Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York City

Getting to a baseball game while in New York City was definitely on our list of "must dos", with two options to choose from, The Mets or The Yankees. This time around we chose the Yankees (we'll catch the Mets next time around!) because it fit into our schedule, and because the friends we were touring with happen to be huge Yankees fans. Visiting Yankee Stadium marked our 19th baseball park, but this time was just a little bit special. We happened to attend this game on the 13th anniversary of 9-11, making any event in New York City just a little more significant. Normally we remain somewhat neutral when attending ballgames that don't involve the San Francisco Giants, but on this night one couldn't help but root for home team. Initially it didn't look like the Yankees were going to pull this one off. At the top of the 8th inning the score was 4 - 2, with Tampa Bay Rays poised for the win. But Chris Young launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th that rallied the Yankees to a 5-4 victory. The crowd was elated and everyone left happy, listening to the strains of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", traditionally played after home game victories. This was an especially thrilling game for our friends, but we also couldn't help but caught up in the excitement. Everyone was a Yankee fan that night!

 

New York City

This year we finally got to visit New York City, a destination high on our list of must-see places in this country. The logistics were always a bit puzzling to us, though. It's not like we could drag our 5th wheel into the city, so what to do? Take a flight in from somewhere else? Park our rig nearby and travel back and forth by train each day? Find a hotel and stay a while? Since we were already in New York to visit the State Capitol in Albany, we opted for finding an RV Park close to an MTA station, packing our bags, and training in on the Hudson River Line to Grand Central Station. We stayed in a hotel in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, just a block up from Central Park West, and next door to The Dakota, former home of John Lennon. As luck would have it, friends from California were also visiting New York City during this same time, also their first visit, and the four of us had so much fun! We had good weather the entire week, making it easy to utilize both the subway system and walking - lots of walking! According to my pedometer, we averaged between 8-9 miles on foot each day. There is so much to see! Of course five days isn't nearly enough, but we managed to squeeze in a walking tour of Central Park, a Broadway play (Jersey Boys), a Yankees Baseball Game at Yankee Stadium, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, a visit to the 911 Memorial and Museum, a ferry ride out to Ellis and Liberty Islands for a tour of the Statue of Liberty, a perusal of Times Square, a walk around the Wall Street area, eating from an authentic New York Deli (Zabar's), and visiting The Museum of Natural History. Here is a montage of some of the more memorable pictures from our trip. 

Albany, New York Walking Tour

While we were in Albany, New York, we stopped at the Visitors Center and picked up a brochure for a walking tour of the city. The brochure highlights 22 significant locations within the city's historic downtown district, with an explanation for each stop along the way. Included are historic churches, a splendid Town Hall building, the magnificent State University of New York building (which was once the administrative offices of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad), the State Capitol (which I blogged below), parks, and various municipal buildings and plazas. Walking tours are a fun way to discover a city, you see so much more than you do from a bus, and you can take as long as you want, lingering at the places you find most appealing. With the looming, ornate, and dark architecture found throughout the city, Albany had a very Gothic feel to me, which might explain the annual Zombie Walk held in the city in October. The official name for someone from Albany is an Albanian, but not to be confused with a citizen of Albania! The unofficial nickname is Smallbany, meant as an insult by some, but Albanians embrace their small town culture. Since Albany was settled as a Dutch trading post in the 17th century, there are still many descendents with Dutch roots. The tulip is the city's official flower, celebrated in Washington Park each Mother's Day weekend. Here are some pictures from our small peek into Albany.