Flashback - NYC August 2012
Today the Yankees play their first game of spring training. It has been a long off-season and I am very happy for baseball to be back. Even if it is meaningless games. As this season gets underway I wanted to throwback to my first trip to see the Yankees live at Yankees Stadium:
Nearly six years ago, Alison and I took our first trip to New York City together. Alison graduated from BYU in 2012 and her parents took us to New York as a graduation gift. We were very excited about the opportunity.
Nearly six years ago, Alison and I took our first trip to New York City together. Alison graduated from BYU in 2012 and her parents took us to New York as a graduation gift. We were very excited about the opportunity.
We took the red-eye flight from SLC to JFK. It was my first red-eye flight and I hated it. I couldn't sleep at all. We got off that flight and I thought there was no way I would take red-eye again. Little did I know that over the next five years I would take many more red eyes. That first experience is still the worst red-eye experience I have ever had.
We arrived in NYC and headed to our hotel. We stayed at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas. There was a moment of confusion when we arrived because someone at Hilton only had reservations for one room, but there were supposed to be two. Fortunately, they had some open rooms and were able to get us a second room.
After we checked into our rooms we bought tickets for the Yankees game that afternoon. We printed our tickets and took the subway to the Bronx. This was my first experience on the subway and I will admit I found it very confusing. Blake explained that navigating the subway was very easy. All you had to know is what direction you needed to go - uptown or downtown and what color line you needed. It never really clicked that first trip, but by the next time I went it was in fact pretty easy and now when we go to New York I have no trouble navigating.
We arrived at the stadium and walk around admiring the new Yankees stadium. This was my first Yankees game ever. I was so excited. Alison and her family had a great time giving me a tour of the stadium on our way to our seats. We bought fairly inexpensive seats for this game, which meant we were way up high. We were actually as high and as far back as you could get. Our seats were right up against the façade. The seats were awesome because New York in August is very hot and there was a nice breeze coming in from outside of the stadium. The Yankees were playing the Texas Rangers. Ivan Nova was pitching for the Yankees and had a very Nova-like outing. He gave up 4 runs over 5 innings. He actually outpitched Holland who gave up 5 runs over 5 innings. The bullpen had an ugly game giving up 6 runs. The final score was 10-6 Rangers. Even though the Yankees lost we had a blast at the game.
That night we went to my first Broadway play - Mama Mia. I think Debbie has a rule that if she goes to NYC and Mama Mia is on Broadway she is going to see it. It is a high-energy musical.
We hit most of the key sites around NYC - Battery Park, Grand Central Station, China Town, Little Italy, and Central Park.
One funny story about Chinatown - we were browsing the shops and Alison found a pink hat and showed a little interest. Alison inquired about the hat and decided she didn't want it. Well, the lady selling the hat thought this was Alison's negotiation tactic. She followed Alison out of the shop and greatly lowered the price. Alison assured the lady she didn't want to buy it because she wouldn't wear it. The lady simply replied, "if you no buy, you no wear." We bought the hat.
We spent a lot of time in and around Central Park. We walked through Central Park and had a great time. We visited the castle area and ran up and down large boulders. We also took time to find Cleopatra's Obelisk. When Blake visited NYC with his brothers one of his brothers, Charlie, told them all about the Obelisk and made sure they found it. It has become a spot Alison and I often visit when we are in Central Park.
We also went to the Met. It was my first time visiting the Met and I learned about the trick where you can pay whatever you want. The entrance fee is technically a donation so they are happy to accept whatever you can afford. I don't remember most of what we saw, but I do remember that we visited the Egypt section and saw the impressionists.
Later we visited the Natural History Museum, which is across Central Park from the Met. We didn't realize that they have the same policy as the Met - the entrance fee is a suggested donation. That was the last time we paid full price for that museum. I loved this museum. The dinosaur bones are particularly awesome.
While we were in NYC we found out that we could visit the new World Trade Center Memorial if we had tickets. We stood right outside the line for the memorial and got free tickets on our phones. It was pretty awesome (not every member of our group even had an iPhone - myself included). We had to go through security to get into this new memorial and parts of the memorial were still under construction. It was a somber experience to reflect upon the lives that were lost at this spot on 9/11. It was the first of many visits we would take to this memorial.
One funny story about Chinatown - we were browsing the shops and Alison found a pink hat and showed a little interest. Alison inquired about the hat and decided she didn't want it. Well, the lady selling the hat thought this was Alison's negotiation tactic. She followed Alison out of the shop and greatly lowered the price. Alison assured the lady she didn't want to buy it because she wouldn't wear it. The lady simply replied, "if you no buy, you no wear." We bought the hat.
We spent a lot of time in and around Central Park. We walked through Central Park and had a great time. We visited the castle area and ran up and down large boulders. We also took time to find Cleopatra's Obelisk. When Blake visited NYC with his brothers one of his brothers, Charlie, told them all about the Obelisk and made sure they found it. It has become a spot Alison and I often visit when we are in Central Park.
