We care IMMENSELY and have to talk about it for months if a deranged psychopath kills 20 school children in Connecticut, and we should – we absolutely should – care about those lives.  But why are children sacred in a U.S. classroom and not in their homes in Pakistan?  Because our government is killing a lot of THOSE children, and nobody’s interested in “even one step we can take to save another child” when the discussion is about them.

Where’s the uproar over the 43 civilians who were shot by police in 2012 as part of the “war on drugs” (http://bit.ly/WiEzsS)?  Even in the all-too-common cases where these drug raids end in the death of an innocent man, shot in front of his family, because the police botched it up (http://huff.to/k2jAiB)?  Oh, and those murders will never see justice, because they were perpetuated BY the “justice system,” then swept under the rug in cover-ups and laughable “justifications,” because if that news got out, people may realize that a police state is not a safe state, and it’s certainly not a free state.  These lives are just collateral damage, but since they died at the hands of police at their own front doors and not by a madman in a theater, then that is acceptable.

The U.S. just observed 40 years of Roe vs. Wade – more innocent deaths than all the madmen and all the drone strikes together could produce, and those deaths are actually celebrated as progress.  But don’t get too high and mighty, pro-lifers, because one of those Catholic hospitals (you know, that was going to shut its doors before performing government-mandated abortions?) just saved themselves a few million bucks in court by arguing that the two fetuses in a wrongful death suit against them weren’t actually “persons,” as they had not yet been born alive (http://gaw.kr/V9wNy1).  It’s unsurprising that “pro-life” senators “officially” turn away abortion lobbyists and then ask for tips on where their mistress can have a quiet abortion, but now we have Catholic hospitals, a cornerstone of the pro-life movement, willing to trade their principles for a few million dollars in a lawsuit.  It’s disgusting.

So, truly, what makes life sacred?  Each individual life counts enough for the President to weep over on national television if their deaths can be made a platform for gun control legislation.  So, those deaths are valuable because they’re political-agenda-pushers.  It’s the height of irony that proponents of gun control (“even if we can save one life!”) are usually the same folks dancing in the streets over 40 years of legalized abortion.  Lest you think I’m being unfair, you can also file it under “ironic” that the pro-life group is more likely to be pro-war, politically (although, former anti-war activists have traded anti-war, anti-Bush for pro-Obama, pro-war, so I guess they, too, compromised on that score).  So, in present-day, whether you believe our unborn children are valuable are not, there is much (silent) agreement that the already-born children of “brown people” overseas have no value.

Amidst “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” it seems we’ve traded away any hope of liberty in order to protect life – but only the lives we deem worth protecting under whatever political banner we wave.  And if that’s where we’ve come, then good luck on that “pursuit of happiness.”  I think it must lie within “ignorance is bliss,” which probably also explains that cultural horror known as reality television.

My answer to, “Do you want to go to New York?” is pretty much always yes, but especially so when my cousin Tracey asked me to be her tour guide and partner-in-crime for her first-ever foray into the Big Apple.  We picked dates and got flights and then it was down to the business of planning an itinerary that would ensure that she got to see as much of New York as humanly possible.

We had two full days in the city, and two half days in the city, with the other half of those days consumed by travel.  I showed the itinerary to Jessica, who has gone to NYC with me many times, and she asked, “Are you trying to show her everything at once in case she never goes back?”  And, that’s exactly what I was doing.  When I presented Tracey with an itinerary of four 18-hour days (6am – midnight), she didn’t even flinch.  She thought it was fantastic, and that’s how I knew it would work.

I asked her what tourist things she wanted to do, and I added some of my favorite NYC discoveries to the list, and then I added some things that would be new to me as well.  To that end, I decided we should make a point to go to all five New York City boroughs.  You know what they are, right?  Thanks to the Beastie Boys?  “Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten [Island], from the Battery to the top of Manhattan…”

Saturday

We got up bright and early to drive to RDU, and by 1:00pm, we had landed and checked into our hotel in Queens.  (1 borough, check!)  We bought our unlimited 7-day MetroCards for $29, which is absolutely the way to see NYC on a budget.  Even though we were only in the city for a little over 3 days, less than half of the time our 7-day pass was good, we each took $56.25 worth of rides (16 subways, 7 buses, and 2 trams) around the city, reducing our cost by nearly half.

Tracey had a crash course in subways, because our first subway ride was jam-packed.  Then we had a transfer, and it was similarly packed.  So, she got to dive right into the thick of things.  Literally.

We rode the subway out to Brooklyn Heights (borough #2!) and walked along the Promenade for our first (slightly foggy) view of Manhattan.

Next stop was Grimaldi’s for Brooklyn’s famous pizza.  We got ham, mushrooms, and ricotta – in addition to the usual fresh mozzarella and basil.  Delicious!

After dinner, it was getting dark, so we walked down to the river, under the Brooklyn Bridge.  I snapped this photo and it turned out incredibly blurry, but there’s something about it that I like very much all the same.

Someone else was also checking out the waterfront, except they had arrived in this stretch hummer limousine with party lights in the back.  Just another day in New York.

Since we were visiting New York in December, there was one attraction that couldn’t be missed.  So, our next stop was Manhattan (borough #3, though technically, we went through it earlier, just underground) and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.  I’m not sure if it was because my visit this year was a bit closer to the lighting of the Christmas tree, or because I had another person to keep up with, but Rockefeller Center seemed even more packed with people than I remembered.  It was crowded, to be sure, but we were all united with a purpose – to stand there and marvel and take pictures of the most amazing Christmas tree in the world.  (Or, at least that I have ever seen or heard about.)

Saks 5^th Avenue, across the street, was running their projection show again this year, but it had definitely been upgraded.  Parts were even in color!

The top of Rockefeller Center was obscured with fog, accenting the incredible height of this building.

I snuck up on this tourist gawking at the tree.  (Shhhh, it’s Tracey.)

Tourists everywhere!!!

We found a spot overlooking the skating rink that wasn’t filled with tourists, but quickly realized it’s because they were distracted by another incredible sight – this enormous dog!  I am disappointed that the picture doesn’t do justice to his size.  He had all the humans quite matched (or over-matched) for size.  Even so, he was the sweetest thing.  He kept glancing up at his owner, as if to say, “I don’t know why all these people are petting me and taking pictures with me, but I think we should go home now.”  Quite a gentle giant.

I took a picture similar to this last year – the actual Rockefeller tree in the background of the Swarovski star replica – but it’s just so cool that I had to take another one this time.  And of course, make sure Tracey got a chance to take one, too.

It seemed for the best to conquer all of midtown on our first night, when we were already wading through tourists like a champ.  So, we headed south to Bryant Park, for another Christmas tree, another ice skating rink, and a cool foggy view of the Empire State Building, emitting an all-red hue through the clouds.

I went to Bryant Park last year, but only during the day.  I must say, their tree is much more impressive at night.  It was also situated where we could walk right up and stand under its enormous branches.  Can you tell that I’m actually under the tree here?

And this was my view looking up.

After getting our fill of interacting with the tree, and checking out the little Christmas shops, we set off toward Grand Central Station.  With the fog framing the Chrysler Building over Grand Central Station, this may be one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken in New York.

The inside of Grand Central is renowned for its beauty.  I am still smitten with it after all of this time.  However, it’s also impossible to photograph its splendor.  I can stand in the middle of the room and look at everything at once – take it all in.  My camera can’t do that.  Maybe a video would do the trick, but I think the only way to appreciate Grand Central Station is to be there.

Another grand New York Christmas tradition is the décor in the shop windows along 5^th Avenue.  Certain stores go all out (like Saks with the huge projection show, for example), so I noted them on the map so we could take a look as we walked by.  Lord & Taylor won the prize for my favorite windows again this year.  Tracey agreed.  Their theme was “Wish for Tradition.”  Here are a few shots of their windows.  It’s hard to tell from simple photographs, but the attention to detail in these displays is mind-boggling.

Macy’s continued their “Believe” theme from last year, and I’m pretty pleased with this angled shot I got of the outside of Macy’s with the Empire State Building in the background.  I like that it has both red and green.

Macy’s windows showed “The Magic of Christmas” throughout New York.  I thought the display was cute of the family watching the parade balloons go by their living room window.

After Macy’s, we walked north again toward Times Square.  Tracey commented on how it kept getting brighter as we got closer.  Here she is – first time in Times Square!

We stopped at Café Un Deax Trois for dinner and to rest our tired feet before continuing through Times Square.  We glimpsed Toys R Us, the Hershey’s and M&Ms stores, and the iconic red steps before hopping on another subway up to Lincoln Center.  Dante Park, next to Lincoln Center, had a Christmas tree lit up as well.  Somehow, I missed seeing it last year, but I was only there during the day.  With or without a Christmas tree, Lincoln Center is magnificent at night.  But everything is better with Christmas lights.

Sunday

I didn’t plan any part of our trip with a leisurely pace, but since we had planned to do some walking in Central Park on Sunday, I had some wiggle room built in for that.  It was fortunate, then, that Sunday is the day our schedule got a little sideways.  We realized while doing inventory on our purse contents Saturday night that we’d left something behind at Grimaldi’s, so we had to schedule a return trip to Brooklyn.  However, we had timed tickets for the NBC Tour at 30 Rock, so we started our day there (back in Rockefeller Center!) and saw the studios for Dr. Oz, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live, along with the control room and hair and makeup.  I had actually never done the tour before, so it was a first for me.  Tracey is the NBC viewer, but I have seen a few YouTube videos from Jimmy Fallon or SNL, so even with my limited knowledge, it was cool to see those places.

Our tour finished just in time for our scheduled time at the Top of the Rock, but because of the dense fog that was still hanging around that morning, there was zero visibility, so we went in and changed our time for later, and hopped the subway out to Brooklyn.

Grimaldi’s didn’t open until noon, so we used the extra time to walk down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park that had closed at dusk the night before.  The sky was clearing on the Brooklyn side, but the view to Manhattan was still foggy.

When we left the park, I happened to notice this graffiti on the side of a warehouse building.  Right on!

We had a successful stop by the Grimaldi’s Lost and Found, so we were back on the subway just a few minutes past noon.  Our new Top of the Rock time was 1:15pm, so we had time to ride up to Columbus Circle and look around that side of Central Park before walking back down toward Rockefeller Center.

We also seized the opportunity to get a hot dog, which is a New York staple, but much to our disappointment (and disbelief), our hot dogs were really pitiful.  That was certainly a first for me in NYC, and not a first I enjoyed.  Oh well.  At least it was only $2.

This “LOVE” art installment has been there for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never stopped to take a picture there.  Since we were embracing the tourist thing, it seemed as good a time as any.

We made it to the Top of the Rock on time, and although the sky looked bright and clear from the ground, the building is so high up that we were told it was still about 50% visibility from the top.  We didn’t have binoculars on us, anyway, so I figured we’d be seeing about as far as usual, but just through a bit of haze.  Thus, this snazzy photo of the Empire State Building’s silhouette looking quite prominent amidst the fog, while the sun does its best to burn through the gray.

We could still see the enormity of Central Park, too!

Having seen Central Park from high above it, we were ready to explore the inside a bit.  We caught the bus back to the base of the park and I “hustled” (his word, not mine) a pedicab driver into giving us the tour we wanted at the price we wanted, and to drop us off at a different location than usual.  His face conveyed the brief consideration to argue the terms (or more specifically, the price), but he seemed to read me just as quickly to know that I was going to get my way, so he just said, “Ah, you know what?  Come on.”

He turned out to be one of the best pedicab tour guides I’ve ever had.  He was friendly and funny and actually came up with a few tidbits of information that I hadn’t heard before in addition to giving Tracey the general rundown as we rode along.  I think he was grateful that he didn’t have to give the big spiel every time he stopped at a new location and let us out, because I already knew where to walk and where to meet him to continue the ride.  He commented on how expedient we were at going to take our photos and then coming right back.  “Places to go, people to see!”

Here are some shots of the FRIENDS fountain, Bethesda fountain (drained to protect the pipes for cold weather), the San Remo towers, bow bridge, and the tall buildings hiding in the background of the trees that have shed their leaves.

We concluded our tour by the Museum of Natural History, as Jessica and I did last time, so we could walk into the park for a bit.  We opted to walk around the turtle pond so we could see Belvedere Castle from the ground, which was pretty cool.

We actually did a great job not getting lost amidst all the paths, and went by Cleopatra’s Needle and through the Greywacke Arch, which had a flower sprouting out of the stone on one side, and a saxophone player serenading passersby.

We came out on the other side of the park at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we sat for a bit before setting out in search of some dinner.  We took a chance on a little café where Tracey had Greek food and I had breakfast for dinner.  It was pretty tasty, in fact.

Then, we hopped a bus up to the East River, where I gave a local woman directions so she’d “remember how to get home later.”  That always cracks me up.

The fog was still hanging around, but it made for this awesome picture looking over toward Roosevelt Island and beyond that to those smokestacks in Queens, not far from our hotel.

Most of the Christmas tree lightings and related events take place in New York during the week after Thanksgiving, but there are a few others that are scheduled a little bit later.  Two lightings took place while we were in the city, and they were both on the Upper East Side.  Because we had a schedule conflict with the lighting of the Park Avenue Trees, we opted to attend the tree lighting and candlelight carol sing at Carl Schurz Park.  It was clearly the kind of event that only the neighborhood residents attend, and is certainly not a tourist destination.  They passed out thick books of Christmas carols to the folks who had gathered ‘round the tree, and a professional choir sang some Christmas songs, local leaders gave short speeches, and then we all had a New Year’s Eve-esque countdown to the moment that they lit the Christmas tree.  The tree itself was nothing special compared to the ones New York has to offer, but it was still fun to do the countdown with the “neighbors” and then have a whole host of people burst into “Joy to the World” as the lights came on.

