January 1st - December 31st

We started the year off by taking our friends, Rick and Donna from Brookings, on a desert drive to see the Valley of the Names north of Yuma.

It's a large area where Patton used to train his troops, and it is covered with names and comments made of arranged rocks that started with the troops during WWII and continues today. But now you have to bring your own rocks as those naturally there have all been used up.

At the end of January Mom flew into L.A. to meet up with us and the kids and go to Disneyland.

We did a little sightseeing before the kids arrived. This is Mom at Griffith Park Observatory. The Hollywood sign is on the mountain directly behind her.

We stopped at Polka Restaurant for lunch and, of course, John had to try a Polish beer called Okochim. The English translation on the can is O.K. Beer. 😂 Judging by the look on his face, it must have been a little more than ok.

The whole gang finally arrived and got settled into the VRBO we had rented for the week.

We headed straight to Disney Land for our first day of fun even though it was a little rainy. This is John and his sister Kathy enjoying a break while the kids split up to catch some different rides.

We got a wheelchair for Mom and somehow this is how that turned out. 😜

He is such a little charmer; he can always find a way to hitch a ride.

Ben and Clarabell Cow

We took a break one day and had a 50th birthday party for Dawn. Boy does that make me feel old. Imagine how Grandma feels having her first grandchild turn 50 and her first greatgrandchild get married all in the same year. More about that later.

Happy Birthday Dawn!

When it was all over, we got stuck babysitting Ben's souvenir because he couldn't take it on the plane. He requested a picture every week for a while to make sure we were taking good care of it.

Mom spent a few weeks with us in Yuma. Here she is boarding the plane in Mesa to fly back home.

We bought a 30-year lease on a lot this past year and decided to put up a small shed for storage.

I think it was early March when Julie and I drove halfway to Phoenix to meet our friend Sue, so she could come and spend a few days with us. This gas station where we met in Gila Bend has six big dinosaurs.

While Sue and Julie were here to visit, we happened to be staying in a cabin by the lake in our campground while our RV was in the shop.

Hiking in the West Wetlands Park along the Colorado River with Julie, Sue and their dogs.

Karolyn joined us for a farm tour at the Naked Date Farm in Wellton. My Brookings girls posing in front of a blooming ocotillo. They were blooming all over the desert here.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Desert Lily, I have never seen them before.

The wildflowers were really pretty this spring.

I flew to Fargo at the end of April to stay with Mom for a couple weeks after her knee replacement surgery. That went well and I caught a bus from Valley City back to Helena. I haven't been on a long bus trip like that since I was about 10 when I visited my grandparents in Billings, and they sent me home on the bus. I actually kind of enjoyed not having to drive and just relax. Although the last hour from Butte to Helena was a little hmmm. We had to switch to a smaller bus in Butte. There were about a dozen passengers, all young and seemingly just released from rehab. It was sort of like old home week for them, judging from the strange conversation and the bus driver seemed to fit right in with them like an old friend. Let's just say that John was waiting for me at the bus stop, and I was doubly happy to see him.

Springtime in Helena

Keira with some of the prolific irises from great grandpa's Baughman's farm, which I have planted in various places all over their acreage.

Benny, Keira and Ava

The last week in June we traveled to North Dakota for Great Grandma's 90th Birthday Party.

Grandma's family from the start to ....

the first born (me) to ....

six years later, and finally to ....

us four ornery kids and eleven grandkids to ....

some of the sweet 18 great grandkids to ....

the most recent addition, greatgrandchild #19, and now there is one more on the way! Just look what you and Grandpa started so many years ago.

Grandma Clem taught Tallia how to make potato dumplings, so now we have a new dumpling maker in the family. Yay!

After all the family gatherings and birthday celebration we headed south. This was our first house in Brookings. John and Hilary planted that maple tree in the front yard about 40 years ago when it was just about three feet tall.

They demolished the grade school the girls went to across the street from our house. I'm sure there is a nice new school there by now.

Dawn's cute little home in Sioux Falls. She has been working the past few years on turning her whole yard into an English-style garden. The front boulevard is all peonies.

View from the house out to the street.

Along the side of the house.

