American Museum of Natural History

...the one in which we are almost eaten by a T-rex...or was it swallowed by a whale???


So...after our adventure at Yankees Stadium, we headed south on the subway to the Central Park area. Our destination was the famous American Museum of Natural History - forever immortalized in the 'classic' film, "Night at the Museum", starring Ben Stiller.



The museum is gigantic...with several floors, wings, and galleys to explore. While we'd been on the subway, we'd studied a map of the museum, and each of us named 1-2 items that were a "must-see". Even doing this, our list was daunting. So...we decided to play one of our "games" - a scavenger hunt from a company called Stray Boots. We'd downloaded, via an app on my phone, a scavenger hunt designed specifically for the American Museum of Natural History...and by solving clues and puzzles, it would let us explore the gigantic museum in a different, but fun, way.


A screenprint of how the app appears on your cellphone....



The game costs $12 per person, and the description, from their website, says:

"Traverse the globe and go back through millions of years of history as you discover some of the most fascinating creatures ever to have walked the earth. Whether you love lions, tigers, or bears...OH MY...there's something for everyone at the American Museum of Natural History, and now that you're seeing it through a cell-phone based scavenger hunt, you can finally interact with all of those dead animals you've longed to befriend. So show T-Rex who's boss by grabbing your cell phone and a friend and attacking this Game Zone like a blue whale goes after plankton...(hungrily)."


We entered the museum, and paid the "suggested" entrance fee of $22 per person. Remember, technically the museum is free - but they don't really encourage that or remind you of that.

Once inside, we immediately began playing our game. It's very simple, really...it begins with a clue, or a question...you have to traverse through the museum to find the answer. Once you find the answer, you type it in - and if you're correct, it will first give you a bit more information about the exhibit that you're now in front of, but secondly - give you your next clue. I had initially only thought that Daughter would be into playing this game, but it soon brought out the competitive spirit in ALL of us, and it didn't take long before the three of us were eagerly anticipating the next clue, so we could solve each puzzle before moving on to the next:


Daughter, reading the next clue....


The game had approximately 20 some clues, and it ultimately had us going (in an orderly fashion, thank goodness!) into pretty much every wing and exhibit that the museum offered. Some of the highlights included:


#1 on MY list had been the T-Rex...it was just as awesome as I had anticipated! There's an entire Hall of Dinosaurs on the 4th Floor that has the world's largest collection of dinosaur fossils....WAY cool.



Our game asked us to do our "best" T-Rex impression, and snap a photo of it...I think they nailed it!



#1 on Hubby's list...the largest meteorite discovered in North America (6th largest in the world)....



The 94-foot suspended Blue Whale in the Hall of Ocean Life...EEP! This thing was HUGE!!!



Part of a giant sequoia tree...I think this was 90' around at its base....



"Lucy" - who lived about 3 million years ago...this was #1 on Daughter's list....



Star of India...at 563 carats, the Star of India is the world's largest gem-quality blue star sapphire. Some 2 billion years old, it is also one of the most well-known objects in the world. EEP!



We spent hours at the museum...and I don't think there was anything we DIDN'T see. I was impressed with how well the museum was organized, as well as exhibited. We could have spent DAYS in there and not seen enough, as it was just massive. There's animals. There's rocks. There's bones. There's gemstones. Truly, something for everyone.

Most visitors enter the museum through the Central Park front entrance...but there's a "hidden" treasure at the 77th Street entrance...the original exterior of the building, which is absolutely beautiful:


Squee! Isn't it AMAZING??!!!





All in all, the museum is a DO NOT MISS while visiting New York City - for adults and children alike. It must be in your Top 10 Attractions to visit!


My best tips are:

1. Do your research ahead of time. Know what attractions you MUST visit.

2. Check out this free app that will help you navigate the museum: Explore App
.
3. Allow for several hours...so be well-rested, and well-fed, before visiting.

There's a subway station VERY close to the museum, so within minutes, we were back at our hotel, resting up a bit before dinner....We had something special planned this evening...a little "off," if you will.....

Stay tuned!

Review: Yankees Stadium Tour

...the one in which I squeeeeeeee.....!!!!!





I love baseball.

I really do.

In fact, my very first dream of a future career - when I was a kid - was to be the first woman to play professional baseball in the major league.

Well...this may surprise you...but that dream obviously didn't come true. But no worries - I've still enjoyed the game to this day, and I love nothing more than going to the ballpark, or just listening to a game on the radio.

