Last two days in New York

July 23, 2010
We woke up to a very rainy Ithaca morning. We were served by the staff of the William Henry Miller Inn a very delectable and delicious breakfast. First muffins, then pineapple Napoleon which was thinly sliced fresh pineapple layered with luscious crème. For the entre we were served strawberry waffles with almond flavored crème. It was as good as it was fancy. I just wish I had the stomach and calories to each that much food (and calories) for breakfast.
We really enjoyed sitting out on the covered front porch watching the drizzling rain and eating our fancy breakfast. This was a moment that would not soon come around again.

After breakfast we got dressed and toured the town a little more.
We found Ithaca Falls, which incredibly, I never saw when I was here. It was right in the middle of town and only about 1000 yards from our B&B. How did I miss this when I spent 4 months of my life here?
It’s fabulously beautiful. We would have loved to have stayed, splashed around and had a little picnic, but it was too drizzly and we were pretty short on time.
Next time we come through this part of the world I definitely need to schedule more than 20 hours here.

Next on the tour was Cascadilla Street which is one of the most beautiful streets in all of Ithaca.
Also it’s the very street where I actually got frost bite as a missionary. It’s two lane street separated by a stream in the middle. Picturesque in the summer and freakin’ freezing in the winter.

After our explorations we headed back to Sammy’s for another slice of the best pizza in the world. Perfect chewy crust. YUM! Followed by another custard cone as we headed out of town. I only wish we had more time to enjoy the food here…er…I mean sights here.

We drove around and through charming upstate New York. It looks just like you think it will but better.
So scenic, rolling green, hilltop farms, shiny grain silos, white-steepled churches, the whole nine yards.

We stopped in for a quick visit in Baldwinsville NY, my second area as a missionary, to see the unique sights and visit some old friends.

Unfortunately the weather was not ideal and we were not able to see or at least enjoy seeing all the things I wanted, but we did our best. This is the Susquehanna River (ever heard of it?).
It runs right through B-Ville. It has a Loche which provides entry to New York’s canal system which connects the rivers and lake in all of New York and a lot of the north east actually. It’s kind of like a trail system connecting a bunch of different mountain ranges together, except its canals and you do it with a boat.
People go on multiweek boating expeditions visiting all the different rivers and lakes in the region. Really cool actually. Maybe someday I’ll do that. But I don’t really care for boats, so maybe I won’t. Interesting thought though.

After visiting the river we visited the Barletta Family. A family I taught the gospel to as a missionary. They have endured a lot of tragedy over the last several years, and I hope the best for them. It was great to see them and reminisce about the time we spent together when I was their missionary.

I committed them to get back to church and to go to college while I was there. Not sure if they’ve done either yet. If you’re reading this Barletta ladies, give me an update. I’d love to hear all the good things you are doing with your lives.

As we progressed toward Albany we noticed all the signs on the roadway for all the little towns we were passing through or alongside of, but we didn’t see any towns. After a while we realized that all the towns we weren’t seeing were there but were buried in the trees of upstate New York. The trees are suffocating up there. I hated the leafless trees in the winter, but I also hated not being able to see around the trees in the summer. Some people.

I was SUPER excited as we pulled into Albany. I always thought of Albany as the Garden of Eden of the mission. I wasn’t the only one. Everyone seemed to love Albany. My favorite and best companions and elders I served with in and around in Albany. We had so many great people to teach in Albany. We saw so many baptisms in Albany. Everything about Albany was my favorite. The cherry on top of Albany was the McGreevy family, who happen to be anxiously awaiting our arrival. They are a family whom I was fortunate enough to teach the gospel to as a missionary. Since then...they have been real over achievers and are now practically running the whole region.

If I couldn’t have my family and I had to choose another one, I’d pick the McGreevy’s with no hesitation. When we arrived of course they had a party (with pizza and wings) waiting for us.

I tackled Patsy (the mom) as soon as I walked in the door. I hadn’t seen her or talked to her that much in nearly 8 years.
I was so excited to see Patsy that I asked her to marry me when saw her. The whole family was there and I hugged everyone! What joy to see them all.

To complete my circle of joy, my old Mail Man who used to harass us about the church (all in good fun) was there too. The background on this is that we used to run into Vic the Mail Man all over town. We had a great relationship with him which was nice because he gave us preferential treatment in mail delivery time. He knew we lived for mail. Anyway…he always had some smart remark or impossible religious question about the church. We did our best to answer his questions and throw back the snark and sarcasm. I would end every conversation with…”Mock me now, but someday, I’ll be the one laughing, because you’ll be one of us!” Ha ha, we all had a good laugh and walked away.