Backyard where she has taken out a bunch of old trees to get some sun. I am so impressed by all the hard work and progress she has made so far.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, everyone else went home after Grandma's party, but this little rugrat stayed with us and got totally spoiled with treats, swimming, and going out to restaurants she requested, including seafood. But her favorite part was when we stopped for gas, and she discovered that they sold all kinds of treats and yummy drinks.

The rest of the grandkids all ready for their brother's wedding.

July 27, 2024

Our #1 grandson being escorted by his Mom.

Our new granddaughter-in-law and her Dad.

Just immediate family and a couple of best friends. Very simple and very pretty.

Carter and Delaney

Cheers!

Appetizers while pictures are being taken, followed by a full dinner.

All the flowers on the tables, about a dozen vases, were from my wildflower patch at Hilary and Jeff's. They were all arranged by a friend of Delaney's. So pretty!

Cutting the cake. Didn't take Carter long to get that suit off.

How many deserts can we have? We ate our supper.

Dallas loved the new hat I made for him. He has been learning to knit.

Keira's 9th Birthday

She and Hilary made some fancy cakes.

Opening the loot!

Ready for the beach party with friends.

Lewis and Clark State Park at Canyon Ferry Lake on the Missouri.

After all that birthday fun, it was only right that she helped Mom with tiling the apartment.

She can be a really good helper when she sets her mind to it, and she seemed to enjoy it.

Keira got baptized this year at their church's annual baptism day/potluck picnic and fun day.

I took the boys to the Monster Truck Show, and they had a blast!

Benny asked if he could go down and ask the guy a question. So, he went down and waited very patiently for the MC to stop talking and notice him. Then he joked around with Benny, asking him if it was his birthday, how old he was, what his name was. He asked if his name was Langdon or some strange name. Benny said no and the guy said, "Well, it could be if you want." Ben said no and told him he had a question, so he finally asked him what it was. He wanted to know why they didn't have more bike jumping tricks, because they were really cool? The guy had him facing the audience and had the audience cheering for him. He handled it all really well, but when he got back to his seat, he said he was very embarrassed. 😍

Ben's 7th Birthday

This kid is always excited and happy to get whatever he gets. He is always a joy to have around, happy and grateful and upbeat. We should all enjoy every moment of life as much as he does.

Ben wanted an obstacle course for his birthday, so he and Hilary set to work and made one. The picture doesn't show it very well, but the kids had to run around the outbuildings, climb over the fence, crawl through a tunnel made with a tarp, hop from log to log, walk a zigzag balance beam and jump from rug to rug that took them to the swimming pool. There they got to grab six water balloons and run around the backyard to throw them at the villains whose pictures were hung on the trees, like Darth Vader, for instance. So much fun!

Tierney carved the watermelon for Ben. To her everything is a canvas to create something.

She drew this on her leg. She does her nails every few days and paints pretty little pictures on each nail.

Hilary and the boys made a fort one day out of pvc pipe scraps.

This little ham is always happy to show off his latest hairstyle.

Jeff and Hilary just got home from a friend's wedding.

On Monday, September 16th we flew direct from Bozeman to New York City. We took the Air Train from the airport to Madison Square Garden/Penn Station and walked nine blocks to the Hilton Garden Inn. Our room was on the 15th floor out of 36 floors. We were just a block from Times Square. We had supper at McCarthy's Irish Pub just down the street.

Tuesday morning, we hopped on the Hop-on, Hop-off City Tour Bus right here in front of the NYC Public Library just a block from our hotel.

In the afternoon we went back to walk through the library which contains 37 million items.

There are 800 languages spoken in NYC and 30% of the residents are foreigners.

These are some of the sights we saw while riding the bus.

The Guggenheim Museum, not that impressive when you see it stuck in between all those skyscrapers.

There were lots of food trucks. Getting a quick lunch would not be problem.

Hudson River Park runs for several miles along the river. Those things that look like martini glasses all have trees growing in them. Across from the park behind us is Hudson Yards, a newly renovated, upscale residential, commercial and public area.

The fire escapes for some reason drew my attention. I'm not sure I would be comfortable living so many stories up, even though I am sure climbing a few flights of stairs everyday wouldn't hurt me a bit.

Flat Iron Building

We ate supper at a restaurant in Bryant Park right next door, between the library and our hotel.

