New York, New York

For Frank's birthday, (April 16th) I kind of surprised him. (Actually, although I WANTED to steal him away at the last minute, but, Frank is so hard to pin down...our history together compelled me to forget that idea) Still...he went along when I revealed the plan and last weekend, we went up to New Jersey with plans to take the Ferry in Hoboken to New York for one of the two days. We never did get on the ferry, but made it to Hoboken on the way home. What a cute, quaint little town! Anyway, the whole object of the trip was to see a sax player who Frank admires. Bob Ackerman and his wife, Pam Purvis, who sings and plays keyboard were appearing at the Savoy Grille in Newark, NJ. Bob is a monster on the sax and also plays flute. They were adorable together! Pam told me they've been together for 30 years. They were awesome!!! The food there was excellent also, if you ever get a chance to go. I'd made reservations in Jersey City and took great pains to get all the various directions to the restaurant and ferry, etc. But...true to the style of my husband, he made me cancel and wanted to see the place first. I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed, because haven't you ever been in that situation, where you're wasting a lot of time looking for a hotel, getting agrivated and wind up either paying too much money or hated the place? None of that happened this time, and we stayed near the Meadowlands Stadium at the Sheraton. From our room on the 17th floor, we could see the sun rise ocross the Hudson River across the New York skyline. It was incredible. Like I said, we skipped the ferry and took a bus into New York the next day. I didn't realize how close we were. I thought, since I was the expert because I've been there five times, I have to confess, it was just as confusing as ever. Look at all the maps you want, but, uptown, midtown, downtown...it takes a lot to get used to. Another thing that takes getting used to was the walking. Here, we drive our car to the store....that we can see!!! We walked for miles while neither of us was used to it. I've never felt so decrepid. We started out enthusiastic and maybe a little cocky..."Pick us up at 10:45" we told the shuttle driver. That was the latest scheduled pickup, but you had to arrange it with the hotel. Are you kidding??? by 7:00 we looked at each other and had the same thought. Back to the hotel!!! We were done!!! We did, however, see a Broadway Show...a matinee. I'm glad because I wouldn't have wanted to pay 100 dollars a ticket when we could see "Little Women" for 50. That's right!!!! I said "Little Women" Frank had never heard of Little Women and we we'd been enjoying being off our feet for at least 10 minutes when he suddenly realized he was probably one of about 5 men peppered in an audience of 500. Haha! "Melanie" he asked sheepishly. Is this a chick play??? I have to admit it was...but it was good...after all, it was on Broadway and starred Maureen McGovern? Remember her??? "The Poisiedon Adventure" (There's got to be a morning after....) Except that Maureen was off for the matinee version. Oh well...we enjoyed it. I couldn't help feeling at one point during the day that we could probably play ourselves in an episode of Seinfeld...as some dorky tourists; I asked the person in the ticket booth what she would suggest, something more family friendly...I remembered the soup nazi episodes as she said "I don't know...I don't make the choices...I just sell the tickets. Pick something." If I hadn't tried to act decisive, when I'm really not...we may not have enjoyed "Jo, Beth, Amy, Marmee...and (I can't remember the other girls name) ...It was good..I think we both nodded off for a moment, but I think that's just because we were EXHAUSTED from walking!!!! We capped it off with dinner at Ollie's Chinese food, right there in Time's Square, where again I pushed another harried New Yorker to the brink by asking her what her favorites on the menu were. After an instant of shock, disgust...or maybe just another "oh no, another dork from out of town" look, it was hard to tell:):) She finally quipped "I don't know, everything's good...just pick something." It was great, though, it's part of the whole experience of being in New York. We loved it...especially when we made it back to the hotel...off our feet.