Fast forward a few years. The mail man got divorced and met a nice little Mormon girl on his route. After all of our positive or least entertaining interactions, they got to talking. Talking led to this and that and next thing you know he’s at a ward (branch) activity then in missionary discussions, then in the waters of baptism, then engaged to said nice Mormon girl.
So long story short, I told him so and he was at the party with his Mormon fiance. Told you so.

So we partied down with the McGreevy’s pizza style and caught up on old times. We visited with their daughter Hillary who was 17 when I was there as a missionary. She was very much not excited about the transition her parents were making then. Now, she is a married mother of one child and has been sealed in the temple to her then boyfriend and now husband Dave. What a trip.

Honestly I have forgotten how deeply I care for these people and how comfortable I am with them. I think Steve was shocked by the familiarity with people who he really has never known.


After dinner we moved into the back yard for a fire and some SMORES. Yummy. We had such a great time. I finally got everyone to pose for a picture too. Now I can keep them all forever.

We moved back inside and looked at my blog for several hours. I’m not sure that I actually forced them into it. Patsy wanted to see the kids. At least that’s what I tell myself. I finally went to bed at 2 am. Leave it to Patsy to keep me up til 2. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

When we woke up we felt the pleasure that is upstate New York humidity. Seriously how do people live like this? We had a scrumptious breakfast that Patsy aka food pusher put so much love into.

After the meal Pasty took us down to the branch building so I could reminisce and Steve could see it. We also went on a little tour of the city.
I showed Steve my old apartment and favorite haunts, including the grocery store I shopped at.
Also on the tour was I Love New York Pizza shop where I made Steve run in and get a slice for us to share since we weren’t really hungry.
New York is my pizza mecca.

We also went down town so I could show Steve the interesting things down there. This is The Egg.
It’s a theater believe it or not. We also saw the State offices and took a mini tour of the State Museum. They were actually selling this in the gift shop. Who would buy this. Skunks are scary.


Then we met up with some friends the Peterson’s a nice member family who used to help me a lot as a missionary. We went to lunch with them and met their cute kids.

After our day of fun, we had a teary goodbye with Patsy and headed back to the New York City.
We made great time driving through the last of New York’s country side. Then it was back into the city and boy could we tell.

First it was a toll of $6.50 in Harriman (seriously).

We sailed through New Jersey where we paid the next toll, $8.00 at the George Washington bridge.
You’d think for 8 dollars on a short bridge I’d get more than just this crappy photo.
You’d think that would include a snack or something. Nope, the opposite. This was one of the worst traffic jams I have ever been in. I think the whole world may have been evacuated onto the island of Manhattan for Saturday night fever. Everyone was super aggressive in their cars. Seriously NO ONE would let me merge in. People in New York are mean in their cars. I finally forced my way in and then let someone ahead of me, so take that NY motorists!

Once we got back onto the island traffic moved SUPER SLOW. Surprised? Me neither. We were looking for one last bridge to cross to get to where we were going and so we could pay yet another toll. I was actually driving for all of this so Steve could navigate. (I am a terrible navigator.) Despite his excellent directions I somehow missed the bridge turn off ramp. AGRAHH!!!

Not knowing what to do, we got of the very next exit and all of a sudden we were in the middle of another world. Perhaps we were in the middle of the movie Dangerous Minds? Great. Here we are totally lost, in Harlem, at dusk. People (who looked nothing like me) were just standing around in the streets, like hundreds of people. It was really nerve racking. High rise project buildings surrounded us. I was pretty rattled to tell you the truth. I was sure a big gang of people would just pick up our small car and steal the tires with us still in it. Even Steve looked scared. We both had white knuckles. We would have just pulled over to regroup and find our route again, but it wasn’t a neighborhood we could really stop in.

Suddenly Steve pulled it together while I peed my pants and miraculously with the help of his trusty GPS smart phone found us back to the freeway where we got on and had another chance to take the bridge turn off, which I DID NOT miss this time around. WHEW! That could have been worse.

We were more than happy to pay the $5.50 toll to cross the RFK Bridge. You bet. Anything. But let’s just look back and add up the tolls I paid in one hour’s time. That’s $20. Yes to wait in traffic. Nice. We really take for granted our nice FREE roads here.

I must say…I will never attempt to drive myself through New York again. Too expensive, too scary, too confusing, too dangerous. Note to self…rent the car in New Jersey and take the train into the city.

