Boarded and ready to bus home

It's been very cold here but we had enjoyed our first visit to New York!






It was a great decision to go do the observation deck at Rockefeller Plaza (many people recommended it). What a great thing to do... no lines, friendly people and (duh) views of the Empire State Building! After all, it's kind of hard to see the building you're observing from...

The bus is full of quiet people... much different than the crowd Friday night. Here's our parting shot as we relax and enjoy the ride with all of our friends on the New Jersey Turnpike...

Lunch At Rockefeller Center

We are wrapping up lunch in New York so we can head back to the bus...

Time to head out into the cold again!








Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Views from the top!

We were scheduled to go to the Empire State Building, but decided at the last minute to instead go to the observation deck(s) of the Rockefeller Center at the recommendation of our tour guide... imagine that - taking the advice of the local expert guy. With promises of no crowds, no lines, no waiting and wonderful views OF the Empire State Building, we walked the few blocks to see.

What a wonderful recommendation! As you can see from these pictures, it was spectacular! The sky was sunny and clear, no wind and three levels of unobstructed views all around!

Here is a panorama of Lower Manhattan



And the other side with Central Park




Of course, we mugged for photos - though it was harder to do with my phone camera...









And there were plenty of friendly people on the uncrowded decks that would trade shots










So if you go to NYC - we'd recommend the Rockefeller Center observation deck! Lastly, they actually have a surprise in the elevator for you to give you an idea of how far up it really is. Take a look at this movie of the trip down!

The rock

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Radio city and Rockefeller center

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Breakfast in Bed!

We're starting the day off right!

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

The night trip

Well, the night trip was interesting but narrated poorly (no tip for this guy). It was extremely cold on the bus, but we managed to keep each other warm - except our feet...

There were good views but not many photo opportunities because we were in motion.






Eventually, we ended up in Brooklyn for stunning views of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge! Here are two of the best shots...











Now we are enjoying a hot chocolate in our room before turning in (see the same picture in daylight in a previous post). It feels like we haven't been warm for days but we are really enjoying the night!

It's Saturday Night Live!

We are getting ready to take a night tour of NYC. The bus has a clear roof but it is not heated so we are bundled up!

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Did I Mention that there was also a Hershey's Store?

Is New York this close to Heaven?

Times Square Toys R Us

This Empire State Building is made entirely of Legos! They also have the T-Rex from Jurassic Park!

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Times Square at 5pm

Simply. Amazing!

It's even more amazing seeing DeAnna go for the perfect shot in the street!


















See the lights and action of Times Square!


Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

The M&M Store

Yes, there is a store that has nothing but M&M stuff in it... three floors worth of M&M stuff!






It is a multimedia shopping extravaganza with loud, pulsating Euro dance music, flashing lights, celebrities and the permeating smell of chocolate.




Every color of M&M was represented by a huge statue. I thought Elvis had blue SHOES!!!










Though it was warm in the store, we were guaranteed that any M&Ms purachased would not melt in our hands nor in our mouths once we left the store!

Real coal-fired brick oven pizza!

Adding fuel to the fire!

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

New York Pizza

At the recommendation of our tour guide, we are at John' s Pizza on 44th St. The painting is of Manhattan island... more to come...

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Wall Street!

Well, here is the center of capitalism! Again, it's really cold but that doesn't keep us from getting the shots of the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church.

One World Trade has Started

You can see the new building going up to replace one of the twin towers.

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

WTC Site

We are now overlooking the site of the twin towers... pretty amazing...

In Battery Park, "The Sphere" from the World Trade Center Plaza is now displayed until the formal memorial is completed. You can also see the undamaged sphere before the collapse. The picture is courtesy of Wikipedia..


















Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Lower Manhattan again

It may not be obvious that it is 19 degrees outside and the wind is whipping across the water as we ferry back to Manhattan from Statten Island! These pictures are EARNED! :-)

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge from the frigid ferry ride!









Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Manhattan View

We are on the Statten Island Ferry looking back at Manhattan... you can see the Statue of Liberty to the left, then mid town and lower Manhattan to the right. It is a grey day but this tour is very cool!

We have lots of pictures of the Statue of Liberty from afar, but I like this picture!










Looking back on the ferry - Lower Manhattan is in the background.








This is mostly what I saw of DeAnna when we were doing our photojournalism gig...









Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Statue of liberty

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Brooklyn Bridge...

Stopping for lunch with great views of the East River...

This was a nice stop to relax. Of course, we took lots of pictures. Here is a panorama of the bridge... it was far too big to capture in a single shot!




It was so cold, even the seagulls kept one leg warm... You can see Governor's island in the background.









Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Flat Iron Building

It's freezing outside but we are having fun!

Our best shot of the Empire State Building! DeAnna is trying to warm her fingers! We've been thinking about this sign - even though it's not allowed...









Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Strawberry Fields

We are viewing central park!

Joe Pearson
Sent from my Android phone on the road...

Millennium Hotel

We are in New York City for the weekend and staying at the Millennium Hotel. Right now we are aboard a tour bus getting ready to do the town! I will update these posts later with pictures. For now, we are anxiously awaiting the start of the tour while sitting in TIMES SQUARE!

Pictures From The Anniversary

What a neat weekend! We totally surprised my parents by having all three boys show up. DeAnna and I have been building up this weekend since before Christmas, but we've kept the event a secret - only blocking off the time so they wouldn't plan to do something else. Mom's biggest concern was what to wear (she wanted to know if she needed a wetsuit!)

Jim came in from Indianapolis and John came in from Albuquerque. I picked them up at the airport while DeAnna went up to get mom & dad. She told them that I was parking the car while the three boys came up just a couple minutes later. We paused before bursting into the apartment and yelling "Happy Anniversary"!!! Mom & Dad were stunned and simply glowed with happiness! Mission accomplished!!!

DeAnna had brought her camera, so she was the official photographer. We took several pictures right away and then DeAnna went on home while we stayed around and chatted for a few hours - just a relaxing visit to catch up and reminisce. We hadn't actually just sat down and talked for over a decade! After a while, we headed over to Primo's Family Restaurant for dinner (here are the three boys in the back seat just like we used to be).

Primo's is our Friday night pizza tradition. Once again, DeAnna went ahead and got us a table reserved in the back room. We spent a couple of hours continuing the visit before DeAnna announced that she had strawberry shortcake at our house! So we went over to our place to finish off the evening with dessert! Once there, we showed John around and chatted while we finished off the shortcake (with whipped cream).

Mom & dad went home while Jim & John stayed overnight at our house. Sunday morning, we joined mom & dad again for church and met several good friends as we all sat on the same pew (good sermon) Afterwards, we went to Clyde's for Sunday morning brunch. DeAnna took more pictures before we left (more pictures below). Jim & John went with mom & dad, while I drove DeAnna home. John went to the airport first and the Jim.

Now, I'm enjoying a relaxing evening writing a blog and doing little else. It has been a great weekend for my parents, but I have also enjoyed seeing my brothers again. I hope we can all get together more often in the months and years to come... we all agreed to have a big shindig on the 70th anniversary!