Another year, another reminder

Eight years ago this great country of ours came under attack and like most of us I still can't totally believe what happened on that beautiful fall morning.  The enormous amount of innocent lives lost, and for the survivors, the lost feeling of ever being safe here at home again.  These cowards delivered a sucker punch that left us still reeling all these years later but they didn't win.  We haven't forgotten and we never will.  But for most of us we've brushed ourselves off and got on with our lives.

At least as well as we could.

I remember how quiet it was in the skies for days after the attacks when all flights were grounded.  Our skies are now once again filled.  I can recall many instances of hearing about letters being delivered with a suspicious powdered material on them.  You don't hear of this much anymore.  And security measures which were once so strict you almost loathed going to an airport are now less critical than they once were.  We're getting on with our lives alright, but I hope we don't get too comfortable in doing so.

Don't get me wrong.  These maggots would have won if we were still shaking uncontrollably and biting our finger nails and I'm glad we're not.  But these groups who hate us so bad haven't left their drawing boards for a minute.  And they could set our world on its ear in an instant if we give them the chance.  We have to enjoy life but with a bit of vigilance.  We need to make certain that events like this don't happen again in our lifetime nor our children's.

Everyone everywhere knows what they were doing at that moment in their lives.  Just like the generation before me knows what they were doing when JFK was killed, and the generation before that when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  These things were unfathomable, and especially hard to believe that it could happen right here on U.S. soil.  But they did happen here, and it just goes to show that even the largest of super powers can have a chink in its armour that could bring it to its knees.  All of us are key components that make up the armour of this great nation.  Young and old, serviceman and civilian alike, we all have a part in keeping ourselves safe from monsters who threaten the sanctity of a free world.

Below you'll find a collection of pictures taken on my family's last trip to New York city.  The 9/11 museum came highly suggested by a family member of mine who had visited the city shortly before us.  Back in 2001 we all knew how big of a disaster that day was when we watched the events unfold on our tv screens.  But for me it wasn't until I saw ground zero and got to view all of the items collected from the site that I truly realized the magnitude of that tragedy.  It was much larger than I ever imagined and very overwhelming to say the least.  You couldn't help but have mood swings from utter sadness to bitter anger.  I was warned that the exhibit left not one dry eye but thought that I'd be different.  I was wrong.

A portion of one of the planes that hit the WTC.

An SCBA bottle from one of the New York firefighters.







What's left of an FDNY turn out coat.










Tools recovered.

Notice the pistols literally fused to one another.






A steel column from One WTC.










Ladder/Engine Co. 10 located directly across the street from ground zero.


The bronze memorial wall on the side of 10 House.

Go ahead, bite the Big Apple

We bit it a month ago when my family and I decided that the big city was going to be this year's destination for our annual getaway.  And I'm pleased to say we liked it!  Some more than others, but all in all it was definitely something to see.

Up until this year I was the only one in the family who had ever been there.  About thirty years ago to be exact, but some of that trip was still in my mind and I knew we'd find something for each of us to enjoy.  Heck, with the ethnic diversity alone it would make for some great people watching wouldn't you think?



Racing has taken up a lot of our time over the past five years and a family trip of this sort has always taken a back seat to our weekend endeavours.  We were determined to not let this year go by in the same fashion so about four months ago we began looking at our options.  Everything up to this point included a giant mouse in Florida so with our already grown family, and the fact that we wanted to keep it a bit more *affordable, New York was what we landed on.

*Regarding affordable, outside of a screamin' deal on airfare (which we upgraded anyway to better seats) there was not much that was "affordable" about this trip.  But hey, when you're in a city with non-stop entertainment and rents for apartments going two to three times more than my mortgage, You can live with it.

Like any trip into uncharted lands there was some apprehension.  Oh we've contemplated the complexity of their mass transit system, the looming threat of a crime waiting to happen around every corner, and the fact that when you've seen one large building you've probably seen them all.  We were told that New York City in August would be unbearable.  Warm temperatures forecasted for our week would make an already irritable town even more jumpy, but I have to say that this nor any of these fallacies were true.  The people were generally hospitable, the weather not bad, and we rode the subway system like pros after only a couple of trips.  And with the amount of uniformed police officers around at all hours we never once felt unsafe.











After all of the typical stops were made- Times Square, the Empire State Building, and Ellis Island, I had one of the best times just strolling through Central Park and the surrounding neighborhood.  We had to swing by the Dakota to see John Lennon's digs and I have to say that the architecture on that building and many others around it were absolutely stunning.  This day trip did rival our time at Yankee Stadium watching the Bronx Bombers humiliate Seattle.  My son and I took the train straight uptown on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and got the best seats I feel I will ever find in a stadium.  And by accident I might add!  It's a bit of a long story to go into but let me just say that if you find yourself at the ticket booth empty handed at game time, ask for the Cafe Bleacher seats.  These seats are normally a minimum of $150 a seat but at game time they shrink to just $50 and have all the amenities of much more expensive tickets.

So there you have it.  In my mind there's no need to worry about navigating this town, everything is laid out quite easily I had thought.  At least Manhattan is.  The boroughs weren't bad either but nothing beats a strip of land 7 miles long and three miles wide.  And with destinations at 42nd and Third, how can you go wrong?