I had a Mediterranean Fusilli Salad. Yum. John had crab cake sandwich, fries and a Six Point Pilsner. Always a new beer to try. I think he's on a mission.

There were several of these shops with slices for 99 cents. They had a whole buffet counter to pick from, but we never did get around to trying them.

Wednesday John wasn't feeling well, a bit dehydrated, I think. So, we picked up shrimp and pulled pork lunch bowls at a little Mexican place and went back to the hotel. Then I did a little wandering around on my own and bought some souvenirs for the kids. That evening we had tickets to see Tom Jones at the Beacon Theater. I think he said he was 84 and had both hips replaced. So, he didn't dance around the stage as much as he used to, but his voice is still awesome. It was fun.

Going past the Ed Sullivan Theater building (where the Late Show films) as we walked over to see Tom Jones.

Beekman Tower at 76 stories is the tallest residential building in New York.

Thursday, we visited the American Museum of Natural History NYC, and I got to snuggle up with Teddy.

I wouldn't want to get whipped by this big guy's tail. This sauropod lived in Argentina 100 million years ago. He is a plant eater and a member of the titanosaurs, the largest land animals ever. Rarely do the paleontologists find all of the bones, but this skeleton does contain 84 of the real bones.

They had beautiful panoramas of many different animals.

The costumes, head dresses and traditions of the Amazonian tribes were especially interesting and bizarre.

Only the men received these scarification patterns and some still do today. Among several northern Amazonian tribes, the boys and girls go through an ant ordeal ceremony. They must plunge their hands into a pair of gloves lined with stinging ants. One photo showed a girl about to have a plaque with more than 100 stinging ants woven into it placed against her chest. Initiates should not cry out in pain but are not punished if they do. That is some severe form of hazing! "Thank you, sir, may I please have another?" A big no thanks from me! Just another movie reference the youngsters won't get. 😏

Scenes in Central Park which is two and a half miles long and a half mile wide. We walked through park several times, but didn't begin to see it all.

Dog Park

One of many plazas in the park. There was a wedding going on under the arches.

This statue of King Jagiello of Poland was created for the Polish Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in Queens. Six months after the Pavilion opened, the Nazis invaded Poland and destroyed all symbols of Polish nationalism, including the original statue which this one was based on. Unable to be returned to Poland because of the war, a place was found for it here in Central Park. It was dedicated two months after V-E Day on the 535th anniversary of the battle it depicts.

The Faber (John's Grandpa) family walk. His Mom and uncles all had the same walk, so he is just carrying on a family tradition. 😆

Great Blue Heron

Strawberry Fields and Imagine Circle. There is usually a musician busking Beatles songs in this area.

It is very near the Dakota ....

where John Lennon was shot outside the front entrance on December 8, 1980.

Back in the park again.

Daniel Webster

Liberty and Union

Now and Forever

One and Inseparable

In case you were wondering, no John did not take me on a carriage ride in the park. I guess the romance is dead or at least on the downhill slide.

I did at least get him to take a picture of me.

This couple appeared to be getting their engagement pictures taken.

We saw three raccoons ambling through the park just a few feet from the walking path.

Entrance to the Shakespeare Gardens

Belvedere Tower erected in 1869 as a lookout, now houses the New York Meteorological Observatory.

View from the base of the tower.

The whole city of Manhattan sits on bedrock like this, and you see it jutting out all over the park. They just designed the park features all around the rolling bedrock. If you asked me what my favorite part of New York is, I would have to say definitely Central Park. I wish we could have had a few more days just to walk around and explore the rest of it and many of the other beautiful parks.

John walked up here to take a break.

After leaving the park, we stopped at Sweet Green Cafe and had salmon and chicken protein bowls, and they were delicious.

Friday, we went to the Museum of the City of New York.

Then we walked across Central Park again and stopped on our way through the park at Loeb's Boathouse for a late lunch.

That evening we saw the musical The Book of Mormon at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Very funny, but kind of crude. Don't go if you are easily offended. On our way back to our hotel we stopped at Paris Baguette to pick up a sandwich for the morning. It was a fabulous bakery just around the corner from our hotel full of amazing pastries, cakes, sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc. We stopped there most evenings to pick up something for breakfast.

These police officers were on patrol that evening near our hotel which was just a block from Times Square.

