It was off to New York City this past weekend to embrace the Big Apple and see the Tigers take on the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.The flight in on Friday morning was pretty sweet with incredible views of Manhattan, the National Tennis Center where the U.S. Open is held, and Shea Stadium, home of the Mets. Doke and I dropped the bags off at the hotel and dug in for some sightseeing. Jim had a later flight and was meeting up with us later. Little did we know he would have a bad Northwest experience but you’ll have to ask him about that yourself.
We couldn’t ask for a better location for the hotel; right at the foot of Central Park. The first jaunt was to the park and The Dakota where John Lennon lived and had his unfortunate final day. The Strawberry Field section of the park had an “imagine” symbol in the sidewalk with many Lennon tributes surrounding it. From there we walked a bit further north within the park and got some visuals of the lawn sleepers. There sure were quite a few of those unfortunate folks. I hope I never become a lawn sleeper. The park itself was beautiful. Many large trees, huge chiseled rocks, and well maintained lawns throughout. We made it up to the American Museum of Natural History just outside the park and took in some dinosaur viewing and a pretty cool “Cosmic Collision” movie at the planetarium. We hoofed it back into the park after that for our first $6 beer. That was pretty much the going rate for beer in the city. What can you do? Enjoy every sip! We managed to get a little turned around in the park (I forgot my compass) but found our way after seeing the boat pond twice. My bad. I had to chuckle throughout the trip because everything we were seeing had some form of Seinfeld reference it seemed. Everything from Rusty the handsome cab horse to Famous Original Ray’s Pizza to the Rickshaws (pedaled, not human driven) to Papaya King hot dogs. After working up a thirst there, we ventured over to Kennedy’s Bar for a couple more soda pops.It was time to finally check into our room. If you are looking for a spacious room, the Hudson Hotel is not for you, however, the place had kind of a “euro” feel to it. Not that I’ve ever been to Europe but the place was definitely artsy (and well decorated throughout). We didn’t come to New York to watch television so the place did the trick.
Jim called and advised he was still in Detroit so Doke and I got our second wind and tackled the Times Square area down Broadway. We walked by the David Letterman/Ed Sullivan Theater but unfortunately they don’t tape on Friday’s. All I can say about Times Square is damn those are some large advertisements. It is quite a scene but not if you are a timid walker. People are everywhere! In addition, we came upon all of the Broadway theaters. It seems like nobody can write anything new these days; it’s all movies made into plays. There is a play made from Legally Blonde and another from Young Frankenstein. The theaters were definitely not in short supply. We had some good grub at the Playwright Tavern and after about two or three bars after that, finally found a place (ESPN Zone) that had the Tigers/Yankees game on the television. Jim got in late on Friday so we would meet up with him on Saturday morning.
The subway was our mission on Saturday for the trip to Yankee Stadium. I studied my subway map pretty intensely and was ready to tackle this mass transit system. There was a station right near our hotel that had a train heading to Yankee Stadium so we were in luck. We had to hoof Jim down a few stairs but it wasn’t too bad. Overall, the trip was pretty efficient. We got to the stadium stop in less than thirty minutes but now we had to find our way out of the maze. The elevator never seemed to get us to street level but we eventually made our way. Jim spotted Todd Jones right at the corner and I gave him a “good luck Jonesy.” He nodded and was on his way. He was our only celebrity sighting for the weekend. After grabbing a bite to eat, we made it around the park and took in a few visuals of the outside, including a pretty cool mural of some Yankee greats. 
With my Mark Fidrych jersey on, the older New York fans came up and asked about “The Bird” and his legacy. You can’t hate “The Bird.” We got into the stadium and took in the entire aura of the place. We had hoped to make it into Monument Park in left field but got turned around one too many times and didn’t have a chance. If you ever thought Tiger Stadium had small concourses, you haven’t seen anything like the ones at Yankee Stadium. It’s not for the claustrophobic. The seats weren’t too bad but we were under an overhang so high fly balls were out of sight. The Tigers unfortunately lost but boy did Cameron Maybin launch one off of Roger Clemens. I must say when they played Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” when Mariano Rivera came into pitch; I had goosebumps on my arm. It’s like they choreographed his entrance. It had an intimidating factor about it and was awesome. Whomever plays the music at Yankee Stadium does a great job. The place was rocking. They must have to have good music because the PA announcer puts you to sleep. Slowwwwww (long pause) talkerrrrrrrr. Aft
er the game we had a cocktail while waiting for the mob of people that were moving to the subway. It surprisingly wasn’t too bad getting back on the train and we were headed back to home base to ready ourselves for the evening.
