Sunday, July 8, 2007

New York



A trip to the big city to visit our daughter!

We finally decided to visit our daughter in New York. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision but a very much needed vacation. I made arrangements, got a dog sitter for Otis and Riley for the week and we headed out Saturday morning and drove all day. It took about 9 hours to get there, of course, we had to stop at just about every Starbucks along the way, but we made it.



Arriving in Brooklyn at her apartment we were greeted by Amy and her two cats, Sandford and Tater. We were given the tour and since she and her roommate are artists, there were lots of paintings to observe. We then took a walk around the neighborhood and had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant close to where she lives. We made plans for the next few days and decided not to do galleries this time, but to see and do something different.

Our daughter works at the National Hemophilia Foundation in Manhattan so we stopped in to see her office. We met some of her co-workers and her boss and visited the memorial room which is a small room dedicated to the hemophiliacs. This was special, because my father had hemophilia and was the oldest living hemophiliac in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania when he died at the age of 56. It was nice to sign the book in his memory.


We visited the Park Slope area of Brooklyn where all the great tall brownstones are, (love these houses) and then went to Prospect Park. The park was huge, lots going on there, horse trails, a lake, ball fields, picnic areas ~ so we put our blanket down and just watched all the activity. We even found 6 four leaf clovers. Lucky day. We then went for coffee at a sidewalk cafe. For dinner that evening we were invited to my husband's cousin's house, Joel Longenecker, who lives in that area of Brooklyn, for a cookout. Picking up cookies at a little French bakery and a bottle of wine, off we go to their house. They are artists too, and they have two young sons. We had a wonderful time.




Coney Island. Oh yes.  We just had to see this place and have one of the famous Nathans hot dogs. They were setting up for the hot dog eating contest while we were there. We rode the ferris wheel and the roller coaster, walked the boardwalk and pier, ate some goodies and bought some souvenirs.







We visited an area called Carol Gardens. Nice shopping area, cafes and restaurants. We had dinner at a place called Apartment 138. Great place!


The last day there we had lunch in Union Square as we watched a few chess games being played, and enjoyed the dog park. We saw the Manhattan Mennonite Church and had coffee in a small cafe near by. The big event of the day was the ballgame at Staten Island. We took the ferry over to Staten Island, had a great view of the Statue of Liberty on the way, and arrived at the ballpark, Ballpark at St. George. It was another beautiful evening, some of Amy's friends came along, and we enjoyed the game, and the Yankees won.







The next morning it was back on the road again with Starbucks in hand heading down the pike. We made a stop in Pennsylvania to see Galen's folks and dropped off a marble chaser for the upcoming family reunion.

We made it home, sweet home. Otis and Riley were happy to see us and all is well. We had a great vacation.

2 comments:

Suzanne said...

Hey Aunt Donna, love your site!! It's so cool to just get on and see what you've been up to. I also love getting the chance to see some of your art work. I'm glad the two of you made it up to New York to see Amy. Sounds like you had a great time. The pics are great! I've been checking your blog out on a weekly basis!! Keep the good stuff coming.
Luv ya,
Suzanne

Unknown said...

Mom - I am so jealous! Look at the fabulous time you had! And six 4-leaf clovers, holy cow! Plus, I love your coney island sweatshirt. Next time, we're going with you!! What fun!