We visited the 911 Memorial and Plaza on Saturday. The Oculus is between the 911 museum and One World Trade Center. The entire World Trade Center was destroyed, all seven buildings along with the PATH train station that served millions of commuters to Manhattan. This building was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and the pair of 350-foot wings were intended to resemble a dove leaving a child's hand.

The Oculus name comes from the strip of windows or skylights along the spine of the roof. You can look up through the windows and see Freedom Tower, also known as One World Trade Center, the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. The angle of the windows is placed so that every year on the anniversary of the attacks, the sun shines directly through and illuminates the main hall at 10:28 A.M. the time of the collapse of the second tower. It's called The Way of Light. The building position is slightly tilted from the street grid to achieve this effect. The train station beneath the building is directly connected to ten other subway lines and has tunnel access to Battery Park Ferry Terminal and the new World Trade Center Towers 1, 3, 4 and 7. The cost doubled from the $2 billion estimate, took ten years longer than planned and is one of the world's most expensive train stations.

The Twin Tower Reflecting Pools. The water runs down all the walls to the center drain. Both pools are surrounded with the all the victim's names cut into metal, so you can stick in flowers, flags, etc.

In the museum about 70 feet underground at bedrock level is this wall with 2,983 tiles, each one representing a victim of the 911 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Each tile is a distinct shade of blue, no two the same, to remind us of the individuality of each person memorialized. It is titled "Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning" by Spencer Finch. Tom Joyce fashioned the letters from World Trade Center steel. It is the first thing you see as you come down the stairs. The whole experience is very moving.

Then we took the subway down to Wall Street and walked around for a bit.

The Wall Street Bull is an iconic destination for millions visiting the city and there was a long line waiting to take pictures of it or with it. The bronze bull, known around the world as a symbol of financial optimism, prosperity and the entrepreneurial spirit, is 11 feet tall, 16 feet long and weighs 3 and a half tons.

Dallas had asked Grandpa to have a hot dog at one of those food carts and send him a picture, so here it is Dallas. This was at One Liberty Plaza. I had chick-on-a-stick in a falafel bread. 😋

Then we walked down to the Staten Island Ferry and boarded for the free cruise of the harbor.

Our first view of Lady Liberty.

Harbor Views

Verrazzano Bridge

This statue of Verrazzano is in Battery Park. He sailed into New York Harbor in 1524.

Sunday morning, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge which is over a mile long and opened in 1883. 32,000 people walk across daily and 107,000 cars drive across on the deck below. Only pedestrians, bicyclists and passenger cars are allowed on the bridge. John Roebling designed it to leave the East River free of obstruction. He died in an accident when the bridge was being surveyed. His son Washington was chosen to complete the bridge. He was totally disabled in 1872 by caisson disease (the bends) and could never visit the site again. His wife Emily became chief administrative aid and enabled him to finish the project. In 1870 wooden foundations called pneumatic caissons were slowly sunk into the river where the towers would stand. Inside the chambers, workers excavated the debris until firm ground was reached. Then they were filled with concrete. The towers support the cables, thereby the entire weight of the bridge roadway and traffic. The towers are constructed of New York limestone and Maine granite and raise 272 ' 6" above high water.

I am guessing there aren't too many high-speed chases on the bridge.

After crossing, looking back at the Brooklyn Bridge on the left and the Manhattan Bridge on the right.

A lovely park runs both directions under the bridge along the waterfront. There were four people doing a photo shoot of this young lady, probably for a bridal magazine.

The Staten Island Ferry across the East River.

The Statue of Liberty across the river.

We ate lunch in here at the Time Out Market. It was a huge food court with all kinds of ethnic food restaurants. I had a fiesta bowl and John had a pastrami sandwich. I ordered a drink, and it came in a tall zip lock bag. That was a first for me. I had to ask how to open it so I could drink it. No wonder I have trouble with my phone and computer. Too bad the grandkids weren't there to show me. 😍

In the afternoon, we went to see Grand Central Terminal, not to be mistaken for Grand Central Station, which is the name of the subway station below the train terminal. Built between 1903 and 1913 by New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, it is one of the city's most visited sites, second only to Times Square, with 750,000 people passing through daily and up to a million on holidays. At the time of completion, the main concourse was the largest enclosed space in the world at 275' x 120'. The crowning jewel is the celestial ceiling. The 125' high vaulted ceiling is covered in gilded illustrations of the Zodiac and other constellations with embedded lights that seem to twinkle in the night sky. The site was previously home to a train depot built in 1871 by railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Downstairs are tons of amazing shops, but the ones with food were the most amazing to me.