I kept trying to take a picture of the hundreds of candles all around us and on the hillside in every direction, but never got a clear shot.  That kind of lighting is a bear to photograph, and I was too excited to hold still, anyway.  A fellow standing close by us offered to take our picture, though, so we got a shot of us holding our songbook with the stage in the background.

We stayed singing carols for about 45 minutes before heading out to be sure we made it to our show in time, but that was a wonderful experience.  Quite a dose of Christmas spirit with a feeling of community togetherness and pride, and we got to blend right in as if we’d strolled right over from our Brownstone down the street.  We sang verses of beloved Christmas songs that I never even knew existed, and just about the time I saw that “Twelve Days of Christmas” was on the next page, the choir leader said, “Everybody hates this song, anyway!  Let’s skip it!”  Hurray, hurray!

After we left, we could still hear the people singing for several blocks as we walked to the bus stop.  We were tired after our busy day, and the bus was the least labor-intensive way to get back to the Theater District, since we were going to see Wicked!

We got a little pre-show entertainment on the bus, however, as the guy sitting behind us carried on a very loud phone conversation with what I assume was one of his kids.  It ran the gamut of everything imaginable, and I know I would not do it justice if I attempted to convey what we heard.  I did relish the irony of him telling his kid that he/she needed to stop complaining about everything all the time, except that he paused that anti-complaining rant every 30 seconds or so to exclaim things like, “This is the slowest bus EVER!  It stops at every block!  I’m never gonna get there.  This is ridiculous!  I should ask for my money back – that’s how slow this bus is!”  We were delayed a bit at a stop because a man in a wheelchair was getting on, so the bus driver had to get out and let down the chair lift for that passenger to board.  The grumpy gus behind us gave his very loud opinion that there should just be some kind of a forklift for that sort of thing.  Charming.  He did eventually get frustrated and disembarked “the slowest bus ever,” and when I looked at Tracey and lamented his departure, an older couple in front of us turned around and said, “I know!  I’m sorry to see him go, because that was really entertaining!”  New York, ladies and gentlemen.

Even with a few delays, we made it to the Gershwin Theater with just enough time to hit the ladies’ room and find our seats before the show started.  Even better – it began to sprinkle rain when we were half a block from the theater, but it did all of its heavy raining while we were dry inside the theater.

I saw Wicked in 2009 and had been eager to see it again ever since.  I had forgotten some of the plot twists, but knew some of the music this time, so it was excellent to see it again and enjoy some laughs.  Tracey liked it, too!

Monday

Monday morning, we got up early and headed downtown like a couple of Wall Street traders.  We beat the rush on the subway, and we beat the tourists to the Charging Bull, too.

We proceeded to board the Staten Island Ferry so we could ride by Lady Liberty and visit borough number four on our list!

We had a nice view of downtown Manhattan as we disembarked from Battery Park.

The fog was sticking with us, too, so as we drove off toward Staten Island, we watched Manhattan disappear like Atlantis.

We hopped off the boat when we reached St. George, and walked along the water down to Staten Island’s own 9/11 Memorial.  Ordinarily, the buildings of downtown Manhattan would line up right in the middle here.  Due to the fog, it’s harder to tell, but you can still see WTC 1 peeking up a little higher than all the rest off in the distance.

We sat by the water for a while, just watching the boats and the birds, and then walked back to board the next ferry to Manhattan.

We hadn’t caught even the slightest chill riding on the back of the boat from Manhattan, but on the way back, we rode on the side, and it was a little colder.  Still not bad for riding on the water in December!

Here I am with Lady Liberty (and another Staten Island Ferry) behind me.

And a closer shot as we rode past.

Once we were back on dry land, we walked back up toward Wall Street and saw the New York Stock Exchange and paid a visit to Trinity Church.  The outside was under construction, but the inside was as lovely as ever.

We had reserved a time slot to visit the Ground Zero Memorial, so we went there next.  It wasn’t brimming with tourists as much as it was on my first visit in May, but there were still a lot of people there, which makes it difficult to appreciate the solemnity.  Once construction is complete on the new World Trade towers, the intention is to have the Memorial open via sidewalks on all four sides, so it would act more like a public park than a tourist exhibit.  I look forward to seeing it with new eyes then.

I had read online that the World Financial Center had a display of Christmas lights in their Winter Garden, and I had never been in the World Financial Center before, so we went to do that next.  That just so happens to be a series of buildings, so we walked several “blocks” indoors before finding what we were looking for.  The sight reminded me of the hotels in Vegas or the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

We exited the building on the opposite side, so we could look out at the water again.

By this time, the nagging headache that I’d woken up with that morning had become a raging monster of pain, so I called a time out and walked toward that shining beacon of hope known as the Shake Shack.  I got an enormous Diet Coke and washed down some pain meds and we both ordered up some cheese fries and sat for a while.  Whether it was the food, the caffeine, or the medicine, I emerged half an hour later feeling like a new person.  My body still ached from the waist down, but my head felt fine and dandy, so we went roaring off to the next adventure.

As we walked, we stumbled on this odd kind of park.  I have since looked it up and found that it is the Irish Hunger Memorial in remembrance of the Great Irish Famine from 1845-1852.  It contains stones, soil, and vegetation brought in from Ireland, including stones from every county of Ireland.

We were headed to St. Paul’s Chapel (known for having sustained no physical damage when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed across the street, and for the ministry they provided afterward), but we passed by St. Peter’s on the way (New York has all the apostles in vast supply), so we peeked inside.  They were having a service (you don’t have to go far to find one at seemingly any time of day), so we just peeked inside and continued on our way.

St. Paul’s was also setting up for a service or concluding one, so we glanced inside and then spent some time taking photos from the courtyard, including the Bell of Hope, which was a gift from London on the first anniversary of 9/11.  The bell rings each September 11^th and has also chimed in remembrance of victims of other tragedies since.

We left the church and walked through City Hall and past the Brooklyn Bridge on our way to the subway to whisk us up to SoHo, which remains one of my favorite areas to this day.  We were quite a ways from the iconic 5^th Avenue shop windows, but we found a different kind of Christmas window as we walked.  What do you think?  A social commentary on Christmas consumerism?  A Grinch with no holiday spirit?  Whatever the reason, I had a hearty laugh.

Of course, whenever I am nearby, I never miss a chance to stop into Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  I have assumed that my partiality to this comparably small and inornate church rests on sentiment, as it’s the first church I ever visited in NYC, and I stumbled on it unexpectedly, but Tracey said it was her favorite so far, as well, so it certainly has something special to offer.

Just across the street from Old St. Patrick’s is another place that is my favorite of its kind in all of New York, and simply named:  Little Cupcake Bake Shop.  We stopped in for cupcakes to power us on our walk to Greenwich Village.  Tracey got strawberry, and I got a blue and white one that looked like Christmas to me, and turned out to have blueberries in the cake batter.  Yummmmmmmmm.

Our cupcakes were gobbled up long before we reached the Village, but that was OK since we were headed there to get lunch.  MacDougal Street is lined with restaurants, and our plan was to pick up a few different items to go and have a picnic in nearby Washington Square Park.  While a MacDougal creperie owner was making our order, we related this plan, and he directed us to the Risotteria on Bleecker Street for something to pair with our crepe.  Bleecker is a pretty famous street, anyway, so we threw in a little extra tourist-ing with our lunch order.

Having procured our lunch, we walked to nearby Washington Square Park and sat on a park bench to eat.  This park’s most famous attribute is its arch, pictured here with their Christmas tree below it.  Their lighting ceremony is later in December, so the tree was not decked out just yet.

We proceeded up 5^th Avenue toward Union Square, which took us past the rather gothic-looking First Presbyterian Church.

Also, just before entering Union Square, we found “The One.”  We were on a mission and therefore did not stop to inquire further, but I am curious whether he was conducting some sort of social experiment or legitimately hoping to find a date.  It was funny, either way.

Union Square, which usually has a farmer’s market on the weekends, also had their Christmas shops set up around the entrance to the subway station.  These little Christmas villages spring up all over the place in NYC.

We were in a good rhythm of walking 10 blocks, seeing a park, walking 10 blocks, seeing a park, so we carried on until we reached Madison Square Park, which is one of my favorites.  After all, it has the original Shake Shack, in case you need a snack, the Flatiron Building, a great view of the Empire State Building, and they even had their own Christmas tree.

We were keeping an eye on the time because we wanted to have a nice sunset view, so we hopped the subway from close to Madison Square Park up to 59^th Street to catch the tram to Roosevelt Island.  Tracey’s camera battery had given up the ghost for the day, so I handed her my camera so she could snap some shots as we crossed the river, such as this one, as we’re taking off from traditional Manhattan and headed up over the streets below.

We got onto Roosevelt Island at the perfect time.   We walked to the south end of the island as the sun was setting, admiring the view along our way.

Then, we walked part of the way back and chose a park bench with a great view of the Chrysler Building and rested our aching… everything… while we watched the sky darken and the lights brighten.

I have a problem sitting still in New York, so I kept going back and forth between where the Empire State Building was visible, and where the Chrysler was visible.  Gorgeous views from any angle.

The only time I thought Tracey might try to off me and leave my body in the East River was about here…

Me:  “Ready to hop back on the tram?”

Tracey:  “Yep!  Are we going to dinner next?”

Me:  “Well, we have one more walking tour, and then dinner.”

Tracey:  “Today?  We have one more walking tour today?”

Me:  “It’s a short one.  And then we go eat.”

Tracey:  *glares, considers*  “OK.”

True to my word, we did about a 30 minute loop to see the rest of the prominent shop windows and peek inside the Plaza hotel.

Bergdorf Goodman had some pretty cool windows this year.

We also checked out the UNICEF snowflake at 5^th Avenue and 57^th Street.

I also thought the storefront of Torneau was cool.

We had dinner at the original PJ Clarke’s location at 3^rd and 55^th.  My friend Lana had some friends in town from Texas, so they all came to meet us there so we could spend a few minutes catching up, which was really nice.  PJ Clarke’s is known for their burgers, so that’s what we ordered.  Tracey had a traditional burger, and I got mine subbed out for a turkey burger.  We both thoroughly enjoyed them, and had juice dripping out onto our hands, which seems like the mark of a good burger if ever there was one.

We were both pretty wiped out after dinner.  We’d covered a LOT of ground, and had done most of it on foot.  In fact, I had sent Lana a copy of the itinerary ahead of time, so as soon as she saw us and hugged me, she turned right to Tracey (who she’d just met) and said, “How are you?  Are you OK?  Her itinerary is like a torture device.  I told her not to wear you out.”  Tracey, however, replied that she loved the itinerary and the crazy pace, so ha ha!

Even so, I thought we’d both appreciate catching the bus back over to Radio City.  It wasn’t a long walk, but why walk if you can ride?  We got to the bus stop, though, and the next bus wasn’t coming for about 10 minutes.  That would have gotten us there in time (barring any extraordinary traffic), but it seemed silly to wait on a bus for 10 minutes if we could walk and be there in 10 minutes, so we opted for that.  After all, the best way to really SEE New York is on foot.

And, it meant walking past Rockefeller Center again.

We got to Radio City Music Hall in time to admire the general splendor and find our way to our seats just before the lights went down.  I attended the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular last year, but it was so much fun that I definitely wanted Tracey to get to see it.  It was also the 85^th anniversary of the show, so that added to the excitement, and it’s a great way to get on the fast track to the Christmas spirit.

The show was magnificent, but 90 minutes was also BY FAR the longest either of us had sat down all day long.  When I stood up, my body showed me exactly how it felt about the day’s activities, and it was none too pleased.  We knew we just had to make it a few short blocks to the subway station, and then we could head back to the hotel.  We used the last bit of my camera battery to get some photos of the Christmas decorations across the street from Radio City, and then we were more than happy to get back to Queens for a hot shower and a bed.

Tuesday

Tuesday was our last day in the city, and we’d be leaving mid-afternoon for the airport, so we got up bright and early and packed our bags so we could check out and leave them with the bell hop.  I also printed out our boarding passes in the business center so we could save some time when we got to the airport.  Tuesday was supposed to be the warmest of the days we were in New York, and given that I’d been a little too warm with my jacket on the previous days, I had decided to leave that with our bags and just go out in my long-sleeved t-shirt.  That is, until we got to the lobby and looked outside to see that it was raining!  So, my jacket had to come along.

We rode the subway to the Upper West Side and visited the Church of the Ascension before folks started coming in for their 8:30 service.

Then, we walked just down the street to Neal Caffrey’s house for a visit.  The house has been on the market for a long time, and I can’t imagine what the price tag must be for such a big house in such a stately neighborhood.  Whatever the cost, we didn’t have enough to buy it, but we had a good time just being a couple of goofy White Collar tourists, pretending we were dropping in on Neal and June.

Fortunately, though the rain was hanging on, it was barely a mist, so it didn’t put much of a crimp in our plans.  We walked up Broadway to fulfill Tracey’s final NYC-specific food wish:  a bagel.  The place I picked out from the online reviews (and location) was Absolute Bagels.  Not a fancy name or a fancy place, but there was a steady stream of customers coming in for their morning bagel en route to work.  I’m not much of a bagel eater, myself, so I just sat at a table by the window while Tracey ordered hers.  She came back with an original bagel filled with cream cheese, and it looked pretty amazing.  She said it tasted great, too, and I should try it, so I did.  And then I ended up eating half of her bagel.  Luckily, it was quite big enough for two.  Here she is with her side.

