All Hail the Favre.

On a bitterly cold January night we went to a surprise birthday party for our friend Trevor. As we were walking out the door we came across a shrine to the Wisconsin demi-God, Brett Favre. The reason I prefix his title with demi is that he recently made a severe error that condescended him to near-mortal status...he retired. But don't worry, he has made the statement that if the Packers ever found themselves in a state of emergency and was asked back, and he happened to be in shape, it would be "an offer too good to pass up". I've made a similar statement, but without the in-shape clause. Aaron Rodgers should probably consider hiring about 80 body guards. Seriously though, to a non-football freak, the admiration of Brett Favre is rediculous, especially when they interrupt prime time television programming to announce that his elbow is feeling slightly better. And he's not even from Wisconsin! He's a pedigree Mississippian who moved back South the moment he retired, somehow avoiding injury from slipping on the tears of thousands of overweight 40 year-old goateed men. Go Pack Go!!

Remember me to Herald Square

Alright, alright, we can be done with New York pictures now. We always get so wrapped up in pictures of new places. This last one is Zoe in Herald Square, right across the street from Macy's Department store and down the street from the Empire State Building. It was such a fun trip. Long story short, we came home, I took the test I'd gone to New York to study for, and I'm still awaiting the results. This is the story of my life. Oh, that and going to work for as short a time as possible so I can afford to come home and be with my wife and daughter for as long a time as possible. There's no luckier guy in the world!

Wall Street

They're Comin' to America

As you can tell, we chose a beautiful day to see the Statue of Liberty. Fortunately for us, she was in a very good mood and posed well for the pictures. As did Zoe. It took a major feat of stroller driving expertise to navigate our little family from the southern tip of Manhattan to Liberty Island then to Ellis Island and back again. It was only a year and eight months ago that we were standing next to Lady Liberty's little sister in the Seine River, and I must say that the majesty of the New York Harbor statue is much more than 4 to 1. I wasn't expecting such a patriotic experience, but American pride finds a way to creep into ya' as you look up at our nation's leading emblem of freedom and hope. What a great land we live in! I finally understand what it was that got thousands of people to leave their homes and go through that miserable trans-oceanic voyage to a strange place. There's a lot of amazing and exotic lands out there in the world, but none compare to the United States...West coast to East coast, its home.

On the boat from Liberty Island to Manhattan we stood next to a group of six or seven Chinese people, who thought Zoe was the neatest little critter ever. Boy did she ham it up, too! They went from brief little smiles to chasing each other from one side of the boat to the other, them speaking Chinese, Zoe speaking Zoeish. I can just imagine the slide show going on in China right now as Zoe's new friends tell their relatives all about the cute little square-shaped white girl they hung out with in New York Harbor. Funny how many internarional friends Zoe made in New York City.

Our Little Roaming Gnome

Zoe did a lot of stroller cruising through the big city, here she is in front of some of the sites. She found Radio City Music Hall, the Prometheus Statue at Rockefeller Center, and that awesome fountain in the middle of Central Park. And what New York trip is complete without a picture under the marquee of the Late Show?

The Queen of New York!

I just like this picture a lot. Click on the picture and see it all big, its pretty cool.

Top of the Rock

Since its the tallest building in New York City, you'd think that a sky scraper addict like myself would have hopped off the airplane and rushed to the top of the Empire State Building. That wasn't the case for this trip, we had heard from our New York insiders (my buddy Mike in this case) that the best bird's eye view of the city is atop the Rockefeller Center. Boy were they right! We spent an entire evening on top of the Rock, watching the sun set, darkness fall, and the cold set in. Zoe was good. They have the ledge closed off with clear plexiglass, so she felt like a bonafide gargoyle up there, and tried to live up to the title by spitting as often as possible. Enjoy the video up there, which includes the view of Central Park, the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building hidden behind the big nasty eyesore building.

The Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 buildings, the tallest of which is the 70-floor GE building (pictured). This is the one we hiked to the top of. Since its so skinny you can get a good 360 degree view of the city without having to do all that pesky walking. I'm glad we were able to have such a great view of the Empire State Building...how I love that building. Did you know that the little nub between the spire and the rest of the building was originally built as a landing dock for derigibles? Due to wind, there was never a successful landing, and it wasn't until 1952 that a spire was placed on the nub. Isn't it beautiful how the sun hits the building. If I were a giant ape I would definitely climb that sucker.

