NY Trip Report

Thursday

Thursday evening Rocky and I took the doggies to Daly City. They were going to be baby sat by my BIL & SIL (brother & sister in law). At the very last minute we made the decision to leave Daisy behind. Original plans were to take her to NY with us because she is still little and very attached to us but I had a panic moment on Thursday and decided it wasn’t a good trip for us to take her on. Plus she gets cold and the temperatures in NY were starting to drop. I called my SIL and she assured me things would be okay and to go ahead and leave her. So we did.

Fast forward to Tuesday when we picked them up, she did great. Both doggies were super spoiled and loved while we were gone :o) In fact my SIL’s mom wanted to keep Ms. Daisy. Very cute. We are glad that we left them together. It would have been way too hectic for us to bring her.

Friday – Travel & Pasta Dinner Day

Alarm clock went off at 5:30am. Rocky and I were all packed except for last minute stuff so all we had to do was get ready and throw those few things in the suitcase. Olivia and Bree were gonna meet us at our house at 6:30am so we could carpool to the airport. We arrived at Oakland Airport pretty fast, no traffic, checked the car in with the parking lot and got shuttled over to our terminal at Jet Blue. We grabbed a bit to eat and at 8:20ish boarded our plane bound for NY.

Plane ride was pretty uneventful. I did a little reading and watched tv. I brought my knitting stuff but didn’t get any done :o(

We arrived in NY at 5:00pm (NY time). Grabbed our suitcases and waited for the limo service to pick us up. We decided to get a limo because it was cheaper and easier for our big group. This was my first time in a limo so I was pretty excited.

Jeanette and Petra had arrived at different terminals. Jeanette walked over to our terminal and once the limo had us all settled we’d drive over and pick up Petra.

Let me just say that I HATED the whole limo thing. First of all limos have about the same amount of space in their trunk than a car, okay maybe just a tad bigger but NOT MUCH. How in the heck are you supposed to get luggage for 8 people in it? Our driver was acting like it was the first time he’d ever driven the darn limo and had never had to deal with the dilemma of getting the luggage in. We all had to help him. Our luggage ended up in the trunk, in the front seat and in the limo with us. It was not fun and at first it was just 7 of us we still had to pick up Petra :o( Picked Petra up and had to do the luggage rearrange thing and finally we were on our way.

I was sitting on the side part and ended up feeling super sick. I had to switch places with Amy so I could sit facing forward and next to the window. The limo ride was about an hour because of the traffic and when we finally arrived at the airport I was nauseas and had a massive headache :o( We all flew out of the limo and into our hotel, the Hilton. We checked in and put our luggage away, freshened up and then walked over to Carmine’s for our pasta dinner.

Dinner was super yummy. It was family style so we were able to try quite a few different plates. Thank god we had made reservations because the place was packed. The only bad thing was we weren’t able to all sit together. When I made the reservations a few months ago I was told that any groups over 14 had to use the banquet room and order off the banquet menu of $42 pp….YIKES! So instead we made two reservations, one under my name and one under Olivia’s with smaller groups. Olivia’s group was seated downstairs and mine upstairs :o( we all had a good time though and really enjoyed the food.

Dinner reservations were at 8pm so by the time we got out of there it was late and we were pooped. We headed back to the hotel to unpack and get settled and get some sleep.

Saturday – Expo & Pasta Dinner (again!) Day

We agreed to meet in the lobby at 8:00am on Saturday. It was an early day for us but we wanted to get the Expo thing out of the way early before EVERYONE hit the expo. We walked over to Starbucks to get some coffee and a bite to eat and then we were on our way.

When we arrived at the expo it was fairly mellow. We grabbed our goodie bags and then shopped around. OMG, did I shop :o) and my hubby spoiled me. Hey, it’s my last full marathon, I gotta go out in style :o) They had some very cute race swag so I stocked up. When we left the expo it was much more crowded. We are glad we went early.

Next stop, lunch. We went to Carnegie Deli, a very famous and yummy deli. Only bad thing was the portions are huge. It was crowded but they managed to fit us all in before the really big crowds came. It was a very yummy lunch and then afterwards we all wobbled on back to the hotel.