Here is a little something for you Seinfeld fans.  I knew we’d be passing by here, and even though I only saw a few bits and pieces of episodes over the years, I still recognized this iconic restaurant front from the show.  I figured I’d take a picture, knowing that show no doubt has some fans among those reading this.

We proceeded up through Riverside Park in Morningside Heights, and came out at Riverside Church.  I’ve been there several times, but I never mind going back.

From there, we crossed the street to the General Grant National Memorial.

After our walking-intensive day on Monday, we opted to take the bus whenever possible.  So, we hopped aboard a bus that would take us into Harlem, and we got off at the corner of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevards.

Here I am in front of the Lenox Lounge.  Unfortunately, it’s only open in the evenings, so we couldn’t go inside, but I hope to make a return trip someday.  White Collar filmed an episode using the Lenox Lounge, which is enough for me to be interested, but they chose it because they like to highlight the greatness of New York, and the Lenox Lounge has a rich history that gave me chills just standing outside of it.  They still have live jazz there on a regular basis, but once upon a time, greats like Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday played here.  Langston Hughes read poetry here.  Malcolm X was interviewed for his biography here.  (If more modern accolades are your thing, then consider folks such as Justin Timberlake and Denzel Washington, who are two of many who’ve done productions here.)

From Harlem, we had a fairly lengthy subway ride to take us up to our final borough, The Bronx.  I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been to New York in the last ten years, but this was a first for me.  We went up to visit the New York Botanical Garden, where they were having their annual Holiday Train Show.  The grounds are lovely, so I’ll have to make a return trip sometime when the gardens are in bloom.

The Holiday Train Show takes place inside the Haupt Conservatory and includes over 140 scaled reconstructions of iconic NYC buildings, but built from natural materials such as bark, twigs, fruits, seeds, and pine cones.  Model trains run along tracks around these buildings, on replica bridges and by vegetation and waterfalls.  It’s pretty spectacular to see.  I think I took a picture of every single building, but that’s excessive, so here are a few highlights.

And these aren’t in New York, but they’re from the artist studio, showing some of his other work.

When we left the Botanical Garden, our plan was to walk through Fordham University to admire some of their buildings, but as we strolled onto the grounds, we were shooed away by a security guard who said the campus was private and we weren’t allowed.  He was grouchy, to say the least, but I guess it probably gave him a little bit of joy to growl at would-be passers-by, so Happy Holidays, I guess?

So, since we had some extra time, we made a stop back through Bryant Park again, where we had some lunch before walking back through Times Square to grab some Junior’s cheesecake for the road.

It was lucky we had cheesecake, because though we got back to our hotel on time, and then to the airport and through security in record time, our flight ended up delayed by about 2 hours by the time we actually got off the ground.  There are worse things that can happen, though, to be sure, and we still made it back to my house at about midnight.  All in all, I’d say we had a successful trip.  Tracey may even like to go back to New York with me again sometime!

I’m going to employ a conversational tactic passed down through the generations of my family and say, “wait, wait, let me back up.”

The year was 1998.  I was a junior in high school, and Joie Lenz got a two-week gig on Guiding Light.  She made a good impression on more than just me, because a year later, she got a contract role… playing a different character, taking over the role of longtime Springfield resident Michelle Bauer from another actress, which is always dicey in daytime television.  It’s been quite a few years, and I’m getting old, but as best I can remember, one day the previous Michelle was killing a dude in self-defense, and the next day, Michelle looked a lot different and she needed to keep the mob from finding out she was the one who offed their guy.  Naturally, she was found out, but the mobster sent to kill her married her instead, and they eventually fell in love.  Man oh man, daytime television.  It was awesome.  I’m sorry you missed it.  But, for old time’s sake – feast your eyes on Danny and Michelle Santos:

Joie Lenz left Guiding Light in 2000, and Danny (Paul Anthony Stewart) got yet another new Michelle.  I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Paul on a few different occasions after that, but I never got to meet Joie.  In 2003, I read in a magazine that Joie Lenz had landed a starring role in a new show, and I knew I’d have to see it.  She had gone back to her real name, Bethany Joy Lenz, and adopted a new character named Haley on The WB’s “One Tree Hill.”  And I think we all know how I felt about THAT show.

As it would happen, in all the times I visited Wilmington and watched filming and met most of the One Tree Hill cast members, I never met Joy.  I passed her once on Front Street.  She was among friends for a girls’ night (I’m guessing), and in addition to not wanting to intrude, I was too stunned to have said anything, anyway.

In addition to being an actor, writer, and director, Joy is also a musician, so after One Tree Hill finished, I just hoped that she’d release an album and tour, and I might get a chance to see her that way.  Therefore, after 15 years, I hope you can understand why, when I read that she was scheduled to headline a benefit concert for Rock the Schools in New York, I immediately bought a VIP ticket, without even being sure that I could attend.

While I was trying to figure out how I could afford to make the trip on my own, my BFF Jessica mentioned to me how much she and her daughter, Thai, wanted to return to NYC.  I mentioned the weekend, Jessica jumped on it, Thai was excited, and we were off and running.

Then, a week before we were supposed to go, Hurricane Sandy hit the northeastern coast, and parts of New York City were devastated.  After making sure my loved ones were safe and sound, I started waiting and watching, wondering if our trip would go on, or if we’d have to chalk it up as a loss, with a lot of non-refundable expenses paid.  The news media is, of course, no help on such matters, and we had a chorus of well-meaning naysayers, but Jessica and I were in agreement:  “Even if we have to walk there, we’re going.”

The key concerns specifically pertaining to our trip (and most New Yorkers) were the power outages, including all of lower Manhattan thanks to a blown transformer, and that the flooding had knocked out the subway system and vehicle tunnels, which would be akin to all of the highways closing down in a mid-size town.

New York, though, has a will of iron and they know how to get back on their feet.  Jessica and I were planning our walking-intensive (walking-exclusive!) itinerary when I saw the announcement that partial service had been restored on the subway.  Mere days after the greatest devastation the subway system had ever seen, and almost half of the lines were back up and running.  New lines were added every day, and by the time our plane landed on Saturday morning, every subway line we needed was operational again.  Also, Saturday morning, power was restored to most of downtown, including to the Gramercy Theatre, where I was going to the show that night.  In the words of Fiona Apple, “I can’t help it; the road just rolls out behind me.”

We stayed in Queens at the same hotel where I stayed in May.  And, feeling relieved that we no longer had to walk across the 59^th Street Bridge (aka the Queensboro Bridge) to and from Manhattan every day, we took a walk to the river to have a look at it before hopping on the subway.

The subway took us to Roosevelt Island, and Thai and I had railroaded Jessica into taking the tram from there to Manhattan if we at least let her get there in one direction without testing her fear of heights.  Before hopping on the tram, though, we took a walk around the southern end of the island, which afforded a nice view of Manhattan.

And we could look across the East River back toward Queens, from whence we came.

Tram time!

Thai was a big fan of the tram.  She may have even loved it more than I do.  Jessica didn’t freak out even once.  I think she rather enjoyed herself, even.

Once we were back on the ground on the Upper East Side, we repaid Jessica’s tram generosity with two of her requested stops:  a deli and a Sephora.  As we walked, I got reacquainted with the city in my usual way – camera in the air:

We made our way to Central Park and found a pedicab driver to ride us around.  I teased that I was going to post this photo and say I took it while I was running by, but I knew you’d be on to me, because the Marathon was cancelled in the aftermath of Sandy.

Pedicab is such a nice way to see Central Park.  Someone else does all the hard work, and lets you off at key points for photo ops.

I worked it out with our driver to change the route a bit and drop us off at mid park on Central Park West, so we could continue on foot and see a place I’d never been to before:  Belvedere Castle!  On the way, Thai terrified us by climbing atop a huge rock.  And then made us come up, too.

Doggies in New York actually pose for the camera!  (At least, this one did.)

Leaving the park, we parted company for the night.  Jessica and Thai were going to tour the Times Square area and see a few stores before going to see Wicked on Broadway, and I was headed downtown for my show!

VIP ticketholders (including myself) were attending a pre-show party and gaining early admittance to the concert, but when I arrived at the theatre, I found folks were already lined up for general admission!  I was pretty happy to get to head inside ahead of the crowd.  Before going in, I saw one of the acts, Matthew Perryman Jones, headed into the building.  I don’t think anyone else recognized him (though they learned later that they did recognize his music), so I could go over and talk to him without starting some kind of frenzy.  Then, it was time to head inside for the party.

The party was held in a cute space in the basement of the theater, and there were mini cupcakes waiting on all the tables.  I probably would have appreciated this more, but I had one thing on my mind.  Luckily, I ran into some folks I was acquainted with through my trips to Wilmington, so I had some solidarity as we waited for a chance to talk to the woman of the hour.

All things considered, I think I kept it together pretty well.  I’m grateful that it’s my chest that usually flushes when I’m experiencing any kind of extreme emotion, so my face doesn’t betray me so much.  One of my cohorts, Tray, knew that it was a particularly momentous occasion for me, so he sent me up first and broke the ice a bit – thank you, Tray!  I pretty much rapid-fired all the things I had wanted to say, because I usually forget things, so I told her that I was a fan of hers since Guiding Light, and having given her my name, I said that I was one of the three writers she chose to feature on her blog last year, and named the piece I had written.  The only thing that could have beaten the day that I logged on to her blog and saw my own words there was the moment that I related that to her and saw recognition cross her face.  She had posted my entry on her blog, yes, and she remembered it still, and pulled me into a hug, saying that it was great to finally meet me.  She signed the back of my lanyard, Tray took our picture, and I walked away with a big smile and a wonderful memory.  I’ve met a lot of celebrities (famous by varying degrees), but the ones that I really admire, and careers I’ve followed for years on end – those are the hardest ones to meet.  There is always that fear of a bad encounter; the fear that, in person, they’re haughty or mean or they’re neither, but they’re just having a bad day.  I’m happy to say that Joy was warm and kind and as delightful as I could have ever wanted her to be.  It meant a lot to me.

Shortly thereafter, they opened the doors upstairs for the VIPs to go ahead and claim a spot in front of the stage.  I was the first person to walk in, and being very early, I took a seat in front of the middle of the stage and waited for the show to begin.

There was a long list of performers for the evening, and I didn’t know most of them.  Amongst those unknown to me was Thomas Ian Nicholas, of American Pie fame.  I never saw that movie franchise, but I’m sure some of you have, so I included a photo of him.

I was excited to hear Matthew Perryman Jones again, as he’s put out a new album since the last time I saw him, so I had some new songs to sing along to.  He also played my favorite, “Feels Like Letting Go,” which I had requested when I saw him outside.  He was even kind enough to call out to me from the stage, and say he was playing it for me.

Since both Joy and Mike Grubbs (of Wakey!Wakey!) were performing, other One Tree Hill cast-members who were in town turned out for the show, including James Lafferty and Robert Buckley.  When the hosts called Grubbs to the stage, out walked James Lafferty instead.  Dressed in Grubbs’ signature cardigan, James sat down at the keyboard as if he was ready to put on a show.  In a cute skit that the audience loved, Grubbs came out and told James that was his piano and his sweater and this was his moment, and James couldn’t have it.  He then called Robert Buckley out to remove James from the stage.  I must say, I enjoyed it.

I have seen Wakey!Wakey! a few times before, but this was my first time seeing him with a 99% One Tree Hill crowd.  Such screaming!  He was overwhelmed by the reception.  He played a fantastic set which got me pretty excited about the next album.

Joy even came out at one point to sing a song with him, which certainly got the audience psyched.  I would have flipped over to video for that, but I was too busy, well, getting psyched!

Finally, the only performer remaining was Joy.  My feet were not thrilled about how much time I’d spent standing, but finally getting to see Joy perform was enough to take my mind off of that.  She brought down the house!  AND… she brought CDs!!!

Joy said she had just written a new song, but it was a duet, and Grubbs reappeared to sing it with her.  I flipped over to the video setting for that!  And… since trying to get my blog to embed a YouTube video makes me want to jump off of a cliff, just click here if you want to see it, ok?  (It will open in a new tab.)

Here is a photo of Joy, taking a photo of the crowd, which she immediately posted to Twitter.  I’m visible in her shot, so I’ll post that below as well!

I was exhausted and happy as I made my way back to the hotel Saturday night.  Jessica and Thai had beaten me there by 30 minutes or so and had already had our bags brought up, and had a Caffeine Free Diet Coke waiting for me, so I could unwind before getting some rest.

Sunday morning, we decided to go to Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum in Times Square.  On our way, Thai stopped for a photo op with Mickey and Minnie.

Also, it is just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?

But then, here’s the cure, because there is nothing wrong with THIS picture!

I usually doze off at the mere mention of a museum, but Ripley’s was actually pretty fun, and Thai loved it.

I did not fare very well in this “black hole,” but Thai thought it was awesome.

The best part was this room that recognized our movements and projected them in a colorful way via a screen that covered one entire wall.  We stayed for way too long in here, and I inevitably got dizzy from all the dancing and twirling, but it was worth the price of admission, right there.