The New York Hard Rock

New York's Hard Rock Cafe is ginormous, and is located right there on Times Square. I've found that Times Square is very similar to the Champs Elysses in that all the store fronts are smooshed together, but the insides of the stores are much bigger than expected. The food was as good as usual, and you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting some piece of rock'n'roll history. I always tend to lean towards Beatles stuff when its time to get the camara out...they had all the Beatles albums signed by all four Beatles! Holy cow!

Yep, that's a Ramones guitar

Not played by anyone famous, but a cool guitar

George Harrison's guitar

Beatles concert clothes

Ringo's Drums

Paul's Bass

Good Times at Times Square

Yeah, so Times Square is about ninety times cooler than I ever imagined. Its not just a tall building with giant television advertisments on it, rather its a street full of wonders and merriments which transform any out of towner from Mr. Joe Regular to Dick Clark himself. The picture at left shows the view looking South, the picture on the bottom is the view looking North...so there are two tall advertisement towers! Yep. And all the buildings along 7th avenue and Broadway in between the towers are lit up and beautiful, giving the Strip in Vegas a serious run for its money.

We made it a point to visit Times Square every night, it's the swingingest place around and we had to take advantage of it. Plus, that's where to go to find some good eats. Of course we went to the Hard Rock (don't worry, my requisite "stuff I saw and you didn't at the Hard Rock" posting is soon to come), and we had an eat to bite at Bubba Gumps. I likes my shrimps! We also ate at some recommended local joints as well, such as John's Pizzeria, which used to be a theatre, but is now a great place to get a slice and a coke. Then there's Roxy's...sweet delicious Roxy's where the cheesecake is large and the selection is endless. Oh Roxy!

Times Square is named after the New York Times building (so Times Square, not Time Square), but it's title is certainly fitting as it is the perfect site for spending some unforgettable New York minutes. We visited the M&M store, and the Toys 'R' Us, where they have giant Lego models, functioning dinosaurs, and a giant ferris wheel! After spending the wee hours of the morning parusing the joint we'd go back up to our hotel room and look down at the lights while trying to shovel in the last several hundred bites of our cheesecake. Some day we'll be there for New Year's Eve. Someday.

A Soul Refresher

Disputably, the most famous work in the MOMA is Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, though Andy Warhol's Campbells Soup Cans might be in the running. Here's Sara standing in front of it. We've had a print of this up on our wall since we got married and had always wanted to see it. There were about a hundred other paintings there that I could go on and on about, like a bunch of stuff by Georges Seurat, including the one where he paints the frame. And there were all sorts of works by Warhol, Pollock, Matisse, Caulder, Rousseau, Cezanne...you name it, it was there. But a trip to an art museum wouldn't be complete without me posting the painting that hit me the hardest. And here it is:

Yep, its a touch strange and grotesque, but so intriguing. Its called Painting (1946) by Francis Bacon (this is NOT Sir Francis Bacon), and is considered his magnum opus. Apparently he started the paining as a monkey in tall grass, but then decided he wanted to add a bird of prey...then it sorta just turned into a bunch of chunks of animal parts...or at least I think that's what it is. I just couldn't quit looking at it. I'm so glad I married such a cultured girl. She's opened my eyes to the beauty of art, and now I just can't get enough of it. About halfway through the night Sara says, "It sure is refreshing to spend a night in an art museum", and I thought, "Wow, she's right, this feels great". That's the whole point of art. It refreshes the soul.

Look what I saw at the MOMA!

On our first night in New York City we made our way to the Museum of Modern Art. If you want to see the best of modern art, New York is the place to be. Mostly I just pin these pictures up on the blog to brag about the totally kickin' pieces of art I've seen. Its crazy how much a person's inner self can change just by looking at works of art. I know that sounds real sappy, but its so true. The museum was super busy that night, but we are so glad we went to see it. Unlike the Pompidou Centre in Paris, this place was filled to the brim with the world's most famous works of art, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one. The picture up yonder is Sara in front of one of Monet's water lilly paintings. I think this one is most famous for being long. Down yonder is a picture of me with Picasso's Three Musicians. I'm a big Picasso fan. There were a lot of his works there, including his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and a bunch of his abstract cubist stuff. Wow I could go on about this forever. On to the next post...

The Naked Cowboy - and my wife

So the same day that I told Sara that we were going to New York she metnioned that she's always wanted a picture with the Naked Cowboy on Times Square. Yeah. That's about all I've got to say on this one. I like how he's got a hold of the knot on Zoe's hat.