Full day excursion into New York today. Started off with a subway ride to Battery Park, but the line for the Statue was 1.5 hrs so we settled for pix across the Hudson. We followed that with a trip down to Wall Street, then a jont over to the World Trade Center. The reconstruction on the tower replacement is coming along. There are contractors, cranes, trucks, dirt , and dust everywhere. It is a very vibrate project. Dad had never seen the Brooklyn bridge up front, so we set out for lunch and finding the bridge in one effort. We found a hole-in-the-wall local Panini shop with a Pizzeria next door for the boys. Darin's pizza looked NY style, Brandon's more like thick Ca. style. Two blocks away we were able to take a couple pix of the bridge. Not great ones, but the crew was growing anxious to get to Time Square and beyond.
Back on the subway up to Times Square which was starting to kick in with activity. We just hung out there for a couple of hours taking it all in, while supporting Brandon's effort to the find a Rolex knockoff. We worked our way up to Central Park to find it, and decided on a 1hr peda-cycle taxi tour thru the south half of the park. We got a very experienced driver as part of our negotiation and he did awesome, after we negotiated ~40% off of his asking fee. What was scheduled for 45 min seemed to take a couple of hours we were so into it. The carousel, the lakes, the statues, history, John Lennon's tribute from Yoko, and a long list of celebrity tenants in all the boundary apartments. We not sure we believe it all, but it seemed like the truth.
Back on the walk down 5th ave for all the big stores and a short stop at Rockefeller plaza. Probably too much walking, but we persevered. A couple of blisters, 85deg tiredness, but the only site not fully searched out was the Empire state building. We saw it from a couple of blocks away but didn't get the close look we planned. Quick dinner at another diner and back to hotel via the train by 9p. A little cool off in the pool and massage in the jacuzzi, and now settling in for a good night sleep for tomorrow's pouncing on downtown Philadelphia, and our local cheesesteak. It will take us a couple of hours to get there on the train, and then we'll need to be near the airport for our 6a Wed morning flight out of Philly. Not sure how the blog will fit in tomorrow evening but for sure I'll update it on the plane and post it when we get back in Ca.
Troop-Baseball, without Dad, will be headed to Boston tomorrow night, setting up their Thursday for a game at Fenway, Orioles on Friday, bus ride to Cleveland for a Sat game there, Sunday at Pittsburgh and finishing up at Yankee Stadium next Tues.
So for now, it would be best to keep tracking them at http://stranskyectrip.blogspot.com/.
Take care our friends,
ChurchHistory&EastCoastBaseball
The two camps depart and plan to meet-up in Jersey
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
On the 5th day, they shall rest.
We slept in today, Dad and Darin barely made it to the 10a hotel breakfast, Shannon barely made it to lunch. I think we'll are all recovered now, and looking forward to a few days with the rest of the family in NewYork. Sure, we'll have lots of pictures from there also, with plans on getting over to the Statue of Liberty, TwinTowers ground zero, Times square and a few other targets.
Of course no more games for the next few days due to the all-star break, and Dad's last game was yesterday with the Mets. Shannon and Darin will pick up the torch starting Thurs in Boston, and a handful more stops during week two.
We enjoyed the soccer match today at a local sports bar, and bbq a couple of hotdogs as Troop Church history arrived. More from their piece of the trip in the next few days.
And, pictures from Citi field are now being prepared to add to the blog.
We'll shut this blog down by Tues midnight, so stay focused on Shannon's version next week:
http://stranskyectrip.blogspot.com
More to follow tomorrow from the big apple visit.
We slept in today, Dad and Darin barely made it to the 10a hotel breakfast, Shannon barely made it to lunch. I think we'll are all recovered now, and looking forward to a few days with the rest of the family in NewYork. Sure, we'll have lots of pictures from there also, with plans on getting over to the Statue of Liberty, TwinTowers ground zero, Times square and a few other targets.
Of course no more games for the next few days due to the all-star break, and Dad's last game was yesterday with the Mets. Shannon and Darin will pick up the torch starting Thurs in Boston, and a handful more stops during week two.