Our next stop was another museum of sorts… THE MOST AWESOME MUSEUM IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND… The Harry Potter Exhibition!!!  I had just missed it when it was in NYC last year, and I was so bummed about it.  When we saw a sign advertising it as we walked around the day before, I was afraid that it was an old sign, just teasing me.  It turns out, the exhibition had just reopened on the day of our arrival.  All three of us looked like kids in a candy shop when we walked in.  The employees manning the photo camera actually chuckled a little when they saw the three of us, wide-eyed and pointing and gasping around the room.  And we hadn’t even entered the actual exhibit yet.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed (Warner Brothers and all their copyright business), but when we walked in, they took volunteers to be sorted (Thai got Gryffindor and I got Slytherin and Jessica got to witness us geeking out), and then we proceeded to walk through rooms filled with props and costumes from the Harry Potter films.  We got to pretend to pot Mandrakes and play Quidditch, and I found great difficulty in moving away once we came upon the replica of Snape’s Potions Closet.  We all took turns sitting in the enormous chair in Hagrid’s Hut, and the tour culminated in the Great Hall, which was magnificent.  We had a blast!

Back out in Times Square, we saw some more strange sights.  What do you suppose they’d be discussing?

And is this some sort of convention?

Thai wanted to go into Toys R Us, and she really wanted to ride the ferris wheel.  We’ve already covered Jessica and her heights, so, what can I say?  I stepped up and took one for the team.  Which is to say, the only person who enjoyed the ferris wheel more than Thai… was me.

In case anybody ever wonders what bonds Jessica and I together, here she is, holding her Harry Potter bag, grinning like a fool in front of a Disney Princess display.  Yep.  I’d say that clears things up.

Next, we made our way uptown so we could be at the Top of the Rock by sunset.

As always, the view was spectacular, and as always, it is so stinkin’ cold on top of that building!

I caught Jessica and Thai warming up in the light room.  Ooooh, pretty!

Once the sun went down and we were all pretty frigid, we walked back to the Theater District to see Mary Poppins!  The show was great, and Mary Poppins even flew right over our heads!

Broadway Cares was raising funds for Hurricane Sandy victims, and Jessica made a donation, which resulted in us being invited backstage for a tour and to meet the cast.

These are fishing reels, used for the kite-flying scene.

After the show, we were all hungry, so we went down the street to Dallas BBQ.  Thai was amazed at the size of her drink.  The caffeine had no effect, though, because she fell asleep on the table as soon as she finished eating.  Clearly, it had been a long day.

Monday was our last day, and we started it off right with a big breakfast at Court Square Diner in our little neighborhood in Queens.

Jessica thought, since it was vacation and all, it would be appropriate to order an appetizer before breakfast.  She settled on this lemon meringue pie.  Even with three of us, we didn’t quite get to the bottom of it.

From there, we made our way downtown, visiting Old St. Patrick’s cathedral and then walking downtown, catching sight of the Williamsburg Bridge and the buildings that scrape the sky down in the financial district.

I wanted to see the South Street Seaport, which I knew had been badly damaged by Sandy.  I love that area, and it was sad to see so many small businesses boarded up.  I hope they’ll be back on their feet soon.

We continued to walk along the river by the seaport down to catch the ferry over to Brooklyn.

When we reached Brooklyn, we walked along the parks which had been completely submerged only a week earlier.  For instance, here is a photo of the carousel that sits at the edge of the water on the Brooklyn side.  It’s one of the higher points along the parks.

And here is a photo of that carousel on the night of the storm.

But, the water had all receded and if we didn’t know it, we wouldn’t have been able to tell Hurricane Sandy had even come through the Brooklyn Bridge Parks.

We made our final stop at Front Street Pizza to get some lunch.  The food was amazing and cheap, and I uttered the phrase, “Excuse me, but y’all are hot and I’m a tourist, so smile for the camera.”  Good sports, these ones.

Once we left Brooklyn, it was back to Queens and then on to the airport for the trip back home.  I’d say we had a fantastic time!

Holden Beach, NC – June 20-23, 2012

I don’t go on beach vacations, much to the chagrin of my friends who make week-long visits to the sand and surf an annual tradition. I usually decline invitations for these trips for a few reasons. For one, I rarely take off work five days in a row, because that just creates more stress in the long run and burns a lot of vacation time at once, and I like to stretch my days into as many little adventures as possible. Additionally, I can sit on the beach for one day, but after that, I’m bored and ready to move on to something else. I guess, for some people, everyday life is a frenzy of over-scheduling and endless obligations, and the one week per year spent sitting under a beach umbrella is the only escape, whereas I make room for relaxation at home, and go on vacation for adventure.

Even so, I surprised even myself and said yes to a beach trip this year. I drove down just for the end of the week to join Jessica and her family at Holden Beach. To mitigate my itch to “do something,” after spending one day lounging on the beach, reading, we took a day trip to Wilmington to shake things up before returning to the beach the following day. I also seized the opportunity to meet my Myrtle Beach-dwelling friend Terri for dinner, so we met in the middle for some Calabash seafood.

I didn’t take very many pictures, but Holden Beach was nice:

There was also a lovely sunset view from the back porch of the beach house:

In Wilmington, we beat the heat by ducking into Blue Post Billiards in the middle of the afternoon and lit up the jukebox and the pool table:

We headed out as the sun came up Saturday morning, so there was a lovely view on the way out of town:

Since I was driving on my own and had the whole day, I stopped in Wilmington again for breakfast and the farmer’s market downtown.

I broke up the drive and made the most of my time by also stopping in Durham to have lunch with my friend Christy at The Cheesecake Factory, and then in Graham to visit Purple Penguin and see my friends Jeremy and Tiffany. The drive home was six hours, but by making it a twelve-hour trip, it felt like I’d hardly driven at all!

Boston – August 3 – 6, 2012

I had a great trip to Boston in July 2007, and had been thinking of returning ever since. My friend Karen lives there, and while technology keeps us connected day-to-day, five years is a long time to go without seeing someone’s face! I’d said a few times that I needed to come visit, and that kind of thing can get pretty easily stalled at “someday,” so it was great when the stars aligned so nicely this year. One of my favorite artists, Josh Ritter, released some tour dates that included a weekend date in Boston, so I asked Karen if she’d like to go. She said yes, and within a matter of hours, I had tickets purchased and a flight booked.

Josh Ritter ended up adding a show to his schedule for the night before my flight to Boston. I decided it was worth only getting 3 hours of sleep to get a double dose of Josh Ritter, so I saw him in Charlottesville on my way to Richmond to stay with family before my early, early, early morning flight.

Karen picked me up at the airport Friday morning, and we were soon joined by our mutual friend, Ruff (yes, a nickname), for a day of lively chatter and historical touring:

Karen and I continued our touring in another area of Boston the next day, marveling at the architecture, which for me, always includes at least one church!

We kept strolling along through the park (with swan boats!), by the Capitol, and on to Quincy Market and the shorefront:

Saturday night was our concert, and the venue was beautifully situated right on the water, so we had great tunes with a lovely view and a nice breeze.

Josh Ritter was co-headlining with Brandi Carlile for that show, so we got two full, fantastic sets. I was familiar with Brandi Carlile before, and had even seen her perform on a previous occasion, but she was so brilliant at this show that she won me over completely and found a new fan in Karen, too.

One of the most famous places in Boston (and in baseball) is Fenway Park, and I’ve always wanted to see it, if only for the history. Karen did me one better than that, though, and got us tickets to a game on Sunday afternoon (tip of the hat to her hubby, Charlie, who secured great seats for us)!

I don’t follow pro baseball closely by any means, but sit me in front of any kind of sporting event and I get invested quickly. It was so cool to be sitting in the stands at Fenway Park on a game day, so I was plenty excited by the experience.

The Red Sox played the Minnesota Twins, and though they hadn’t had the best season, they extended me the courtesy of winning since I’d come so far to see them.

I also ate a Fenway Frank (best hot dog of my entire life), drank lemonade from a souvenir cup, and sang Sweet Caroline with the Boston faithful.

Right down to hopping back on the T amidst mobs of Red Sox fans, it was a gloriously authentic Boston experience and I loved every second of it.

Alas, I had to go home on Monday, but I was booked on a late flight, so we still had time to enjoy the day. So, we got our beach gear together and rode up to Crane Beach for the day. The weather was absolutely perfect. I had never been to a beach in the northeast before, so I enjoyed wiggling my toes in the sand and dipping my feet into the waters in a new territory.

Karen had warned me that we’d have to move our chairs to another spot as the tide came in, and said it would sneak up behind us. She moved her chair in advance and went to pick up some lunch, and by the time she came back, there I was, sitting in a chair on a little island in the middle of the water. I picked up my things and waded through the water behind me to dry land.

I got a kick out of watching these two kids who stayed on “the island” until the last bit of sand was covered, at which point they screamed and laughed and ran through the water back to the beach.

It was a wonderful trip. I certainly won’t let five years pass by before I go again. And since one of the most important “attractions” I wanted to visit in Boston was Karen, the trip had a perfect balance of adventure and relaxing as we chattered away.

Wilmington – September 21 – 23rd

Florence and the Machine had been at the top of my “shows I need to see” list since I heard the album, Lungs. I never got a chance to go to a show on that tour, and had all but given up on the Ceremonials tour, too. The closest show was in Raleigh, and by the time I knew I could go, all but the crappy seats were sold out, so I was disappointed, but I figured it wasn’t meant to be. About the time I had given up entirely, my friend Jessa called to ask me if I was interested in going, because she wanted to go, too, and we could make a weekend of it. I said that if we did, we’d have to resort to Stubhub for tickets. She was game for that, and she’d told me a few times that she wanted to go with me to Wilmington sometime. It seemed like a pretty good two-for-one special to me, so we bought concert tickets and booked hotel rooms.

She met me at work that Friday and I left a little early so we could get down to Raleigh in time for the show. Kelli was also at the show, so I got to visit with her briefly, and I found out on the day of the show that Ryan and Julie were driving down as well, so I got to see them in Raleigh when I hardly ever get to see them at home. The outdoor venue was lovely.

The concert was great. Jessa and I had a great time singing and dancing along. I also had a concert-long romance with the adorable (and presumably gay) man who sat in the seat next to me. Sadly, we lost each other in the rush to the stage at the end of the show, and I forgot to check “Missed Connections” on Craigslist for his declaration of love.

Jessa and I had booked a room just outside of Raleigh for the night, so we didn’t have too far to drive before we could get some sleep. Then, we just got up and headed for Wilmington early Saturday morning.

Our hotel had a continental breakfast, so we’d had a little something to tide us over until we made it to Wilmington (and therefore, The Dixie Grill), but we made it to Wilmington before our appetites did, so we detoured and made Airlie Gardens our first stop.

We were able to check in as soon as we got to the hotel, so we left our bags and went to a late breakfast at Dixie Grill (where else?) before spending the afternoon walking around downtown Wilmington.

Dogs are plentiful in Wilmington, and I couldn’t resist stopping to find out about these two Bernese Mountain Dog cousins:

We ducked into Blue Post Billiards and racked up high scores on the skee ball (aka “Beer Ball”) game inside. I emerged victorious at that, but Jessa showed this game who was boss:

We (of course) had dinner at Front Street Brewery, which was amazing as always, and then took in the sunset from the Riverwalk.

We had booked an evening cruise down the river, and when we arrived to find the neon lights shining, we nicknamed it “the party boat.”

After we docked back into downtown, Jessa was ready for bed, so she went back to the hotel, and I went up the The Calico Room to see my friend Ali, who recently moved to Wilmington. I hung out there for a while, and got the musician who was playing there that night to sing a Ryan Adams cover for me, and then I made my way back to the hotel as well.

Sunday morning, we got up at dark-thirty to drive out to Fort Fisher for sunrise. I hate getting up early, but I’ve done it quite a few times to watch the sunrise from my favorite beach. Once again, it did not disappoint. It was the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen, and the water was still warm enough to play in.

We returned to Dixie Grill for breakfast before going back to pack up the room and check out. We made our last stop at the USS North Carolina battleship and did some touring around before hitting the road for home.

Will I ever get tired of Wilmington? It doesn’t seem likely.

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Back in December, I met a guy named Chris at my friends Jimmy and Emily Graham’s Christmas party, and remembered that he had moved from Lynchburg to Seattle within the last few years.  I got in touch with him via Facebook to get some information on the best areas to stay, what to see, and how to get around.

He was incredibly helpful, and in talking to Jimmy and Emily about my plans, a better plan was born:  we’d all go to Seattle together to see Levi play and visit Chris.  Chris arranged for us to stay in his building and also made plans to fly his girlfriend, Holly, out to join in the fun as well.

With everything planned and just a few days to go, we got the sad news that Jimmy’s ailing grandfather had passed away.  After weighing the options carefully, Jimmy decided to go home to be with his family for the funeral, but that Emily should go on to Seattle as originally planned.  (The fact that Emily would have stayed with him gladly, and I would have understood completely, and yet he made the choice that was best for everyone ELSE speaks volumes about his character.  We’re lucky to have him.)

So, Jimmy drove Emily and I to the airport bright and early (so, so early) Wednesday morning to begin our long trek to the northwest.  The time difference is generous when traveling west, so even with nearly 8 hours of travel, we still landed in Seattle just after 10:00am.  Chris picked us up and got us settled in, and then he went back to work for the day, and Emily and I hopped a bus for downtown.

First, we went in search of Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour.  We’d heard the tours often booked up, so we needed to go buy our tickets first to see what hour we could get a spot on the tour.  We walked up to the ticket counter at 12:58pm.  We got two slots on the 1:00pm tour.

The tour guides participants through the underground passages that once were the old downtown Seattle, telling stories that the pioneers glossed over in the pages of Seattle history.