Therefore, it was a no-brainer that while visiting New York City, it was a MUST-DO for moi to visit Yankees Stadium...and although the stadium isn't the original - and therefore doesn't have the history of such famous players as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio - it's STILL Yankees Stadium. And therefore MUST be paid homage to.

I would have loved, loved, loved to have actually gone to a game...but the Yankees home schedule didn't coincide with my schedule...which just pissed me off to no end, because really, they should have consulted with ME before deciding on a schedule, right?! If I couldn't fit in a game, the next best thing was to head up north - to The Bronx - for an actual tour of the stadium itself.

I booked a tour through Viator.com, and for a "mere" $79 per person, we would get to go behind the scenes at the ballpark, as well as get to meet a former player. Yes, the price was a bit high - but trust me when I say it was a heck of a lot cheaper than going to an actual game.

So...we showed up at the Grey Line office at 9:00 to check in...apparently, we'd be provided bus transportation TO the Stadium, but NOT back to Manhattan. Confusing. There was only one other couple going on this tour - for a total of five of us - and we were driven all the way to the Bronx on a double-decker bus. All by ourselves. Yes. Five people. One bus. Weird.


Daughter and I hanging out at Grey Line...not sure what we were talking about here, but I kinda' love this picture.


Along the way, we got to experience - for the first time - the EPIC traffic jams that are a part of NYC culture. Oh. My. God. Bumper to bumper to bumper...our bus crawled and inched along, so it seemed to take an eternity to FINALLY get to Yankees Stadium. Gah. This is when I wish we would have just skipped our "included transportation" with the tour, and taken the subway instead. It would have shaved off about 45 minutes of time.

So...we arrive at Yankees Stadium, where we are greeted by several Yankee employees, who whisk us through security and then take us into the stadium. Besides our official guide who would be doing the talking, we were escorted by 2-3 other stadium employees, who were there to basically babysit us and make sure we didn't do something terrible, I guess, to the stadium. We actually had more Yankee staff in our group than we did tourists, which was a bit weird.




This tour had promised a meeting with a former New York Yankee, and we were introduced to Jim Leyritz, a former catcher and infielder who played on the 1996 and 1999 World Series championship teams for the Yankees. Jim was very affable and friendly, and was quite eager to chime in during our tour to add pertinent and relevant information.


Jim, back in his playing days....



The first area that we visited was the museum, which was impressive in its memorabilia and displays it has in homage to the Yankees. Some of my favorite things included:



A display case featuring one of my favorite players, Mickey Mantle...



Babe Ruth and my ALL-TIME favorite, Lou Gehrig....



Hubby listens as Jim tells what it was like to play under the George Steinbrenner years....



Thurman Munson's locker has been preserved...he was killed in a plane crash during his career with the Yankees....


The centerpiece of the museum was the Ball of Walls...that was part of the Don Larsen sculpture. Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series...there is now a statue of Don, "throwing" a pitch to a statue of Yogi Berra...and the trajectory of his last pitch formes the Ball of Walls. The wall is filled with thousands of autographed balls from former players. It's WAY cool:




The museum was really extensive, and tastefully done...even if you're not a Yankees fan - or heck, a baseball fan - you'll find it interesting. There's a lot of history and trivia, and my only regret is that we didn't have HOURS to spend in it, absorbing it all! On game days, the museum is open until the 8th inning, and is free of charge. On non-game days, you must take a tour - like we did - to visit the museum.


So, after our visit to the museum, our tour of the stadium continued.

We next ventured out to centerfield, where we visited Monument Park, an open-air museum that recognizes former Yankees greats:








Check out the seats and the foam cushions...don't they look comfy??!! Jim had us sit down and try them out just so we could see how soft and cushy they are....!


Lots of cush for your tush!


We were then taken to the Yankees dugout, where we got to go inside and have a seat:


SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at that HUGE grin on my face!!!! I can't stop smiling!!!!!


We sat here for a bit while Jim told us more stories of his baseball playing days:




We then got to pose with Jim for a picture, which he later autographed for us:




I'd tell you about the next part of the tour - but then I'd have to kill you. Seriously - the next part was so "top-secret" - you would have thought we were going into the Oval Office for a meeting with the President and the Pope at the same time...when all we were really doing was visiting the Yankee clubhouse. However, we were told - no less than 4 times - that we were NOT to have cameras out - and we were NOT to have our cell phones in our hands. Period. Or we'd be escorted right out of the clubhouse, the stadium - heck, they'd probably have us on the first ferry to New Jersey. NO PHOTOS OF THE CLUBHOUSE.

