June 5 & 6 - NYC, Train & FL
3:09 p.m. || 06.11.03

Well, I figured I'd update from SUNNY FLORIDA!! :) The trip here was long, but we made it. Let me start at the beginning...

Thursday and Friday, June 5th-6th We left Thursday morning around 10am from Utica, NY. Andy's brother Ron took us to the train station. We rode the train from Utica to Penn Station in NYC. The ride there was cool. We spent most of the time riding along the Erie Canal, and then along the Hudson River. We got into NYC around 2:30. The first thing we did was check our baggage and put our carry-ons in temporary storage. Then we took off to walk around Manhattan! I've never really been to NYC (except JFK Airport when I flew to Spain), and it was cool to walk around.

The first thing we did was go see Madison Square Garden, which is practically right on top of Penn Station. We saw a little bit of it, but then we decided to see if we could find the WTC site, but it turns out it was super far away from where we were. Andy had seen the WTC before, but he couldnt remember exactly where it was. (Like he said... it was much easier to find when it was actually there...). So, we walked downtown (?) for awhile and ended up at 6th Ave and W. 10th St. About halfway to the WTC site, and that took us like 2 hours to walk. So, we had to turn around and walk back to Penn Station. On the way back there we spotted the Empire State Building. We went in and checked out how long it would take us to get up to the observation deck, but it was like 30 minutes, so we are gonna try to go on our way back through NYC. So, we went back to Penn Station, ate some food, got our carry-on bags and waited for our train.

We didnt have to wait that long, 25 minutes I think. Then they called our train and we had to go down to our platform. There was a woman assigning seats, so we told her our destination and got on board! The leg room was GREAT! There was a ton more than on the commuter train from Utica to NYC. So we got situated and waited to leave.

The train itself was alright. We walked around a lot on it, to the snack car and to the dining car. There was also a car with tables and chairs to sit and play games and stuff. It was nice. We ended up being on the train for 23 hours, which SUCKED!! We got 2 hours behind coming into Florida and it seems that Florida took us the longest. We had to stop and wait for trains to come through, etc. It was just LONG. We messaged and called Mark a few times and kept him updated on what was going on. On the ride, we slept A LOT. It made the time go by faster I guess. We also played Gin Rummy, a dice game, and Kismet (like Yahtzee). We also read some, Andy even started to read Harry Potter (Prisoner of Azkaban). Since he was reading that book, I started reading Goblet of Fire again to get ready for Book 5 coming out in a few weeks. For meals, we ate from the snack car most of the time, but went to the dining car for breakfast Friday morning. It was pretty good! That was about it really... we were so happy to get into Orlando around 6pm on Friday!

In Orlando, I actually met a guy from Buffalo! We were on the same train together (although we didnt know it) and when we were in line in Orlando waiting for the bus, we all started talking. He is from the Riverside section, which is like 5 minutes from me. I thought that was cool. We didnt have to wait too long for our bags and then we were on the bus for Tampa. The bus was cramped, but we were only on it for about an hour and a half and it didnt seem long at all. We got into Tampa around 8, and Mark was waiting for us!!

We had another 2 hour ride back to Cape Coral, where Mark lives, and it didnt really seem long at all. We talked most of the way, and had a good time. Andy and I could not wait to shower, so we went straight to Mark's house and jumped into the shower. Well, the first thing I realized, and learned the hard way, was that they have soft water. I could not get the shampoo out of my hair or the soap off of my body. I spent a long time in the shower. LOL

After we got our showers, we took off to get something to eat. We decided to go to Denny's, and it SUCKED! The service wasnt good and my chicken fingers were icky. But, it was food anyways. After Dennys we went to go play pool. We played 3 games, of which Andy won all of them, and then we went back to Mark's house. We decided to play Star Wars Life, which was cool and much different than regular Life. After that, we watched a little bit of a movie before we all fell asleep on Mark's bed. Andy was hanging off the end, and Mark and I were closer to the top. It was funny. Sometime during the night, I moved into the spare room onto the day bed, and Mark moved into the living room onto the couch. We musta looked pretty funny though!

Well, that was it for Thursday and Friday... I will write more later!! :)

Empire State Building

Penn Station / Madison Square Garden

then || now

new old profile cast rings books kids books
book
notes email layout hostess


LAST FIVE
Andrew's 5 Month Pictures - 09.27.06
4 Month Pics - 09.05.06
3-Month Pics - 08.23.06
Craniofacial appointment - 08.18.06
4 Months - 08.17.06