Before taking the tour, Emily and I had admired these skylights from the other side:

Next up was Smith Tower, and our armbands from the Underground Tour got us a discount to go up to the top.  But first, we stopped to eat the best chocolate chip cookies in the history of the world (or at least of my world, so far).

Smith Tower is to the Space Needle what Rockefeller Center is to the Empire State Building – a cheaper, less crowded place to go see a nice view of the city.  I find great joy in going as high up as possible and admiring what’s below, so it was a must-see for me.

Here’s Smith Tower from the ground:

And the ceiling of the “Chinese Room” at Observation Deck Level:

And the view:

You can see the Space Needle behind Emily here:

After leaving Smith Tower, we crossed to the other end of Pioneer Square in search of Waterfall Garden Park.  We passed some neat graffiti on our way…

…and could still see Smith Tower behind us.

We stood looking around, trying to figure out where a waterfall might be in this very unlikely terrain.  Then I spotted this lettering on a building ahead and heard the sound of rushing water.

We rounded the corner and walked into a serene landscape, hidden right in the midst of the everyday hustle and bustle.

We stopped in at a “dry soda” tasting while we waited for the next bus to take us back to Chris’ place.  Emily tasted all of the flavors, which included lavender, rhubarb, cucumber and vanilla among more expected flavors like lime and orange.  Kinda weird to me, but I’m a Diet Coke girl.

We were happy to once again make use of the free 99 bus across town.  It dropped off right across the street from Chris’ apartment, where I took this picture.

And this one is from Chris’ balcony:

For dinner, we drove out to Alki Beach for some seafood before sunset.  We parked along the strip and walked to Duke’s Chowder House, where we all chose variations on their fresh Alaskan halibut.  Good food, and right on the water.

I even saw a familiar face as we made our way down the beach.

The sun started to drop:

And then I pulled a Beverly Stanley and said, “So, you know when we were driving here, and there was that spot where we could see the skyline?  Can you take me back there?”  Chris is a good sport, so he did, and we hung out there until the sky went dark.  We even saw some otters playing.  (I did not get any good pictures of them, because I was too busy saying, “Oh, otters!”)

When we got back, Chris was video-chatting with Holly, and Emily was face-timing with Jimmy, and so this happened as the next logical step:  a video-facetime-chat with Holly and Jimmy:

The roof was calling my name, so I went out a took a few more pictures of the city lights.

Despite traveling to Seattle at the end of the rainy season with a forecast of rain for all 5 days, we only had one rainy day, and that was Thursday, when we drove down to Portland, Oregon to visit Emily’s childhood best friend, Nancy.

Chris very kindly let me drive his sports car for the day, so Emily took this picture for me.  If you can’t tell from the rain, the sign says “Entering Oregon.”

Due to the dreary weather, we had to find some indoor activities in Portland.  We started with lunch at a cute café that served a fabulous veggie burger.  I got really excited about ordering a slice of cheesecake there, too, until I found out it was actually tofu-cake.  That’s just not right, y’all.  The waiter said it was a “healthy alternative.”  I said, “where I come from, dessert is not supposed to be healthy.”  Portland is the place to be if you have a dietary restriction.  I’m not a fan of the word “diet” or “restriction,” so I just ate the regular stuff.

After lunch, we went to Powell’s City of Books – it fills an entire city block and is the largest new and used bookstore in the world.  I had to bear in mind that anything I bought had to go home with me in a carry-on, but I did go ahead and purchase book 17 of the Stephanie Plum series at a great price.  Emily decided to hop on that train, so she got book one!

We also stopped at another famous Portland location – VooDoo Donuts.  I’m not a big fan of donuts, so I got dessert at a cute little cupcake shop.  They had minis, so I tried two flavors – both were delicious.

As we drove around, I snapped some more pictures from the backseat, including this old Portland sign:

I only asked for a pull-over one time, and Nancy found us a great spot to look out over the rainy city.

And here we are, with awesome been-in-the-rain-all-day hair!

Emily and I had planned to have dinner at Galeotti’s Restaurant in Battle Ground, WA on our way back to Seattle that evening.  It was only about 20 minutes from Portland, and we knew we needed to time our drive to get back either before Chris left for the airport to pick up Holly, or after he’d be back, so we could get into the garage.  Time was really tight for us to get back before, so it seemed best to put dinner off for a little bit and spend that extra time visiting with Nancy and her husband, Jason.

It was approaching 8:30 when I thought I should call the restaurant and make a reservation if one was needed.  But surprise!  What I found out was that they were closing at 9 instead of at 10 as we had thought.  They told us to come on in, so we rushed out the door and headed across the state line.  It seemed like the drive was taking forever, and I was in a panic thinking of being those awful customers that come in at 10 minutes before closing.  But, this was our one chance to go, so on we went.

When we arrived at Galeotti’s, there were a few parties still there, but they were clearly finishing up.  Even so, we got a warm greeting from the hostess who seemed absolutely overjoyed that we were there.  She seated us and took our drink order and told us that Michael was tending the bar if we wanted a cocktail.  I said that Emily was pregnant and I was driving, so we wouldn’t be drinking, but joked that Michael (former member of Enation) could come over and sing for us.  She then volunteered that Luke was working in the kitchen and she’d let them both know to come over and say  hello.  Moments later, they were at our table, all smiles and with an Enation CD for each of us.  They signed the CDs and Michael said he could make any cocktail on that list sans alcohol if we wanted.  I asked him for a recommendation, and he made us his favorite.  It was delicious!

It was already well past 9pm, but no one was rushing us.  Our waitress came over and gave us the specials, and then left us time to decide.  It’s a family restaurant, and they were making us feel like we were guests in their home.

I ordered the pork chop, which had the most amazing BBQ sauce I’ve ever tasted, and it was the biggest pork chop I’d ever seen.  Everything was perfect.

We were both full before we finished our meals, so we took dessert to go and got the check.  They had comp’d our drinks, and even though it was past 10:00, they seemed sorry to see us go.  It was a great experience and I’m so glad we got to go.

We had gorgeous views driving into Seattle at 1am, but Emily was asleep and I was driving, so there are no pictures of that, except for the ones in my head.  When we got back, Holly had already fallen asleep from her long day of traveling, so we all made our way to bed pretty quickly.

Friday morning, I went back up to the roof and took (what I didn’t know then would be) the last dreary photograph of our trip.

We set out for The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, WA.  This was Chris’ idea, as he thought Holly would like it, and he asked if we had time in the itinerary to go.  (Gotta love the respect for the itinerary.)  We did indeed have time, and it sounded like fun, so off we went to tulip town.  It was quite impressive.

I could not even believe these existed:

And look!  Hyacinth!  At the tulip festival!  My favorite!

Yes, in the background of this picture, those are fields filled with tulips:

See?

Our next destination was Snoqualmie Falls, which was wonderful!

Chris braved the bottom-most overlook with me to take this picture.  The force of the waterfall meant we were both getting VERY wet.  I was delighted, though.

Back in Seattle, we had a little time before Levi’s show, so we spent it looking around the famous Pike Place Market, watching the fish-throwing, smelling the flowers, tasting the fruit…

…listening to old men play street music on a very inappropriate street instrument…

…realizing that there’s really such a thing as a “Gum Wall”  (gross)…

…observing Seattle’s unhealthy coffee obsession…

…taking pictures off the dock…

…and sampling cheese curds at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese before picking up dinner.

We headed off to Levi’s show with an address and looking for a yellow door.  When we found the place, we had our names checked against the list at the door, and then we walked up three flights of stairs in a building that looked in essence like any downtown office building might.  When we reached the top, we found ourselves standing on what appeared to be the back patio of a cute cottage-looking structure atop the building, which was the destination for our show.

Kristen and Carrie Watt, who run Seattle Living Room Shows, greeted us on the patio like old friends reuniting after an absence that had gone far too long.  And that theme carried inside, where Levi was greeting guests and entertaining us with travel stories that could only ever happen to him.

An hour before the show, the room was already filling up.  Of course, I had no idea at the time of how full it would be at showtime!  The space was gorgeous – exactly the kind of place I’d love to live in.

Chris, Holly, and Emily snagged the couch for the four of us while I slipped back outside to talk to the Watt sisters some more, and watch a few more happy arrivals.

I didn’t take very many pictures in the course of the evening, opting instead to just sit back and take it all in.  There was a great energy in the room, created by a group of people who shared a mutual love of great music and were really excited to have found it.

I did snap a photo of Carson Henley, opening up the evening with a very svelte voice:

And of course, one of Levi wow-ing the crowd:

I couldn’t begin to capture the magic of that room with simple words, but I’ll opt instead to name my two favorite parts of Levi’s set.  One:  he played Good Medicine, which will always hold a special place in my heart, as it’s the first of his songs I ever heard, and when those first notes begin, I still feel a little bit of that great awakening that took place in my soul when I heard them for the very first time.  Additionally, the audience was so entranced, hanging on his every word, that their reactions to understanding the weight of the lyrics was actually audible – involuntary vocalizations of awe.  Two:  He played a brand new song!  (I really love it when he does that.)  He’d just finished writing it that day, and once again, he proved that he just keeps getting better.  I used the video feature on my camera to record the song (though the picture is of the ceiling), and I have listened to it about 100 times since.  I even transcribed it, so I could read through it.  Yep.  It’s that good.  I cried when he played it, and then I looked at Emily, and she was weeping, too.  Listening to the playback so many times, I definitely heard sniffles that didn’t belong to either of us.  Beautiful song.

Bonus:  I got my vinyl copy of “The Letters of Dr. Kurt Gödel,” and a physical copy of “I Am Only a Tiny Noise.”  Once I get a record player, his album will be the first one I spin.

Saturday morning, we woke up to a gorgeous day – perfect for our plan to drive way up the mountain to Hurricane Ridge.

Here is a picture of Emily and Baby Graham sporting their Levi Weaver attire before we set out for the day’s adventure:

And of the Space Needle, which had gotten a face lift since our arrival – painted “gold” (the locals were grumbling because it was orange) for the 50^th anniversary.

We had to take the ferry to the other side of Puget Sound to get where we needed to go, so after driving the car on board, we were free to go up to the top deck and look around.  The views were lovely and the wind was strong.  One of the most impressive sights is of Mount Rainier, which is over 50 miles outside of Seattle, but is so massive that it looks like part of the Seattle Skyline.  I love how ghostly it looks.

The open water:

The Olympic Mountains, where we were headed:

The drive up the mountain was a big part of the experience.  I was grateful Chris was driving, so I could look around the whole time, and take pictures out of the sunroof.  We also stopped at the first overlook on the way up, just as a preview:

Those orange sticks you see are there so that the road crews know where the edge of the road is when they’re pushing snow.  We estimated them to be about 15 feet tall.

We made it to the top!  This looks like one of those “king of the world” type photos:

And then he fell through the soft snow:

People were skiing!

Avalanche?  Where?  Oh.  OK.  I’ll stay back.

The group obliged my need for more pictures by letting me stop at some more of the overlooks as we drove back down the mountain.

I thought it was cool to see the layers of snow built up along the road:

And then we were back on ferry, Seattle-bound.  Mount Rainier was more visible in the afternoon light.

Also, our ferry wasn’t as full as it had been in the morning.

We ventured out on foot for dinner at Serious Pie.  While we waited, Emily made our mark on the pig outside the door.  She inscribed “_____ was here” for all four of us, using the nicknames we’d given each other that day:  Preggers, Grandma Dori, Outlook, and Hiccup.  I’ll let you figure out who is who.  Hint:  Emily is pregnant.

Sunday was our last day there, but since our flight didn’t leave until 10:00pm, it was as if we had another full day.  We started it with breakfast at Voula’s Offshore Café, where the portions were so big that I think I had food for three left on my plate when I was positively stuffed – and I don’t go lightly on the breakfast food!

With our bellies full, we set out toward Gas Works Park, as it was less than 2 miles from the café.  The park was in Chris’ original list of suggestions of places to see, but with so many choices, it didn’t rank high on my list.  I’m extremely grateful that with the enticement of a tasty diner breakfast, Chris said that would pair well with a trip to this park.  It was beautiful – a perfect place to spend a sunny Sunday in Seattle.

We walked around for quite a while, marveling at kids flying kites, and adults sun-tanning, biking, and skateboarding around the park.  We watched several sea planes taking off from downtown Seattle and then flying overhead, to the chorus of excited toddlers bellowing “AIRPLAAAANE!”

When we left the park, we had to do a bit of searching to find The Fremont Troll.  Once we found the right place, he was easy to spot, clutching a VW Beetle in one hand and guarding the bridge with one hubcap eye.  There was a steady stream of people coming to climb on him and take funny pictures.  It took a while to get a clear shot of him.

Some of the other folks checking out the troll were delighted by Emily’s shirt.  So, this is to commemorate the moment.

Unfortunately, the troll put a hex on Chris’ car, because when we got back in, it wouldn’t start.  We could rule a few problems out, but that wasn’t getting us very far.  We got Chris on the phone for troubleshooting and ruled out a few more, and then it finally started, but was shaky and running hot.  We were going to try to get it back, but even with the heat on, the temperature was rising, and after sputtering up a hill, I saw a spot to pull it over and seized the opportunity.  Chris came to rescue us in his Jeep, and Emily’s AAA came to rescue the G.  I go from zero to meltdown pretty fast when car trouble is involved, so it was extremely helpful that Chris was so cool-headed.  He found the problem (the fans had stopped running) and said he had long ago resolved that whenever you have a car, you’re going to have a problem at some point.  I’d have liked that to not be when I was driving it, but all things considered, it worked out pretty well.  It didn’t break down on top of the mountain the day before, Chris was able to come get us in his secondary vehicle, no one got stranded alone, Emily’s AAA covered all but maybe $3 of the towing bill, and Chris has an extended warranty.

