New York City is an amazing city. After a long day of traveling across the country, we got a full night sleep. I love sleeping in, we both do. However, that is one thing I am always glad we refuse to do on vacation. Knowing we really only had one full day in NYC, we had to make this count. Luckily, we had already visited NYC in 2015 so we had good game plan. We felt we needed to sprinkle in some of our favorite things with some new things and that is just what we did.
We began the day with a quick continental breakfast provided by our hotel, the wonderful Comfort Inn and Suites. Now let me preface this day with one piece of advice for those interested in traveling to NY...I think it is best seen on foot. If the mileage is under two miles away, walk to your destination. The subway is great, but you really get the feel of NYC on foot and in each little neighborhood. We began the day walking from our hotel to Central Park, a favorite from our trip two years ago. As we strolled through Central Park, the cool morning breeze whisked through the shady trees. Runners passed...some with good bodies, some with bad. Loungers lounged and bad moms continued to be bad moms.
In the Subway station rocking my Yankees hat, I was approached by a gentleman and his son asking if we were headed to the stadium. We told him we were and our morning filled with conversation about baseball, basketball, high school, and much more. The father and son were from Oklahoma City and were on a road trip checking off many baseball stadiums along the way. The son was a 15 year old incoming high school sophomore who had a great left handed pitcher frame. Alyssa couldn't get over how polite and respectful the son was and really wanted to compliment the dad on raising this boy the right way. We had great conversations and between the Subway and waiting to enter the game, we had spent almost two hours speaking with them.
Walking out of the Subway station, swarms of pinstripes filled the station and the stadium sidewalks. The pet peeve list continues to grow and this one has to do with baseball stadiums. I love giveaway days just as much as the next person but teams need to do a better job at figuring it out. Yankees tickets aren't cheap, they nearly sell out most games (Attendance today was 42,000+), so there is really no need to only give 18,000 bobbleheads. My point is, they can afford to double their bobblehead order. People wouldn't show up 9 hours before the game, crowd the stadium sidewalks to the point it was miserable, and then get their bobblehead and leave. Then, some even have the nerve to try and purchase them off of other fans. I couldn't care less about the bobblehead, just let us in. Luckily, we had our new friends to speak with which made our experience waiting in line tolerable.
As we parted ways, the son and I exchanged Instagram handles and we wished each other well. The Brewers beat the Yankees 5-3 in what felt like a much longer game than the score indicated. We were able to alleviate the boiling sun by finding some shade that made the game much more tolerable, In total, I think 11 pitchers were used and there were very few 1-2-3 innings.
After the game, we took the Subway to Penn Station to scope out our train ride for tomorrow and check out Madison Square Garden. MSG as locals call it, is located right on top of Penn Station and isn't anything spectacular from the outside. From there, we walked the 1.7 miles to Greenwich village (where the TV show Friends was based) and got in line for something we have looked forward to for a long time...Cookie DO.
I've eaten Cookie Dough my whole life, raw eggs and all and never had any issues. I really don't see the problem. In fact, I prefer cookie dough over the baked cookies. This place is something else, they make edible, safe to eat cookie dough and serve it like its an ice cream parlor. Tray after tray of different flavors and I settled on the Frosted Fork, a blend of sugar cookie dough and mothers animal cookies. The line stages across the street and only took us about 20 minutes to get in the store...but well worth the wait. We grabbed our dough and headed to nearby Washington Square Park to people watch and indulge in "dinner."
NYC is great for people watching no matter where you go, and tonight did not disappoint. From over the top PDA to a lady who failed to realize her dog's harness was on upside down, there was some great laughs.
Back on the Subway again, this time to the Staten Island Ferry, the very southern tip of Manhattan. A free ferry ride takes you right by the Statue of Liberty with the skyline in the background. A budget friendly and a must-do for any out of town visitor. When you land on Staten Island, just walk back into the terminal and board the train back to Manhattan. In, all the round trip takes 1 hour and the sights are wonderful. One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and 6th tallest in the world is quite the sight hovering over everything like a giant middle finger to the terrorists that devastated the buildings next door. 
All in all, we walked a total of 10.48 miles. Our feet hurt, legs are chaffed, and our bodies ache. But you know what, wake up call tomorrow morning is at 6am...and we will be ready.
One final thing, continuing with my list of baseball stadiums in order, here you go:
#14 Chicago Cubs (May 6, 2012)
- Trip with John Higgins and Tyler West.
- Dodgers @ Cubs
- 3 hour rain delay
- Cubs win on a walk off walk.
#15 Milwaukee Brewers (May 7, 2012)
- Trip with Tyler West
- Reds @ Brewers
- Reds win 5-1 and score 5 runs on a total of 8 pitches.
- Actually ran into someone I knew from Paso Robles as our seats were directly next to each other...small world!
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