I love this town

Great hosts can make a vacation.
On our trip to New York, we were made to feel comfortable and welcome by Laura and New York City.
Laura invited us to stay with her, and knowing how she is, I knew she would go overboard to make us comfortable. She's very sweet like that.
But the city had plans for us as well.
Sean was a NYC EMT, so we went for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, making our trip emotionally confusing. The purpose of our visit was sad, but we both love visiting the city, so we were excited.

I love flying into New York at night - dropping out of the clouds into a sea of glittering lights. It reminds me of driving alongside rows of crops - seeing down long narrow streets illuminated by brake lights flanked by skyscrapers.
Laura met us at the airport with slices of pizza. Not even NY pizza could stop Sean from rolling down his window to yell at people - mind you, we had been driving for about 15 seconds and were still at the airport. You can take the boy out of New York...

Our first full day took us to the beach where we saw massive post Hurricane Irene waves.
You can't really tell here, but the waves were enormous.

Next we took a tour of Laura's theater, where she was kind enough to give me the full theater experience with lights and curtains drawn during my triumphant return to the stage (in front of a two-person audience).

I'm the blur in the white shirt

I sang "I Could Have Danced All Night" and my theme song, "Tomorrow."

Sean and I spent all of Saturday together wandering around the city. We took the Staten Island Ferry for a free, close-ish look at the Statue of Liberty and the huge security force surrounding the island.

We went to Washington Square (where I was mistaken for a local and asked for directions),

Wall Street,

the Flatiron Building,

Central Park,

the church the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man smashed in "Ghostbusters,"

and all kinds of stuff along the way.

Cobblestones

Fashion Week?

We walked for most of the day - a good plan as we were shoving tons of food into our faces. One of my favorite stops for the day was The Donut Pub. There is nothing I don't love about that name.

Before going to Ground Zero on Sunday night, we stopped off in Little Italy where they were gearing up for the Feast of San Gennaro.

Damn fine cannoli!

On Monday, we met up with Sean's dad, a former NYC cab driver and a current truck driver. He drove us around the city in his Super Van. If you've ever taken a cab ride in NYC, you know that it is intense. Nothing like catching up with family as you cut off other drivers, honk and listen to Sean and his dad yell at other drivers. This goes down as one of my favorite family gatherings of all time.

Another favorite New York moment was Laura getting schooled in a Chinatown restaurant for asking for American-style Chinese food.
Never ask for scallion pancakes or lo mein noodles in Chinatown - the answer is "NO!"