What an adventure we had....flying into a hurricane was probably not what most people would have done, in fact, I wanted to stay home, but I am glad we went. Life is all about the stories you make. Here is a recap of our adventure.
We left home at 4:00 am Friday morning, but the upside to that was that we arrived in NYC by 8:30am. We got to our hotel by 9:30am. It was right in the heart of Manhatten on Wall Street. We dropped our luggage off and quickly got out to enjoy the city. Our first stop was Ground Zero, which was very close to our Hotel. We went to the Ground Zero Museum. Well worth our time. We saw a piece of one of the planes that hit the tower. It was the window of the plane. It just gave me chills to look at it, because I imagined the terror of the person sitting by it looking out. Someday, I want to go back and see it completely done. It will be a National Treasure. After that, we headed for Times Square. We walked alot, but did take the subway too. When we got there, the first thing we saw was the Naked Cowgirl...didn't know there was a Naked Cowgirl...Rich enjoyed that...she was adorable. A little ways down was the Cowboy. I stood beside him for the picture. He put his arm around me. He was pretty tall, so my arm went a little lower. All of a sudden, I realized I was cupping his butt with my hand...I told him I was so sorry and he graciously said, "well, that's alright mam". From there we saw Rockefeller Center and where NBC studios are. The ice skating rink is all filled with little restaurants in the summer time, so its not near as pretty as it is in the winter time. Central Park was our next stop. Rich thought it would be a good idea to rent bikes. I wasn't feeling too good, kinda queazy, but I said ok. You could rent by the hour. I told him to just rent it for a hour, but I got overruled by him and the guy selling the bikes. We now have our bike for 2 hrs. Well, off we go. Central park is such a beautiful place, but it has alot more HILLS than you think. Maybe it was the heat and humidity that day or maybe it was because I was so sick, but I was just about ready to call 911. My butt was kicked....big time! Trust me an hour was plenty long enough, but we have them for two...believe me...the words, "I told you so" were mentioned more than once. Well, somehow, I made it through and got back to the entrance to the park. We were both so hot and tired. We found us an AC bar. I ordered a Michelob Ultra and I swear, I drank it all in one gulp. We had not really been checking our phones all afternoon, so Rich got his phone out. He saw where Denny, our best friend, had been trying to call him. He called him back. Denny asked where we were and Rich said Central Park. Denny said, "Get back now...the kids are getting married NOW". We hopped on the nearest subway and got back as soon as we could. There were other people they were waiting on too, so we weren't the last ones to get there. We showered and put on our good clothes and went down to the lobby of the Hotel. The Hotel had a room that the kids used to get married. It wasn't even close to what Lauren had planned and dreamed of, but every place they had rented was being shut down and closed by noon on Saturday. In fact, we had to evacuate the Hotel first thing in the morning. The wedding was beautiful, because all the people that mattered were there. My friend Janet, the Mother of the Bride, sang a song to her daughter that night and it was beautiful. The end result was that they were married and that is all that mattered.
The next morning we got up and evacuated to uptown NYC by Times Square. The Marriott had rooms for us, so we were lucky. Now we just had to wait and see what hurricane Irene had in store for us. Once the public transportation shuts down...NYC becomes a ghost town. The only thing that was on the roads were the yellow cabs. They shut down almost all the stores and restaurants. They had to send their workers home before the subways closed or they couldn't get home. We found a small bar/restaurant called the Pig and Whistle...they were selling Hurricanes for $6 and I think they packed more of a wallop than Irene did. One of them and I was laughing a whole lot more. We all went to bed that night wondering what the night and morning would hold for us. Rich and I were up bright and early at 6:30. We both went to the window as if it were Christmas morning, wondering what we would see. When you are downtown New York and in a high rise, its hard to get a good perspective of the storm, but from where we were sitting....back in Indiana, we saw alot worse. We never heard any thunder or saw any lightning. There was no hail either...yes it rained hard at times and the wind seemed to be blowing hard at times, but nothing seemed that bad. It had passed over NY by 9:00am and Rich and I and the Weber's decided to survey the damage. Well, we walked to the Hudson river and all over the city, but the only thing I saw was a small branch, a broken umbrella and I stepped in a big puddle of water. So, we survived Hurricane Irene...it was an adventure to say the least. I can now say I have been evacuated and saw a hurricane up close and personal. Life is all about making the most of the situation that you are in. All of us were in the same boat. We just put on our life vests and kept on paddling. We got our couple married and toasted their marriage. We ate their wedding cupcakes and shared a memorable experience with them. They are a great couple and I know it wasn't what they had planned, but they were brave and gracious and made the most of their special moment.
