Hitting NYC - July 22-26

Mostly brief posts to keep track of our activity in New York:

Day 1
After a scare that the batteries in our Highlander were 'broken' by the oil change, Lisa, Sam, and I head to NYC.  Brief stop at the Midway Rest Stop on the turnpike for lunch and of course WaWa in Trexlertown.  Only traffic was getting onto 80 and then found that Hannah is right off the Henry Hudson.  Found a parking spot right in front of her apartment good until 8:30 Monday morning!!!  Walked down past Columbia for dinner at the Mill Korean Restaurant. Back at Hannah's Sam finds lots of tickets for the Yankees game on Friday night.  Guess who is going to the game!!!

Day 2
Well it is the night after A-Rod hit his 599th HR and guess who is going to the Yankees game!!!   Well first we need to meet Sam and Hannah at the Guiggenheim to see: 

Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance

Hannah really wanted to see Merce Cunningham perform John Cage's 4'33''.  It was actually the best in this exhibit.

Actually Sam and I liked The Geometry of Kandinsky and Malevich .  Cool early 20th century geometric paintings.

Then lunch with Larry at a noodle and sushi restaurant on 3rd near 85th.  OK chicken basil and sushi... We then head down to 14th st to find the start of the High Line.  Nice walk, great wildflowers, some cool architecture views, and an organic ice cream truck at the end with soft custard.  We then head up to find a few of the galleries that moved from SoHo into the west Chelsea area.  Everyone starts to get cranky so we head over the subway and get a call from Howard that he and Natalie have arrived and are getting some food.  We meet them at the subway stop and head back to Hannah's.  We stop for a sandwich for Howard, trail mix for Natilie and beer for Larry and me.  Hannah heads to meet mom after her lesson to eat dinner at the Carnegie Deli and then see Promises, Promises.

The rest of us follow Leon east to find the 'B' train to take us to Yankee Stadium.  On the way some kids are playing with a fire hydrant and soak Howard, half of Sam and parts of Natalie!!!  The stadium is heavy and majestic outside but inside I find it very commercial and stark.  The view of the outfield is ads and apartment buildings.  The scoreboard is OK but I found it hard to get the information on players although I did like that they constantly post both line ups with batting averages and who the next batter is.  A-Rod hit a couple of singles but no HR.  Taking the trains home was really easy...

Day 3
Lisa and I get 'cheap' tickets at TKTS for Fela!.  Met the kids at Meze Grill for lunch and killed 15 minutes in the M&M store before seeing the show.  Highly recommend Fela!.  Learned some history about Africa that we never new and it is fun and exciting music.   We walked around the Shops at Columbus Circle and checked out the cook 3D TV and gadgets in the Samsung store.  Then headed up Amsterdam and found Earthen Oven Indian Restaurant at 72nd.

Day 4
A slow easy day.  Lisa and I go to the 'no pressure' presentation on the new 57th St Hilton Club.  It is a very nice place and probably a good deal if you want to come to NYC 3 or 4 times a year and stay in luxury.  We said no.  Headed up to Hannah's place to have bagels with everyone except Leon.  Went down to the river and took some family pictures.  Then Howard and Natalie took off to head back to Boston.  After installing the new G router, we headed down to Smoke hear Leon's last set.  Turns out Lisa had heard of Lea Delaria and we ended up seeing a famous person for just the price of some pretty good food.  She had some tricky arrangements but Leon did very well.  The exciting part was that she is friends with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and he was there with his friends.  Jesse is on our favorite show 'Modern Family'. 

We then spent some time exploring Hannah's neighborhood.  The local bakery had some plain cookies that I bought while the kids got ice cream at the Mr. Softee truck.  Headed towards the river again and found Covo Trattoria for some tasty pizza, lasagna, and fettucini with a nice bottle of wine.

Utah Tour de Donut - Sat July 17

www.utahtourdedonut.org …  A fun idea that I was able to participate in.  I found the race advertised in a free biking paper when I ate at the Stoneground.  Got there by finding a coupon of buy one pizza get the second free.  Second one came in handy when I had to work until 10PM on Thursday.  But because we worked late, we didn’t have to work on Saturday.  So I changed my flight to 1:35PM to come home which left me just enough time to do the ride in the morning.  Now where would I get a bike to ride?  One of guys who I was working with had bike that he hadn’t ridden in a few years due to recovery from some surgery.  Paul’s a serious fisherman with fishing licenses for almost every state within driving and flying range of Utah including Alaska!!!  So he needed to head down to Cabela’s which was near American Forks where the local Rotary Club was running the race for their fundraising.  He dropped the bike off and picked it up which worked our great for me.  Thanks Paul!!!!

The race was fun but not very challenging.  If I get my phone syncing back to my PC I might even be able for post photos…

-          I saw the winner of the last two years (ate 28 donuts)

-          Talked with a rider on the skull candy team.  This is a local headphone manufacturer whose stuff you can find in most electronic stores.  Cool bike uniforms.

