HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Luckily we tend overlook, or at least forget, that Lady Liberty came from France!
She’s just All-American to most of us!

Hope she is as proud of me as I am of her.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM ALL OF US!

TIMES SQUARE ADVERTISING

Number One Times Square is the most viewed building in Times Square, both in person and on TV, and although the building is completely vacant, makes more money than any other building in New York City! It’s the long slender building above which "The Time Ball" drops to welcome in New Year’s Eve each year!

The building was built between 1903 and 1905 as a home for the New York Times, and it remained so until 1961. Since then, although the building was brought up to city construction code in 1996, it remains tenantless. However, it rakes in millions of dollars per day from the advertising clinging to its outer walls! In 2000, it was estimated that the building's 26 signs bring in monthly rent checks ranging from $100,000,000 to $250,000,000.

Click on the photos to enlarge and see who is advertising in the Times Square area!

That’s right, on my recent visit, I was given free advertising space just because I’m MUSHY!

MORE THAN A BIG APPLE TO EAT IN NEW YORK

Check out my "food and beverage" report for our New York trip on Mushy's Cookings!

HOT TIME, SUMMER IN THE CITY

Well, it wasn’t actually summer yet in New York City, but you couldn’t prove it by looking at the thermometer…record setting days in June with temps over 95 and Tennessee-like humidity!

However, we hit the ground running Monday morning and were eating a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit in McDonald’s by 8 AM. It was all that was open within the first three blocks, and since we got in around 1 AM and it was too late to eat, we were all starved that first morning.

We then hustled on down to Times Square to see all the New York people celebrating New Year’s Eve…but, of course, they weren’t there, just a horde of “out of towners” in bright colored shorts and t-shirts – just like us! New Yorkers rarely go to Times Square, so you really don’t get to experience New York people or their various cultures by going to Times Square. It’s much like Gatlinburg in Tennessee, Honolulu in Hawaii, Daytona Beach or Disney World/Orlando in Florida! There is no one there but the visitors! A city, state, or country’s people and culture resides in its local neighborhoods or boroughs – in their backyards and hearts. Naturally, on a whirlwind 3-day visit, we experienced little of the “real” New York City.

After snapping a dozen or more shots of Number One Times Square, we wheeled around and headed for 49^th Street and Rockefeller Center!

However, before we could get from the west side of the street to the east, we were stopped in the median strip by a TV crew filing shorts for a Canadian Kid’s TV show called YTV! The young man with the microphone asked Julie if she wanted to be on TV and, of course, what kid is going to say no?! They began taping her thumb wrestling the dude with the microphone, who pretended to be losing. I whispered to Judy that they were probably child pornographers! Anyway, the YTV part checked out.

Rockefeller Plaza and the NBC Studio area was the next tourist attraction that we just had to capture in digital format. Since we did not get up two hours earlier, we were relegated to the back rows of people ringing NBC’s Today Show, but, I did manage to get a couple “Mat Lauer” head shots. We then walked on over to the plaza.

“Where’s the skating rink and Christmas Tree?” Naturally we were several months too early or too late, depending on how you look at it!

The “Rock Center Café” covers the skating rink area this time of year, and the only trees around are the locus trees that line the streets. However, it was a lovely area and we intended to return before leaving to view the city from “The Top of the Rock’s” observation deck. Sadly, we never made it back at night as we planned.

By this time, we had only two hours left to eat lunch and ride the subway over to “old” Yankee Stadium. Did I mention it was hot? Well, it was! Very hot!

Did I mention it was humid? Well, it was! Tennessee humid!

We hopped the “B Train” over to the Bronx and got off right in front of the stadium. We walked between the past and the future as we passed in front of the “new” Yankee Stadium and on into the “old” stadium. To me there is little difference in the look of the new stadium on the outside, but I’m sure it’s all very modernized inside.

Our seats were very high up in the stadium, but almost directly behind home plate. It was easy to see the little “ant” players swinging, spitting, scratching, hitting, and running around below us. Frankly, it took me several minutes before I ever got into the game, or even looked for the score. I wanted to take it all in…the people, the sounds, the smells, and most of all to feel myself sitting in an aisle seat and watching a professional baseball game – not just any ol’ game, but a New York Yankee’s ball game!

Finally, I was experiencing a truly New York cultural experience! Sadly, for the Yankee fans, they lost to the Royals 3 to 2 that day.

