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Published: January 3rd 2011
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Greetings from New Jersey, we are staying with Eleanor's cousin Millet, her husband Raymond, daughter Rhamer and son Andy. They have made us very welcome and we have been fortunate with the weather, so far it hasn't been too cold.
It's been a while since I've had a chance to do an update so I'll go back a week or so to when we visited Monterey and Carmel with Ricky and Rose. We left Sacremento at around 11am and arrived in Monterey at 1.30pm or so, we went straight to the pier and I had a bowl of clam chowder and a glass of Sam Adams (my favorite American beer). We then had a look around the shops in Carmel, they have some big names like Tiffany's and Coach plus Art galleries, Antique shops and lot's more. As we had quite a heavy lunch we decided to have a light dinner and a few margaritas at a nice hotel. The margaritas were a speciality of the Highlander hotel, it was in a very big glass and probably equivalent to three standard drinks, Rose was feeling quite wobbly after one, I braved a second one and could certainly feel the effects.
The
next morning we did the 17 mile drive along the coast near Monterey, we went through the Pebble Beach golf course, saw some Sea Otters, rugged coast line and the lone cypress tree. It was very cool in the wind but my jacket was up to the test.
Ricky and Rose dropped us off at the Westin Hotel near San Francisco airport, after checking in we had a drink at the bar, a Sam Adams for me and a Chardy for Eleanor. The Dela Crus clan we were also staying there along with Eleanor' friend Malou, that night we all went to a gay Filipino restaurant that had karaoke, mid way into the night a very good entertainer came on, her name was Angelica, she was a real pocket battle ship, lot's of personality and a big voice, a lot better than the gay guys before her.
We had an early start the next morning, we were up at 5am for our flight to New York. We arrived there at about 3.30 pm, New York is 3 hours ahead of San Francisco. Millet and her family picked us up at JFK and took us to their home in New Jersey,
they have a down stairs area with a bedroom, bathroom and lounge that's very comfortable. We had an early night after visiting the mall, ready for New Years Eve the following day.
New Years Eve began with a breakfast of eggs and corned beef, coffee and a quick trip to the mall. The shops were still closed so we all drove into New york where we were dropped off. We met with the Dela Cruz clan then walked to the Amsterdam theatre to pick up our tickets for Mary Poppins, on 5 us went - Eleanor, Maryanne, Roger, Riza and me. The show wasn't on till 2pm so we had a look around Times Square then had lunch at David's Grill, we had port that had been smoked for 8 hours, it was very tender and tasty. After lunch we made our way back to the theatre for the show, it was already getting crowded in Times Square so we took a detour via 8th Ave. Mary Poppins was fantastic, especially the kids playing the parts of the boy and girl that Mary Poppins looked after, also the different sets were very impressive. After the show we made our way
back to the hotel where the younger members of the Dela Cruz's/Daniels families were staying, by this time the streets were very crowded and we had to argue with one of the cops to let us through a barricade, eventually he relented.
We decided on a light dinner of pizza then bought some wine and beer and went back to the lounge in the hotel and had a few drinks. At around 9pm we took a walk around the streets and looked at the Christmas displays, some were very good. By this time all streets leading to times Square had been closed so we didn't try and watch the ball drop, in any case Eleanor and I had to travel to Brooklyn where we'd booked for the night. The trip to the hotel was our first experience on the subway, this was made more confusing as the subway station that we should of used was closed, it was in Times Square. This meant we had to change subways and trains, we got there eventually but it took twice as long as it should have.
The hotel in Brooklyn was very good, at had just been opened so everything was new.
We slept in till after 9am, had breakfast at the hotel (included) then got the subway to Central Park. The snow was still covering the ground so the Park looked great, there were lot's of joggers, bike riders and kids playing in the snow with sleds. Unfortunately the camera had a flat battery so we didn't get any shots, I got some video but I won't include it as it takes too long to load.
After Central Park we got the "A" train to George Washington bridge, Raymond picked us up and took us to the shopping mall. I was able to buy a Sports Jacket and trousers for a good price. We then went home and had a nice dinner of roast pork, Raymond was the cook.
Yesterday we went to Church with the family then onto another shopping mall, this one was like an outlet with lot's of stores dedicated to one major brand, eg Victorias Secret. I didn't have much to buy, only a pair of shoes, so I retired to the bar at Chilis (where we had lunch) and had a few Sam Adams whilst watching the American Football.
Today we are going back into New
York for sight seeing and tomorrow we are doing a day trip to Washington DC. On Thursday we leave New York for Florida. That's all for now.
Yesterday we went to Church with Millet and her family then onto a big Mall.
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Pat.Howes
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Wow & Wow!
Oh....wish now we're there to enjoy....hey we're there in spirit. Enjoyed so much in reading your blogs....I felt, I'm there with you guys.... I have to thank the owner of the blogs....coz without blogs....we're lost here in Sydney, Australia....