I want to Thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankees Fan

We made it!  And it's turning into a great New York trip already.  Our adventure started last night when we took the red-eye flight to JFK and arrived this morning.  Eric and I usually have a strict no red-eye policy, but for this trip, it made sense so Eric would miss as little school as possible.  All in all, though, it was not the most terrible red-eye.  Eric and I both slept for the majority of the flight!

Ready to take off!

We arrived this morning and took a taxi to our hotel.  Because we were so early, we couldn't check-in, but we dropped our bags at the hotel and started our adventure.  Our first stop was Grand Central Station.  It's right by our hotel and it's always just fun.  Plus - they have an apple store right in the middle of the terminal.  One more reason that I love New York.

We took the shuttle to Times Square and wandered around for a bit.  For some reason, I never feel like I'm in NY until we go to Times Square.  There wasn't much to do in Times Square at 9:00 in the morning, so we headed to Washington Square Park.

We had never been here before, but it was something we had talked about doing several times.  The park has the giant white arch that's in several movies including August Rush.  We took the subway to the Lower East Side and found the park.  It was the most charming park in the entire world.  The arch was super cool and there were these awesome fountains that we sat by for a while and just relaxed and talked.  Plus there was someone playing saxophone somewhere in the park so it really was like a scene out of August Rush.

While we were sitting there we realized we were right by NYU so we decided to take a stroll over to the university.  Eric and I love going to different universities when we travel, and NYU is especially fun because when I was looking into MBA programs NYU was near the top of my list.  I've since ruled it out, but it was fun to be on campus.  We of course found the Business Building so Eric could get a picture.

Between Washington Square Park and NYU, there is also an amazing view of the One World Trade Tower.

We also realized that we were close to the MLB fan cave so we went by it, but unfortunately, there wasn't anything going on.

After that, we decided to head to Yankee Stadium.  There's always a lot going on around the stadium on game day, so we never mind being early.  We wandered around the stadium and there were people handing out signs that said "Thanks 2 You" in honor of Derek Jeter.  We also found the Derek Jeter subway art, which was awesome.

We headed into the stadium, walked the Great Hall, and then went to the Yankee Museum.

We had been there before, but they've made several changes to it including adding Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter to the exhibit.  I of course had to get a picture by Lou Gehrig's uniform - he is my all-time favorite baseball player.

The other item of special significance was the 2009 World Series Trophy.  I was in Jerusalem during that post-season, but I would wake up between 2:00 to 4:00 in the morning on every game day and watch the game in Jerusalem.  When they won the world series I was so happy!  I ran to the phone and called my Dad - by this time it was around 6:00 in the morning in Jerusalem.  He was actually looking for the number to call me at the Jerusalem Center so we could talk about it.  I've always loved that World Series for that very reason.

Eric got a photo by the Thurmon Munson locker.  Thurmon was an amazing Yankee catcher and was also the team captain when he was killed in a plane crash.  They never cleaned out his locker at the old Yankee Stadium and left it exactly as it was when he left the stadium for the last time.  When they built the new stadium they removed his locker and moved it with them to the new stadium and put it in the Yankee Museum.

The game itself was so much fun.  It's Derek Jeter's second-to-last game at Yankee Stadium in his career so the stadium was electric.  The Yankees didn't have a great year this year so they won't make the post-season, so this is the last time most of the Yankee fans will see Derek Jeter play.  We sat in our favorite place in the stadium - with the Bleacher Creatures.  The bleachers are the cheapest seats in the stadium, so they attract a rougher crowd.  In fact, in the old Yankee Stadium, they didn't even serve alcohol in the bleachers.  There is on section, 203, where the Bleacher Creatures reside.  They do "roll call" before every game and are all around just hilarious. Today they were in rare form.  They were upset because Derek Jeter was the DH rather than the shortstop.  One particular creature was especially vocal.  He started screaming obscenities at Joe Girardi and then announced to the whole section that "he stood in protest to Joe Girardi."  It was hilarious.

The game was so much fun.  Unfortunately, the Yankees lost (no surprise because the Orioles have their number this year), but the stadium was so united around Derek Jeter.  Every time he came up to bat EVERYONE in the stadium was on their feet.  When he came up for the last time, everyone was chanting his name and when he went back to the dugout after the at-bat no one stopped.  We continued chanting trying to get him to do a curtain call.  Unfortunately, he didn't come back out, but at one point everyone in the stadium was cheering "Thank You, Jeter."  It was really special.

The Yankees also scored several Home Runs.  Mark Texiera hit a homer, as well as Steven Drew and Chase Headley.  I, of course, kept score and had a great time doing it.  I love having a piece of game history after every game.  The final score was 9-5 for the Orioles, but we had a phenomenal time at the stadium.

After the game, we headed downtown to go to the 9/11 museum.  I'm being real here - it was incredibly difficult.  The museum opened this year, so we had never been, but have been anticipating it for several years.  We also visit the 9/11 memorial every time we are in New York and have been anxiously waiting for the museum to open. There are several exhibits about how the Towers were built and memorial exhibits.  One memorial exhibit has pictures of everyone who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  There were so many pictures - some were wedding pictures, others graduation pictures, and some just portraits, but it put faces to the people who were tragically killed.

The most difficult exhibit was the chronology of the events of September 11.  The only thing I can even compare it to was the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.  It was so emotionally draining.  We were in there for two hours and we came out exhausted. There were voice recordings of people recalling the events.  There were also voicemails of the people from the planes who knew they were about to die.  I was in tears visiting most of the exhibit.  It became so emotional that I started shaking and couldn't get warm.  It was so, so difficult.  There were fire trucks, police vehicles, and ambulances that were totally destroyed.  There were giant beams of steel that were designed to hold up the towers that were shredded into twisted pieces of scrap metal.  There was the last column that survived that several of the first responders wrote on.  It was so emotional.  We couldn't even get through the entire exhibit.  We finished the chronology of events on September 11, but the next exhibit was everything leading up to the terrorist attacks all the way up to the hijackers boarding their planes.  We were too emotionally drained to get through it.

The museum is all underground (exactly like Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial), so we had to take an escalator to get back to ground level.  During the long ride up the escalator they were playing Amazing Grace - it was beautiful.  When we finally got outside I took a huge breath of air and breathed in all out.  The only emotion I could feel at that moment was a relief, and I'm not really sure why.  The memorial pools were beautiful at night - we had never been there at night before and it was really special.  I turned around and there was the new One World Trade Tower.  It's finally finished and it's stunning.  It was a huge testament to the resiliency of our country.  That came with another deep breath.  Ultimately, I'm grateful that I experienced the museum, but I don't know I'm ready to go back any time soon.  It was very, very difficult.

After that, we were starving so we got New York pizza before heading back to the hotel, exhausted.  After a red-eye flight and walking 20,000 steps in a day (almost 9 miles!), we are very, very tired.  Tomorrow promises to be even more exciting with Derek Jeter's last game.  It will be fun!