...an American tragedy remembered

Our last two days in New York were spent sightseeing.  Donna took me to Central Park, where we strolled around for nearly an hour.  I had never been to the park before, and I was amazed at just how big it is...and beautiful too.  As we walked along 59th Street, which borders the southern edge of the park, we admired the beautiful apartment buildings that overlooked the lush greenery of the park, and wondered just how much those places must cost...a fortune I bet!

Apartments along 59th Street, overlooking Central Park

As we exited the park, we walked east towards Columbus Square, and found an interesting art exhibit, aptly named "Faces of Ground Zero - 10 Years Later".  This amazing exhibit, by photographer Joe McNally, displays over fifty life-sized photographs of some of the surviving heroes of 9-11...many of them firefighters.  Next to each photograph is a description of each individual, as well as an excerpt from an interview with each subject.  It was heart wrenching to read the stories of each of these heroes...some of whom (firefighters) told of losing their family members, who were also firefighters.  To say the least, it was a very sobering exhibit.

Donna next to the fountains at Columbus Square

Amazing life-sized hi-def photography

Later that day, we made our way towards Ground-Zero to see the progress of the memorial, as well as the new One-World Trade Center tower.  I had not been to this area since me original visit, and I was really looking forward to getting a glimpse of the memorial.  The site was not slated to open to the public until September 12th however, and the view of the area was obstructed by a tall fence, making it impossible to see the memorial.  The tower however, was quite visible...and extremely impressive.  

A look inside the exhibit

The building was originally dubbed as the ‘Freedom Tower’ however, it is now officially known as One World Trade Center, or 1 WTC.  Construction began on the building on April 27, 2006 and is scheduled to be completed in 2013.  The tower is being constructed on the same site as the original 6 World Trade Center, an 8-story building that was demolished during the events of 9-11.  Upon completion, 1 WTC will be 105-stories tall, making it the tallest building in the U.S. and one of the tallest in the world...1,776 feet.  The height is fitting to say the least, as it represents the year of our country’s independence.  

This is what 1-WTC looks like currently...

...and this is what it will look like in 2013

We happened upon FDNY Firehouse 10, or 10-House as it is referred to, which is located right on the corner of Liberty Street, across from the WTC. This fire station is possibly the most photographed station in the world, as it sits just a few yards from Ground Zero...in fact, it is technically within Ground Zero!  10-House lost six brother  firefighters on 9-11, as well as their house.  This fire station was rebuilt after sustaining significant damage as a result of the collapse of the twin towers.  

Ladder 10

Memorializing fallen brothers

When we walked by the fire station, I was amazed by just how many people were congregating just outside the apparatus bay doors.  As I made my way through the mass of people, poking my head inside to the see the trucks, I noticed a beautiful memorial to the six lost brothers, located inside the bays.  Many of the on-duty firefighters were outside, taking pictures with the visitors...it was great to see them interacting with the public in that way...saying thank you for their support over the years, especially since that fateful day that took the lives of 343 members of their family.

9-11 Memorial outside of FDNY 10-House

This gives you a better perspective of the size...this is just half!

We decided to grab a little lunch, so we headed south towards Battery Park, where we found a restaurant right on the waterfront.  After a nice lunch, we walked back toward the financial center, along the Hudson River.  As we walked, I looked across the river at New Jersey, and imagined what it would have been like to witness Chelsey Sullenberger, the Captain of US Airways Flight 1549, safely ditch his A320 Passenger Jet into that river, saving the lives of all 154 people on board...amazing!

10-House's station patch

As we made our way back uptown, Donna walked me through 3-World Financial Center, where the American Express Corporate offices are located.  The entrance to the AMEX offices is on the second floor, and as we walked by I stopped to take a picture of the American Express sign above the entry point.  As soon as I lifted my phone to snap a picture, a security guard...all right, yes...a rent-a-cop, shouted at me, and lifted a finger; shaking it side to side as if he was my mother telling me not to do something.  Really?  Did he think I was going to obtain someone confidential information, such as someones credit card number, through the cheesy lens of my iPhone camera?  I mean, come on!  The only thing visible from the outside is the very sterile looking reception desk...nothing else is visible!  If I remember right, I performed a very adult-like roll of my eyes, and tried my best to snap a picture as I walked away...as if to say "whatever!"  I know, I know...not very nice, but like I said in my last post..."when in Rome"...after all, it was New York! :)

My attempt to get a shot of the AMEX...on the run!