Meats, seafood, cakes, pastries, pies, pizzas, bins of rice and beans of all kinds, endless produce, sauces, jellies, condiments, prepared meals and salads and on and on. I just wanted to try it all.

Anybody need a shoeshine?

That evening we went back to the Beacon Theater to see two of my favorites, John Oliver and Seth Meyers. They were very fun to watch.

Monday, we took the Statue City Cruise to Liberty Island and Ellis Island.

Going by the Verrazzano Bridge again.

As we waited to disembark at Liberty Island, we watched what appeared to be some VIPs escorted by secret service types as they disembarked first.

Walking onto the island we passed the Statue of Liberty Museum which is ....

kinda sorta underground.

Steps up to the roof give you a nice view of the island and the statue.

The wildflowers all over the island are beautiful.

Looking out at Governor's Island from the deck of the pedestal under Lady Liberty. The statue itself is 89 feet tall, roughly a ten-story building. Up to that time no statue of such proportions had ever been built. Bartholdi's colossus was recognized as one of the greatest technical achievements of the 1800s, a bridge between art and engineering. It was designed by a few but built by many. In 1875 over 60 craftsmen oversaw its creation. Stone, marble and bronze were too heavy for such a large statue, so they used thin, hammered sheets of copper the thickness of two pennies. There were over 300 sheets of copper, most from a copper mine in Karmay, Norway. A support system for its unusual shape and high winds in the harbor was designed by Gustav Eiffel to make the tallest monument in the world. The copper skin weighs 62,000 pounds. It functioned as a lighthouse for the first 16 years and its light could be seen for 24 miles. At 305' 1" it is still the tallest statue in North America. FDR was here in 1936 for its 50th Anniversary and said, "Liberty and peace are living things in each generation--if they are to be maintained--they must be guarded and vitalized anew." An apt observation then and now.

The pedestal, a 23-and-a-half-ton concrete base, is an 11-pointed star sitting on the top of the remains of Fort Wood which was built between 1808 and 1811. The 11-point fort design was brought to North America by French military engineers in the 17th century. It was occupied by the War Department as an army post until 1937. Liberty Island and several of the surrounding states were originally inhabited by the Lenape Indians.

Approaching Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. They get about 2 million visitors a year. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the largest migrations of people in world history. Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil and Canada were all popular destinations, but the majority chose the United States. The peak years were from 1880 to 1924 with over 26 million migrating to the United States, about 40% through Ellis Island. The island was originally 3.3 acres before fill dirt was added to expand it to 27.5 acres to accommodate the growing numbers of immigrants that needed to be detained. It was used as a detention center during WWI and WWII and was closed in 1954.

Walking around Ellis Island. The staff on Liberty Island and Ellis Island watched 911 as it happened. The Park Service immediately evacuated the islands and prepared Ellis for a triage situation. Park Service EMTs tended to the injured and transported them to hospitals via the island's small service bridge to Jersey City. Both islands were closed for 100 days, and the statue remained closed until August 2004 to upgrade the security and life safety systems.

Immigrants came for economic opportunity, to flea war and to escape persecution. Four out of every ten Americans has an ancestor who passed through Ellis Island. Today one of the biggest movements of people is from rural areas to cities. For the first time in human history more than half of the world population lives in urban areas, over 80% in the U.S. The impulse to migrate is still to seek a better life. Fiorello LaGuardia was an interpreter at Ellis from 1907 to 1910. He spoke three languages and was paid $1,200 a year which helped him pay his way through law school. In 1916 he ran successfully for congress, and he was mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946. The workforce at Ellis grew to over 700 people. There were doctors (40), nurses, inspectors, interpreters, matrons, stenographers, clerks, telephone operators, kitchen and laundry workers, watchmen and maintenance staff. Many worked 12 hours a day and 7 days a week. By 1911 there were more than 15 buildings devoted to medical care, including a 275-bed hospital and a 450-bed contagious disease ward. Each immigrant received a six-minute physical, a quick once over and a look at their eyes, to determine if they were healthy enough or needed to be detained. There were laboratories, operating rooms, a psychiatric ward, an x-ray plant and a morgue. Records from 1900 show 3,500 people died, including 400 children, and over 355 babies were born.

