Yeah. That pretty much sums up my day.

First and foremost, guess who I ran into today? He’s a rock star around here and, I would bet, pretty much anywhere he goes. (pause for the inevitable curious rumble of onlookers) That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. My very first reader here at ODNT. The one … the only … El Guapo. Just as nice in person, by the way. But way taller. (He’s bending his knees & I’m on my tiptoes.)

Naturally, the kids also took a picture with Mr. Guapo. Unfortunately, they’d both left their autograph books up in the hotel room. (It was SO nice to meet you, EG. Here’s to a lengthier visit over drinks one day with our friend, Mel.)

Brief interlude #1 – In all my visits to NYC, I’ve never paid a proper visit to the Statue of Liberty. And, since my kids as well as my parents were along for this particular trip, we decided to take her on. It wasn’t until we got all the way down to Battery Park that we learned that Hurricane Sandy not only shut her down but closed off all of Liberty Island for the time being.

Stupid hurricanes. They’re still screwing me.

We’d allotted a great many hours of the day for these plans. And so it is at this moment in my photo journal where you hear the needle scratch across the record. Because everything fell off track. Which sometimes is just fine.

Seriously, how could I NOT take a picture of this sign?!!? Yes, Viv and I did race through our bathroom rituals while inside. However, I’m not going to deny that I was really hoping to look under the adjacent stall and see a couple of feet actually facing the toilet. I found it hilarious. It felt like we were in Europe.

After a perfect slice of NY white pizza (my absolute favorite), we hopped a train back uptown to Central Park …

… where we spent hours (one of the sweetest pictures I’ve ever taken) ….

… and hours …

… and hours.

We saw remote-controlled sailboats, but no Stuart Little …

… just the right combination of letters on the sundial to make her smile …

… and a bunch of big ass hawks. (I don’t think that’s their scientific name.)

Brief interlude #2 – All this talk of Central Park reminds me of my old friends, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and Ross. Yeah, whatever. You all know exactly who I’m talking about. And I was thinking about their cleverly-named coffee shop, Central Perk. Remember?

Which got me to thinking ….

New York has a thriving street hot dog (streetdog, if you will) industry. And thus I see a money-making opportunity here. Except I’m going to need some partners. People with lots of money and, well, pig farmers. Because I want to open my own little charcuterie on the Upper East Side. Or West Side, I’m flexible. And I plan to call it … Central Pork. Who’s in? I’m so excited I could positively squeal!

Oh, and we saw a movie being made on 5th Avenue. It may or may not be called Five to Seven. Apparently, that’s a Bond girl in the balcony. And I think it’s a French film so I’ll likely never know anything more about it.

We swung by Rockefeller Center (on our way to the NBA store) ….

… where we happened upon a tiny Stonehenge exhibit. Didn’t Nigel and the boys already try this?

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And, of course, we bought lots of stuff. And ate lots of street meat. That makes it a good NY trip, right?

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ODNT Takes Manhattan Day One – Day Two