Tuesday, May 23, 2006

cK & Treeesh Hit NYC!!

Touring NYC Subways, Family Jams and Liberty Ave!

It was a last minute road trip, we weren't even sure if we were going. In the end, we did. Right after work I met up with Treeesh and my Uncle and we hit the road heading for New York City. We drove throughout the night and arrived in the NYC city limits around 7am. We were not in a rush and were taking our time to view the scenery and all the little sights along the New York State Thruway.

I would have had some pics of some interesting rest stops, but my camera did not have batteries at the time.

The main purpose of the trip was to make it to my grandmother's 88th birthday celebration. Cousins, relatives travelled from near and far to celebrate this occasion. I saw a lot of old faces and friends from when I used to live in New York. It really brought back a lot of good memories.

One of the friends I haven't seen for a while was my boy, Eric. (aka EVIL E.) He brought with him Diane and Elizabeth. They were crazy and we had lots of jokes together. Well, the photos from the party are below:

The Cake!!	Treeesh and cousins	Treeesh and cK
Mai	cK and Evil E.	cK and Elizabeth

cK in the kitchen!

The next day, after some serious sleep, Treeesh and I were taking the 4 Train into Manhattan from the Bronx to tour and shop. Treeesh has never been to Manhattan -- as an adult... so this was a big exciting experience for her. Our cousin, Sharon also wanted to tag along as she had to go and meet her husband, Will, in the city. So we all rode together. Once we surfaced we met up with Will and then Sharon departed to go to her job. Will was still working and would meet up with Treeesh and I later.

So we went touring around. First Stop: TIMES SQUARE. The weather was on and off raining. Then some breaks of sunshine. We walked down Broadway ave and peeked into shops looking for little souvenirs and things to buy. I got some postcards and and a NY license plate to hang up at my house. After that, we headed to the "W" Hotel. Which brought back memories of our fun times at the "W" in Los Angeles. We went up to the bar, and chilled there having some special house drinks. The girl serving our drinks mentioned to us that she was moving to Toronto on the Tuesday. What were the odds?!?

We called our cousin, Will to meet us at the "W". He joined us shortly after finishing work. He was going to tag along with us for the remainder of the day. So our next stop was CANAL ST. We jumped on the subway and headed down there. Once we arrived, we were bombarded with vendors all pretty much selling the same thing. Watches, sunglasses, t-shirts... all those kinda things. The difference is that over here you can bargain down with them. They actually WANT you to bargain down with them. Here are some pics from CANAL ST.

Will, Treeesh and cK	Don't Push Her!!	Above Ground, Canal St

Treeesh and Will map our route


On the J Train to Queens - going over the Williamsburg Bridge

The last stop on our crazy Sunday NYC Adventure was in Richmond Hill, Queens. It was at my cousin's bar called, "The Ranch". We transferred from the J Train at Broadway Junction onto the A Train that went to Lefferts Ave. That is where we got out, and walked down to The Ranch Bar. On our way there, we met my cousin Mike and his family driving along Liberty Ave. So we all went together.

At the Ranch, we met up with my cousin Jennifer, Derek, my uncle and Angela! We had drinks and food while we talked and joked. Of course some of my cousins still couldn't get over my 5th Wheel episode and wanted to ask more about it. So I gave them the insider info, or whatever they wanted. Besides that, the guys were watching the Yankees/Mets game that was playing.

Here are some of the pics from THE RANCH.

cK, Derek, Will and Mike	Jenn, Treeesh, Angela and Kamla	The Girls Again
Time To EAT!	Will and cK pose	Flex Off!
Derek and Angela	Diane and Evil E.	Will, Angela and cK

The night we really had a good time. Lots of laughs and memories. I hardly see these great people and it was long overdue for me to meet with them. I also found out that the amazing food from the Saturday party, was catered by The Ranch! So if you are in the area, I strongly suggest you check it out. The food was indeed, great! (no shameless plugs here, it really was good!)

At the end of the night, I conked out in the back of the van on the ride back to the Bronx. My uncle was also under the spell of the sandman as Treeesh and Will drove us back to our comfortble sleeping environments.

Knocked out, driving back to the Bronx

The drive home back to Canada was the next day. We left around 1pm but not without one more spin around the Bronx circling Yankee Stadium and other quick things. The weather was picture perfect and made our 8 hour drive home fun. Crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge was almost like I was on another continent crossing into a European country. The NY Thruway ride home was nice and the traffic was moving great. No problems whatsoever. The following are the last pics we took on our journey home.

Treeesh and cK	cK Driving	The TappanZee Bridge
TappanZee looking north	TappanZee looking south	NY State Thruway!