After the car was on its way to the shop, Chris dropped Emily and I off at the Space Needle so we could keep on track with our tourist-ing.  We didn’t have to wait long to get to the top, and of course, the views were great:

The area around the Space Needle (Seattle Center) was pretty neat as well.  We walked around and took some photos before utilizing the monorail to get to Westlake Park.

Westlake Park was interesting to Emily and I for different reasons.  For Emily, there was Sephora.  For me, there was a fountain and painted blue trees.

And a very large game of chess:

Walking to catch the bus for dinner, we passed by some snake handlers.  Well, I passed by the snake handlers.  Emily said, “Ooooh, snakes!  Can I hold one?”  That was a somewhat disturbing development in our friendship, but I stood back and snapped some pictures at a safe distance.

No snakes in the other direction:

We re-joined Chris and Holly for dinner at Local 360, which as the name implies, serves dishes created with ingredients that could be found fresh within 360 miles of Seattle.  Their menu was a little on the weird side for me, but I appreciated the idea of it, and the attractive waiter who kept bringing me ice and answering all my questions.

We got a candle on our table between dinner and dessert.  Don’t Chris and Holly look romantic?

Walking back to the apartment, I saw this sign and had to stop and take a picture.  Seattle folks get really excited about the sun shining.  I hardly saw it do anything BUT shine, but I hear it’s rare.

Alas, we’d reached the end of our visit, and we had to finish packing up so we could get to the airport.  I was pretty much packed, so I had time for one last trip up to the roof to catch the sun going down.

Right about the time the sun disappeared, my camera declared, “Memory Card Full,” and I knew it was time to go home.

I’ve written about One Tree Hill a number of times on my blog – either in recapping my show-related trips to Wilmington, or during the campaign to save One Tree Hill from cancellation after Season 7.  While I got a lot of traction writing about the latter, and still get emails from strangers asking me where to find Tree Hill locations in Wilmington, NC, I mostly wrote those pieces for my own benefit, without much idea of too many other people reading them.

So, I was both surprised and flattered when I started getting requests to write something about Season 9.  Once I realized there was interest, I wanted to oblige, but I’ve mostly just been sitting back and enjoying the ride of this last season without discussing it verbally or in print.

But now that we’ve passed the halfway point, and we’re getting close to the end, I thought I’d go ahead and give you my thoughts on the season so far, and my thoughts on what may be coming.  I’m not doing spoilers here, so feel free to share what you think is coming, but let’s keep those out of it, shall we?

First off, I’ll add my hearty “welcome back!” to the always-entertaining Chris Keller.  I was really excited when I heard he was returning for the final season (and I knew he’d always been open to that idea), but I was a little concerned that having him as a regular would be a little too much.  I was definitely wrong there.  With all the drama going on this season, his humor has been a welcome reprieve, and I’m glad it’s coming in the form of an old friend instead of a new character brought in solely for comic relief.  I grin every time he says, “Wellll, wellllll,” refers to himself in the third person, or says something totally smug and rude.  It’s funny that he still flirts with any woman in sight (including Haley), and yet he tips his hand now and then, like when he stepped up to help Haley at the police station.  Chris and Chase are funny as friends, too, although Chris’ womanizing ways play as funny, while Chase’s escapades just seem sleazy.  Funniest moment of the season, so far, though, goes to Chris kicking Chase in the leg outside of Karen’s Café when he found out about Chase and Tara.

We got a few other funny moments out of Julian and Brooke early in the season as they juggled the twins and Brooke’s battling parents.  Then Victoria took off (come back, Vicky!) and Brooke’s absentee father renewed his absentee status and seemingly took that storyline with him.

Speaking of Brooke and Julian, how great is Austin Nichols this season?  He is blowing me away.  We’ve already seen him exhibit his particular penchant for comedy in the previous seasons, and we got a taste of his drama power in that great mid-season hurricane episode last year, but this season, he’s shining in every arena.  Julian always brings big laughs, but when his life took a tragic turn, Austin Nichols brought every emotion to the table and stole the show.  Sadly, forgetting a sleeping infant in the car is a more common occurrence than we’d like to think, and I thought it was brave of One Tree Hill to tackle the subject, and to do it so well.  Having watched it, I don’t think anyone could have done those scenes better than Austin.  Now, with Xavier paroled, I am guessing we’ll be seeing yet another side of Julian before the season’s over – a protective and tough husband and father.

If Julian and Brooke’s near tragedy is the most poignant story of the season so far, Mouth and Millie win the prize for the silliest.  This is not an Eddie Murphy film, so let’s dispense with the fat suit already.  First of all, Mouth looks to have gained about 20 pounds, but even if he gained 40, he’s not so ridiculously overweight that Millie needs to be calling him fat live on the air of their morning show, and nor does everyone need to be whispering behind his back and making fun of him to his face.  Speaking just to the storyline, given that Millie has had her own ups and downs with eating disorders, she is the last person who should be judging Mouth, who we’ve been led to believe she loves.  He helped her through her turn as an anorexic, pill-popping crack-whore, and she’s going to have the nerve to disparage him for plumping up?  It’s annoying, to say the least.  And memo to One Tree Hill – your viewers are not all emaciated celebrities, and while your actresses are supporting True Beauty events to make girls feel good about themselves, you’re undoing that with this condescending and insulting storyline.  Zero is not a size, remember?

I’ll give the “Most Improved Storyline” award to Clay and Quinn.  It took me about half an episode back in Season 7 to be over their mushy, we-fell-in-love-in-10-minutes crap, and they have been the bane of my One Tree Hill existence ever since.  This season, though, after a tiny bit of mushy and a lot of yelling, the saccharin couple were separated when Clay checked himself into the mental ward.  I find them much more likeable when they’re not on screen together.  Clay’s newfound friendship with fellow patient, Logan (who is the cutest kid on the planet, probably), is actually entertaining and heart-warming.  It can’t be a coincidence that those two are bonding, so we’re left to wonder what the connection between them will be, and I am actually looking forward to finding out.  I’m sure we’ll be back to “Clay and Quinn” before the season is over, but I am enjoying this reprieve from the montage of puppy dog eyes.  Also, they seem to have finally sprung for a wardrobe for Quinn, so she doesn’t have to walk around awkwardly in her underwear anymore.  Let’s keep it that way.

That leaves me with one storyline, which actually includes my favorite part of this season as well as my least favorite.  To get the bad news out of the way first, it’s so disappointing to have so little of James Lafferty (and therefore, Nathan Scott) in the final season of the series that has been largely about him.  What’s worse, we’ve barely seen Nathan and Haley in a scene together this season.  I think they’ve been in the same room for portions of two episodes, and otherwise, we’ve had a few phone calls and a video chat, and then complete separation.  And unlike Clay and Quinn, they are not two characters that need to be apart.

That being said, Nathan’s disappearance is still the best part of the season for me.  It has nothing to do with that bizarre, Shakespeare-quoting Russian mobster, and a LOT to do with watching Bethany Joy Galeotti turn in one great performance after another as Haley becomes more desperate to find her missing husband.  Joy has always brought the acting up a notch on One Tree Hill (in my humble opinion), and without much conflict in Haley’s life last season (and with a reduced role due to Joy’s real-life pregnancy), I’m glad to see her back on screen as a major player again.

The proverbial “cherry on top” of the entire season is the return of the great Dan Scott.  Love him or hate him, he is the most compelling character on the show, and so much in this little town hinges on that man.  Going from a callous, sad excuse for a father in Season 1, to public enemy #1, to a sad shell of a man who made every possible mistake and couldn’t find his way back, Dan has always been worth watching.  Some fans have always hated him and will always hate him, but I’ve always found reasons to root for him.  I like his Machiavellian presence on the show, and I love seeing his softer side when he’s around his grandchildren, or asking forgiveness from his family for the umpteenth time.

Now, this season, once again, Dan showed up down on his luck and desperate for help from a family that hates him.  He found a brief and begrudging welcome from Haley before Nathan showed up and kicked him out in the cold once again.  Ironically, Dan got a reprieve when Nathan turned up missing, a coincidence Haley noted before digging deeper to find out that Dan had been the architect of his own disaster as a ploy to gain sympathy, so she freaked, accused him of kidnapping his own son, and had him arrested out of her own home.  Haley was being irrational, of course, albeit with good reason, but what really broke my heart is that, for fear of losing his Dad, Jamie turned against Grandpa Dan, going from his only ally to just the next person to consider him an enemy.

Dan didn’t have much time to mope over his situation, because he was busy taking action to find his son.  He rented space and set up camp at Julian’s studio (just when Julian was in dire need of some business), and launched a full-fledged, Dan-style investigation into Nathan’s mysterious disappearance.  I love seeing him make up a list of his enemies, and track them down, gun in hand, to find out whether he could be indirectly responsible for the kidnapping.  It’s great that he has something of a partner in Julian, who seems to be in it partly for curiosity, and partly for boredom.  I have no doubt that Dan will ultimately be the one to crack the case and bring Nathan home, and I am almost certain that it is going to cost him his life.

I’ve said before that I thought Dan had to die before One Tree Hill could end.  And more than that, I want him to have that redemption he’s been so desperately seeking before he dies.  I think that’s going to happen sometime in these next six episodes, and I am looking forward to it with a certain anticipation (because it’s going to make for great TV) and also trepidation (because I am going to cry like a big baby).

It’s still hard to believe it’s all coming to an end, and disappointing that we won’t get to see all the familiar faces we’ve been missing these last few seasons (like Whitey, Karen, and Peyton, who were all very high on my wish list), but I understand that it couldn’t all come together fast enough for 13 final episodes, taped straight through without a break, so I’m going to try to put the “if onlys” out of my mind and just enjoy the stories we’re given in the meantime.

Now, I’m no political expert or talking head (and have zero desire to be), but I had some thoughts when I looked at those numbers, so I’m tossing out a few opinions here.

First, a few preliminary things:

• Perry and Bachmann continued the “poor showing” theme leading Bachmann to call it quits and Perry to either “reassess” or power on to SC, depending on what moment you catch him. But has he ever known what he was doing in the first place? Oops!
• Gingrich isn’t going anywhere, of course, because even though he’s in a freefall, he’ll keep hanging around like a bad stench, which is his raison d’être.
• For some reason the media is still talking about Jon Huntsman with his 1%. Who’s that, you say? Well, he’s busy campaigning in New Hampshire, hoping to pull a Santorum there. Maybe he will! Ooooh-hooo! And then the Republicans could have another candidate to talk about who will promptly fall by the wayside two weeks later.

Now, the new “top tier” is Romney, Santorum, and Paul:

• Rick Santorum? Are you kidding me? Surely no one is taking him seriously. He’s just the current Johnny-come-lately to make Republicans hope they’re not going to be stuck with Romney. Please note these stats: More than 90% of Santorum-supporters in Iowa chose him within the “last few days” or “in December.” In other words, he spent a lot of time and money doing a last minute push in Iowa to get his name out there, and the wishy-washy voters who hadn’t chosen a candidate took the bait. Support that drops out of nowhere goes nowhere.
• Mitt Romney. He’s the candidate Republicans hate and the one they’re probably gonna get. 48% of the people who voted for him did so chiefly because of a belief that he can defeat Obama. (I highly doubt it.) Romney also got the highest percentage (29%) of voters who chose him with reservations (because, like I said, Republicans don’t even like the guy). Oh, and here’s something for all of you 99%-types. Guess who got the highest percentage of votes from the folks who make $100K+? Yes, that’s right. Romney. They’re right to vote for him, of course, because he’ll take the money they slip to his campaign and turn it around in tax breaks and bailouts and other questionable financial dealings if he’s elected. Also worth noting is that, while Romney is the obvious front-runner (Santorum supporters celebrating their 8-vote margin are delusional), he’s still not getting the support he wants and needs out of Republicans at large. It’s sad when a guy with no chance (Santorum) can run a two-week campaign that catches up with a guy who should be blowing him out of the water.
• Ron Paul. Somehow he’s still persona non grata to the media, but the Iowa votes indicate he’s definitely still in the game and gaining ground. (I can only imagine how much his message would catch fire across the country if only the media would let people hear about it.) Paul more than doubled the number of Iowa votes he secured in 2008, while Romney’s number was almost the same. So, Romney is still as popular (and as unpopular) as he was 4 years ago, but Paul’s support has doubled. Paul’s percentages last night also indicate that he’s the frontrunner among voters ages 18-39 (with a HUGE advantage among voters under 29), and the candidate preferred by voters with less than $50K in income (even more among voters with less than $30K). Another obvious Paul stronghold? Voters who made up their minds before December. Ron Paul voters aren’t impressed with ad campaigns (that’s another stat on the chart), they’re not beholden to the media (otherwise they wouldn’t know who he is), and they’re the most prominent group to “strongly favor” their chosen candidate. Ron Paul supporters aren’t interested in which way the wind blows; they are looking for a candidate with substance and integrity who knows his mind and doesn’t change it depending on what group he’s talking to at the time. Here’s hoping there’s something to that old adage of “slow and steady wins the race.”

