Wednesday 3/19/14

What a great day!  Early Amtrak ride brought us to DC....and a slow, misty light drizzle. Most people would not like it, but we were just about giddy walking around in it.  Temps not too bad... Low  to mid 40's. Our townhouse here is INCREDIBLE. Much better than the one in NYC.  The owners have other properties on the Eastern seaboard. We will stay with them again. They have stocked the frig with bagels, orange juice, milk, cokes, sprites, bread, jellies, cream cheese....there is fresh fruit, frozen pizzas, all toiletries.  It has a washer dryer with detergent. Two bedrooms upstairs with a full bath and lounge area with a fouton that someone could sleep on. Downstairs, another half bath, and two couches in the living area that could be slept on. All kinds if city maps.....definitely the best I have ever stayed in. The townhouse across the street is under contract for $730,000.00.  I could definitely live in this space.   Once we sat here in shock at how nice the space was, we walked down to DuPont Circle and had a late lunch of chili tater tots at a spot called The Front Page. We caught the Metro to the Navy Yard for our reservation at a new hot spot in town...The Arsenal in the Bluejacket Restaurant. It is a warehouse that has been converted to a brewery. The had about 40 or so crafted brews. The cool thing for me was you could buy "tastes" of 2 oz for $2.  The waiter was very knowledgeable and ended up bringing I several 1 oz freebies because they wanted feedback on some of their new brews. They were all good with the exception on 1 that was too sour, like vinegar. We ate dinner there...it was also very good....and caught the Metro home. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice. If so....Arlington Cemetary. 

Tuesday 3/18/14

Thank goodness the weather (temps) improved!  We started off the day at Chelsea Market for breakfast and ended up being in the background of a commercial. Then we caught the train to the Brooklyn Bridge. With the cardio of walking and the sun, it was not bad at all. We walked not quite halfway across (the farther we got out over the water, the cold wind became worse).  We took some great pics and video and caught the train uptown to Central Park. We walked up the east side and to about 79th and then cut across. Coming down the west side, we stopped at Strawberry Fields, walked by the Dakota where Lennon was killed, walked by Tavern (still under renovations) and ate a hotdog at Columbus Circle. We took the train back to the West Village from there. Unfortunately it was just after school was out and there were tons of high school kids and they were actually scary. After cleaning up a bit we had an incredible dinner at Buddakan in the Mestpacking District. Very, very cool. And DELISH. Headed to DC in the morning. 

Monday 3/17/14

St. Patrick's Day...bitter, the heck, cold. Had breakfast in the hood this morning, then hoofed it over to REI. T wanted earmuffs and a jacket. They were sold out of earmuffs. I ended up buying this years version of my NB minimalist tennis shoes. My feet are EXTREMELY grateful tonight. After bringing our packages back to the apartment, we took the subway up to 57th and Lexington. We stopped in the UGG store and them to FAO Schwartz for K to get some things for the boys. We watched a bit of the parade from 57th.  I love those bagpipes. Seeing all of the veterans, current military, NYPD, NYFD marching is very moving.  We then headed back to 9th avenue and had some delicious pizza for lunch. We found a super nice Gastropub to hang out in for a while. There were some idiotic high schoolers that are a part of an Irish gang. They wore green silk jackets with "Shamrock Club" in big letters on the back. They were drunk and obnoxious, messing with everyone around. The leader of the pack was about 5'5" and weighed 105 soaking wet. We were inside watching them and laughing. The cops came and ran them off several times. I wanted to give them some "counseling" but decided against it. LOL it was funny. From there we headed to Blue Smoke/Jazz Standard. We had wonderful Texas style rubbed, smoked beef ribs and I hate cole slaw, but theirs was incredible. Blue Smoke is the BBQ restaurant above Jazz Standard. The Mingus Big Band plays there on Monday nights. They are a Grammy award winning jazz band that plays the music of Charles Mingus, under the management of his widow, Sue. It was very good and I met some guys that gave me some great tips on other venues to try out next time. Tomorrow is our last day. I am praying that it is a little warmer so we can walk out on the Brooklyn Bridge and spend some time at Central Park. It was entirely too cold today to even think about that.

Sunday 3/16/13

End of a great day. Very cold and windy today...but no dirt. My feet are killing me, so I am already in bed (9 pm). T & K went down the block to hang out a little longer.  Kristi and I have been laughing so hard the past 2 hours. Tanner has been saying "Oh, boy.  Here we go". And "welcome to the chuckle hut."   All kidding aside, we started the day at the memorial. I wish the temps had been better. It was brutal cold. The wind was so high that they were not running the north fountain. It was very moving and emotional. After that, I had a melt down because the marathon was finishing downtown and it was super crowded for a Sunday and the streets were blocked off which made navigation difficult. We got pics with The Statue in the back, but trying to cross the bridge would have been brutal. Hopefully, Tuesday. (Snow predicted tomorrow!). We took the train to Little Italy and ate at Da Generrra. Very good...especially the cannoli!  This isy third time there. I keep going back. We walked through Chinatown, down Canal, which Tanner especially loved. We did score a great deal on perfume and cologne. We took the train up to Hell's Kitchen, again. We are so tired, we are just silly. Had a great time, but I am out of gas, so we cabbed it back to the Village. A little parade watching and shopping tomorrow. I need new feet. 

Saturday night 3/15/14

We are exhausted after the end of a very long day. We got to the hotel in Dallas at midnight, then up at 4:45 to catch the early flight. I slept a couple of hours on the plane, which saved me.  Our apartment is in the west village on Hudson and Perry. It is an old building (welcome to nyc) and the bathroom is tiny even for NYC. The rest of the two bedroom apt is good. Weather today was incredible. It has been so cold that everyone was out everywhere enjoying the nice day. We took a cab to Hell's Kitchen to eat at Bourbon Street. Great food. Always one on my favorite spots. From there, we walked through Times Square and took a few touristy pics, walked by Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and went inside St. Patricks Cathedral. It is undergoing a massive renovation, so there was scaffolding everywhere. We saw "A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder". A Texas Tech alum is in it. We had backstage passes to meet the cast, but we were so exhausted that we just walked over to 9th Ave and grabbed a cab home. Tomorrow, we have 10am passes to the 9/11 Memorial. I am sure it will be emotional. We will probably walk around the financial district a bit and the Brooklyn Bridge. Sundays are not quite so crazy here. Good day. Good times. Good friends. 

Saturday afternoon 3/15/14

Heading across toward the Holland Tunnel. Soccer crowds are making traffic nuts. Tanner hired a private driver, Andre, to pick us up on Newark. He is a lovely gentleman of Turkish/Armenian descent. He has been here many years. He and his wife are looking forward to retiring to Ft. Lauderdsle in two months. On 9/11 he owned his own jewelry store on 47th. The aftermath of that day caused him to loose everything. After the first plane hit, they went to the roof and saw the 2nd plane hit.  After that, he opened a Meditterrean Restaurant. When the economy tanked and he lost everything then. Needless to say, he is looking forward to retirement. 

Where's Tanner!!!!

Looks like someone may have missed his flight!!!!