We found our way back to the car rental place where we felt very lucky to be returning the car with no damage. We almost crashed once, we attempted to drive down a one way street the wrong way and had a few other close calls. The Nissan Versa we rented I must admit was not my favorite car rental of all time.

We boarded the same bus M60 back to my cousin’s apartment. It was a long ride and another HOT subway ride back to her place. Poor Steve who may be the sweatiest person I have ever met looked like he was going to pass out.
It’s hard to describe how hot and still it was down in the subway. You can actually see the air in this photo. It feels like you might never get out of there while you wait for the train to arrive. We waited more than 30 minutes for the right train to come. They run crazy on weekends, FYI. We were so tired and confused. We learned the next day that there was a record breaking heat wave that day in New York City. No wonder we felt like dying down there.

We finally exited the subway system for a short walk back to my cousin’s place where we were staying. FYI city life is very complicated especially when it comes to transportation. You don’t just jump in your car and go somewhere. It’s always an ordeal. Maybe it gets better once you’re more familiar with it. I just don’t know how people live like this, but apparently millions and millions of people are okay with it. Honestly this trip and the time in the city opened my eyes to the sheer number of people there are in the world. Honestly, I had no idea. I’m just so sheltered.

So we got back to Lynette’s place where the apartment was so hot that we simply turned on the A/C and left for a late meal. We were like the walking dead at this point after all we had done that day.

Believe it or not we got back on the subway into midtown to find food. It was much easier this time without carrying all our luggage with us. We really weren’t all that hungry, all I really wanted was one more piece of NY Cheesecake before we left the city. We struggled to find a place that would sell us a snack. It was close to midnight and only the posh dinner clubs were open. We finally found a little deli that was hopping busy. We headed in there.

I got my Cheesecake and a little chicken wrap. Steve got an apple strudel and a bagel with egg. The total cost you ask? After just paying $20 to drive across crowded bridges?
The snack meal cost us $33 dollars. Seriously, get me out of this place. I am bleeding money at this point and I want to leave.

After our meal we headed back to the subway. We started to walk down the stairs at the subway, but a cat sized rat crossed in front of us which completely freaked me out. What in the NYC rats! Get me out of this place!

We were told by the subway booth attendant that we had to walk 9 blocks to the next stop to catch the train we wanted. (Later we realized that guy lied to us. We could have just crossed the street) We deliriously pushed ourselves the nine blocks to the next station where we waited one million years for the train.
We were entertained however by a subway singer playing tunes from the 60ies. It really did make the wait a whole lot more pleasant. Just as Steve was passing out from heat stroke the train pulled up and we boarded.

Lynette’s place cooled off a lot by the time we returned. We arranged our bags for our early departure the next morning and absolutely passed out on the futon. Best night’s sleep ever, but the morning came way too fast.

After our horrible adventure in the subways the night before we hired a ride to come pick us up. It cost a reasonable million dollars. Who cares about money at this point. We already realized that we wouldn’t leave with any money at all. Steve drained all our accounts including our IRA’s to support our lifestyle for our 3 day stint in the city.

The driver arrived 20 minutes early and seemed mad at us when we only came out 10 minutes early. He punished us by driving like a bat out of hell slamming on the gas and breaks as often as possible. What had taken us hours to do by bus and subway the night before we accomplished in under 20 minutes the next morning. Steve says he was a Sikh(Seek). Are Sikh’s angry? Maybe this guy just wasn’t a morning person.
I took a pic of him anyway.

We did the airport stuff and went through the craziest boarding process of all time. I stood in the airplane isle way for at least 25 minutes waiting for what, I never found out.

We ended up sitting next to this big Jewish guy who was a retired attorney turned business owner who sold internet orders of alcohol home delivery. You know like FTD, but for booze. Steve and he talked extensively and had a lot in common career wise. Harvey was on the audit committee for several not-for-profit health systems—I guess that is somehow related to Steve’s job. Who knows? I fell asleep and woke up as the plane was landing. Seemed like a quick flight. It was so nice to be home. It was super hot, but at least it was dry.

My brother and his family picked us up from the airport and that was it. I was happy to get home to our kids who didn’t seem to have missed us at all. They spent three fun-filled days at each Grandparents house. We could have been gone longer I suppose if we had any money left that is. We should have sold some of our plasma or something.

In all it was a magical fun time for me, Steve and for us as a couple. We’ve never done anything like this before, but I hope to do many more things like this in the future. Looking back I think I loved every minute of it, even the miserable minutes. They make a great story to tell now. We are very lucky have had this opportunity for a partially subsidized trip from IHC to NYC and an opportunity to visit my mission. I hope the opportunity presents itself again soon.