The Big Statue in The Big Apple

New York City - Day 3 and 4
May 14-15, 2005


On Saturday, Ginger and I went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the morning. The great excitement of that morning was that Ian from this past season of Survivor was on our ferry. (Ginger is a really big fan of the show) Some interesting Statue of Liberty facts…. the length of her nose is 4ft 6in., the thickness of her copper “skin” is about the thickness of two pennies, her index finger is 8' long and the approximate amount of fabric in Liberty's dress is equal to 4,000 sq.yds. In the afternoon we went to Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, and the little church across from Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel. Saturday night we set our sights towards Broadway to see The Phantom of the Opera.

After church on Sunday, we decided to do something that didn’t require a lot of walking. So we went on a boat cruise around Manhattan Island and saw some more of the famous New York City landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee Stadium. If you ever go to NYC, I would recommend taking one of these cruises. It was very relaxing and very informational.

Bright and early on Monday the 16th, I was back on a plane to Long Beach, CA. This time I had no trouble on any of the buses.

The Big Park in The Big Apple

Central Park

The Big Picture From The Big Apple

New York City - Day 2
May 13, 2005

First thing Friday morning we went to the Empire State Building to get a great view of the city. (Picture to Left: Ginger and Alicia at the top) We couldn’t have asked for a better day. We could see as far as twenty-five miles out.
Friday was the day my legs felt like they were going to fall off from so much walking. We went to Time Square, Central Park (refer to next post for pictures), Fifth Avenue (saw Lauren Bacall coming out of Ralph Lauren), the Hershey store, and the huge Toys R Us with this huge replica of the Empire State Building built out of legos.
That day was full of famous people sightings. I got my picture taken with President Bush and Billy Graham.






I also saw the Beatles and Ginger had a picture with Frank Sinatra and the former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Of course none of these people were real but some of the time while we were in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum we began to question. It was kind of freaky how real some of them looked.

The Big Story From The Big Apple

New York City - Day 1
May 12

Well I finally made it to New York City. One of my old college roommates lives in Hoboken, NJ which is right across the Hudson river from Manhattan. I was only there for the weekend so each day was packed with things to do.
I flew into JFK on a pretty late flight. I had to take a taxi into the Port Authority to meet up with Ginger and another friend from college, Alicia, who was visiting as well. I made it to the bus station without a problem but they were running fewer buses because of the late hour. So, as it turns out, the bus that we had to take was jammed full of people and here I am separated from the people I am with and carrying this huge suitcase because I was bringing some things for Ginger from California. I am doing my best to keep my bag out of the way but some problems began to arise once we got into New Jersey and started making some stops. I did my best to watch Ginger to see when we were supposed to get off, but in the efforts to keep me and my bag out of the way at one of the stops, I managed to find myself on the side of the road watching the bus pull away with Ginger and Alicia still on the bus.
Naturally, one would start to panic. I will admit I did. I had never been in this area before. I had no idea how far away I was from Ginger's apartment and it was almost mid-night. As my street smarts kicked in, I noticed that this was a nice area of town. So I whipped out my cell phone and called Ginger. Of course to make things even more dramatic for me, she didn’t answer the phone. I called again. Still no answer. So I left a message telling her where I was and begged her not to be mad at me. I called a third time and she finally picked up the phone. But for some reason she was laughing. Come to find out she thought I was calling from the back of the bus to see when our stop was. If only that were the case. I informed her of my location and fortunately I was within walking distance to her place so we met each other halfway. I imagined arriving in NYC in a less dramatic fashion, but I am happy to report that nothing like that happened again for the rest of the weekend.