We enjoyed the soccer match today at a local sports bar, and bbq a couple of hotdogs as Troop Church history arrived. More from their piece of the trip in the next few days.
And, pictures from Citi field are now being prepared to add to the blog.
We'll shut this blog down by Tues midnight, so stay focused on Shannon's version next week:
http://stranskyectrip.blogspot.com
More to follow tomorrow from the big apple visit.
Sorry, for no report last night, yes we did crash hard, but starting at 3am and getting back to the hotel by 10p, we were a bit tired. Hopefully, this helps your morning drink of choice.
All photos to follow after Shannon wakes up.
Waiting for the 3a train was a bit rough, but we were in good company of a half-a-dozen other travelers and an overnight-shift DC cop. The train station was real clean, and they kept cleaning it most of the night, but we got a couple of shut-eye moments. We all slept pretty good on the ride to NY and looked forward to breakfast in the city.
We arrived a little after 6am and found breakfast on a corner diner right outside Penn Station, then retrieved our bags from 2 days ago just outside the station. The city was pretty quiet that early on a Sat morning and our 2 block radius excursion for the bags didn't put us into any elbow to elbow situations. It was impressive though to know that the train station building has all the trains switching in and out, plus has the Madsion Square Garden sports facility on a different floor of the building. You really can't tell when you're inside, but the external building oval appearance gives away the purpose of the the upper floor arena functions. It was also pretty impressive to take 20 steps out to the street corner and look south down 33rd to see the Empire State building.
We headed out on NJ transit immediately to find our hotel for the next 3 days over the river in NJ. Turned out to be a 70min train ride due to the milk-run every-township-stop route. We arrived to a thunder storm hitting and wondered if it was going to make it east to the ballpark for another rain-out. After a little trouble with mis-communication with the local taxi service we found our temporary resting place. Darin found a couch and Shannon and Dad hit the pool until our room was ready by 11a. We took a quick snooze, and headed back out at 1p for the excursion to the Mets game, a reverse ride back to Manhatten, then switch to Long Island RailRoad, locally known as LI-double R. We never saw how crowded the subway option was, but this train was packed with Mets fans and we pulled into the stadium station a little before game time. One lady told me the LIRR was a much cleaner option and probably was quicker due to no stops on Manhatten, and just the second stop on Long Island.
Not sure where the original Shea Stadium was in this park but the new Citi Field was a impressive structure. We were also treated to an outside view of the US Tennis center at the same train stop. I imagine it will be real crowded for that tournament in a few weeks.
The steps to the park were across an elevated wood plank walkway over a train yard, over the subway stop, with all sorts of vendors and scalpers. Shannon thought there might have been water underneath someday in the past because it reminded her of a pier. We got a tip to go around the in-going crowds to the back left-field gate to avoid the lines in getting to our 3rd base side seats. Those lines were impressive to me though as the spiraled out from the home plate sign of the field.
We were on the TOP row for seats (I remember booking it that way as we saw very few good seat options so we pushed for the top) which turned out to be great for the needed breeze and an awesome view back onto the city skyline, and would have been a great option if and when the expected showers hit NY. Every one coming up to that row chuckled when they realized where row 17 actually was. We could see everything though and the fans up there had a good sense of humor. They booed a few Atlanta players, some reasons we knew (ex-Yankees and the sort) and some we'll have to investigate later. One of the best lines I heard came from a hidden Yankee fan: "oh come on, all he did was just play for your Varsity team!", referring to the Mets as the JV team in the city. Not too many laughs, but Dad liked it.
The field layout was real funky with the outfield fence meandering in and out to accomodate the seats. That seems to be more common than not in this new stadiums. Call Dad old-school, but a nice arc, 320 down the lines, 375 in the alleys and 400 deadcenter suits me better, oh like Dodger stadium! One of the caverns here was named after the local sporting goods company. Anything for the advertising dollar. The scoreboards and the diamond itself was impressive.
The Mets pitcher dodged all kinds of bullets until 5 consecutive hits in the 5th (for a total of 12 against him). Reminded us of Fridays game where the Giants let their starter get 11 hits and 7 runs off of him before they took him out. What up? Don't these teams have bullpens they trust? And with All-star break coming, they shouldn't be concerned about them getting tired?