-          Talked with a guy from One-on-One Marketing whose firm was a key sponsor of the ride.  Lives up in the mountains and works in the valley which I didn’t think too many people did.

-          Rode all 21 miles with a short detour to view Lake Utah 

-          Oh yeah, I had 4 donuts, 2 between each of the 3 laps.

Made it to the airport in plenty of time.  First class to Phoenix was nice as I got a couple of beers in me before taking the long flight back to PGH.  Lisa and I stopped off at Mad Mex for a quick Pennsylvania Fried Tofu and beer before heading home.

July 2, 2010 - Bike, Hike, Drive, Fly

Well it is time to return my bike so I hop on it around 8:30AM and head into Vail after exploring Avon a little.  The others pick me up and we head to the Gore Creek Trail (not Deluge Lake Trail)along the bike route I took yesterday.  It is a climb up along the creek with some different views, meadows, and fauna than the other hikes this week.  After finding a perfect camping site right next the creek, we wait out a small rain and then head back down.  We didn't make it more than 2 miles in but it was nice hike to end the week.

Lunch, Dan finds Pepi's in the center of Vail and we sit outside, watch the dogs (and people) while Dan and I eat  authentic German food(Bratwurst, saurkraut, mashed potatoes) and the girls have good old American stuff(Tuna melt and French Onion Soup).

We go back and prepare for Becky's birthday party and our last dinner of the week.  Dan makes some great chicken and we celebrate with chocolate dipped strawberries (courtesy of the Ritz) and store bought brownie cake.

Lisa and I drive into Denver to catch our redeye to Philly and then on to Cincinnati.

July 1, 2010 - Bike Vail Pass and Hail Storm

My busiest day!!!

I rented a Giant Defy 2 yesterday so I was all ready to leave at 7:30AM and start my bike trip over Vail Pass to Copper.  I leave Bachelor Gulch and head up Rt 6.  Turns out the wind was blowing from the east and I was heading west to make the toughest part of the trip.  I go through Vail amazed at the fancy homes and golf courses.  I head up old Rt 6 which then turns into a bike trail along side Interstate 70.  Exhausted I reach the top of Vail Pass and head down over into Copper where Lisa will picks me up.  Trip took 4 hours, I like the climb up but I had to stop a few times.  Ride down to Copper is beautiful with most of the trail in between Interstate 70.  Check out my route on Bikely.

Avon to Copper via Vail Pass

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Lisa and I head over to Empire to meet Dan and Becky for lunch and then to head over to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The internet pointed us to the 'Hard Rock Cafe' which claims to be the original.  It was closed for the day for some unknown reason but Jenny's was open.  Nice Buffalo Burger and Dutch Apple Pie.

Well it is pouring rain when we leave Jenny's so Dan and Becky get their leathers on and wait a few minutes.  We head up Rt 40 and it clears up about 5 miles down the road.  But we get up to Berthold Pass or Berthoud Pass (Continental Divide) and it starts to rain, 45 F temperature and really miserable.  We head down the pass and get into a hail storm.  I pull over to try to call Dan but in a few minutes they pull over right next to me.  They decide head home but we continue on.  In Winter Park, a deluge happens so Lisa and I decide to head back and check out the hiking trail along one of the switch backs going up the pass.

Research trail...

We head back home stopping in 'Historic' Georgetown just a few miles past Empire.  Actually enjoyed the shops.  Lisa found earrings, they had a nice ice cream and popcorn shop, glass shop with a wine stopper and earrings also, and a interesting  photographer. We then headed back to Avon with the idea of finding a pizza to take back to the timeshare.  As soon as we reached Avon, the sky opened up again and we were driving around trying to find a place.  Lisa spotted Pazzo's where we had a Fat Tire while watch the energetic kids behind the counter make the pizza.

June 30, 2010 - Village to Village

Everyone takes the morning easy except me.  I decide to rent a bike for a couple of days so I hope on my brother's hog (he drives, I am 'bitch') and he takes me to Lionshead village to rent the bike.  He goes exploring on the motorcycle and I head back to Batchelor's Gulch.  The ride takes me about 1.5 hours with the toughest part the ride up the hill to the timeshare.  We then get organized enough to start the 'village to village' hike over the mountain to Beaver Creek resort.  A 20 minute climb up the slopes takes us to a nice trail over the hill and down into the resort.  We have lunch and then take the shuttle back.

The evening we head to the Gerald R Ford Theater in Vail to hear the opening concert of the 'Bravo!' series.  Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.  The excitement was when an afternoon thunderstorm whipped through just before the concert started.  We made it under the roof but since we were next to last row still got somewhat wet.  Nice concert but we all thought Beethoven's 5th lacked something.