What a Wonderful Town

Once again Ben and I booked seats on the oh-so-uncomfortable red-eye to New York, but experience has taught us that the swollen feet, aching backs, and sleep deprivation caused by that flight would easily be worth it because we knew that once we arrived at our destination two of our favorite people, Andrea and Slade, would be there waiting for us. We love and enjoy every minute of our "Slandrea" time, their lifestyle is both energizing and exhausting. As always, this trip was over way too fast but I am truely grateful that they allow us to be part of their world for any amount of time.

Day 1 -

Lunch on the Hudson River...

followed by a little golf practice at Chelsea Piers. I knew it wouldn't be pretty but I took a few swings anyhow.


Next we met up with Andrea and chilled in Union Square where there was some interesting people watching to be done.

Then off to dinner and a show, Fuerzabruta. Andrea described it as Cirque du Soleil meets rave, she wasn't far off.

Day 2 -

We caught a train up to Historic Hudson Valley and got off at a quaint little place called Tarrytown where we enjoyed a delicious greek lunch (thanks Kathrine) and a nice little stroll (thanks again Kathrine, ha ha) into Sleepy Hollow...really. This the actual place Washington Irving wrote about in his classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

While being in Sleepy Hollow was fun the main reason we went up there was to take a tour of one of the Rockefeller estates, Kikuit. Because we had a little time to kill before our tour began we decided to head across the stream to the Corn Festival. Walking on stilts is a talent I'll bet many of you never knew I had, even with an altered center of gravity I was definitely the best at it.


Kykuit.

After we got home we were so hungry so Andrea and Slade took us to a great burger joint in the park, called the Shake Shack. I was so happy to be sitting down (my feet were killing me) and it was a perfect night to sit outside and visit. After dinner we walked acrosss the grass and lounged in front of the huge jumbotron where they were showing the U.S. Open... it would have been way too late for anything like that back home, I love NY!

Day 3 -

Ben and I rode the subway out to the bronx and, where else....? Yankee Stadium!! I need to be clear that Ben is NOT a Yankees fan but he does love baseball and since they are tearing down the stadium it was not considered a betrayal for him to be there, more like a historic event.

Once we got there we immediately understood why they were tearing the place down, I believe Ben's words were, "this place is a hole". But it was a perfect day for a baseball game and Ben was excited to get pictures of two homerun hits with our new camera, the one below is Jason Giambi. By the way, the Yanks lost (go figure).

Golf, baseball, what next? The US Open of course! After the baseball game we met up with Slandrea and headed out to Flushing Meadows in Queens to catch one women's match and one men's match, both played in Aurther Ashe Stadium. A perfect day for baseball led into a perfect night for tennis. On top of the excitement of just being there we were lucky enough see a super intense match between Cilic and Djokovic which went for four sets (almost 5), three of the four sets went to a tie-breaker, and didn't get over until almost 1 A.M. It was a blast!

Novak Djokovic


Day 4 - Labor Day

We were exhausted from the night before, so, thankfully we slept in and then got up and went to brunch in our p.j.'s. After that we rented bicycles and met up with Mary and Parker and then we all rode around Central Park. I love Central Park, it's so beautiful and there is always so much going on. It was a holiday and there were so many peoople there, running, walking, biking, swiming, playing, etc... That's one of my favorite things about Central Park is that even with all the people who come there, there is still plenty of room for everyone,

Later that night we finally made it to the famous Tom's Restaurant for shakes. You know...

Ya, that's the one from Seinfeld. Great shakes, crappy service.

Day 5 -

Finally some time to shop! Lunch with Slade, packing, and then a flight home.

Whew, what a weekend. Andrea and Slade, we love you guys so much!!! Thanks again for another memorable trip.