NYC for the day

So my boss came up to me on Friday morning and asked if I wanted to visit the Postal site (we're working on a huge US Postal Service project at work) in Manhattan. Of course I said yes. Then there was the debate of driving vs. flying. Renting a car vs. taking my own. After a few minutes of thought, I decided to drive. This allowed for several things:

1. We could leave on our own time and didn't have to worry about dropping off or picking up a car.

2. The diesel could make a trip to Manhattan.

3. I could get reimbursed for the mileage. At 34.5 cents a mile, the 800-odd mile trip will make us about $250.

Friday night my parents were in town with my uncle ... again. They had come back from Canada and visiting my brother. Friday night was very relaxed since they were tired from all the traveling by then. Saturday morning they left for BWI so that the uncle could fly down to South Carolina. Saturday evening Maria and I hosted some friends in town. Sunday we left for Lancaster and a barbecue with Keli and Preston. Almost everybody was there, so I'm glad this chance came up. After a little bit of socializing, we headed up to NYC.

I completely forgot that on a Sunday afternoon there would be traffic on the NJ Turnpike from all the people coming back from the Shore. But whatever. It only last about fifteen minutes. We got to the hotel in a little over three hours. By the way, gas is cheaper in NJ. Which means diesel is EVEN CHEAPER. It was $2.54 in PA over the weekend. NJ? Yeah, only $2.24. Rock.

The Marriott Courtyard is on 40th St and nicely located near Times Square. We valeted the car and headed out on the town. First we started with some general wondering about Times Square. We followed that up with a mission to find a place to eat.

Now here's the thing. I'm not that good at picking places to eat in NYC. I hadn't done any research. I probably should have, but things were kind of on short notice. So we ended up eating at a Cafe Europa, which I think is a chain. Whatever. The food was decent and the dessert even better.

We thought about walking through Central Park, but it was dark by then. So we went back through Times Square. I had to meet up with my boss at 10 p.m. to discuss uh, why I was there in the first place. So we talked for a while which was very informative.

Monday I had to work all day. Maria had a chance to do a bit of shopping, a bit of walking and a little seeing of Central Park. We ate dinner at ESPN Zone (again, I knew it would be fine and a fun place to go to). We left at about 6:30 and only had traffic through the Lincoln Tunnel. About three hours back to Lancaster.

I'm really hoping the next time we go to NYC we'll have a few days. Obviously there's a ton more to see. I haven't even seen a lot of Central Park, or many of the museums or any of the smaller neighborhoods. That would be ideal. I liked being able to walk, and Maria was impressed with how quickly the north-south blocks flew by.

We didn't take any phots while there ... but there is good news. I just bought a 512MB card for the camera, so there should be more room for more photos ... soon. I think there are still some more Canada photos or something to post. Niagara Falls, too, maybe.