Anyway, all 4 runs in the game were scored by the Braves in the 5th, and the Mets had 3 of the 4 hits by the leadoff guy, meaning no consecutive hits to produce any runs. Pretty boring ball, except for the drinking Mets faithful trying to start rallies and us watching the home plate umpire fighting exhaustion?/heat stroke?/?/? while being tended to by the Mets trainer between every half inning. Pretty uneventful game.
Back across the plank, I mean pier, to the train station and packing in like sardines again for the short ride back to Manhatten. No dinner in the city, just falling asleep and back on the 70min run to the hotel. Lights out, finally crash, and no sign of activity until just before the 10a closing of the continental breakfast, as Darin and Dad bolted over before it closed. Shannon still asleep 90min later and counting.
We are going to pass at trying to join Troop-church history in Hershey PA, not sure how and how-long it takes to get there anyway. Resting until they join us this evening. Probably going to find a sports bar somewhere to watch the 1:30pEST soccer final match.
Take Care, and again photos to follow when Shannon wakes up.
All photos to follow after Shannon wakes up.
Waiting for the 3a train was a bit rough, but we were in good company of a half-a-dozen other travelers and an overnight-shift DC cop. The train station was real clean, and they kept cleaning it most of the night, but we got a couple of shut-eye moments. We all slept pretty good on the ride to NY and looked forward to breakfast in the city.
We arrived a little after 6am and found breakfast on a corner diner right outside Penn Station, then retrieved our bags from 2 days ago just outside the station. The city was pretty quiet that early on a Sat morning and our 2 block radius excursion for the bags didn't put us into any elbow to elbow situations. It was impressive though to know that the train station building has all the trains switching in and out, plus has the Madsion Square Garden sports facility on a different floor of the building. You really can't tell when you're inside, but the external building oval appearance gives away the purpose of the the upper floor arena functions. It was also pretty impressive to take 20 steps out to the street corner and look south down 33rd to see the Empire State building.
We headed out on NJ transit immediately to find our hotel for the next 3 days over the river in NJ. Turned out to be a 70min train ride due to the milk-run every-township-stop route. We arrived to a thunder storm hitting and wondered if it was going to make it east to the ballpark for another rain-out. After a little trouble with mis-communication with the local taxi service we found our temporary resting place. Darin found a couch and Shannon and Dad hit the pool until our room was ready by 11a. We took a quick snooze, and headed back out at 1p for the excursion to the Mets game, a reverse ride back to Manhatten, then switch to Long Island RailRoad, locally known as LI-double R. We never saw how crowded the subway option was, but this train was packed with Mets fans and we pulled into the stadium station a little before game time. One lady told me the LIRR was a much cleaner option and probably was quicker due to no stops on Manhatten, and just the second stop on Long Island.
Not sure where the original Shea Stadium was in this park but the new Citi Field was a impressive structure. We were also treated to an outside view of the US Tennis center at the same train stop. I imagine it will be real crowded for that tournament in a few weeks.
The steps to the park were across an elevated wood plank walkway over a train yard, over the subway stop, with all sorts of vendors and scalpers. Shannon thought there might have been water underneath someday in the past because it reminded her of a pier. We got a tip to go around the in-going crowds to the back left-field gate to avoid the lines in getting to our 3rd base side seats. Those lines were impressive to me though as the spiraled out from the home plate sign of the field.
We were on the TOP row for seats (I remember booking it that way as we saw very few good seat options so we pushed for the top) which turned out to be great for the needed breeze and an awesome view back onto the city skyline, and would have been a great option if and when the expected showers hit NY. Every one coming up to that row chuckled when they realized where row 17 actually was. We could see everything though and the fans up there had a good sense of humor. They booed a few Atlanta players, some reasons we knew (ex-Yankees and the sort) and some we'll have to investigate later. One of the best lines I heard came from a hidden Yankee fan: "oh come on, all he did was just play for your Varsity team!", referring to the Mets as the JV team in the city. Not too many laughs, but Dad liked it.
