We’ve now been in New York City for over a week, and we’ve been moving at the pace of New Yorkers. Our New York Pass has really come in handy. For ten days we have access to over 80 attractions and, of course, we’re maximizing this thing. We began the week with two days on the Big Bus, which took us on a loop of Uptown, Downtown, and Brooklyn, as well as a night tour of the city. While we enjoyed the views, we decided that we would avoid cars and buses (and thus, New York City traffic) from now on and stick to the subway and our feet as our transportation of choice.

The Big Bus dropped us off near the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, as well as the 9/11 Tribute Center.

Both sites presented the story of this tragic day, and we took it all in. At the Tribute Center, founded by the September 11th Families Association, we heard a live, first hand account of the day from a survivor. There’s really nothing more impactful than hearing the stories of those who were present that horrific day. We were certainly moved.

Our second day on the pass we explored the history of the city at the Museum of the City of New York and then took in all that is Rockefeller Center. Our backstage, all access tour of Radio City Music Hall introduced us to the famed theater and a cute blonde Rockette named Erin. We hope to be able to pick her out of the line when we see the Christmas Spectacular in late November. We also got a great tour of Rockefeller Center itself, learning about the history of the complex and its incredible, and sometimes controversial, artwork.

In the following days we used our pass to ride bikes in Central Park, attend a gospel service in Harlem, and take walking tours of Chelsea, the HighLine, the Meatpacking District, and Greenwich Village.

We also went on a cool architecture tour of midtown that helped us understand the details of this area’s historic buildings including the Daily News (where Superman worked), the Chrysler Building, and Grand Central Terminal. We also did a harbor cruise.

We finished the first half of our pass with a tour of Madison Square Garden, the Museum of Sex, and a nighttime visit to the Top of the Rock, the viewing deck at the top of Rockefeller Center. And we still have four more days of our pass to go!

Last night as we were atop Rockefeller Center we could see a mass of emergency vehicles just a few blocks to the south. As we learned just a few hours later when we turned on the news, there was an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood, which we had toured just a day before. We’ve heard there were no fatalities but 29 people were injured. Another explosive device was found just few blocks away. We are now intimately aware of the risks of living in a large city like New York. We promise to be careful.

In the next week we have tours scheduled for SoHo, Chinatown, and Little Italy, as well as Wall Street. We’ll take in Little Italy’s San Gennaro Festival, do a Fashion Windows walking tour, and a New York City food tour. On Thursday, September 22 we have priority tickets to be in the studio audience of Good Morning America. We are scheduled to be part of the 8:00 a.m. hour, so please watch our national television debut!!

As always, thanks for reading!

 

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Welcome to New York! (Cue Taylor Swift’s catchy tune)

We made our way from Prescott to the Phoenix airport courtesy of Steve’s generous parents Judy and Larry. After a fun evening at Tempe’s Culinary Dropout with wonderful friends including Bill and Sally McMullen, Joe Martinez, Nancy Van Pelt, Russ and Shelley Heath, and Skip and Nancy Roberts, we settled into an airport hotel to await our departure. After a fitful night and uneventful flight, we arrived in the Big Apple. Well, really we landed in New Jersey, but close enough…

We are now settled into our 500 square foot apartment at 90th and Central Park West. The apartment is small but functional. We have a small kitchen with a stove, microwave, dishwasher, and refrigerator.

The bath has a tub, so that’s saying something. The rest of the apartment is one room with a bed, a table, and a chair. We have a TV, a decorative fireplace, and two windows that look out on our quiet street. We are on the first floor, so we can watch the neighbors as they pass by, many walking dogs.

The best part of the apartment is its proximity to Central Park. We are about a 1/2 block from the park and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir which has a running track around its edge. Steve is enjoying morning runs on the track with beautiful views of the skyline from every direction. I’m struggling with plantar fasciitis which has seemed to get worse in these first few days of endless walking. So, only one of us is currently running…at least it’s the one who’s signed up to run the NY Marathon!

Our first weekend in the City has been about getting oriented. We’ve found the closest Trader Joe’s and stocked our little refrigerator with healthy food. Subway passes in hand, we’ve ridden the trains to Lower Manhattan and back. We even navigated some closed lines which meant we had to change trains, ride north to go south, and tolerate jam-packed cars like sardines. It hasn’t taken us long to feel like New Yorkers.

As expected we’ve also walked and walked and walked. Our wandering has taken us through Columbus Circle, Times Square, Penn Station, Chelsea, half of Central Park, and into Lower Manhattan. We explored Trinity Church and made a quick visit to the 9/11 memorial. Our 10-day New York Pass begins tomorrow, so we’ll re-visit many of these sites over the next days with more attention to detail.

Saturday we began a weekly tradition: watching Husker football with the NYC Huskers at Hudson Station. This Hell’s Kitchen bar hosts the Husker faithful each Saturday in the fall and 100s show up to cheer on the team.

They have a special menu that includes Nebraska favorites including runzas, fried cheese balls, and a strong drink called Elk Creek. Yesterday the Cornhuskers beat Wyoming 52-17, so it was a good day!

Today is the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the city is in remembrance. As we watch the televised ceremonies taking place several miles south, we can feel the sorrow throughout the city. Church bells will ring later today throughout the city to remind the millions of citizens and visitors of the enormous loss the city experienced on that day. Tonight the Tribute in Light will shine once again and we hope to catch a glimpse.

We’ve only just begun this amazing experience. Thanks for reading!

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In less than one week we’ll begin our first big retirement adventure and we’re glad you’ll be following along.

We’ve rented a 500 square foot, ground floor apartment at 90th and Central Park West in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. We found our accommodations on Homeaway.com Click on the link and you’ll be able to see our palatial digs. We’ve been told it has a closet, which is a big coup for New York City.

When we get to New York we’ll use a 10-day New York Pass to get oriented to the city and we’ll be posting updates about the many tours and attractions we hope to jam into our first 10 days. After that we hope to have a good lay of the land and spend the remaining 10 weeks enjoying the city life.

We’ve had a fabulous summer in our new home in Prescott. We enjoyed great hikes, cool summer rains, and lots of wildlife. Highlights included quick trips to the Oregon wine country, a weekend in San Francisco, the annual 4th of July festivities in Prescott, and lots of family time.

The many visitors who joined us were the best part of it all. Some of our favorite pics and people are below.

On Wednesday we’re heading to Phoenix to spend the night in a hotel near the airport and then catch an early flight on Thursday. Just for fun we’re organizing a Bon Voyage Happy Hour and we’d love to have you join us if you are in the Phoenix area. We’ll be meeting at Culinary Dropout in Tempe at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 7. If you can make it, please RSVP to us via email or in reply to this post. You can bet we’ll do a post to chronicle the party!

Now we turn our attention to packing and preparing for our temporary move to NYC. Stay tuned as the urban adventure begins!

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