That night we had a nice dinner at a wine bar by the name of Ayza, which is a really cool little place located on west 31st Street in Manhattan.  We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the nice cool evening...something we hadn’t experienced in Phoenix for a few months...it was very relaxing, and a great way to spend our last night in the city.  We called it an early night as we had to get back to the hotel to pack for our early morning return flight to Phoenix...where we would unpack, and repack for our next trip...which by the way, was the very next day!

I highly recommend it...11 West 31st Street.

 

Before we left however, I was determined to don my racing gear, and get a shot of me riding my bike in New York.  After nearly three whole seconds of thought...I decided not to unpack my bike.  Here's how it went down instead...

That's my bike case I'm riding...better than nothing!

That’s right!  We were leaving the next day for our long awaited summer vacation...St. Maarten!

...and the hits just keep on coming!

As Tom Cruise so eloquently stated in the movie A Few Good Men...

 

As I shared yesterday, we arrived in New York safe and sound, excited to about the race.  Everything was going smoothly...right up to the point when I found out the race had been cancelled.  Thinking that maybe, just maybe the race would simply be postponed, or moved to another venue, we set out towards our hotel.  Donna and I arrived in Vernon, New Jersey around 5pm only to find that our hotel had been evacuated due to a lack of water!  Wow!  Could things get any worse?  First the race, now this.  When we had spoken to the hotel staff, prior to leaving Phoenix, we were informed that the broken water main had been repaired, and that they had not lost power.  Today however, we were informed that the water main had never been repaired, and that the power had only recently been restored...huh?

Fortunately however, they had transferred all reservations to a nearby hotel...but it was not as nice as the one we had reserved...oh yeah, and they wanted to charge us more!  Well, after a little attitude was thrown around (on my part) they decided to offer us the same rate.  Shouldn't that have been done automatically?  Oh well, at least we had a room to stay in...but not for long.

The view outside our room in Vernon, NJ

We were originally scheduled to be there for the duration of our trip, but due to the cancelled race there was really no reason for us to stay in Vernon...besides, it was in the sticks...beautiful, but the sticks nonetheless. After a short amount of time on the Internet (thank God that was available) Donna found us a great little place to stay in Manhattan...The Stay Hotel.  Amazingly, the price was not much more than we were paying for the room in New Jersey!  My wife is awesome!

Oh by the way, the room number was 911...how fitting!

As it should be!

This room was nice...small, but nice!

So....first thing in the morning, we packed up and headed for the city, bound to turn disappointment into pleasure, and start our vacation a few days early. 

As we were driving from New Jersey to the Big Apple, I realized that I was actually going to have to drive in the city...New York City!  When I had visited once before, I thought "man, I hope I never have to drive here!". You know me though...I am up for most any challenge, and that is exactly how I embraced this little task...as a challenge and an adventure.  As with many things in life that tend to scare us...often those that we have never experienced...I took to this like a fish to water!  I just kept saying to myself "when in Rome..." 

Driving into Manhattan...what a blast!

Driving in the city was a blast! It was like a race...only slower.  It required a 'spidey-sense' of sorts.  You know, that sense that Spiderman had, where he could feel what was about to happen before it happened.  My spidey-senses were on full alert as I anticipated who would jump out in front of me, or who would quickly merge into my lane.  Well, that last statement is really only partially correct, as I am convinced that there are no lanes on the streets in the city...the lines are merely suggestions!  

This guy was taking the whole 'Spidey Sense' thing a bit too far!

After a great race...I mean drive...we had reached our hotel...and what a nice hotel it was!  Like anything, in the city, it was small...but it was actually very nice.  We unloaded our stuff and grabbed a taxi...bound for the Althletes' Village at the Jacob Javits Center.  Once we arrived, I checked in and received our credentials...even though the race had been cancelled.  We then met up with Paul (my mountain bike team mate) and his wife Michelle, who wanted to take us to a hole-in-the-wall, family style restaurant in Little Italy, where she has been going since she was 16 years old.  She grew up in Brooklyn, and promised us that this place was amazing.  Once we were finished touring the Athletes' Village we jumped on the train and headed to Little Italy. 

The Athletes' Village at the Jacob Javits Center

Paul and I with the infamous Cancellation Notice

I won't bore you with the details, the food was awesome!  No menus...They just start bringing you food...and you devour it...along with a few bottles of wine!  Oh, by the way, they don't bring out the normal sized bottles of wine...nope, they bring out the magnums!  I'm not saying I got drunk (because I didn't) but I am glad I didn't have to drive home!

