The Pich' Blog: Best Vacation Ever - Day 2 NYC, a day of firsts!

Day 2 began as I had to make my way from Katie's place to Danielle's. A short walk but in the rain. I borrowed an umbrella which folded inside out after about a block and a half. Then I purchased a new umbrella to complete the journey. Upon my arrival at Danielle's I took stock of my surroundings and then showered and prepared to go into the city with Katie. Eventually I'd meet up with Danielle and Christian to head to the Yankees/Angels game which was the only thing I'd setup for the day.

After getting ready I waited quite awhile to hear from Katie. She was running late which is sort of her jam. Eventually we headed down to Times Square and moseyed our way to a place called Bareburger. Let me tell you something. Eat there. The grub was awesome. I had an Elk burger. ELK! They also had a bevy of other proteins and the menu is all natural stuff farmed... damn... I had a milkshake that almost blew my skull off. They had 3 dipping sauces for the fries and they were all unique. If you want a burger or American fare with a healthy twist, get your can to one of these throughout the city.

From there Katie had to get to work. And where does she work? She works on a play called "Once" as a costumer. She took me inside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre for what she called the "10 cent tour." She undersold it. After meeting a couple of people I soon found myself on stage! Katie and I took a picture and I nabbed a couple more. It was cool to be on a Broadway stage. Then I followed Katie as she distributed some wardrobe to the dressing rooms of the actors. I snapped more exclusive photos including some of drawings on the door of the child actors which amused me. Soon after Katie had to do more work and I had to head to Lincoln Center to meet the group that would become known as "Team Northeast" for the Yankees game. This would be the final time I would see Katie on the trip but it was great to see her again and spend some time with her. Hopefully I can watch one of her shows next time I visit the city.

I then made my way over to meet Danielle and then we met with Christian and headed for the Bronx. We arrived outside Yankee Stadium and headed to a local bar to grab a drink first. I was amazed at the old site for Yankee Stadium. It was now a series of smaller fields which had softball going on. It made me remember why I had my McKees jersey on under my Yankees jersey. Tonight my team back in Vermont was playing in the Championship round without me. I was eager to hear score updates.

Upon entering the stadium I quickly assessed that this was a big improvement over the old Yankee Stadium. Not the history, but the wide concourses, more comfortable seating, and better overall sight lines. An improvement but really nothing spectacular either. The Angels had a 2-0 lead before we got seated but it didn't take long before Alfonso Soriano, on his way to a 7 RBI 2 HR night, led the Yankee attack. The final would end up being 14-7 but when we left it was 14-3 Yankees. We narrowly escaped a small rain delay in the 8th which would have soaked us. Oddly in another interesting fact C.C. Sabathia started and won the game for the Yankees. He also pitched and won the first game I saw at Miller Park in Milwaukee. And overall C.C. is 4-0 in games I attend. I did my typical purchase of a souvenir cup for my soda. Choosing to not get any other memorablia to save funds. (Another under lying theme of the trip. I had enough to get to all this stuff but spending on shirts, and other stuff was really not in the budget. If it wasn't food or attendance, or transportation I wasn't in to it.)

Upon getting back to Danielle's she introduced me to the show "Drunk History" on Comedy Central. A must watch for anyone who has ever been entertained by drunk people while you were sober. I won't describe it more than that. Just watch it. You won't be mad about it.

Soon after it was time for bed and the day came to a close.

Stay tuned for tomorrow as I meet up with another friend for lunch in the city and then win the 3-person race to the airport... oh and of course I'll finally get to Seattle via the cross-country flight!