Couple notes before I get started.... I changed the background to make the Blog easier on the eyes. It's boring, but you're coming here to read what I have to say, right? Second, I've got one more blog to do regarding Hong Kong. It's going to be mostly about the food, so most people won't wanna read it anyway unless they have a fairly strong stomach - yes, I'm going to describe in detail the proper way to eat a chicken's foot. I want to give the blog it's due (items like that are what this Blog is mainly about), but I've been too damn busy or too damn tired to type much of anything the last few days.
The last few days....
So, after 3 hours of sleep I headed for the airport in HK and hopped a 15 hour flight to Detroit (on which I probably slept 3 or 4 restless hours), then a 45 minute flight to Indy. I got home, took about a 90 minute nap, then went out for some tasty beverages with friends (God, I missed you guys!). Made it home sometime after midnight and crashed out for about 4 hours before getting up and heading to the airport again. This was my son's 3rd flight ever and we were on a small CanadaAir Regional Jet and it was one bumpy ride. He wasn't feeling 100% to begin with, but I think his first experience of real turbulence really pushed him over the edge into being miserable. We landed at La Guardia a half hour early, but - as happens so often at one of my least favorite airports - we ended up being stuck on the plane for an hour before they could find room to let us off. Dakota was about to go nuts wanting to get outta that metal tube. Really surprised me with his vehemence.
Digressing a moment.... I fly all the time and have spent far too much time in many many airports. La Guardia is one of the worst! Why is that? There are busier airports - O'hare in Chicago, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta There are other old, run-down airports - Midway in Chicago, Indianapolis before they opened the new one. They ALL run so much better than La Guardia. There are new airports going up all over the world (Hong Kong's was gorgeous) why can't they build a new state-of-the-art airport for NYC? As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a very proud American despite some of our more glaring flaws, but every time I fly in and out of La Guardia I am ashamed to think that this is the first thing most people visiting from other countries see when they get to one of the greatest cities on earth. It's truly pathetic.
Ok, back to the weekend.... Even with being held prisoner on the plane and fighting heavy traffic on the "Hutch" (as the Hutchinson River Pkwy is commonly referred to) we still made it to the party in CT only about a half hour later than expected. The party was fun! Don throws a great bash (always a well-stocked bar) and Jeralyn loved the Lion King tickets I got her.
Dakota and I got checked into the hotel (the Staybridge Times Square) around midnight and he crashed out almost immediately. I went for a walk. The hotel itself is excellent, but I quickly figured out why the rates are so reasonable. This street - West 40th - has more than its fair share of adult-oriented establishments (the words "peep show" are a regular occurrence).
Next morning I was up bright and early. (Exhausted as I've been, I've still only been able to sleep for a few short hours at a time for a few weeks now. Take this morning for example - I've been up for over an hour and it's only 5:20am as I write this. It's very frustrating.) Dakota, however, was having none of it. The boy sleeps like a zombie filled up on brains. I wanted to take him to some cool restaurant for breakfast - maybe Balthazar's - but I settled for grabbing us some Micky D's and bringing it back to the room. I always forget how rude service people in NYC can be, but I got reminded right off. The girl who took my order looked at me like I was wasting her time and spoke with such barely concealed contempt for everyone around her that I just wanted to reach back and slam her face into the counter a couple times. But I refrained and the weekend moved on.
I figured I'd spend a couple hours in the TKTS line trying to score some good seats to a show, so I dropped Dakota off at one of the movie theaters near Times Square. Turns out they have "AM Matinees" which only cost $6 - what a deal!! Any movie showing before noon is $6 at the AMC 25 on 42nd Street near 7th Ave. There's a little travel tip for ya. Being in that theater brought back memories of the last time I was there... I'd brought my girlfriend at the time to NYC to watch the ball drop in Times Square for New Years 2004. We decided to kill some time (and stay warm) by watching "Big Fish" which had just come out that week. That was a gooood New Years. *sigh*
Time to get ready to do the La Guardia torture test again. Still gotta tell ya about China Town and Rock of Ages. This blog will be continued....
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