Now that we're back home I'd like to take some time to thank John Tornebene and his family.
We had a rough day prior to meeting up with him. First we got there late - then we had to pay over $40 to park. Once we got on the Staten Island Ferry it started raining a REALLY cold rain. There were supposed to be good opportunities for pictures on the ferry with the city and the statue of liberty in the background, but the ferry was so crowded we couldn't move back far enough to frame a good picture.
By the time we made the round trip on the ferry it was raining pretty good. We were soaked and had to return to the car to change clothes.
We tried to take pictures as best we could in the rain.
We walked to ground zero and it was there we got the call from John that they had arrived and would meet us at the Empire State Building.
Now, before I go further let me explain that John and his family don't come into Manhattan much. His daughter Briana hadn't even ever been to the Empire State Building. But John put his family on a train and made a trek that took no telling how long just to come show us a good time in his town. It's easy to hop in a car and drive a little ways to meet someone but they had to take multiple methods of transportation. I can't tell you how much that means to us.
Meanwhile, we have to make it 4 1/2 miles to meet them. We start walking in the rain. We are looking for a cab as we go. It's rush hour and pouring rain. As we look 2-4 blocks ahead we can see people trying to hail cabs. We approach them, pass them, then look back after we've gone another 2-4 blocks and the same people are still trying to hail cabs. It's crazy. Looks like we will be walking the entire 4 1/2 miles in the rain.
Fayth was a trooper. She hiked up Mount Charleston to the falls here when she was just 4 years old. She was hiking 1 1/2 mile trails on flat when she was 3. So she's no stranger to hiking, but just not in the cold rain and dodging a lot of other pedestrians.
To top it off I was using the GPS on my phone (the same phone we had been taking pictures with all day) and it died completely about 10 blocks before our destination. Shelly's phone provided backup and we had to take these few pics with her phone just prior to it dying also. So we don't have too many pictures to remember the experience with.
On the way I hit my arm on an exposed pipe and was bleeding like a stuck pig.
We arrived cold and soaked. The GPS had brought us to a nice ICE COLD restaurant where John, Kathy and Brianna were waiting. Fayth was having side pains and wasn't too hungry. Shelly was confused as to who John was and thought he was a contractor she met at another roundtable that she didn't care for (putting it mildly) and gave him the cold shoulder for about 20 minutes till she realized she was mistaken. (She's not too good at remembering faces)
Meanwhile the first thing I have to ask for after meeting John is a napkin to continue my incessant bleeding!
Anyway, John was buying dinner and we just got appetizers because we were worn out from the fast walk and still freezing. Thank goodness John brought me a Clean County t-shirt and hat. Fayth changed into the dry t-shirt right away, but spent a lot of time in the bathroom trying to warm up and take care of her side ache. John also gave me some really cool other stuff that I don't know if I'm at liberty to disclose.
After a while John treated us to a trip to the top of the Empire State Building paying for his family and ours. Just as we thought we might be thawing out we reached the top and the wind froze us again.
Strangely the wind stopped after a couple of minutes and the remaining time was absolutely awesome. John was able to point out a lot of famous places and helped us find Times Square. Shelly had always dreamed of being there after seeing all the New Years Eve celebrations. Fayth and Brianna had a great time. One funny thing was we were surrounded with all this beauty but the highlight of Fayth's time there was her amazement at how the wind blew up her shirt and made her look fat! Kids are amused by the funniest things.
Once we got down and were getting ready to leave John surprised us with a pedicab ride to take us directly to Times Square. It was absolutely GREAT! After seeing Times Square it was late and easy to get a cab so we rested our feet and went back to pick up the car.
As a side note there is no car for Manhattan like the CROWN VIC. 90 percent of the cars IN Manhattan are crownvics (cabs). Everyone told me not to drive there. I OWNED it baby! I drove it like a native. I used to live in downtown San Francisco and there are a lot of similarities so it wasn't bad at all. We were able to get out of town quick and be in a nice hotel somewhere in Delaware before it was too late at night.
Thank you John, Kathy and Brianna. You guys took what was turning out to be a rough experience and made it joyful. Thank you very much!!!!!
