New Yankee Stadium

On the way back to Time Square the train was packed. A poor young girl stepped in with a baby and so I stood up and gave her my seat. A nice gentleman saw me do that and offered me his seat. The baby was named Elliot and was fascinated with Katerina and her hair. What a cutie, though what he and his mom were doing out at 1am baffles the mind! At about 1:35 or so we got to Time Square and watched a half inning of the game on the jumbotron there with a group who was out there watching. NYC is such an incredible city!

We got our stuff from the doorman at BIL's place, got our car and off we went to Stamford CT where out hotel for the night was. We hit construction on 95N on the NJ/CT border and didn't get to our hotel til after 3 am!!!! Did I tell you we had to drive home and get to work by 1 pm?  We didn't make it by 1pm, more like 2 pm but it helps to have the boss in the car with you :)

I can not stress enough how much fun we had. We never stopped laughing or moving. Poor Katerina and her wake up calls in the morning will give her nightmares...lol I am already working on St. Louis next year and can't wait for Anahiem in 2010!!!

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Next adventure....guess who has a tattoo??????? Stay tuned for a special guest blogger! Can you guess who got a tattoo?

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!