Saturday:
I was grateful to have been woken up early by Mike's adorable niece who was screeching pretty early in the morning (Eve apparently has only one volume, which isn't terribly quiet). So I got up about 630 eastern time to get in a quick shower before we had to leave.
On a side note, with all the humidity that goes on in that climate I never actually felt fresh. It was like the minute I got out of the shower and dried off I was instantly sweating. I wonder it you get used to that over time?
Anyway, the plan was to catch a train to somewhere, get on another train that lead to New York City which is conveniently only about 60-90 mins from the Stamford, the city in Connecticut where we were staying. Mike and I planned to stay the night in the city so we made a quick stop into Braden's work in NYC and dropped off my suit case and headed to yet another train that would lead us to Belmont Park. I can recall maybe (but not for sure) going to maybe 1 horse race in my life, and if that is correct it must have been in Wyoming. That being said, I knew nothing about horse races, nor how to bet on them. So with program in hand, Mike taught me everything he knew about horse races. We bet on almost every race up until the big race, only a dollar or two per race, me always betting on one horse to win and Mike usually going for trifecta. I think my winnings for the day equaled $2.75, and even then I was probably down at least $10. It was a fun experience though, reading about the horses, learning where to look for their placings in previous races and speeds, which jocky would be riding them etc. Mike bet bigger on the big race and ended up winning like $200 or something, so we ended up winning back all of our losses and then some.
Now, there are TONS of people at this race, Mike said even less than usual though because it was rainy and cold. But after the big race most people leave, which means that you have to run your tail off to make it to the train in time to get a seat or even any room on the train back to the city. It was mayhem, but somehow we made it.
At Belmont Park
Braden and Meg
Belmont park, can you see all the standing water on the track, it rained all day!
The gates
I think this was the big race, my camera doesnt take great fast-action shots..
Grand Central Station. I never really realized how big this place is. It is crazy when you are trying to get on a train, you buy your ticket at a kiosk, then you have to find the track it's on (which is confusing when there are a million to chose from! thank goodness Mike and his family knew what they were doing and where they were going because I was lost!)
Saturday night:
After we made it back to NYC we went to Braden's work and picked up my luggage and went to check in to our hotel while Meg and Braden went to find us somewhere to eat and get our name on the list, which we expected to be a long wait. Mike's parents stayed to cash in our winning ticket and caught the next train out of Belmont park and went to back to Braden and Meg's house to pick up Eve and spend more time with her (Eve is their only grandchild and was born after they moved from Utah, so they don't get to see her much).
We planned to stay in Yotel, a new hotel that Mike told me are usually connected to airports because they are very compact rooms that people often use to stay in when they have long layovers or flight cancellations but this one was in Times Square and it was their opening weekend so we got a killer deal.
Yotel!
Here are some pics of the room:
The bed in bed mode
The bed in couch mode
This is a pic taken of the mirror over the bed to show the tv and storage compartments on the wall.
The light even changes to look like this if you wanted dimmer (cooler) lighting
This is the rest of the room, the bathroom. If you want any privacy in this half of the room you get a curtain..
Here is the curtain/bathroom door.
This is the sliding glass door to the toilet and shower.
this is the shower/toilet door open
There was no enclosure to the shower so water inevitably got all over, so after we showered in the morning and water covered the floor, it made it tricky to use the toilet..
The sink and cubbies on the wall for storage.
This is the check-in/check-out area, it was ALOT faster than so many hotels i've been to in the past.
This is the luggage yobot. It stores your luggage for you. Sadly it wasn't in use while we were there. Having it be the opening weekend, they were missing a few things also. There were no hand towels or tissue in the room. The only soap was in a dispenser and seemed like the same soap for hands and body, no shampoo or lotion like you usually get at hotels (I usually bring my own anyway and realize that it does create alot of waste to have samples in the rooms like that but it still seemed odd).
Sunday:
Check out time was ~1030 so we got our butts out of bed, got ready and explored the city.
I was exhausted by this time because we had been walking so much the day before (often times running to get on trains) and still being on Utah time. I didnt think 2 hours would make such a difference but going to bed on Utah time but having to get up on east coast time was starting to wear on me. It was nice this morning though because we really didnt have much we had to do other than catch our show (Avenue Q) which started at 3. So we roamed around the city. Got some brunch and went back to Central Park (future posts will better explain this).
Times Square. Just like I remembered it from when I was younger and also how it is portrayed on tv, crazy busy. There were people everywhere!
There was also a Puerto Rican pride parade happening, which just made things that much more crazy.
Mike got me tickets to a Broadway show, my first ever. Avenue Q was hilarious! A bit crude, but even that more funny because at least half the characters are puppets. It was like Sesame Street for adults. After the show we caught a subway to Grand Central Station, then another train to another station, then finally a train back to Braden and Meg's house. All the different subways and trains are confusing to me. I was so grateful that Mike was leading the way because we would have never made it to the trains we needed to if I was in the lead. We made it back in time to have dinner and hang out with Mike's family for a little bit.
Monday:
Mike let me sleep in, I felt bad because I held up everyone for lunch but they didnt really seem to mind, and it was so nice to catch up on some sleep. We attempted to grab lunch with Braden and Eve (Meg had to work) but with horrible traffic and our fear of not making it to the airport in time to catch our flight (since we were driving to Newark airport instead of taking the train) we had to ditch that idea and just went straight to the airport. Fortunately we made it in time to grab a quick bite to eat before getting to our terminal and getting on our plane home.
It was such a nice little trip. It seemed to go by so fast. It's always good to get to see Braden, Meg and Eve. We see them 1-2 times a year at the most since they moved back east about a year and a half ago. We've only got to see Eve twice which is sad, she doesn't even really know us. I do hope to see them more in the future though. And we are looking forward to their trip our here next month!
1 comment:
No, you don't get used to the humidity. I complain about it at least two times a day, if not more. The other day I was inside my house with the central air blasting and I was still sweating profusely. Not cool.
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