Thursday, January 13, 2011

New York, day two.

I promise this post won't have as many pictures as the "New York, day one" post.  I'm trying to convince Sam that pooping on the potty is what all the cool kids do.  So I'm focused on that more than I am focused on this post....
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Oooop...wait!!!  HE JUST DID IT!!! My tiny son just pooped on the potty!!!!!!!  Be right back...headed to Walmart to get the Sponge Bob p.j's I promised him he could have on this glorious occasion!!!!!
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We're back.  Thank you for celebrating with Sam and me...now...on to "New York, day two".....

Day two.  On a side note: I slept great.  The bed in the hotel was uncharacteristically comfortable.
The morning of day two I again had these great aspirations of being on the Today show.  But around 8am, I rolled over...squinted at the clock, said "fuh-getaboutit" and went back to sleep...I slept in until 9:30.  It. was. delicious.  And totally therapeutic. 
I got up, got dressed, and then went here....
Fluffy's cafe!
I know...great name!  Got a coffee and a cannoli.  Breakfast of champions.  Also...just so you know, if you order a "regular coffee" in NYC--as in wanting plain 'ol b-flat black coffee--you will in fact get "coffee with cream"  Good to know...good. to. know.
Then I called Earl's buddy's girlfriend, Heidi, to see is she wanted to go with me to the Museum of Natural History.  She was just finishing up at the hotel gym (WHAT?!  Gym...hotel??  Bwhahahhaha...right...gimme another cannoli) and we decided to meet on the front steps of the museum.
Earl told me that the walk to the museum was "quite a ways" and that I should probably consider taking the "train".  I looked at the map (I did not consult the conceirge, I learned my lesson on day one with that guy) and saw that I could walk through Central Park on my way to the museum.  Plus, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to walk off some of that cannoli and coffee with cream.  Very quickly I started to see trees!   I didn't realize I had been missing them...but when the trees of Central Park came into view, it seemed I could breathe easier...that my step was a little lighter.  Don't ever take good-old fashioned trees for granted.  They are a gift.   Even if they are lying dormant and leaf-less.
 Trees in NYC have a very important job.  Filtering all that pollution we thrust upon them.
 This tree, in the picture below, made me catch my breath.  What a piece of beautiful artwork.
It wasn't a long walk.  It took me about 20 minutes and I got to see Central Park covered in snow. What a memory.
I got to the steps of the museum a bit before Heidi.  They're doing some construction/renovation to the front of the building, but in spite of the scaffolding, there was one thing that was familiar to me right away.  And if you've seen "Night at the Museum" like I have, you'll recognize it as well... 
Robin Williams!!!!  Errr...I mean, Teddy Roosevelt. He comes to life in the movie (so does the horse)...and wouldn't ya know it?  That dern statue looks just like Robin Williams....and while I waited for Heidi, I swear he moved...

I also spent a bit of time during my wait waging an inner struggle. To buy a hotdog from the nearby roadside stand, or not to buy a hotdog...Earl says a resounding "NO!" But what does he know? He's the most paranoid person I know. And after all, I was in NYC. Aren't you sorta supposed to eat a hotdog from a roadside stand? Luckily for me, I didn't have to decide because Heidi showed up and we headed inside...away from the temptation of the hotdog stand.

Here's an interesting fact about the Museum of Natural History in NYC.  The admission is really just a donation.  And the price is simply "suggested".  So you walk up to the ticket counter and the conversation goes something like this:
Me:  "One ticket for general admission"
Ticket booth girl:  "$16 suggested admission price. Do you agree to that amount?"
Me: <loooong confused pause>  "Ummmmmm...uhhhhh....yes?...yes!"
Now...here's something to remember when you go to this place of dead dinosaurs-->If you don't wanna, you don't have to give those people a dime!  You don't have to "agree" to the $16 pricetag.  Admission is free.  FAH-ree.  Nada.  Nothing.  All monies paid to get in the doors are simply considered a donations.  Of course I paid.  Partly out of confusion.  But I did pay.  But just so ya know--cause I didn't--you don't have to if you don't want to.  You can hang onto that hard earned money, spend all stinkin' day in the museum, and use the money you saved to satisfy the appetite you worked up with a hotdog...from a hotdog stand. 
I'm just sayin'...
Whew...
Onto the dinosaurs.
This dinosaur below is the very first one you see. 
I don't think I can stress how simply ginormous it is...but it is...It's HUGE-mongous.  Just believe me on this one...

