...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.