We had a great meal at Virgil’s BBQ that evening which was not too far from Jim’s hotel on 51st Street. The meal surprisingly didn’t slow us down as large portions sometimes do. Before we knew it, it was past 2:30 am and it was time to call it a day. They are correct in this city does not sleep. Greg crashed at Jim’s hotel (extra bed in his) and I walked home admiring the street ladies who were soliciting anybody and everybody. I passed.
With my Mark Fidrych jersey on, the older New York fans came up and asked about “The Bird” and his legacy. You can’t hate “The Bird.” We got into the stadium and took in the entire aura of the place. We had hoped to make it into Monument Park in left field but got turned around one too many times and didn’t have a chance. If you ever thought Tiger Stadium had small concourses, you haven’t seen anything like the ones at Yankee Stadium. It’s not for the claustrophobic. The seats weren’t too bad but we were under an overhang so high fly balls were out of sight. The Tigers unfortunately lost but boy did Cameron Maybin launch one off of Roger Clemens. I must say when they played Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” when Mariano Rivera came into pitch; I had goosebumps on my arm. It’s like they choreographed his entrance. It had an intimidating factor about it and was awesome. Whomever plays the music at Yankee Stadium does a great job. The place was rocking. They must have to have good music because the PA announcer puts you to sleep. Slowwwwww (long pause) talkerrrrrrrr. Aft
er the game we had a cocktail while waiting for the mob of people that were moving to the subway. It surprisingly wasn’t too bad getting back on the train and we were headed back to home base to ready ourselves for the evening.We had a great meal at Virgil’s BBQ that evening which was not too far from Jim’s hotel on 51st Street. The meal surprisingly didn’t slow us down as large portions sometimes do. Before we knew it, it was past 2:30 am and it was time to call it a day. They are correct in this city does not sleep. Greg crashed at Jim’s hotel (extra bed in his) and I walked home admiring the street ladies who were soliciting anybody and everybody. I passed.
With limited sleep, we slowly got the motors moving on Sunday morning. Our mission was to hit the sights near the south portion of town. Again, we tackled the subway. The train was pretty packed and the poor girl who was standing near me on the train got a solid whack of my elbow right on the top of her forehead. She was close to bawling right then and there. Sorry! We made it down near Greenwich Village and took in some sights at Washington Square. More lawn sleepers were in attendance in addition to some crack dealers soliciting anybody and everybody. It was a wild scene there. We hitched a cab to ground zero. The area is pretty closed off but you could get a sense of how huge the area was that came down. We took off on foot to Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Battery Park for a view of the Statue of Liberty. 
It started to drizzle a bit so we took a cab up to Madison Square Garden. I thought I was going to hurl in the cab because I was in the front seat and our driver was on a mission and usually didn’t use his brakes until the last second. We took off on foot back towards my hotel with stops every ten blocks or so for a cold one. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got back to the hotel and the rain was picking up a bit. Rather than head out again, we ordered a pizza from Original Famous Ray’s and took it back to the room. Good pie.
All in all, it was a fun trip. While I'm not sure they were all from New York City and maybe it's the numbers that do it; but darn there are some beautiful women there.
It started to drizzle a bit so we took a cab up to Madison Square Garden. I thought I was going to hurl in the cab because I was in the front seat and our driver was on a mission and usually didn’t use his brakes until the last second. We took off on foot back towards my hotel with stops every ten blocks or so for a cold one. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got back to the hotel and the rain was picking up a bit. Rather than head out again, we ordered a pizza from Original Famous Ray’s and took it back to the room. Good pie.All in all, it was a fun trip. While I'm not sure they were all from New York City and maybe it's the numbers that do it; but darn there are some beautiful women there.
That is all my friends.
Trail Head
