New York, New York...

What a weekend!

Bob, Seth, and I just got back from a very fun and exciting trip to New York City, but not without a little adventure. So here's a little bit more about our exciting weekend!

So Bob, Seth, and I took a weekend trip to NYC to see a few baseball games. As you may know, this is the "farewell" season for both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium, with both due to be replaced next year. So we decided to take a weekend trip and attend a few games before they tear down the stadiums.

So we planned to fly out Friday morning, attend a Mets game Friday night, tour the city on Saturday, and then catch a Yankees game on Sunday afternoon before flying back to Cincinnati Sunday night. But little did we know that our plans would change thanks to Mother Nature.

On Friday, we arrived at La Guardia in the early afternoon and checked into our hotel. We then rode the 7 Train into Times Square to do a little sightseeing before the Mets game that night. We bought tickets for a double-decker, open-air tour bus and sat up on top to check out the sights. Well, about an hour into the tour, it started raining. And raining.

It rained pretty hard and didn't let up. For some reason, we stayed up top on the bus and tried to hide under some cheap raincoats. But to no avail. It rained the rest of the evening and we encountered our first unexpected twist of the weekend. The Mets game for that night had been canceled due to the rain and rescheduled as a day-night double header on Saturday.

So on Saturday, we headed back into the city to do some sightseeing before the Mets game later that night. We took the 7 Train back to Times Square and then got back on the tour bus to check out Lower Manhattan. First stop, The Empire State Building! We went up to the very top and got a few good photos, including this silly one of me at the bottom. I've been to the top now twice, but it never gets old! The city is so huge!

After checking out the city from above the clouds, we continued to check it out from street level. Our tour bus took us next to Greenwich Village, where we got some lunch. Our friend Grace had told us about this awesome hotdog place, Gray's Papaya. But we figured finding one would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Imagine our surprise when we spotted one while on the tour bus! We got off at the next stop and enjoyed the best hotdogs in all of New York City!! Great suggestion, Grace!!

With our stomachs full, we hopped back on the tour bus and headed further towards the southern harbor. We stopped and checked out Ground Zero and continued on to Battery Park. We didn't have time to ride the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty, but we did have time to check it out from the waterfront. Even though it was sort of hazy, Lady Liberty still provides a majestic photo opportunity! I love the sailboat in the foreground too!

We continued on the tour, full circle, back to Times Square. Unfortunately, because of the Mets rain makeup, we didn't have time to do some things we wanted to do, like check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oh well, maybe some other time.

So we rode the 7 Train back to Queens to get back to Shea Stadium and the New York Mets game. The game was not too exciting, as the Mets won easily, 5-0 behind eight shutout innings from Jon Niese and homers from Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. It was the first career victory for Niese, who played in high school at Defiance. After the game, we ordered an authentic "New York" style pizza at the hotel. I don't know if I was just hungry or what, but it was absolutely the best pizza I have ever had in my life!

Finally, on Sunday, we took in a game at the legendary Yankee Stadium. We rode the 7 Train to Grand Central Station and then jumped on the 4 Train to The Bronx and to Yankee Stadium. We had wanted to go down to Monument Park before the game but, because of the crowds, we didn't have enough time.

The game itself was pretty exciting. Carl Pavano made the start for the Yanks, but came out early because of an injury and was greeted with a shower of boos. Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam in the first inning and still got booed. Derek Jeter went 3 for 4 with a homer and a double, and he tied Lou Gehrig's record for career hits at Yankee Stadium with 1,269. Jason Giambi also homered for the Yanks. Mariano Rivera locked up the 8-4 victory, pitching the 9th inning for his 35th save of the season and 478th of his career, tying him with Lee Smith for 2nd place all-time. David Price made his Major League debut for the Rays, pitching 5 innings in relief.

But most exciting of all, I had my name displayed on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard! Thanks to Julie T, Julie D, and Lori on this one! I got a text message shortly after the game started telling me to "look at the scoreboard in the 3rd inning." So I did, and they had called in and put my name up in lights! What a great cap to a great weekend!

But it wasn't over yet! We still had to get back to Cincinnati! There were some remnants of Hurricane Ike passing through Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon, causing very heavy winds and some rain. The high winds were enough to shut down CVG airport, so our flight back on Sunday night was canceled! Our flight was rescheduled for 6:10 am this morning. So we got up at 3:30 am to make sure we had enough time to get up and around and to the airport in time to make the flight. Well, I guess that a bunch of other folks had the same problem because the place was PACKED!! We stood in line to check in for (no joke) about a full hour. And then, we waited almost another full hour to get through security. We were all freaked out that we would miss our flight. We finally got through security and ran to our boarding gate and got there at 6:05, only 5 minutes before the boarding door was shut. Whew!! What an adventure!

When we finally arrived back in Cincy, we found the town to be in disarray. Tons of wind damage and lots of folks without power. Lucky for us, GE had closed today due to not having any power. So we didn't have to use any extra vacation! A lucky ending to a fun and fantastic weekend!