we're back

What a nice few days away we've had. Now we are back in the gardens and once again we escaped JFK with only a couple of hours delay. As soon as I heard the deep-voiced man in the cockpit telling us over the annoying loudspeaker that 'we' were having 'computer problems' because the computer had locked out the the last two people who wanted to get on the plane, I knew we would be waiting to get outta there. This wait was not as long as the last time--we were less than two hours late this time, as opposed to the last time we left JFK after sitting in the plane on the tarmac for what I seem to remember was six--or was it eight?--hours because we got out of line and air traffic was backed up because of weather or something. This wait was seriously no big deal. (Okay, except to the dreadlocked kid sitting next to me who missed his connection to Fresno along with all of the people who missed their flights to all destinations in California tonight.)

The most exciting airport moment was while we were going through security at our local airport at the start of our vacation when out of the blue, a security guard yelled out, "FREEZE," or perhaps it was "BREACH"--it was hard to understand, but everybody in the area stopped what they were doing as though we were playing freeze tag or statue tag or something. We didn't figure out what was going on, but at some point after, oh, maybe 30 seconds, we got the "ALL CLEAR" and we all breathed again and continued redressing and repacking. I don't know, there's just something unnerving about being so close to a guy in a uniform who has a gun and lots of adrenalin going and really, what does it take to be one of those guys anyway?

We had planned to go to the Yankee's game, and maybe go see "Wicked" and hit the Museum of Modern Art, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, and finish up with the Statue of Liberty. Yeh, we made the game. And we skipped the rest. I know, you're scratching your head and thinking, "Dude, you were in New York with all of these plans and you didn't do any of that?" And I have to answer and say, "Yeh, we ate some really great food and we slept in really late and it was so just exactly what we both needed and wanted."

We ate in local places the whole time except for the Starbucks for me and the Wendy's lunches for Jack. One night, I had the most tender short ribs with potatoes and veggies while Jack enjoyed a burger; and another night we ate at the Yankees game, and last night, I had lobster and creamed spinach and Jack had sliced carrots and a huge baked potato with the fixins' and the biggest tenderloin steak I've ever seen. I didn't have my glasses on, but when I first saw the server bringing our food I thought he had a big piece of chocolate cake for Jack instead of a steak. Oh, did I mention the chocolate mousse cake?

New York never disappoints. It knows who it is. I relish its sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and the feelings I experience whenever we are there. This might have been our best trip ever.