What else the stats say about Ron Paul:

• He outscored the rest of the field among voters who deemed the most important quality in a candidate to be that he was a “true conservative.” He also blew the other candidates out of the water in shoring up the voters with a moderate or liberal ideology. So… what now? Voters who want a true conservative in office have picked Ron Paul as their man. And voters who identify themselves as moderate or liberal ALSO picked Ron Paul? It would certainly seem that he’s able to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters – voters who probably recognize that he’s conservative on matters that call for it (like when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars), and he’s (gasp!) liberal when it comes to keeping the government’s big fat nose out of matters that should be none of its business. I’m guessing that also means that Democrats who voted for “hope” and “change” and got a same ol’, same ol’ Republicrat in the last election would consider casting their votes for Ron Paul as well.
• Rick Santorum got a whopping 58% of his votes from folks who pinpointed Abortion as their “most important issue.” I keep hoping the pro-life crowd will figure out that abortion is just a talking point that Republicans use to get elected, and then they never actually follow through to do anything about it. Ron Paul doesn’t say much about abortion, because he has been busy predicting the housing collapse, trying to illuminate the problem with the budget deficit, decrying expensive wars over nothing (and refusing to incite yet another one with Iran), and putting up a fight against politicians who are railroading the Constitution at every turn. However, I doubt it’s even possible to find a candidate (certainly in this race, and probably in politics as a whole) who has been more consistently pro-life AND consistently doing something about it as Ron Paul. And if his name was actually out there, and the voters knew what he was all about, the “issues” voters who choose based on abortion stance, health care, etc. would LOVE Dr. Paul.

This race has been so crazy, it’s hard to guess what will happen next. Maybe after New Hampshire everyone will be talking about Jon Huntsman like he’s the second coming and it’ll be “Santorum-who?” again. But whatever shenanigans are going on, I’m expecting Romney to maintain his same level of begrudging support, and I bet we’ll see Ron Paul continue his climb to the chagrin of the media and the clueless GOP brass. And I’ll be stuck between being cynical and desperately clinging to hope.

A lot of my friends seem to be lacking in the Christmas spirit this year, but I’m prepared to share.  It’s not the same as being there, but it’s still better than a cheap souvenir, right?

I saw at least five Christmas trees before I even got out of the airport.  They provided the encouragement I needed for my long trip into the city.  I was trying to be as frugal as possible, so instead of grabbing a $50 cab into Manhattan, I took the AirTrain from the airport to the subway station ($5), and rode the subway from the far reaches of Queens, transferred trains in downtown Manhattan, on to the Upper East Side ($2.25).  By the time I reached my friends’ place, I was feeling both triumphant and exhausted.  I was blessed with the most gracious hosts, so I was promptly furnished with a glass of ice water and pointed to the couch to relax and look out at the view, which included Ralph Lauren’s apartment, the Guggenheim, and the Empire State Building.

After the photo at the airport, I put my camera away and forgot to take it back out again for the rest of the day.  So, there are no other photos for Saturday, but basically, I went down to the theater district, lingered for a solid 15 minutes outside the stage door at Alan Rickman’s show, just on the off chance that he would appear (he did not – I would have remembered to take a picture of that!), and then I walked down the block to another stage door to wait for my friend Michael to emerge after his matinee performance.  We simply walked and talked until he had to return to the theater, but made a stop by Playwrights’ Horizons to see our mutual friend Trent, who was also between performances.  I returned to Playwrights’ Horizons Saturday night to see Trent take the stage in a fascinating quasi-period piece called Maple & Vine.

Sunday morning brought another reunion as I trekked out to Brooklyn to have breakfast with another friend.  We dined at an Israeli diner in Park Slope and the food was wonderful – outshined only by the company.  I also had the fun of being stopped by a tourist on the street, desperate for directions, and I obliged him.  It was fun to be presumed a New Yorker and to have the knowledge to pull it off.

I finally remembered to use my camera again when I arrived at the beautiful Lincoln Center, where I saw the New York Ballet perform The Nutcracker.  The outside of the theater was decorated for the occasion…

…and the inside of the theater was beautiful.  I managed to snap a few pictures before I heard the ushers telling other people that there were to be no pictures:

I had never seen The Nutcracker before, though I was (of course) familiar with the music that brings it to life.  I had also never attended a ballet before, and while I have a far-reaching appreciation for the arts in many forms, I thought ballet may push the envelope a bit.  Still, I was going for the whole Christmas experience in New York, so there seemed no better time to give it a try.  Plus, it is hard to go wrong with Tchaikovsky.

I did enjoy the show, and though I will probably not rush back to the ballet anytime soon, I was happy to have had this experience.  I loved it when the tree “grew” out of the stage and the visuals by and large were fantastic.  One of my favorite moments is when it began to snow and the dancers twirled about, making patterns on the stage floor.  I couldn’t photograph it, of course, but Google came through with this photo for your viewing pleasure:

After the show, I walked out on the second-floor balcony to enjoy the view around Lincoln Center.  I could see that there was something going on down below, but wasn’t sure exactly what.

When I walked down to street level, I discovered what the fuss was about.  The red carpet had been prepared and the world premiere of War Horse was about to begin.  Perhaps I should have stuck around to get a glimpse of Steven Spielberg, but I wasn’t interested enough to delay my day.

The weather was perfect, so I walked up to the American Museum of Natural History, taking in some uncharted territory in the Upper West Side as I moved along.  I had read that the Origami Christmas Tree at AMNH was not to be missed, and since I was trying to see all of NYC’s most celebrated trees, I decided to stop in for a look.

As the name implies, all the decorations on the tree were origami, and they were all shaped like animals (such as you see throughout the halls of the museum), except for some glittering stars that stuck out from the tree (perhaps as an ode to the Planetarium which is also on site).  I thought the tree was fantastic:

When I left the museum, I hopped a bus that was crossing the park (the subway doesn’t run under Central Park, of course), and made my way back to my friends’ place.  I wanted to make the trip back out to Brooklyn to see the audacious Christmas lights in the Dyker Heights neighborhood.  My friend Lana had never seen those, either, so she agreed to join me for the journey and added a stop at a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant she had heard of in Bay Ridge.  We ordered up 5 different dishes to try:  Falafel, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Brussel Sprouts in Yogurt Pomegranate Sauce, Succotash, and of course I can’t remember the name of the dish that was my favorite, but it was a pita with incredibly seasoned jerk chicken and slivers of almonds on top.  Oh wow.  Behold the spread of food:

After dinner, we had a bit of a hike over to Dyker Heights, but I was amused along the way as we passed some houses where the inhabitants of Bay Ridge were clearly trying to spur their neighborhood into action.  I appreciated their spirit:

Once we reached Dyker Heights, it was a feast of tacky and overbearing Christmas lights and I loved every bit of it.  A few houses tried to class things up, but my favorites were the ones that assaulted our eyes with colored lights covering EVERYTHING.  Clearly, this decorating extravaganza was a labor of love for many of the folks in the neighborhood, whereas others, not wanting to be outdone, had hired professional decorators to handle their lawns, as evidenced by company signs staked in the yards.  A few houses had even hired folks to dress up and hang around outside the houses, taking photos with children.  We encountered one Elmo and one Rudolph.  I sensed that they were part entertainment, part security, and part fundraisers for the charity of that house’s choosing.  Spectators had poured onto the sidewalks or were driving along the streets at a snail’s pace.  No one seemed to be in any hurry, though.  The fun of it all was infectious!

A Christmas display that features Eeyore?  YES, PLEASE!

This is the proper way to hang lights on a tree, y’all:

After all of that walking, and the long subway ride back, Lana and I were both exhausted.  However, I knew that Monday I had planned to walk down 5^th Avenue, peering in shop windows, and that my route would take me past Rockefeller Center.  I was determined that my first viewing of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree should be at night, so I bid Lana adieu and detoured to another train and got off at Rockefeller Center.  I even walked a few blocks out of the way so that I could circle back around and get my first glance of the tree from the 5^th Avenue side, which affords the most majestic view.

I stayed there, staring at the tree from all angles for nearly an hour.  I didn’t want to part with it, but I finally convinced myself to meander to the bus stop and come back to visit the tree the next day.

Monday morning, I set out for David Letterman’s studio, hoping to get tickets to that day’s taping.  I filled out the paperwork, spoke to the producer, and met some fellow Ryan Adams fans, but I didn’t rate a seat in the studio audience.  I knew the odds were not particularly in my favor, so I was content with having tried and went on my way.

I had mapped out the must-see shop windows along 5^th Avenue, which included Bloomingdale’s, Barneys, Bergdorf-Goodman, Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Macy’s (which is actually at Broadway & 34^th, in case you’re looking).  But first, I stopped by FAO Schwarz to gander at all the toys and see the big piano:

And then I dropped by The Plaza Hotel…

…to see their very pink Eloise-inspired Christmas tree:

Each of the major stores had multiple windows for viewing, and portions of the sidewalk along 5^th Avenue were adorned with velvet ropes to separate the window-gazers from the passers-by.  Of course, taking pictures of windows as people and cars pass by doesn’t create ideal photography conditions, but if you’ll forgive the glare, I’ll share some of my favorite windows with you.

Bergdorf Goodman’s windows were decorated in a “Carnival of the Animals” theme, done in taxidermy style.  You can see professional photos of some of the windows on the Bergdorf Goodman blog here, but these are a few of the pictures I took:

And whaddaya know?  I just happened to be walking past Rockefeller Center again…

I took a guess that the beautiful New York Public Library would have a nice Christmas tree inside, and they did…

After which, I rounded the building to walk through Bryant Park.  I’m sure their tree was a prettier sight at night, but it was neat to see the ice skaters on the rink and the vendors throughout the park selling their wares to Christmas shoppers looking for unique gifts.

Then I got distracted with photos of the skyline as I made my way over to Grand Central Station…

I had read that Grand Central Station was bringing back their kaleidoscope light show this year, but when I arrived and asked around, I learned that it had been canceled (probably budget cuts).  Luckily, Grand Central Station is pretty all on its own, so all was not lost.

Back to window-gazing, I had to take a picture of the Brooks Brothers display – mostly because I was entertaining the notion of going inside to look for my very own Peter Burke.  (I decided that walking around the store asking suit-shopping men whether they worked for the FBI was probably ill-advised, so I just kept moving.)

I don’t even remember what store this was, but I thought the porthole windows were snazzy:

En route to Macy’s, I walked down 34^th past the Empire State Building.  I took this from across the street.  If you look carefully at the top of the building, you can see the very tip top peeking out above the larger portion of the building.

Macy’s had some fairly impressive steampunk-inspired windows with tie-in from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  You can see some great shots of the windows here, or you can just be satisfied with this one of mine:

I actually decided to peek inside Macy’s, making it the first and only store I entered as I walked around.  And when I say “entered,” I mean that I walked through the revolving door, stepped out long enough to snap a photo, and then revolved my way right back out onto the street.  That is the extent of my shopping prowess.

The Macy’s entrance on the 34^th Street side was decorated as well, and probably would have been better to view at night when you could see “Believe” lit up more prominently across the building.

While Saks gets bonus points for their Christmas projection show (more on that later), I have to declare Lord & Taylor the winner of best Christmas window displays.  They took drawings and stories from the imagination of children and brought them to life in their shop windows.  You can watch a video from the unveiling here.

Monday night, I decided to venture downtown to the financial district, as I’d read about the Chorus Tree at South Street Seaport.  I hadn’t had time to go downtown over the weekend when there is an actual choir singing at intervals in front of the tree, but I understood that the tree put on its own singing light show every hour throughout the evening.

The Seaport was also decked out with vendors in a row of Santa’s Workshop-inspired kiosks, and there are shops, restaurants, and museums all around the Seaport area.  But first, the tree!

I bought myself a bag of kettle corn because it smelled AMAZING, and took a seat and looked around waiting for whatever was going to happen at the stroke of 6:00.  When the music started and the lights started flickering, I alternated between staring in delight and trying to snap pictures of the different light formations.  They were moving too quickly for me, but you can get the idea:

Or, you can take a gander at the quick video I eventually thought to capture of a few seconds of the show…Oh, the gloriously tacky wonder of it all!

Having been delighted by the Chorus Tree, I crept toward the water to check out Pier 17, which was basically a multi-layer mall with a deck on each level that afforded lovely views of the Brooklyn Bridge (and at the end of that… Brooklyn).

I really enjoyed walking around while there were not a lot of people around and the air had a slight nip in it, but I’m sure this area is bustling in the summer months.  I’ve already made a mental note to return there on a future visit.

Before walking back to the subway, I decided I could use a snack, so I settled on a very healthy choice at Johnny Rockets:

On my way back uptown, I stopped off near NYU to go check out the tree in Washington Square Park.  When I arrived, however, it seemed that they hadn’t quite finished preparing it yet, since it was just a bare tree.  I imagine they had a lighting ceremony scheduled for later.  I was mildly disappointed, but I still took a seat on a nearby park bench and admired the beautiful Washington arch.

This was another area of NYC I had never explored before, so I decided to go back a different way via Union Square, so I could walk the streets a little bit.  It’s funny how the “college” part of town can have the same feel in most any city, but I enjoyed the people-watching along my way.

When I got to Union Square, I found a Winter Market in full force all around the subway entrance.  In fact, if I had gotten off at Union Square, I would have mistaken it for the North Pole.  The vendors there had some really cool-looking things for sale.  I may have even looked a bit closer at some of them, but the thought of trying to transport anything home kept me at bay.

I did really want that art display of the Brooklyn Bridge, though.  On sale, even!  Only $290!

