I guess most people have a "bucket list" whether they call their dreams that or not. My bucket list includes food items mostly....I am a simple guy, ya know. Fortunately for our family, my son Cody and my daughter-in-law Cayce dream bigger. One of their "bucket list" items was fulfilled this past week. They wanted to take their parents, one sister, and the whole C&C crew to New York City to celebrate Thanksgiving by watching the Macy Parade live. This endeavor included eleven people and a tremendous amount of planning on their part.
Cody and Cayce announced their plans over a year ago so everyone would be available, healthy, "ward - robed" for the cold, and as excited as they were. They spent the entire year making reservations, buying tickets, paying for hotel and entertainment. They met with all of us more than once for our input on what we would like to do. It was an experience of a lifetime and for this we can never thank them enough.
I tried to keep a journal of the trip so I could tell all of you about it in detail. I was true to my commitment for the first three days and after that I was just too tired to write at night. So much was planned for us we were racing each day to get everything in. Sadly, we had to pass on several activities because....well, because Debbie and I kind of slowed everything down. We are old you know! Even though we didn't try to stay together as a group on all the excursions, we did have to meet at certain times and places to enjoy another planned activity. It was an action packed week to say the least.
On our first day out we all met at terminal C, DFW airport. The first blip was mine. I forgot my cane and knew my leg would give out before too long. I had to get another one in New York. Cody and Andy went out the first night to find one for me. I stayed behind and rested one really aching leg.
As we took off from DFW and climbed to the cruising altitude Charlee asked her daddy why it was taking so long to get there. That was a sign the flight was going to be really long. She proved to be our entertainment on the flight. She refused to go into the flight restroom because as her Mammy, Debbie, escorted her back she saw a man walk out of it. She wanted to wait for the women's restroom to open up. As we descended to JFK airport her ears started popping and she screamed for the whole passenger list to hear, "Daddy, my ears hurt".....repeatedly until we were parked and getting off the plane. This was a good distraction because Debbie, who is very nervous flying, asked me while the plane had been taxiing for several minutes "Have we landed yet?"
Our reservations led us to the Parker New York hotel which was mind blowing to Debbie and I. We don't get out much but even if we did we would have been as impressed as all the others who have made the New York trip many times. We got to our rooms, dropped off the luggage, and hurried back down to the lobby to start exploring the city.
We went to the subway and bought passes so we could get on and off at our leisure....and a mere $2.50 per person each time we did it. The passes allowed us to spend our money without the hassle of buying a ticket every time. I did not realize how fast a $40 pass would disappear in a day. We were very lucky to have Cayce's little sister, Allie with us. She was self-proclaimed as being "directionally savvy". Our first stop included the phrases, "Oops, we're on the wrong train" and "I'm pretty sure we're going the wrong direction" but she was directionally savvy after all and we made it to our first destination. We finally got off the right train at our planned destination....just a short walk. Allie had a map and encouraged us to follow her. Forty minutes and many blocks later she explained, "I don't know where north is. Anybody have any ideas?" Allie was dismissed as tour guide and her dad, Russ Garrison took over. We eventually arrived at our restaurant late, sweating, and very hungry.
This ends the first day. I will write again tomorrow and tell you about the tour guide from hell we encountered on day two.
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