So nice they named it twice...

We took a long weekend and flew up to New York on Thursday for a WELL-deserved break and mini-vacation. After years of me tormenting Bob for not ever visiting New York, we went for a 3-night stay in Manhattan. Bob's only two requests: 1. Visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and 2. Watch the Longhorns game on Saturday night. For his aching heart, we won't discuss number 2 much, except to say that we got to meet up with my college friend/roomie Megan and had a great time catching up with her. More fun than watching parts of the game...

Anyway, Friday morning we headed downtown to Battery Park and took the ferry to the Statue. I have to admit that I've been to New York countless times, and never went down there. It was incredible to see how big she is, learn the story about how she was built, and actually climb the 192 steps from the ground to the top of the pedestal. Thank goodness you cannot climb in the actual statue anymore -- I was struggling with just that part! Again, hard for me as the athlete to be taken down by an interloper the size of an heirloom tomato (according to my weekly e-mails from Baby Center).

After the Statue, we took the ferry to Ellis Island. I have to admit that this was VERY cool, even though we figured out before the trip that none of our direct family members actually walked through Ellis Island on their way to America. Most came prior to the time Ellis was open, and some came from other ports -- the Engelmans apparently came up the Mississippi. But the museum there, especially with the audio tour, was very interesting and it was somewhat touching to walk where so many people came before us. We very highly recommend it. After having dinner near Time Square, which we just kept walking through, we collapsed into bed.

Saturday we went to Central Park, which is such a dichotomy from the rest of the city -- it's quiet, full of trees changing leaf colors, and even a kids petting zoo. The NY City Marathon was on Sunday, so the park was getting decked out with signage, the finish line, and the path marked out. Very cool. I miss running. :-( We stayed there for hours. Before the football game, we even attended mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The marathon theme continued, and at the end of mass, more than 200 runners that were attending the service were invited to the front of the church for a blessing. It was a remarkable site.

We did so many other things it would take too long to give every detail... ate at an Irish pub, of course; took photos in front of the bull in the financial district, walked along 5th Avenue and didn't even make Bob buy me anything at THE Tiffany's store, etc. We had a blast and I'm happy to report that Bob liked the city -- I was afraid I talked it up too much and he wouldn't like it!

And, we now have more to add to our mythical list of things that Baby Interloper has already done in his/her 19 weeks of squatting. We're going to put that list together and post it when we have a chance. First item: Reisling at the cottage and shots at the campfire in Minnesota. Yeah, it's that kind of list...

Oh, and before I post this... Baby Interloper just did something else. Tagged along as I voted this morning and just watched history at 11:00 EST.