Ok, so I'm officially a Yankee fan now. And I heart NYC.

I took a trip to the Big Apple last weekend. In my usual fashion, I had about a week's worth of fun in 3 days. It went like this. It started with a nice trip to the Jersey Shore on Friday night. It was a little chilly but it was such a bonus to get to hear the best sound in the world -- waves crashing on the shore. My friend and I had a great dinner on the shore at a little Irish place called Klee's. Here's a shot of me Under the Boardwalk. Saturday started off with two of my favorite things in the world. Waffles and art. Another friend made me waffles with his $350 Kitchen-Aid waffle maker. It turns the waffle over for you half way through the cooking cycle. That's what makes it so "special". The waffles could've been from an Ego box and I'd have been fine. I was having fun. He had some really cool artwork at his house that I really enjoyed. Also a Koi pond, some of the neatest Adirondak chairs I've ever seen, and a cat who sleeps on a stove. Here's a few pics.

A Cat on a Hot Tin Stove

After Waffles and Art, we headed to the City for a 2 hour cruise aboard the Circle Line. The tour took us all around the island, and we saw the bridges, ground zero, the skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and a whole lot more. It was really cool to see NYC from the water. Pics of this part of the trip:
From there the mission was to score tickets to a Saturday night show, get some dinner, and see some sights. We got tickets to a cool show called CURTAINS. It stars Niles from Frazier. They guy can sing! Who knew. Dinner was a lobster tail and a steak at a little place called The Oyster Bar. I also got to see the Hello Deli from The Letterman Show and a few other things. Here are pics from that part of the trip.

Hello

City Shots

Sunday I was up & at 'em early again for a 9am helicopter tour of the city. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. All the big stops, from the air ... Empire State Building, Brooklyn, Bronks, the Bridges, Central Park, Governor's Island, Ellis Island, the United Nations Bldg, Yankees Stadium, Laguardia, and "The Lady" (this is what the air traffic controllers call the Statue of Liberty). Just a few pics from this part:

Me with "The Lady" in the background

On the Ground

Another shot while in the air

Flying over the House that Ruth Built

The heliportAs if this wasn't enough excitement, the cornerstone of the trip was still to come. My friend and I then hopped on the 4 train to 161st Street.

I heart mass transit

Outside the stadium...Yep, Yankees Stadium. We had 2 seats behind 1st base in Row 1 (see previous post). I'd never been to Yankees Stadium before this, so it was truly magical. I couldn't take it all in fast enough. It was really cold, so people were in the team store snapping up $75 hoodies like they were $5. I splurged and got a really nice player jacket - the away game design. A couple of pics:

Jeter

My seat

Being on the front row, I got some great pics. We were also right by the 1st base line ballboy. While I couldn't convince him to give me a ball, he did fill up a little aspirin bottle with dirt from the field. It had a few grass clippings in it plus a sunflower seed! I had promised another friend that I'd send him some if I got it and I made good on that. But I kept the sunflower nut.

There were a few kids nearby us, so they were the logical choices for the ballboy to give the foul balls to. A little kid 4 seats from me got a ball and was all happy. But then the ballboys switched positions and the new ballboy gave the kid a SECOND foul ball. I was hanging over the tarp saying, "C'monnnnnn! He already has one!". At that point, the kid's dad looked at the kid and said, "Give it to her". Before I knew it, I was holding a ball from Yankees Stadium! It even has the Final Season logo on it. It was hit by Pena of the TB Devil Rays and pitched by Chien-Ming Wang.
Now before you go off on me for taking a ball from this kid, let me tell the rest of the story. A vendor came all the way down about 10 minutes after I got the ball I'll cherish for the rest of my natural life. She was selling NYY flags, blow up bats, and those stuffed-animal monkeys that you can make hug you with their long velcro arms.

I asked for a monkey, passed my $20 down the row, and endured all the jeers from people making fun of me for buying a MONKEY at a Yankee Game. I then handed the monkey over to the kid who gave me the ball and said, "Thank you for the ball. This is for you." He hugged the monkey and lit up like a Christmas tree. The dad then leaned over to him and said, "You see what happens when you do the right thing."

This is the kid who gave me a ball from Yankees Stadium. (See monkey in left hand.) There were some more kids around us and they all got balls too. One little redheaded kid told his dad, "This is one of the best days of my life." He couldn't have been more than 12. And at 39, I couldn't have had more in common with him at that moment.

The kid who, like me, was having one of the best days of his life

The Yanks won the game, and I got some GREAT shots. Including one of A-rod polishing his jewels. They played Sinatra's New York-New York at the conclusion of the game. I love that song.

We took the train back to our car without incident. We saw the Seaport and Ground Zero on the way out of the city. That big empty spot is certainly cause for reflection.

Sunday night was a really, really good italian dinner with some cool friends and some of the best cheesecake I've ever had in my life. Monday was back on a plane to Minneapolis.

There are some precious times in life when you're doing exactly what you want to be doing. This was without question one of those times. To quote a friend and co-worker who passed away from cancer but was positive till the bitter end, "Life is really, really good."