The field layout was real funky with the outfield fence meandering in and out to accomodate the seats. That seems to be more common than not in this new stadiums. Call Dad old-school, but a nice arc, 320 down the lines, 375 in the alleys and 400 deadcenter suits me better, oh like Dodger stadium! One of the caverns here was named after the local sporting goods company. Anything for the advertising dollar. The scoreboards and the diamond itself was impressive.
The Mets pitcher dodged all kinds of bullets until 5 consecutive hits in the 5th (for a total of 12 against him). Reminded us of Fridays game where the Giants let their starter get 11 hits and 7 runs off of him before they took him out. What up? Don't these teams have bullpens they trust? And with All-star break coming, they shouldn't be concerned about them getting tired?
Anyway, all 4 runs in the game were scored by the Braves in the 5th, and the Mets had 3 of the 4 hits by the leadoff guy, meaning no consecutive hits to produce any runs. Pretty boring ball, except for the drinking Mets faithful trying to start rallies and us watching the home plate umpire fighting exhaustion?/heat stroke?/?/? while being tended to by the Mets trainer between every half inning. Pretty uneventful game.
Back across the plank, I mean pier, to the train station and packing in like sardines again for the short ride back to Manhatten. No dinner in the city, just falling asleep and back on the 70min run to the hotel. Lights out, finally crash, and no sign of activity until just before the 10a closing of the continental breakfast, as Darin and Dad bolted over before it closed. Shannon still asleep 90min later and counting.
We are going to pass at trying to join Troop-church history in Hershey PA, not sure how and how-long it takes to get there anyway. Resting until they join us this evening. Probably going to find a sports bar somewhere to watch the 1:30pEST soccer final match.
Take Care, and again photos to follow when Shannon wakes up.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Troop-baseball had and is still having a long Friday. We boarded Amtrak in Philly bound for DC at 930a, and pulled in at 11:00a. We grabbed a map and were surprised on what we'd already seen from the trip a few years before, so we picked a couple of sights and started a Trek around town. In searching for an ATM, Dad was nanded a chinese restaurant menu so we set out to find it after buying an all day pass on Metro. It turned out a bit too authentic for the kids but Dad called it a great find. The window picture is the owner making his own noodles, shown step one of four.
That started our loop on the subways hitting the National Aquarium (ok, but still coming along) and we stepped thru the American History museum. Other than the gift shop, we didn't have much time before the game, but we walked thru a newer Star Spangled banner display. Quite moving to Dad. We're not sure, but we believe they were trying to convince us it was the flag Francis Scott Key saw from his ship at the end of the 1812 war and inspired him to write the anthem.
We needed to get back to the train station to pick Shannon's bag up on the way to Nationals stadium. We pulled in 90 minutes before game time so we saw the Giants batting practice and hounding for homeruns. We moved too quick from our vantage point as 3 ball landed exactly where we left. Oh well
The first pictures are from the walk from Metro to the park, a short 1 block walk. The entrance, courtyard and center field restaurants are in the pictures. We were lucky enough to see the rookie phenom from San Diego St. Strasburg pitch against the Giants. His first batter hit a home run, but he dominated after the first ending, lasted a total of 6 and that was the last Giant run of the night. Nationals 8, Giants 1. No hurry this time to leave, we stayed for the 15 min of fireworks after. Although all 3 of us were getting real tired. All the pix have captions on them.
We are waiting back at DC Union train station for our 3a train to NY, setting us up for a stop in the hotel then on to game 4 with Mets at 4pm.
I'm sure we're going to crash hard after that one expecting our train sleep to be rough at best.
Good to be in our Nation's capital and saw a great turnout at the game because the phenom pitched. I hear they draw 1/5 of the fans when he isn't throwing. Talking about earning this contract for a change.
Signing off now to catch a quick wink on the hard train station chairs, and looking forward to an early bedtime tomorrow due to the early Mets game.
Take care all, and blogging with late tomorrow again.
Oh, sorry Dick, the Giants looked feable against all the National pitchers. There were a handful of Giant fans there also though.
Also, some of my pix are blurry but I'm including them anyway. The longer distance the shot, the less I get to use the sport mode in the camera.