At the “seventh inning stretch” everyone stood and sang along to “America”. I choked…I could not sing more than 3 or 4 words; it was just too much for this ol’ fat boy! “What a moment this is,” I thought, “I’m here and I am feeling so very blessed.” I looked out over the center and right field walls and on over into the Bronx and it was full of Americans…all kinds of Americans. “Do they feel like I do? Do they realize how blessed they all are?”

Then, just as I succeeded choking that back, they began playing and everyone was singing, “Take me out to the ball game…”

I looked out over crowd and wondered if they realized the tradition in the moment! “Man, just think of the people that have played in that stadium and who had watched them play…the luckiest people in the whole world. Thank God I’m an American,” I was thinking, “Why aren’t we all just blubbering around the stands and hugging each other, swapping hotdogs, and bumping plastic beer cups!?”

Sorry, sorry for that…I let my emotions run a little over half throttle…I’ll rein it in some.

Did I mention it was hot? And Tennessee humid? It was…very! But so damn American!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEW YORK PHOTOS!

HELD CAPTIVE BY UNITED AIRLINES IN CHICAGO

Judy, Katie Bug (our granddaughter), and I went to New York this past week with Terri, Steve, and Juliana (their granddaughter).

Our flight to New York began on Flight 5881 at 10:29 AM (Eastern) Sunday (6/8/08) out of Knoxville, Tennessee to Chicago and was on time and smooth as glass to O’Hare. United Airlines boarded Flight 646 for New York at 1:15 PM (Central). The pilot announced a 30 minute hold at the terminal, which went by fairly quickly. We then got the go ahead and taxied into position behind about 25 to 30 other aircraft full of eager passengers.

The pilot soon came on and announced he was shutting down the right engine to conserve fuel, because the storm that had recently passed through Chicago was now between us and New York. Newark (New Jersey) had notified Chicago that it was not accepting aircraft for one hour.

The pilot told us that he was requesting a flight plan around the storm, so we sat and waited…hoping he was successful.

He then came back and said that he could not accept a “fly around” because there was not enough fuel on board, and that he would have to go to the terminal to fill up.

At the terminal, the pilot promised it only took about 45 minutes to take on the fuel (including the time it took for the tanker to arrive).

The tanker arrived and we finally backed out of the gate. I was watching one of the ground support guys as he flagged us safely backward. He looked down at his watch and then looked up and crossed the flashlights stopping the plane and then went forward to put the plane back at the gate.

Suddenly the engines stopped again and the pilot announced that the “flight crew” was now “illegal” and would have to be replaced – shift change!

While we waited for this, they announced that we could leave the plane and go back into the terminal until the new crew arrived. There was also a warning that the plane would leave (with or without us) when the crew arrived, so we needed to stay close to the terminal gate.

We quickly made it off the plane to find something quick for lunch, a meal that was now at least 3 hours overdue! We feed the young ones and ourselves and headed promptly back to the gate and onto the plane. We were greeted by a new team of attendants, all fresh and ready to tackle a grumpy bunch of short-tempered travelers.

We sat on the plane with a promise from the pilot that he would not back out of the terminal until he had his flight plan and a take off time verified by Newark.

We did back out eventually, but after we did, we keep getting notices of 30 and 45 minutes holds while on the tarmac.

Long story short, we spent in excess of 5 hours in delays in Chicago. When we arrived at Newark, it had taken us a total of 12 hours to fly from Knoxville to New York. Google says it is 751 miles from my house to 226 W. 52^nd Street in New York City (Hotel Novotel Times Square), about 12 hours and 9 minutes!

I heard this made the national news this week, so you may have heard something about irate travelers in Chicago.

One side note, there were three passengers with small dogs on the plane, which was my first encounter with pets within the aircraft cabin. I felt sorry for them stuck there under the seats, but soon their owners pulled them out and onto their laps. I once dozed off and woke suddenly when something bumped me. When I looked up I was face-to-face with a big rat…I mean a Chihuahua!

On the way back to use one of the lavatories, I noticed the other two dogs standing on “pee pads” back in the galley! As I stepped across I pointed down at one of the dogs and said, “Better hurry, or I’ll use that thing!”

[I need to thank Jeff (FHB) for helping to keep me sane through this ordeal. He and I talked or sent text messages frequently. He was dealing with his own layover problems in Atlanta about the same time I was parked at O’Hare! Thanks brother!]

Sometime around midnight, after riding the bumpy New Jersey Turnpike we made the hotel, which was within eye shot of Times Square, which seems much larger on TV!

After showers around, we fell into bed with a cellphone set to awaken us at 5:30! We hit the ground running bright and early Monday morning and did not slow down until late Wednesday night.

More on that later.