But it was way cool. Wow. They've spared no expense for the ballplayers, in the decor, the furnishings, the artwork...it was pretty amazing. An interesting bit of trivia: there's only ONE current New York Yankees ballplayer who has not one, but TWO lockers...know who it is?



If you answered Derek Jeter, give yourself a pat on the back. Derek is so popular - with both the fans and outside companies - that he has to have two lockers to keep up with the fan mail, endorsement deals, and products that he receives.

All too soon, our tour was at an end...that hour flew by quickly. I loved it 95%. I reserve 5% because I didn't like the feeling that I was being escorted by prison guards - it was just very disconcerting. I could see having that much security detail around us if we'd been a HUGE barbarian group of tourists - but there were five of us. FIVE. I teased Hubby that he must have a suspicious face or something.

Jim, the former Yankee player, was a delight. He was so eager to tell his stories...and to share everything...and entertain ANY and ALL questions that we had. He was so helpful, that after the tour was over, he volunteered to walk us to the subway station and put us on the right train, as that's how he was going home himself.


Just walkin' the streets of NYC with a former major league baseball player...looking like we do this all the time....! EEP!


Was the tour worth it? Yes. I would probably not buy my tickets through Viator, though...You can definitely do this tour much cheaper by buying tickets directly from the Yankees website...and then take the subway up to the Bronx. At the end of the tour, you're given a keychain, as well as an opportunity to purchase some fun photos....all in all, a GREAT morning, and as close to being a professional ballplayer as I'll ever be!

The Plan: Friday, June 28th

Does it seem like we've been in New York City forever?

Yes...at this point during our vacation, we seriously should have registered for our voting cards, and looked into having our mail forwarded to our new "permanent" address....

...and yet, there was still so much to do!!!!

Today was Friday, June 28th...and The Plan looked like this:

9:20 am Yankees Stadium Tour

11:00 am Lunch - somewhere???

12:00 pm Museum of Natural History

7:00 pm "How 2 B A New Yorker" - dinner/show

9:30 pm Dylan's Candy Bar


For the most part, our plans went off without a hitch...but we'll get to that in more detail....

Stay tuned!

10 on Tuesday: Bad Things You Did As A Kid

So...it's been like, a gazillion trazillion years since I've done a "10 on Tuesday" post...

...BUT THAT'S ABOUT TO CHANGE!!! Woot!

I just got this new awesome book called "Listography - Your Life in Lists." It has all KINDS of ideas for lists - and I was inspired to bring back the fun and funky "10 on Tuesday" posts. I know. You're practically quivering with excitement. You're welcome.

So...today's list will be 10 Bad Things I Did as a Kid. There's a reason I chose this as my first "resurrection" post...and that is because, just last week, my 20-year old son was visiting my parents. And apparently, they decided to discuss me. As a child. And all the Bad Things I Did as a Kid. While I wasn't there to defend myself. Gah.



So, of course son comes home and has to act all incredulous that his mother actually may not have been the perfect person that she tries to pretend that she is...but in my defense...I really wasn't all THAT bad.

In fact, I bet that I won't even be able to LIST an entire ten things...don't laugh.


So, in no particular order:


1. I once made my little brother eat a heaping teaspoon of flour. That sounds rather innocent, but it actually was somewhat dangerous, and yet hysterically funny, all at the same time. The moisture inside his mouth turned the flour into "glue" - and his mouth was temporarily glued shut - which caused him to panic, understandably. He then started hyperventilating, and little puffs of flour were coming from his mouth. I was all of about 9 years old at the time, and thought this was hysterically funny. My parents? Not so much. I was grounded.




2. You would think my brother would have learned his lesson from the above experience, but he was always a bit gullible, and willing to do pretty much anything Big Sister said. Hee. I was once able to convince him to swallow a heaping tablespoon of vanilla. Which he promptly spit right back out. All over me. I guess that was punishment enough, but he's NEVER let me live this down.




3. My parents bring up this next incident ALL THE TIME when talking about bad things I did as a kid - but, actually, I think it should be filed under "Stupid" things I did. I'll let you be the judge. When I was thirteen, I decided that my bedroom needed a makeover. I went to the garage, got some house paint, and preceded to paint my walls. However, most of the furniture in my room (bed, dresser, bookshelves, desk, etc) was WAY too heavy for me to move on my own - so I just painted around the furniture. Yup. I didn't bother to move anything - just painted up and over the furniture. Was that bad? Or just stupid?