That started our loop on the subways hitting the National Aquarium (ok, but still coming along) and we stepped thru the American History museum. Other than the gift shop, we didn't have much time before the game, but we walked thru a newer Star Spangled banner display. Quite moving to Dad. We're not sure, but we believe they were trying to convince us it was the flag Francis Scott Key saw from his ship at the end of the 1812 war and inspired him to write the anthem.
We needed to get back to the train station to pick Shannon's bag up on the way to Nationals stadium. We pulled in 90 minutes before game time so we saw the Giants batting practice and hounding for homeruns. We moved too quick from our vantage point as 3 ball landed exactly where we left. Oh well
The first pictures are from the walk from Metro to the park, a short 1 block walk. The entrance, courtyard and center field restaurants are in the pictures. We were lucky enough to see the rookie phenom from San Diego St. Strasburg pitch against the Giants. His first batter hit a home run, but he dominated after the first ending, lasted a total of 6 and that was the last Giant run of the night. Nationals 8, Giants 1. No hurry this time to leave, we stayed for the 15 min of fireworks after. Although all 3 of us were getting real tired. All the pix have captions on them.
We are waiting back at DC Union train station for our 3a train to NY, setting us up for a stop in the hotel then on to game 4 with Mets at 4pm.
I'm sure we're going to crash hard after that one expecting our train sleep to be rough at best.
Good to be in our Nation's capital and saw a great turnout at the game because the phenom pitched. I hear they draw 1/5 of the fans when he isn't throwing. Talking about earning this contract for a change.
Signing off now to catch a quick wink on the hard train station chairs, and looking forward to an early bedtime tomorrow due to the early Mets game.
Take care all, and blogging with late tomorrow again.
Oh, sorry Dick, the Giants looked feable against all the National pitchers. There were a handful of Giant fans there also though.
Also, some of my pix are blurry but I'm including them anyway. The longer distance the shot, the less I get to use the sport mode in the camera.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day 2 for Troop-Baseball complete. We trudged thru PA, NJ and NY to drop off our bags for recovery on Saturday. We walked the city for only 30 min, and it was hot. Then pulled back to Philly via Amtrak for Phillies/Reds. 45,0o0 fans were there and it went extra innings before the fireworks, but we pulled the California special and left in the bottom of 10th before the game was decided, in favor of picking up a cheesesteak before back the hotel by midnight. Beautiful new park, opened in 2008 and real easy to get to. Sloppy play and about 10 hits between them led to the 3-3 ties into extras. Phillies pulled it out and we hear the roar while boarding the train, again cheesesteak priority. 90% of the fans had their red shirts on. The closer blew the lead in the ninth and Darin started a BOO chant. The patrons from the city of brotherly love followed right along.
Better stop rambling and get to bed for the 9a train to DC. Strassburg is scheduled to start for the Nationals, I think against the Giants, so we are hoping for more records from him.
Having a great time.
Better stop rambling and get to bed for the 9a train to DC. Strassburg is scheduled to start for the Nationals, I think against the Giants, so we are hoping for more records from him.
Having a great time.
Troop-Baseball finally made it to WhiteSox park via the transit system to find the game already starting a 2hr rain delay. We decided to find a couple of dry seats and enjoyed a ballpark hotdog around the pouring rain. We stayed 1/2 hour and made it back to the airport with little time to waste. Of course, the plane was delayed also, putting us into Philly airport at 1:15am EST. On to drop some bags of at Sat's hotel, then back for the Phillies game tonight, and train to DC tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
We made it to the airport ok, good driving Ryan L.
All 6 on the same plane to Ohare, then 3 to WhiteSox park and back to the airport for a 1op flight to Philly for 3days of Phillies, Nationals (Strassburg?), Mets (http://stranskyectrip.blogspot.com). The other 3 lunch in the airport then flight to Rochester for Church excursions. Back together again for a few days in NY and Philly.
All 6 on the same plane to Ohare, then 3 to WhiteSox park and back to the airport for a 1op flight to Philly for 3days of Phillies, Nationals (Strassburg?), Mets (http://stranskyectrip.blogspot.com). The other 3 lunch in the airport then flight to Rochester for Church excursions. Back together again for a few days in NY and Philly.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)