Saturday, October 4, 2008

at long last

A few of the pictures from New York--

This is view from the little window in our hotel room and the view through the big window in our room on the 22nd floor of the Marriott East in Manhattan. We got this view for only $499+taxes per night. So glad the company sent me to a conference at this hotel...



This is the view from our window at night--if you looked carefully you could see the Chrysler building--



Yeh, not quite the same as the one I posted here

And, finally, a pretty good photo of Jack and me at the Yankees' game. (I think I figured out the best angle to be photographed from--high above my head--can you see how thin my neck looks? Or maybe it's just that I don't have on my glasses right now...)





Anyway, see that happiness on our faces? I think this was the best vacation we've ever had together.

Jack would probably say that his favorite vacation was the first time we went to a NASCAR race--it was in Phoenix and we got on a 7:00 am flight and drove our rental car to the track as the sun was rising over the mountains of Phoenix. We could hear airplanes flying overhead, and since we couldn't see them, we figured there must be an Air Force base nearby. We walked from the parking lot, entered the gates, and headed up the steps of the grandstands. While Jack is pretty good at containing his excitement, I am not, and I seem to remember skipping and twirling and dancing and squealing and giggling my way up the stairs. As we reached the top of the stairs, I swear I heard the music from Days of Thunder swelling and growing and we looked down at the track with that music and the beautiful sunrise to realize that the sound of jets was really the sound of those 700 hp engines speeding around the track--and they were only going at practice speeds! It was one of those moments that stay with you forever, like when your kids are born. And then another one of those moments occurred when I realized that the black #3 car was right in front of me, in the pits, less than 20 feet away and the guy I had been watching race on tv for almost 20 years was sitting in that car. I still get the chills just remembering it.

Okay, so maybe Jack was right, Phoenix was the best vacation, but we had a pretty good time in New York too.

2 comments:

Johanna said...

I love those moments. I think one of my best vacations was going with each of my kids alone when they turned 16. Clayton and I went to see a San Francisco game. He wanted to eat at Tony Romas and I told him there was little chance of that because we didn't have a car (we walked everywhere or took the bus). The minute we got in the hotel room, he pulled out the yellow pages and found that the only Tony Romas in San Francisco was two blocks from our hotel. As long as I live, I will remember the look on his face as we entered Candlestick Park to see Steve Young play...

Jessie said...

Ok, hang on a second--NASCAR was as great as the days we were born? Seriously? I mean, a good vacation is wonderful, but not life-altering... or at least I wouldn't usually think so...

But that is a really great picture of you two. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time.