On January1, 1892, 17-year-old Annie Moore was the first immigrant to enter through the Ellis Island Immigration System. She had left County Cork, Ireland ten days earlier sailing steerage with her two younger brothers to join their parents and two other younger siblings who were already here. She was greeted by the United States Immigration Superintendent and given a $10 gold coin.

About 10% of all immigrants arriving were detained for legal hearings. Those thought liable to become public charges or suspected of being contract laborers or worse, received yellow cards marked "S.I." meaning their case would be decided by a Board of Special Inquiry. Three or four boards were usually in session all day each holding 50 to 100 hearings daily with interpreters. If an immigrant received an unfavorable decision, they could appeal to Washington, D.C. with a lawyer, often provided by an immigrant aid society. In almost 8 out of 10 cases the boards ruled to admit them. Only 2% of over 12 million immigrants were denied admission and sent back. By 1910, 75% of residents in NYC, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Boston were immigrants or children of immigrants.

The huge dormitory rooms were long and narrow accommodating 300 detainees and were filled to capacity nearly every night. They had triple-tiered bunk beds and a blanket to cover the wire mesh platforms. In 1908 they were subdivided into 14 rooms and in 1924 mattresses were provided.

Boarding the ferry to leave Ellis Island, the boards along the pier are covered with coins people have tossed. I wonder how many are on the bottom of the harbor.

Monument in Battery Park to John Ambrose whose vision resulted in the deep-sea channel to New York Harbor (among many other important accomplishments), making NYC the heart of commerce in the United States. The channel is named in his honor.

The East Coast Memorial at the southern end of 25-acre Battery Park faces the Statue of Liberty across the harbor and is a tribute to the 4,601 servicemen who lost their lives in the Atlantic during WWII. There are eight 19' granite pylons inscribed with the names, ranks, organizations and states of each of the deceased. It is also dedicated to all the thousands of merchant marines and the 529 seamen of the U.S. transport service who also died in the Atlantic. In the center is a monumental bronze eagle on a pedestal of polished black granite. The eagle grips a laurel wreath over a wave signifying mourning at a watery grave. It was dedicated by JFK on May 23, 1963.

After walking through Battery Park, we stopped at Mercado Little Spain for supper. I had salt fried fish/Cuban stew. John had 4 eggs, fries and jamon. We walked out the back way looking for a restroom only to discover the Mercado Little Spain was another huge marketplace like the one in Grand Central Terminal.

They had live lobsters in tanks.

And huge hanging jamons.

We headed back to our hotel and again stopped at Paris Baguette to pick up a treat for breakfast. I didn't even want to think about getting back on that scale at home.

Subway Art

This interesting sculpture called Shaved Portions by Chakaia Booker was in Golda Meir Square.

A close-up view. It is made out of rubber tire scraps and stainless steel.

I saw this chandelier as we walked by and thought it must be an elegant jewelry shop like Tiffany's or something. So, I poked my head in to check it out, and it turned out to be just another pastry shop.

On Tuesday we popped into a funky little food court in an alley with a variety of Asian places for lunch. Then we explored Macy's on 34th Street for a bit. Macy's is famous for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, visits with Santa and the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street, and of course, the newer remake. The current store was built in 1902 after previously operating in several other locations.

It has 11 floors of shopping, two below street level, and floors 7, 8 and 9 still have the original wooden escalators. Pick up a visitor's guide at the entrance. There are three restaurants, five fast food places and three sweet treat places. They offer history tours, merchandising tours and cooking classes. They also have an instore jail where suspected shoplifters are detained. The store has 2.5 sq. ft. with half of that in retail space. It is the largest department store in the U.S. and among the largest in the world.

Every floor was huge. 9th floor Holiday Lane was completely full of Christmas decor. The 8th floor had Santa Land and toys, toys, toys! One floor had just furniture. There was a men's floor, women's floor, children's floor, home decor, etc. It was like a complete mall in one building.