 Little back story to the next picture.  Heidi is a Physician's Assistant.  I am a nurse.  Made for an interesting "team" wandering through a museum filled with bones.  We were both absolutely amazed with the bone structure of these large creatures!  LOOK at that ribcage!  And that pelvis!  A girl could camp out in there.
 Heidi volunteered to take my picture.  She thought I needed to document this for my children.  So children...for your viewing pleasure, I give you:
"Momma standing in front of lots of bones"
 And then I made Heidi take this picture.  Me and my favorite dinosaur--The Triceratops.  Don't ask why it's my favorite.  I couldn't rightly tell you.  Perhaps it's because that while it is thought to be a peaceable plant-eating dinosaur, it is also believed not many other dinosaur folk "messed" with the Triceratops on account of the bony plate protecting its neck.  I like to think the triceratops invented the saying "Walk softly, and carry a big stick gigantic bony plate"  Or maybe because it has three horns and that is a nice odd number for decorating...
Whatever...
I like the dinosaur.  Let's just leave it at that.
We were at the museum for well over 2 1/2 hours.  We looked up at one point and couldn't believe we had been there so long.  Then we realized we were very hungry. I managed to avoid the sweet smell of the hot dog stand, and we made our way back to the hotel.   Earl was back from work.  I found him curled up in the bed, snoring away.  So I curled up beside him and thus commenced the first uninterrupted afternoon nap we have had together in 5+ years.  Fan-freakin'-tastic. 
We met up with Earl's buddy and Heidi later that night as well as another co-worker/classmate/buddy who lives/works in NYC.  After an $11 Crown and Coke in the hotel bar (worth every penny thankyouverymuch), we braved the NYC New Year's Eve crowd in order to find something to eat.  We wound up at at a Thai restaurant where I ate some of the best curry I've ever eaten in my entire life.  We returned to our hotel and the scene outside the front doors was hysterical.  Hundreds of thousands of people lined up along 7th avenue. 

 Corralled in like cattle.  Standing there...just standing there.  No food or drink, not even alcohol.  No bathrooms.  No wiggle room...None.  Shoulder to shoulder.  Butt to butt. And if you decided that you wanted to leave to,  to you know, get some fresh air?  Well...don't count on getting back in 'cause once you're out...you're out.   In-sane.  Why? you ask?  Why would hundreds of thousands of people take part in such bizarre behavior? 
To see The Ball drop at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day in Times Square.
Earl and his buddy mumbled something about a chemical attack, and we all know how I feel about crowds, so after buying a bottle of Crown and 2 bottles of wine (and maybe a cannoli-- but I can't say for sure), we marched directly upstairs to our quiet, uncrowded hotel room and watched the festivities from the 41st floor.  Priceless.
I think it's the latest we've stayed up in years.
So that's the end of day two and the beginning of day three.
One more picture before I sign off here and a short narrative to go along with said picture:
Really?  A $350 penalty for honking?  Have you been to New York City?  Have you even watched a movie that is set in New York City?  Honking is like the soundtrack for New York!  I snapped this picture and then asked Earl's buddy who lives in this outrageous city, if the law was actually enforced!?  I think I said something like "If this for real?!  'Cause if it were...this would be the richest city in the world!"  He never answered...I think he just laughed.  Or maybe he did answer and I just couldn't hear him over all the honking.

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