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!