The next day we got up late...imagine that!  We took the train up to Central Park and walked around for a while, grabbed some lunch, and then hoofed it home to get ready for dinner at Del Frisco's...mmm good!  After dinner we walked across the street to the Radio City Music Hall where Donna had reserved tickets for the Cirque De Soleil show, Zarkana...what an amazing show!  

Dinner at Del Frisco's

Cirque De Soleil...Zarkana!

Tune in tomorrow...if you are interested...to read about our last day in New York.

...and you thought it was over!

Hello my faithful followers!  It has been quite a while since my last post, and I am sure you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats, awaiting the next installment...well, here it is!

This post was written while on our trip...some while still in New Jersey; some in our hotel in Manhattan; and some on the plane, while returning to Phoenix.  I had intended to post this much earlier, but I had no way of uploading photos from my iPhone to my iPad...check that...Donna's iPad!

So here it is...

Those of you who have read my most recent Facebook post are already aware of my circumstances.  Donna and I arrived in New Jersey, safe and sound...even a little ahead of schedule!  However, there is bad news too...

Those of you who travel know that getting your baggage can sometimes prove to be problematic. How often have you arrived at your assigned carousel, waited for your luggage, only to find that it had come out on another carousel?  Well, I am happy to say that was not the case for us!

Our Welcome at the Newark Airport

Not only did our luggage come out where it was supposed to, it came out pretty quickly...even my bike case came through the "bulky luggage" area just fine...and it was located right next to our baggage carousel! 

Things were going nice and smooth...possibly too smooth.  Next step...rental car.

Let me start by saying that I have had some real bad experiences with rental car agencies in the past.  I should also tell you that we were requiring a specific type of vehicle due to the volume and size of our luggage.  As many of you well know, reserving a specific vehicle is really a crap-shoot, and almost no agency will 'guarantee' you that they will have it on their lot once you arrive. Donna had made arrangements ahead of time, and was even offered an upgrade at no cost...a way of saying thank you to me for being a firefighter. Thank you Dollar Rental Car! 

When we arrived at the rental car desk...oh wait, I haven't even told you about our experience getting all of our bags onto and off of the shuttle.  So, let's back up a bit and talk about that...

Again, if you have traveled, you have no doubt had to take some sort of a shuttle to get to the rental car area.  Isn't it amazing just how many escalators or elevators are involved in this little journey to get to the shuttle or tram?  It seems to me like every one of these requires an 'up and over' of sorts. Well, let me say that we made it through this little challenge with flying colors!

So, back to the rental car desk...

You would think that if you had talked to the director of operations of Dollar Rental Cars in New Jersey, and had been offered some sort of deal, that it would have been noted on your reservation, right?  I don't know, maybe I simply expect too much. Anyway...of course there was no notation made on our reservation, but my wife (being the great organizer that she is) printed out a copy of the email communique...a smart move!  So just like that we were given the deal that we were offered...again, too smooth.

We ended up with a very nice vehicle that easily accommodated all of our luggage, and didn't smell like cigarettes!  Off we headed for our hotel, The Appalachian Resort in Vernon, New Jersey. 

This is just MY luggage...

It all fits...even Donna's luggage!

Shortly after we began our drive, my team mate Paul (whom we had traveled with to New Jersey) called me with some bad news.  He had checked his email, and found out that all mountain bike Events had been cancelled...shortly after we touched down In Newark.  Apparently, the amount of rain that Irene dropped on the area, had caused significant erosion to the ground that supports the gondola at the Mountain Creek Ski Resort.  What does that have to do with mountain biking you ask?  The Mountain Creek Ski Resort was scheduled to host the mountain bike events for the 2011 World Police and Fire Games.  The gondola is required to get both racers and spectators to their respective locations on the mountain.  So...if the gondola can't be used, the races can't be run...it's just that simple.

So, with no race to win...I mean compete in...we are planning on going to the athletes' village so that we can get the bag of goodies we paid for within our registration fees (which by the way, I am not expecting to get refunded...not without a little 'push and shove' anyway.

So that's the story.  It's not how I had dreamed it would turn out...my dreams involved an all out effort to come from behind, passing the first place rider just prior to the finish line...then hoisting the Gold Medal above my head with tears streaming down my cheeks.  Hey, it's my dream...I'll cry if I want to!

Tune in over the next few days to get a glimpse of how are stay in New York turned out...and to see what a wonderful vacation we had following the race...well, the cancelled race!