New York? New York?

It has been a rough winter here on the island.  I’ve never seen a winter as rough as this one!  Started out with flooding, then snow, then snow and then…more snow.

I’ve only been here three years but I’ve never seen it so bad.

So it doesn’t surprise me that my daughter comes into my office and tells me she wants to go to..of all places, New York.

New York is about five hours from here by car, but one hour by plane, and of course, she chose plane.
The last time I was in an airplane was when I was eighteen years old and I had to fly solo to Ft. Lauderdale to pursue a modeling career.  Terrified.  And the old fart next to me wants to carry on a conversation and all the time I was thinking he had ulterior motives so it was an uncomfortable ride to say the least.

Then, there’s 911.

Six months after 911, we did go to New York, this time though was by bus which I didn’t think I was going to like but I rather enjoyed it (beats being blown up in an airplane).  Slept most of the way but I liked the fact I wasn’t  millions of miles in the air.  Took us 5 hours to get there, but once we were there, this little country girl was definitely in awe.


We had 10 hours to do what we wanted before we were supposed to load back up and go home, but we saw nearly everything Manhattan had to offer.  Climbed the Empire State Building, walked through Central Park, browsed the NBC studio at Rockefeller Center and ate at the famous Hard Rock Cafe.  Life was great.  This picture to the left was my daughter and I when we just arrived at Times Square.

But the most memorable part of the trip was returning to where terrorists flew 2 airplanes into the World Trade Centers and well the rest is a haunting history we’d just like to soon forget.

I remember when we walked up to the disaster area (now it’s been six months since it happened mind you), you could still smell the smoke and in fact you could still see smoke coming out of piles that the fire department was still trying to get out.  Crews were still out clearing things but it was the most eerie place you’d ever want to go.  You could actually feel death.  You could smell it; you could feel it.

Now this picture has an interesting story.  There were signs everywhere saying no pictures allowed.  Not quite sure unless it was just in case someone didn’t want to capitalize on the fact they could get some good pictures and sell them?  Anyway, the signs never stopped me.  I wasn’t going to walk away without getting some so I whipped out the camera, took a few shots, and put it away real quick.  I’m not altogether stupid.  This picture to the left is the memorial that was placed at the disaster site.
It was an experience to say the least.  I’ll never forget it and the fact I could see a little bit of history firsthand was worth millions.