Mom and Dad Graves and I flew into Newark Friday afternoon and were supposed to meet Jaime there, but her plane was late getting out of Florida due to the weather...it was POURING rain in NYC - as a result, we had a 2 1/2 hour car ride back to Jim and Judy's house.
Saturday we had a nice relaxing day (I even got to sleep in a bit). We took the parents up to the submarine base in Groton, CT, and also visited the town of Mystic, and had lunch at Mystic Pizza. Regardless of any Julia Roberts movie, that place has dang good pizzas and sandwiches! We also had a nice relaxing dinner with Jim and Judy.
Sunday we headed into NYC for our first tourist experiences. There was great concern, especially with my father, because as we were riding into the city, the local radio station kept mentioning that the temperature and humidity was going to be "oppressive" When the locals mention the word oppressive, this does not bode well for Seattleites! Regardless, Jim and Judy dropped us in midtown Manhattan, and we hopped onto a Grey Line tour bus for some sightseeing.
The weather lived up to the hype that day - 90 degrees with about 85% humidity. And people live here? That's messed up! The other unfortunate was that there was severe traffic, so our open air tour bus wasn't moving very quickly. We made it down to Ground Zero, where there is a very tastefully done new museum. I know it was a very somber experience for my mom, who had wanted to visit for a long time.
We payed our respects and headed uptown to visit the "Top of the Rock" - the GE Building. Let me tell you, this was a way better choice than waiting 4 hours in line for the Empire State building, because the view is just as spectacular, and we waited a max of about ten minutes! My parents also got their first experience with the (non airconditioned) NYC subway system!
After the lovely views of Manhattan, we headed off to dinner at Becco - a family style restaurant owned by Chef Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (she's got a show on PBS) Jim and Judy, Jaime's sister Jen and her fiance Phil, and our freinds Kevin and Param joined us for dinner! It was incredibly hot, but delicious!
All this on day two...more updates to come!
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