New York City?! *People Notes*

New York City is a 'wicked cool' place to visit (as they say in the northeast), so off we went for a big city adventure, oh yea, and to celebrate our 15th anniversary! Of course, it was an immense help to have Erik & Katy there to act as our tour guides and generally to keep us out of trouble. This worked for the most part, with a few minor exceptions when left to our own devices... especially when it came to subway navigation. We only ended up in Queens once and Harlem once...OK, twice - but miraculously we always found our way back! Finding our hotel was relatively easy, as it was across the street from the Empire State Building!

First, let me just say that the food choices in NY are overwhelming, unlike the culinary wasteland we have here in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Coal fired pizza, 'street meat', Chinatown Chinese, Koreatown Korean, Little Italy Italian, gourmet everything...restaurants dedicated to one specialty i.e., Rice to Riches (nothing but rice pudding!), Empanada Mama (yup, all empanadas) and cupcake stores galore! It was pure heaven. We ate our way from the financial district all the way to the Upper East Side - more than once. Burp. Top honors go to the K&E Steakhouse on 71st Street with their melt-in-your mouth filets followed by Brooklyn Blackout fudge cake...fantastic!


There is simply too much to do in New York - and we did a lot! I cannot possibly begin to tell you all of the ground that we covered, so here are a few of our favorites from this trip:


* Museum of Natural History - incredible exhibits, huge, overwhelming...we could have spent weeks here but had to settle for a few hours of appreciation. Then our brains were full. Paul finally found the elusive moose he had spent the summer searching for in Colorado.

* Central Park - picnics with a few hundred thousand close friends, NFL kickoff concert with Kieth Urban, Duke softball tournament, and K&E frisbee freestyle olympics!

* NY Public Library - this should be one of the seven wonders of the world! My favorite place in all of New York, hands down.

* Brooklyn Bridge - the South Street Seaport on one side, Bodies exhibit (gross), a brisk walk across the bridge, and Grimaldi's Pizza on the other side. How can life get any better?

* Staten Island Ferry - mesmerizing views which encompass the Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn, Ellis Island and the powerful Statue of Liberty. Pictures don't do it justice.

* Hudson Boat Basin & Riverside Park - a uniquely designed area where we spent many hours walking, and walking, and walking... we sure were thirsty when we got to the restaurant!

* Financial District, Wall Street, NY Stock Exchange - who knew that this would become the center for world news for the past couple of weeks?! "We were there!" is what we say everyday when the news begins.

* Washington Square Park & Greenwich Village - or, if you live here, it is just 'the Village'. Very eclectic, cool, unique, trendy...just like us! (stop laughing)

* Chinatown & Little Italy - unique, fun neighborhoods to wander the streets. And eat. And eat some more. Burp. And wander the streets. And eat.

* Times Square & ABC Studios - Good Morning America - this was probably worth dragging my lazy self out of bed before dawn to stand in line to get in the studio audience to watch the early morning news to get a photo op with famous people ...probably.

* World Trade Center / Ground Zero - we visited this exact location three months after 9/11. Although the construction has begun and the area is undergoing development and rebirth, the feelings of sadness, loss and heartache are as strong now as they were 7 years ago.



*Erik's office building!! Somewhere waaaay up there is where he works. We don't know what he does. We don't have a clue. He has patiently explained it to us a dozen different ways...we still don't know what he does. But he met us for lunch several times, introduced us to 'street meat', Bryant Park, Margon (Cuban lunch counter) and Juniors! I think that is his job - finding great places for lunch. And something to do with investors.


Thank you New York!! Happy Trails.