We sat out front here in Heralds Square for a few minutes and listened to the band that was playing. That is the Empire State Building just down the block where we went next.

The Trio Brass Band. Over in the trees behind them was a monument that I had to go over and check out.

It was a memorial to James Cordon Bennett who founded the New York Herald in 1835 and his son of the same name whose vision and enterprise made it one of the world's great newspapers. It was dedicated in 1895 and has been moved a couple times but ended up back here at Herald Square on the corner of 6th Avenue and 34th Street. The bronze figures of Minerva and the two bellringers tolled the active hours to the millions. When it was moved back here the Goddess of Liberty was placed behind them. It was originally from the Altar of Liberty in Greenwood Cemetery that commemorated the Battle of Long Island in the Revolutionary War. "Give my regards to Broadway. Remember me to Heralds Square." Just a little excerpt from Yankee Doodle Dandy, George M. Cohen played by James Cagney in the movie for the few that can still remember that far back.

I tried to sneak a picture in front of the Empire State Building, but they caught me, and they were more than happy to pose.

Just a few pictures from the observation deck on the 86th floor.

The building with the tall spire is the Chrysler Building and was built at the same time as the Empire State Building. Chrysler was in competition to build the tallest building and was secretly saving his spire for the last minute to accomplish that. What he didn't know was that the Empire State Building had a little secret of their own which enabled them to win in the end.

The tallest skyscraper way out in the center is on the west side of Manhattan in Hudson Yards and has a deck near the top. The Edge Observation Deck is the highest in the western hemisphere. You look 100 stories down through a glass floor with a 360-degree view and it has nine-foot tall, angled glass walls for an exhilarating lean out experience. Hudson Yards is one of the largest private real estate developments in the history of the United States.

This is a close-up. The deck extends 80 feet from the 100th floor. The building is 1,296 feet tall.

After the Empire State Building, we went back to the hotel for a rest. Then we took the subway back to Battery Park for the night views and walked around a bit before catching a bus to the infamous Katz's Deli.

People were lined up 2 or 3 deep the whole length of a long bar placing their sandwich orders, which I understand is par for the course pretty much all the time. The place was packed. You could barely weave your way through the crowd or find a seat.

This is just the half of his pastrami sandwich that he took back to the hotel. He said it was heart attack good!!! I passed on supper that night, but I am hungry right now as I am typing this, and it looks yummy to me.

Wednesday the 25th, our last day, we took the subway under the river through Queens (where it went above ground) and all the way out to Flushing.

Citi Field where the Mets play. The Long Island Railroad station is right here, handy for game day.

Walking across the boardwalk to Gotham Plaza entrance we had buses on the left and train cars on the right.

Beyond the trains you can see the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Here is a little closer view of the stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, named for the adjacent neighborhoods, Flushing and Corona. The U.S. Open tennis event was brought to Flushing in 1989 by David Dinkens their first black mayor. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is where the U.S. Open is held. In the 1970s he played a leading role in getting the U.S. Open relocated to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing.

The UNISPERE is 140' tall and was created for the 1964 World's Fair to celebrate the advances made in space exploration. It lights up at night and it made an appearance in the Men in Black Movies. At over 897 acres Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the largest park in Queens and the 4th largest in New York City. Flushing Meadows was the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1964 fair. Until the 19th century it was just a wetland and a dumping ground for ashes, 50 million cubic yards to be precise. F. Scott Fitzgerald dubbed it the Valley of Ashes in the Great Gatsby. It is located in the northern part of Queens with Flushing Bay as its northern boundary.

There was another photo shoot of some kind going on here.

The princesses floating down oak lane.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Acorns covered the ground everywhere.

The Flushing River runs through the park and it also has two lakes, Queens Museum of Art, Queens Theater in the Park, Queens Wildlife Center Zoo and Carousel, Queens Botanical Garden, the New York Hall of Science, Rocket Park with real rockets from the space exploration era, several playgrounds, golf center, soccer fields, baseball fields, basketball courts, hand ball courts, tennis courts and the New York State Pavilion. Former Shea Stadium was torn down in 2009.

Having my picture taken with George Washington. I didn't think that would ever happen.

Rocket Thrower is a 43' high bronze sculpture created by Don De Lue for the 1964 World's Fair at a cost of $105,000.