I had stayed pretty busy thus far on my trip, and covered a lot of ground, so I was happy to retire back to the apartment at an early hour Monday night.  When I arrived, Colin made me the best turkey burger I have ever had.  It went very well with the fries I had eaten earlier.  In fact, my mouth is watering just thinking about it now.

Tuesday morning, I let myself take it very easy.  I was still awake before 8:00, but I continued to lay in bed with my feet propped up, listening to my iPod and eating the remnants of my kettle corn from the night before.  I didn’t have anywhere specific to be until 2:00pm, so I had time to dilly-dally.

The forecast called for light rain, so I borrowed an umbrella before I set out on my way, though the weather was perfect outside.  I wore a short-sleeved sweater over a tank top and didn’t even bother with a jacket.  I had taken note of a spa in the neighborhood, so that was my first stop for a chair massage to relax some of my muscles.  I was in and out in 15 minutes, but that woman worked wonders on my neck and shoulders.  She was unconvinced, though.  She handed me my things and said, “You come back again later.  You tight.”  I actually felt marvelous, so I continued on my way.

Another famed New York City Christmas Tree is located at The Met, so that was my next stop.  The photo Nazis were buzzing around that tree, but I took a photo as I entered the room and then I managed to get in one more of the bottom of the tree.

My 2:00 show was at Radio City Music Hall, and I still had plenty of time until then, but I went ahead and made my way down to that neighborhood.  Do you know what is just down the block from Radio City?  No?  You can’t guess?  Wellll….

I didn’t linger so long this time, opting instead to head below Rockefeller Center and find some lunch.  When I walked back up to street level and headed toward Radio City, I just happened to pass by Magnolia Bakery, so it seemed only right that I should stop in for dessert.  I splurged and got a few different treats to taste, and when I started to cross the street, some very light rain began to sprinkle down.  So, I pulled out my camera and took a picture of some fantastic decorations on the street, and then sat down on the edge of the fountain, opened my umbrella, and sat happily underneath it, eating the best cupcake I have ever had in my life.  Rarely have I felt so pleased with myself.

As 2:00 approached, I finished my cupcake and went inside to see the Radio City Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular, a holiday tradition in New York since 1933.

In the lobby, they had a different kind of Christmas tree, suspended from the ceiling:

Photography was OK during the show, so I snapped a few shots along the way.  It was definitely a fun-filled, high-energy Christmas program.

They did a miniature version of The Nutcracker:

And here are the toy soldiers, falling down in a domino effect, which was quite impressive to watch:

They had a great segment about Christmas in New York, which, given the focus of my trip, delighted me greatly.

The next portion of the show was about a mother who was out searching for the big ticket item she thought her daughter wanted for Christmas.  Santa knew better, though (cue a cute number about how Santa can be everywhere at once), and took both the mother and daughter on a trip to the North Pole to teach them that the best gift of Christmas was the time they spent together.

The final segment of the show was the living nativity, which has also been part of the show since the very beginning.  The narrator read Luke 2 and took us on a journey with the wise men to the manger in Bethlehem, where the whole cast bowed down to sing “Glory to God in the Highest.”  It was beautifully done.  (I missed getting a good photo of the camels walking across the stage, because I didn’t realize at first that they were real!)

When I left Radio City, I had a few hours before I was supposed to meet Lana for dinner near Carnegie Hall, and the rain had picked up a bit since I had gone into the show.  The mist had upgraded to a drizzle, but it was fairly steady.  I contemplated heading back to the apartment, but then I decided that the rainy conditions would mean a less populated Times Square, and I thought it would be cool to get some pictures of the neon lights rising up against a dreary sky.

I think that is the most I have enjoyed being in Times Square for a long time.  I still had another hour to kill, so I decided to head back over to Rockefeller Center to catch the projection show on the Saks building (and of course, to stare at that tree some more).  Along my way, I took advantage of the weather for some more photos.

I saw down on a bench in Rockefeller Center and people-watched while the countdown clock ticked down.  The following pictures will give you an idea of what the projection show looked like (and you can just imagine that Christmas music is blaring):

Here are a few pictures of a replica of the Swarovski Star atop the Rockefeller Tree.  They sell smaller versions for normal people trees, and I hope to get one eventually.  First, the star to go on my tree, and then the angels with trumpets to stand in front of it in two lines.

Then, it was time for me to walk over to dinner, and I stopped a few times along the way for more pictures, of course.

At the restaurant, I saw a man wearing the signature Cardinals rose design on his t-shirt, so I looked at him and said, “Heyyy, Ryan Adams!” which made him stop and verify that I was going to the show.  While we were talking, another guy walked past and heard our conversation, and chimed in, “You guys going to the show, too?  I just saw Ryan Adams at the hotel and told him I was looking forward to the show, and he said, ‘Not as much as I am!’”  I was both amazed and jealous of his encounter, but mostly really excited that it was almost time for the show… at CARNEGIE HALL.

Here was the view in front of me:

And the view behind me:

Shortly, the view in front of me improved significantly, and the perfect acoustics of Carnegie Hall were put to great use:

Ryan moved between sitting with his guitar at center stage, sitting at his piano at stage left, and standing with his guitar at stage right.  The latter was closest to me, and conveniently where he spent the majority of the show.  Now for the part where I tell you everything that he played…

He started with an old/new rotation, playing Oh My Sweet Carolina, followed by Ashes & Fire, then back to If I Am a Stranger, and then Dirty Rain.  He played a good amount of the new album throughout the show, but indulged the fans with a wide range of songs from his earlier catalogue, too.  He played My Winding Wheel, then sat at the piano for My Blue Manhattan.  He returned to his guitar for Invisible Riverside, Everybody Knows, Firecracker, and then a ballad version of Let It Ride.  One of my favorite performances during the show came when he did Dear Chicago.  He continued through Chains of Love, Please Do Not Let Me Go, Lucky Now, Two, and Crossed Out Name.

Then, he blew my mind when he returned to the piano, and I considered what he might play, but he sat down and played New York, New York of all things, turning a fast-paced rock song into a quiet piano ballad.  I love that song anyway, and it was obviously very apropos.

When he stood up to cross back to the other side of the stage, someone high up in the balcony yelled, “THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!”  So, Ryan, probably in part because I don’t think he enjoys being hollered at, pretended to misunderstand her as having said, “Howard is Beautiful.”  He said he didn’t know any Howards, but then he started to strum his guitar and made up an entire song – multiple verses, bridge, the whole nine yards – about Howard and his beauty.  It was hysterical, and the kind of moment that you can’t just get from any artist.

He got back on point with Do I Wait, and then delighted the audience by digging back in time to the Whiskeytown era, playing Jacksonville Skyline, Round and Round (Ratt cover), and 16 Days.

He did another improv incorporating many of the jokes and happenings from the evening into a song called Thank You for Coming to the Show.

He did the encore bit (a process he had joked about earlier in the show), but could only play one more song due to time constraints and contract issues with the theater.  I’d have sat listening to him all night, of course, but he had already played a lengthy and fantastic set, so I had no complaints.  Then, he began his last song, which to my sheer delight happened to be Blue Hotel.

I caught a bit of Blue Hotel on video, so you can appreciate the ambience of the moment, and get a vague idea of how beautifully his voice carried inside Carnegie Hall.

Wednesday morning, I hopped a bus to the subway to the AirTrain to the airport for a delayed flight, which left me little leeway time to drive home from Raleigh in a torrential downpour.  I got to my apartment at 6:10, ran in, unpacked my suitcase, went to the restroom, and at 6:15 I was back in the car headed to Charlottesville with Jessica and Melissa for The Civil Wars concert.  I had debated about going after an illness caused the date change, but I figured that since I was going to be exhausted the next day regardless, that I should not miss the concert.

As I waited for The Civil Wars to take the stage, I flipped through the photos on my camera and figured it was worth noting that The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville is pretty snazzy, too, after taking pictures of the likes of Carnegie, Lincoln Center, and Radio City.

And, of course, The Civil Wars were great!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I hope New York helped get you in the spirit!

So, it came as no surprise that the cast took to Twitter during the last week of filming to share their memories and say their goodbyes to the iconic people and places of Tree Hill.  I simply wanted to commemorate it by compiling a few of my favorite quotes and pictures from the cast members during filming for episode 187 of One Tree Hill.  I’ve replaced Twitter screen names with real names for the ease of non-Twitter readers, but I’m keeping the hashtags in place, because they were special to all of us.

~~~~~~~~~

Sophia Bush:

Today marks the first day of filming the last episode of One Tree Hill … My heart is bursting at the seams. The years we’ve shared laughing, crying, and growing … What a family we are. Thank you, each and every one of you, for coming on this journey with us.

Day 1 of filming the One Tree Hill series finale…

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

James Lafferty:

Lights shining on our Rivercourt for the very last time. This is one location I will never forget. #GoodnightRivercourt

Sophia Bush:

One more week. But tonight we celebrate …

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

Lindsay Wolfington (Music Supervisor):

Gavin DeGraw on-camera taping today. In between takes, he’s quietly playing chords to ‘I Don’t Want to Be’ #coolsentimentalmoment #OTH

Gavin DeGraw:

Thank you again to the creators, cast, and crew of OTH for having yesterday. You’re a class act.

Stephen Colletti:

Last call. Cue Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” last day of shooting in Tric “FOR-EV-ER.” My fingers are feeling a little sticky…Goodnight, TRIC. May you forever hear the jams that rocked you.

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

Day 5 of 9, OTH Series Finale.  Countdown picture of the day… Goodnight “Karen’s”

This picture turned up online with reports that Joy kissed the door of Karen’s Cafe as filming was completed:

WildLife_TV:

#GoodnightNathan

Picture from a fan, RT’d by James Lafferty:

#GoodnightNaley

Stephen Colletti:

My man. That’s a wrap on Chuckle.  “CHUCK!”

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

OTH Series Finale, Day 6 of 9 Countdown Photo… That’s a wrap on James Lafferty, a gentleman and a scholar. Goodnight, Nathan Scott.   (James responded:  I’m still in there. Decided to pretend like it’s not true. Just waitin’ to be called for rehearsal…..)

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

We’re up on the Karen’s rooftop set. So many memories here— mini golf, water balloon fights, laughter & tears… It’s a great place to leave Haley James.  Thank you all for your years of support… You have made possible many wonderful memories for me.

Sophia Bush:

That’s a wrap on Jackson Brundage. A celebratory bear pile was in order. I’m so lucky to have such a great little friend. #GoodnightJamieScott

Shantel VanSanten:

Just rehearsed & about to shoot my last scene ever on OTH with Rob Buckley. It’s an honor to work beside & laugh with my BFF for 3 seasons!

Robert Buckley:

I can’t believe that I’m halfway through my final day on OTH; to say it’s surreal would be a colossal understatement.

Shantel VanSanten:  There were many tears shed (even by Rob Buckley) but here is how we’re coping with wrapping on OTH! #GoodNightClinn

Austin Nichols:

Last day of work for Lee Norris. I was there for his final scene. Great actor. #GoodnightMouth

Stephen Colletti (quoting the U2 song for which the show was named):

“I’ll see you again when the stars fall from the sky and the moon has turned red over One Tree Hill.”

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

#GoodnightQuinnJames #GoodnightClayEvans #GoodnightRedBedroom

RealOneTreeHill (official Twitter):

9 years. 187 eps. Over 8k scenes. Millions of amazing fans. 6,471,818,671 people in the world, and sometimes all you need is #OneTreeHill

James Lafferty:

As One Tree Hill wraps today, I think we all owe a thank you to Mark Schwahn. He dreamed it all up and changed our lives. #ThanksMastermind.

Sophia Bush:

Three more scenes as Brooke Davis. Wow … “For now, I say goodbye to this chapter in my life. And I look forward to what comes next.”

Daphne Zuniga:

AAAAHHHH! Today’s the last day of this show!! Drinking my last am cup of java in makeup… Dear time, can you please slow down a little bit today?  Thx J

Daphne Zuniga, to Sophia Bush:  I love you so much! Victoria and Brooke made it work.

Sophia Bush:

And that’s a #GoodnightVictoria @DaphneZuniga. I love you like a mother, a sister, a best friend. xo

Austin Nichols:

Today is the final day of shooting for One Tree Hill. Saying goodbye to all these talented folks.  Unraveling a bit.

Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols:

And then there were two. Picture is up on our final scene. My heart is bursting with love. What a gift these 13 weeks have been.

And that’s a wrap. Oh my heart. To end where it all began … #GoodnightBrookeDavis

Bethany Joy Galeotti:

And after the wrap:

Sophia Bush:

I’ve been crying for 36 hours. Spontaneous sobbing in strange places. It happens in an instant, then I start swearing, & repeat.

Wilmington has renamed the street that runs alongside Screen Gems Studios to One Tree Hill Way.  Here are some cast members posing with the sign at the One Tree Hill wrap party:

And, perhaps as a sign that with any ending comes a new beginning, two OTH guest stars (who are married in real life) welcomed their first child to the world just as One Tree Hill wrapped filming.  Congratulations to Scott Holroyd (who I remember fondly from his As the World Turns days) and Allison Munn!  Allison had this to say on Twitter:

Allison Munn:

@scottholroyd + @allisonmunn = Nathan Powell Holroyd.  Welcome to the world, Baby Nate!

It certainly feels odd that filming is wrapped forever, and the One Tree Hill cast have packed up their boxes in Wilmington and moved back home, but we still have another season to watch!  Season 9 premieres on the CW on January 11^th!  I’ll be there with my tissues at the ready.

#GoodnightTreeHill