NY, NY (Part 1 of MANY)

For many and various reasons, this was the best birthday ever. EVER. As I mentioned in my previous post, My Little NY Adventure was absolutely wonderful. It was so much fun to catch up with my sister Alison and Kelly and Ben, see their beautiful home, and be treated to a taste (literally and figuratively) of NY. The only thing that would have made the weekend better was no precipitation on Friday or Saturday, but we made the best of it and had a blast despite dreary skies. We took a post-11:00 PM train home both Friday and Saturday (42 -minute ride on the express.) We packed the days FULL and wore ourselves out. But I didn't want to miss a thing. Let's get going!! I have SOOOOO much to tell you ... !!

I left Rochester Thursday mid-day and landed in Detroit without incident.

Kelly picked me up at the White Plains, NY airport and we picked up Ben at home and made our way to the Oyster House for dinner. (BTW, not that you care ... I brought all grey and black stuff to wear so I could mix and match. I packed very light and wore everything except my black dress pants. Jeans work pretty much everywhere [at least the places in my budget!], even on Broadway.)

We had an 8:45 PM reservation.  (They don't have a liquor license so it's BYO with a small corkage fee.) It was a quaint little establishment in an old railroad car.

I told the staff they were going to be blogged and they were happy to let me take a photo. :-)  We ate well. Ben had crab cakes, Kelly had the harvest salad, as did I (greens, Pink Lady apple, some kind of cheese I don't remember) ...

and Shrimp Mac & Cheese. (They were out of the Lobster Mac & Cheese, which sounded fantastic.) I had salmon with mango salasa which came with wild rice and broccolini. It was very good. I brought half of it home and ate it for breakfast on Saturday. (I didn't want it to go to waste, so it went to my waist instead. :-)

By the time dinner was over, the place was empty, it was late, and I was ready to crash. Kelly is certainly the hostess with the mostest. My room was charming and so very comfortable. She even had a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner out for me.

Kelly thought of every little detail, including a bottle of water on the nightstand, a Milky Way on the bed, magazines for reading, and a medicine cabinet full of everything one might have accidentally forgotten (toothbrush and paste, floss, lotion, shampoo, ... every little thing you might possibly want).

Kelly and Ben have a beautiful home in Croton on Hudson, about 30 miles north of the city. (It's a MN license plate catching the glare.)

It's literally right on the Hudson River. Right out the front door and across the stone path. A stone's throw, even if you can't throw worth a darn. :-)

Friday morning, I was up and ready to run. I got in 10.33 miles. (I knew we'd be doing a lot of eating on this trip and was going to try not to have the exercise/calorie intake balance too out of whack.) K & B live right next door to a beautiful 500 acre park which was perfect for running. It's got a campground and rental cabins.

Ben was at work and Kelly worked from home. After we picked up my sister from the airport, it was of to Sofia pizzaria for some authentic (and delicious) NY style pizza (thin crust and you fold it in half to eat it).

I had brocolli with ricotta (pronounced kind of like rigot) and it was delicious.

Matt our waiter was a lot of fun. I told him he was going to be blogged. :-)

We took the 3:34 PM train ...

(This was the only train we rode that was this empty.)

...passing the Yankee Stadiums (blurry photo, but the only one I have) ...

... into Grand Central Terminal, ...

In one of the hallways there is a whispering chamber. It's constructed of some kind of brick. You and someone else stand in opposite corners, facing the corner, and whisper. The other person can hear you very plainly even though you're whispering and facing away from each. Pretty neat!

Then it was off to Manhattan ...

... for shopping, dinner, and West Side Story on Broadway. And that's where I'll end this post. I didn't exercise today and feel the need for a good night's sleep and a long morning run tomorrow, so ... good night!!