The big adventure is about at an end...

What a fast long weekend! I can hardly remember where I left off with sharing about my trip but I think this might be where I was...

The last night in NYC we went to Little Italy. We had pizza at Lombardi’s which states that it is the first place in the US to serve pizza. The pizza was a little different. I expected the thin crust that you fold over since I was in NY but I didn’t expect such a small amount of cheese and so much sauce. The cheese was not the shredded variety that I am used to but rather looked like thin slices from a round of cheese. They didn’t overlap and there was a huge amount of sauce. It was good but not what I expected. I guess I’m more of a Chicago type pizza girl. Give me lots of dough and lots of cheese!! My dinner companions were the highlight of the evening as it should be!

After dinner we all went walking around Little Italy and stopped in at Ferraro’s Bakery for some gelato and cannolis. Now this was more my style!!! I had a pistachio gelato that was yummy-yummy and Tony gave me a taste of his lobster tail pastry which was also quite tasty. This part of NYC was colorful and lively and the people were great. I think this must be what people are talking about when they say how much they love NYC. I don’t think I could live there but it wasn’t a bad place to visit. It was small and the crowds were light. I even saw kids playing in the playgrounds! I took some pictures of some of the stranger sights I saw. One was of a several story building with a water tower on top. After I thought about it more I guess it makes sense since you really don’t have any open real estate to put the tower on. I sure hope that roof was strong! I also saw a little bitty church that was sitting on its own little bit of property with buildings rising up on each side. It seemed very strange – like the holdout homeowner in an old cartoon I remember from my childhood. They ended up building the freeway around the house. I can’t remember the cartoon but I do remember wondering how in the world they were going to get out to buy food – the strange things we remember from our childhood!



The next morning I braved a NY taxi to the Port Authority so I could catch my bus to go visit my family in PA for a long weekend. That was quite an experience!! There are some rough looking characters in the bus station! The bus ride was pretty good although I got in 40 minutes after they said I was supposed to (without acting like they were late at all) and I came into a bus station that was different than the one they said I would come at. Luckily it was just a stone’s throw between the 2 bus stations. I spent a wonderful weekend visiting family and friends and just generally relaxing. I played with kids and dogs and even did some crafting with my stepmother (that title sounds so evil but really she’s a great person so put all those Cinderella visions out of your head). All in all I can’t think of a better way to spend some down time.

Today is my travel home day and I’m about ½ way done. I’ve taken the bus back to NYC and now I am waiting for flight back to the wonderful Rocky Mountain region that I so love. Depending on when I get back home we might even go pick up our new family room furniture tonight! It will be so nice to be rid of that ratty old furniture down there! The newest piece we currently have in that room is 23 years old and was attacked by an aggressive puppy 20 years ago! All the rest are older and while they weren’t attacked by that fluffy bundle of joy, they have seen better days! Just doing my part to stimulate the economy! Stay tuned for pics…

(I'm having problems with the wireless access at the airport so I'll edit to post the pics of NYC later)