4. When I was sixteen, I had a boyfriend...as well as a curfew. I didn't think the two went together AT ALL. So...I would go into my parents' bedroom a little before midnight (my curfew), wake my mom up and tell her I was safely home from my date, and then promptly go right out the front door and back into my boyfriend's car, to extend the date just a bit longer. Or way longer. I'm not sayin'....




5. When I was approximately five years old, I shoplifted a piece of hard candy from the store. It was wrapped up in crinkly paper - and of course, as I tried to unwrap it and sneak it into my mouth - I was so busted by my parents, since that stupid wrapper made all SORTS of noise. So much for being sneaky. My dad happened to be a police officer at the time...I'll never forget that he first took me back to the store where I had to apologize to the owner, and second - he put his handcuffs on me briefly and threatened me with jail. Gulp.




6. I was babysitting my younger brother and sister one evening, when brother and I got into a HUGE pillow fight. We were pounding each other pretty good with the pillows, when he suddenly jumped up to run away and hide. Not wanting to end the battle so soon, I threw the pillow across the room at him - where it promptly knocked off an expensive piece of artwork from the wall and busted it into a million pieces. Yeah. I got so grounded for that, as well.




7. I tried to smoke a cigarette. Once. I was hanging out at a friend's house, and yielded to temptation...but perhaps I inhaled wrong, because all I remember is my throat felt like I'd burned a hole in it. That was enough. Never again.




8. I had a tendency to skip school a little my senior year....My grades were good enough that I didn't have to worry, and it was just too much fun to spend the day with my boyfriend, rather than sit in a classroom. It was easy enough to forge my mother's signature on a piece of paper - and I knew just the number of days I could miss before I'd be in big trouble with the school. In my mind, grades were more important than attendance - and this was how I justified my behavior.




9. I was 9 years old...and I was a HUGE fan of the cartoon, "Underdog". Underdog was a super hero canine, who could fly through the air and rescue damsels in distress. I was convinced that dogs could fly - and so, I took our little dachshund and dropped her out of our 2nd-floor window. Needless to say, she didn't fly. Oh - don't worry; miraculously, she wasn't hurt, either - perhaps a bit shook up - but I got in BIG trouble for that. Honestly, though, it wasn't with evil or malicious intent that I dropped the dog out of the window. I was just...stupid. However, THIS is the one incident that my parents - and family - have NEVER let me live down. It has "hounded" me for years, and the story will probably be engraved on my tombstone. Gah.



And there we have it. NINE bad things I did as a kid.

Close enough.


So...what bad things did YOU do as a kid? Would your list include ten? More than ten? I'd love to know your OWN bad things....

Bwahahahahahahaha.

Peace.

Review: Katz's Deli

...the one in which an encore performance is demanded....


We finished up our tour of the Tenement Museum around 8:00 pm, and were now sufficiently famished. The original "Plan" had called for us to head over to the highly recommended The Meatball Shop. Daughter has been a fan of meatballs since before she could walk, so I thought this would be a fun place to visit.

However, being the good sport that I am, I threw it out there for Hubby and Daughter to help determine where we'd head for dinner. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "So, I think we need to be heading somewhere for a bite to eat. I'd thought about - "

Daughter & Hubby, basically interrupting me in mid-sentence: "PASTRAMI!!! KATZ'S DELI!!!"

Me: "Are you sure? I mean, we were JUST there this afternoon, and had pastrami - "

Daughter & Hubby, interrupting again: "PASTRAMI! KATZ'S DELI!!!"


Well.

I guess we were headed to Katz's Deli for...you guessed it - pastrami.

I really didn't mind at all...because that bit of pastrami sandwich we'd had earlier was like HEAVEN ON EARTH, and who knows how long it would be before I'd ever be in Pastrami Paradise again??!!

A very short walk later, we were at Katz's.

Feeling like true NYC veterans, we strolled in confidently, got our Golden Tickets, and headed over to the counter to order up the Delicious, Delightful To-Die-For Pastrami Sandwich:



And...to my utter delight...the infamous "When Harry Met Sally" ACTUAL table was empty and available...so guess where I sat??!!


There I am...under the arrow!

Yup.

And the sandwich? Just as good as it was before. It will never get old. So flavorful...so succulent...so aromatic...


As we left the Deli, the skies opened up - and a torrential rainfall began pouring down. Fortunately, we were a short run from our subway station, and donning our ponchos (Yes. I had been lugging THREE of those things in my purse for the last several days - so I was almost, secretly glad that we finally needed them. Gah.), we managed to hop on a train without getting too soaked.

Soon, we were back at our warm and comfy hotel room, where we all settled down for the night...dreaming of pastrami sandwiches.....