Friday, March 20, 2009

Yesterday's Activities, a Day Late and Many Dollars Short, and Today

First today.
We woke up to SNOW. I thought Heidi would be bugged, because she's been complaining about the cold, but she was pretty stoked. I forget she's an AZ kid sometimes. So she got all dolled up to go to the temple. Love the ensemble?
She ended up changing out of her marshmallow coat, and she felt a little better. The temple was fantastic. It was beautiful inside, and it was a pleasant change of pace.
All week she's been wondering what it was like to get a hot dog off a cart, like Sandra Bullock in "While You Were Sleeping." Today, she found out. Not so great.


We went to the Museum of Modern Art today, just for me. She didn't love it, and since it's her trip, we only stayed a few hours. Saw some amazing works of art. Every time I go to a museum like that, I marvel that I'm seeing those paintings in original!
Then we decided to go people watching at Grand Central Station. This electric violinist, Michael Schulman, was in the station on two different days. He was a marvelous musician, but he was hilarious to watch. I'm going to try finding him on youtube, because you really had to see it to believe it.


The best food we had all week was in Grand Central--true paninis and baked ziti. So delish, and cake to boot!
Here is the last heel click of the trip, in the station!
These posts are a little backwards, but I have a hard enough time getting on the internet, let alone manipulating stuff once I'm here. Yesterday was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We were in line for the Statue of Liberty with the funniest guy. The rest of my life I will imagine Lady Liberty with hairy armpits and Air Jordan sneakers!
A few secrets about the Statue cruise. We both wore hats that day, just because we'd be on the boat and it was raining. At every security checkpoint they made us remove our hats. Slightly ugly. And they will not allow you to take any food or liquid inside the Statue. We watched an old Chinese lady have her purse emptied. And what they took out of there was either ancient Chinese herbs, or something that looked sneakily illegal!

We climbed the 156 stairs up to the observation tower, and were secretly glad when we were unable to climb all the way up.
The original torch was removed in a restoration, so you can take pics in front of it.

Can you believe the size of her face? This is a cast from the same restoration. Her nose is 4 feet long!
And Heidi's size 6 shoe next to her big toe. I'd never really thought about how much work it was to construct the statue. Wow.

It was almost like New York disappeared out on the island. Everyone was so polite, unhurried, uncrowded, and helpful. Others offering to take pictures, getting out of your way, saying, "Excuse me."
The ferry then took us to Ellis Island. It was crowded, but not too bad. We ate lunch at THE most expensive place all week ($38.01), and the food wasn't even that great. Except for the fries!
These two pictures are of the same exhibit from different angles. I liked the message. We all make up America.
I'm saving the political post for the airport in the morning if I can get internet, since we have to leave our hotel at 4 am.
This trip was truly exhausting. So exhausting, that when we went into the theater to watch a presentation about immigration, BOTH of us fell asleep. Ok. I was only asleep for a few minutes. But I don't think she remembers 2 minutes of the movie!
When we got back to Battery Park, I really had to convince Heidi to go to Trinity Church and Ground Zero. On the way there, we crossed Wall Street. Didn't know that there still was a bull at the market. Thought he'd taken a flight to Canada when Obama was elected.
I tried to get Heidi to do her heel click for the day in front of the bull, but after 3 attempts she was too embarrassed and too many people were waiting.
So we settled for the Toro symbol instead.
This has been an amazing trip. What memories. What a great daughter I have. And what a great husband to stay home while we have all the fun.
Back to AZ heat and the Easter Pageant.
Until tomorrow!






5 comments:

  1. Wow! Sounds like a whirlwind adventure!! Thanks for sharing your pictures and good times with the rest of us.
    :)

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  2. Looks so fun! What great memories you two have created!

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  3. I really envy your getting a chance to take a trip like that with your daughter. It was fun to "travel" with you.

    =)

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  4. Did I ever tell you I went to the Satue o Liberty in 1976 and went to the top. Stood in the torch and walked up all those darn steps. It was so fun.

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