Family Vacation New York, NY, June 2007

As a family we are starting to crave really cool vacations and going places we've not been before.  Early spring 2007 we were sitting at Cassler's for dinner discussing summer vacation possibilities.  Options included Mt. Rushmore, Florida, Hollywood, a cruise, and other ideas.  But as we talked, my 8 year old son Alex mentioned New York City.  The rest of the family immediately agreed and we set our plans for early June.

Ground Zero is under heavy construction, but the WTC Path Subway in the center of the site is operational.  The entrance for the train is decorated with many collections of artwork done by the children of NYPD and NYFD people that died the day of the attack.  This artwork was very touching.

I have to give a nod to JetsVettes on our NYC Vacation.  This is a limited edition Hard Rock Cafe Corvette lapel pin.  Alex and I both scored one of these great pins.

           Click here to see my Corvette Collectibles.

In the pouring rain Max kept kneeling down on sidewalk grates worrying about "the Ninja Turtles getting wet?"

This was a giant art statue at the World Trade center on display for years.  It remained remarkably in tact on the day of the attacks, and was moved to the park outside of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ports.  It will eventually be on display in a 911 museum.

These pictures were taken by the NBC photographer.  They gave us a website address to "buy" our pictures and disabled the right mouse click to stop people from copying the images for free...  My 12 bucks is still in the bank (he he he...hmmm, how did he do that?)

We returned to the Empire State Building for another try at the observation deck.  But first, we took the subway to get there!  On the subway we saw a homeless guy sleeping face-down on some newspapers, and we saw a real NY city rat.  The kids were worried about the sleeping guy, wondering if he was dead.  The concept of homeless, and seeing it first hand, was a great discussion we spent a lot of time on.

Spider man must be bored after finishing Spidey 3.  He was hanging around Times Square Wednesday Night. (L)  We also did some last-night late-night shopping at several souvenir stores late at night (R).

As humans we owe a debt of gratitude to Spider Man.  He has saved countless people and is dedicated to the protection of all innocent bystanders.  We should thank, appreciate, respect, and even fear his awesome powers.   Spider Man does not deserve "bunny ears" and clearly 8-year old Alex needs to learn how to appreciate the value Spider Man brings to all mankind.