New York State Pavilion Observation Tower used at the end of one of the Men in Black movies. John loves those movies, and I just hate them.

I saw this several times in the distance in my pictures that I took from The Empire State Building and couldn't figure out what it was. Later I came across the picture below that I took when we had supper in Bryant Park.

Aha, the Bryant Park Hotel! It was just around the corner from our hotel the whole time.

Columbus Circle

Rockefeller Plaza, Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

A popular place to go for great views of the city.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of New York and the center of Catholic life in the United States since 1879.

Oh, look John finally found his kind of place to shop right across the street from the cathedral, Saks Fifth Ave.

And he couldn't wait to get in there. "On the avenue, fifth avenue..." Do you think they might have beef jerky or mixed nuts? I'm thinking he is going to be disappointed.

A few random street shots

Columbus Circle

Ralph Kramden in front of Manhattan's midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal. If you don't know who Ralph is, he was the bus driver on the sitcom, The Honeymooners. Google it.

When we got back from Flushing, we went down the Hudson Yards to wander around for a while. It is a newly renovated luxury residential and shopping district that is open to the public from 8:00 A.M to 1:00 A.M. The Shed, formerly the Culture Shed or Hudson Yards Cultural Shed, opened in 2019 and presents performing arts, visual arts and pop culture. It is adjacent to the northern leg of the High Line, a 1.45-mile elevated greenway park on a former railroad track that runs from Macy's on 34th St. all the way down to Gansevoort St. with a 360-degree view of all the West Side's most beautiful buildings. It has plenty of flowers and trees, art installations cultural attractions and food trucks. The Shed has a retractable roof that creates an outdoor roofed space named the McCourt with a 500-seat theater for performances and two levels of exhibition space. The brilliant glass interior is encased in a sculpted geometric facade that retracts. It looks like a giant quilt draped over the building on rollers. The Hudson River Park entrance is across the street from Hudson Yards and runs along the river for several miles with views of Hoboken and Jersey City across the river.

The Vessel, right in the center of Hudson Yards near The Shed, is an elaborate piece of public sculpture created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick. It is the main feature of the 5-acre Hudson Yards Public Square paid for by the Hudson Yards developer at an estimated final cost of $200 million. The honeycomb-like structure rises 16 stories and consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps and 80 landings for visitors to climb. Who needs a gym membership?

Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan was constructed in 1807 offshore from Battery Park as a fortress to hold defense cannons. The land was gradually filled in, so now it is a part of the surrounding park. Later it served as the immigration center for New York before Ellis Island took over. It was named for mayor and later governor, DeWitt Clinton. After the roof was added in the 1840s, it hosted concerts, including the American debut of Swedish opera diva Jenny Lind in 1850 (tickets cost $225 equivalent to $8,240 in 2023). Approximately 8 million immigrants were processed through here from 1855 to 1890. Six years after closing it was converted to the New York City Aquarium which closed in 1941.

Our last day in NYC we had us a mini–October fest for lunch at Reichenbach Hall. I don't know if what I ordered only came in one size or they didn't ask or what, but that's what I got, and John was just shaking his head. It really wasn't that much of a problem. 😂

We were both pretty still pretty full from that big German lunch, so we just went around the corner from our hotel to have a shake for supper. We waited in line behind a big group of people in suits with security in attendance ordering supper to go. They left and climbed into big, black SUVs waiting in the street. We assumed they were in town for the United Nations that was in session.

The Guardians: Superhero 2013. This statue was in the little park-like sitting area outside the Shake Shack. Probably some character from Star Wars or something that I am not up on.

Tally holding Keira's new budgie bird Moonlight. She was so excited to finally get a bird, but unfortunately it died about three weeks later. There was a major melt down that day, but all is well now. She spent her Christmas money to get three new birds, so she is very happy for now.

Tierney's birthday.

Tally's birthday

Benny lost his front tooth and the other one after we left. And no, he didn't get them back for Chrithmuth. 😍

The weather stayed really nice all through October and we kept biking to the creek. It never seems to bother those kids how cold the water is. They just always gotta get in it.

This animal crazy girl just reaches in and catches a fish.

Not too far from the kids' house there is a whole neighborhood that goes absolutely crazy for Halloween. But they weren't serving Grandma shots like one place did last year. 😞