Amy, Bree, Petra & I decided to go scope out the subway situation so we wouldn’t have to do it at 4am on Sunday. We went back to the hotel to put our things away and ask the concierge where the nearest subway line was to the Staten Island Ferry. We headed out to find it, check out the route and train we were suppose to be on and purchase tickets. We headed back and I made a quick trip with the girls to a knitting store, it was a pretty sad store so I bought nothing and headed back to the hotel with Amy & Bree. Pertra decided to keep on walking around but we really needed to get off our feet.

We headed back to our rooms and got all our race gear ready. Olivia came and hung out with Jeanette and I til it was time for dinner. We watched tv and I think even managed to doze off for a few minutes.

My hubby and Phil were out on their own adventure and were meeting us at dinner.

Dinner Saturday evening was at Angelo’s. It was right next to where the Late Show is taped and I guess it’s the restaurant that David Letterman sends his peeps to get pizza at. It too was pretty busy but we were seated right away since we had reservations. MORE PASTA and that was I think my last pasta meal for a long time. I’m sick of pasta although it was yet another yummy meal.


We headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Wake up call was scheduled for 3:30am :o(

Rocky and Phil went on another adventure, making cheering signs for us. THANK YOU!

Sunday – RACE DAY!

Alarm, cell phone, wake up call – 3:30am as scheduled. We got up, got dressed and had our first meal of the morning. Jeanette and I headed down and met Raji and Olivia in the lobby. Rocky and Lakshman took a few pics and on our way we went. We made it to the subway station in time to take the 5:00am train but after a bit of confusion we found out that the train we were looking for didn’t start running til 6:30…YIKES! Another runner waiting for the train told us which train to take and we were on our way. We missed the 5:30 ferry by just few minutes but were right up front in line for the next ferry at 6:00am.


On the ferry we were at 6:00am for a ride to Staten Island, then a bus to the start line. Then a LONG time of waiting for the race to start. Then, then, then, it was race time.



I will update on the race tomorrow :O)

After the race I wobbled on back to the hotel after another ride on the subway and a few more blocks of walking, ouchie, ouchie, ouchie. We had attempted to get a cab but by the time I finished, almost 7 hours later, it was packed in town and there were no empty cabs.

By the time we got back to the room Jeanette had finished her ice bath and had one ready for me. We had decided to order room service because neither Jeanette or I could take another step. I gave Rocky my order and then attempted to get in the ice bath….NOPE….wasn’t happening. I freaked out and mentally I could not take any more torture so I got out. I took a nice warm shower, put my jammies on and when dinner arrived I pigged out :o) It was the yummiest burger and beer I’ve ever had. Phil & Rocky were pretty pooped after their long day of spectating so we all turned in early. Phil went back up to his room and we went night, night.

Monday – Last Day in NY :o(

I was super duper sore and was moving slow but we met up with Jeanette, Olivia & Phil for breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. After breakfast we checked out of our rooms and stored our luggage in the baggage closet. We said goodbye to Phil, he was headed to Boston, and then we headed to the Marathon Finishers Store at Tavern on the Green. There were some jackets we wanted to purchase but by the time we go to the store it was pretty much empty. Olivia and Jeanette bought the men’s jackets and I got a sweatshirt. Olivia’s parents were there too so we hooked up with them and then headed out to walk around.

Olivia's parent's took off to head back to their hotel and then to the airport. Then a little while later Jeanette parted ways and headed to the airport as well.

It was Olivia, Rocky and I left. Amy, Bree and Petra were on their own adventure shopping at all the knitting stores, they were going to meet us later at the hotel.


We walked around NY for hours and hours. I felt like we’d gone in a bagillion circles around town. We had lunch, managed to do more shopping at the Nike store, more walking, another trip to Carnegie Deli for some cheesecake and then finally made it back to the hotel around 5ish.



Limo was coming to pick us up at 6:30. Amy and Bree made it back to the hotel and we met them in the bar for a final NY cocktail, a very expensive one. We picked up our luggage and waited for limo man which happened to be a suburban man. Because of the luggage fiasco on Friday our limo service hired another limo service to come pick us up in a suburban. MUCH better.

Ride to the airport pretty uneventful. Plane ride also uneventful, our plane was pretty empty and we arrived in Oakland about 12:30.

Ahhhh, back home to my nice comfy bed.

The trip to NY with everyone was a lot of fun. Thank You everyone for making it such a fun time.