We also went to the Met. It was my first time visiting the Met and I learned about the trick where you can pay whatever you want. The entrance fee is technically a donation so they are happy to accept whatever you can afford. I don't remember most of what we saw, but I do remember that we visited the Egypt section and saw the impressionists.
Later we visited the Natural History Museum, which is across Central Park from the Met. We didn't realize that they have the same policy as the Met - the entrance fee is a suggested donation. That was the last time we paid full price for that museum. I loved this museum. The dinosaur bones are particularly awesome.
While we were in NYC we found out that we could visit the new World Trade Center Memorial if we had tickets. We stood right outside the line for the memorial and got free tickets on our phones. It was pretty awesome (not every member of our group even had an iPhone - myself included). We had to go through security to get into this new memorial and parts of the memorial were still under construction. It was a somber experience to reflect upon the lives that were lost at this spot on 9/11. It was the first of many visits we would take to this memorial.
While we were downtown we walked around Wall Street. While we were there Blake gave us a little instruction about how stocks work by analogizing the purchase of stocks to the purchase of socks. It was a memorable lesson.
Speaking of socks Blake and I actually bought some great dress socks at the Great Irish Street fair, which was taking place right outside our hotel on the Avenue of Americas. It was neither particularly great nor particularly Irish. It was basically an opportunity for Chinatown to move to Uptown for a little while.
We did have one authentic Irish experience when we ate dinner at Molly's pub. Blake had discovered this authentic Irish bar when he visited NYC with Jake shortly before Jake left on his mission to Ireland. It is very authentic and has become a favorite place for the family to catch a meal when we are in NYC.
We saw one other broadway show while we were in NYC on this trip - Evita. I did not know much about Evita and had fairly low expectations going in. It was phenomenal. The score and story are both riveting and Ricky Martin played the role of the narrator. Alison was super interested in learning about Eva Peron after the show. Of course, we found a diner to get some NYC cheesecake after the show.
We attended one other baseball game on this trip. This was a Yankees-Red Sox game. It lived up to the hype. We sat in section 203 with the bleacher creatures. We love sitting with the bleacher creatures. They used to be the most passionate group of fans in the stadium. Sometimes they could be a little crazy. We found out at this game that the Yankees had tamed the creatures. There were lots of Yankee employees assigned to this section to make sure the creatures were under control. As a result, we ended up chanting "Boston's not good" because it was one of the few acceptable phrases that wouldn't result in anyone being thrown out of the park. This was also the first time I participated in a "roll call". Roll call is a tradition where the creatures will chant the name of each position player until they get acknowledgment from the player. It is one of our favorite Yankees stadium traditions.
The weather was not ideal. Shortly after the game began the rain started to fall. We were a little worried the game might get rained out, which would have been the worst. Alison and I bought some Yankee's ponchos so that we could keep dry. Fortunately, the rain wasn't too heavy and they were able to keep playing. By the end of the game, the storm had passed.
The game was very exciting. Early on things were not looking very good for the Yankees. Phil Hughes did what he often did as a Yankee and gave up a three-run home run to Dustin Pedroia in the third. Fun Fact, August 17 is Dustin Pedroia's birthday, but we weren't celebrating. Fortunately, after that Phil settled down and ended up giving the Yankees 7 solid innings. The Yankee offense answered back with five solo shots. One each from Curtis Grandson, Russell Martin, and Derek Jeter (which happened to be his 250th home run). Nick Swisher added the final two solo shots, which thrilled Debbie (Swish was always Debbie's favorite). The Yankees beat the Red Sox 6-4. This was the first Yankees game I attended where they won. What a game!
This trip was such a great experience. It was the first time Alison and I were in New York together and really laid the foundation for many future trips to NYC. We will always be grateful to Blake and Debbie for helping us learn to navigate the big city.
The weather was not ideal. Shortly after the game began the rain started to fall. We were a little worried the game might get rained out, which would have been the worst. Alison and I bought some Yankee's ponchos so that we could keep dry. Fortunately, the rain wasn't too heavy and they were able to keep playing. By the end of the game, the storm had passed.
The game was very exciting. Early on things were not looking very good for the Yankees. Phil Hughes did what he often did as a Yankee and gave up a three-run home run to Dustin Pedroia in the third. Fun Fact, August 17 is Dustin Pedroia's birthday, but we weren't celebrating. Fortunately, after that Phil settled down and ended up giving the Yankees 7 solid innings. The Yankee offense answered back with five solo shots. One each from Curtis Grandson, Russell Martin, and Derek Jeter (which happened to be his 250th home run). Nick Swisher added the final two solo shots, which thrilled Debbie (Swish was always Debbie's favorite). The Yankees beat the Red Sox 6-4. This was the first Yankees game I attended where they won. What a game!
This trip was such a great experience. It was the first time Alison and I were in New York together and really laid the foundation for many future trips to NYC. We will always be grateful to Blake and Debbie for helping us learn to navigate the big city.
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