Our 2008 Stadium Adventure brought us to New York City. We visited Shea Stadium and watched the San Diego Padres play the New York Yankees in the final season at old Yankee Stadium. In the city that never sleeps, we took full advantage of our week in the Big Apple.
There is a reason that I Love NY t-shirts sell by the millions everyday in the city that never sleeps. It is impossible to spend time in New York and not fall in love with the bright lights in the big city. Our adventures started early on Saturday morning when we flew into Newark after a red-eye flight from San Diego. We took the $60 taxi ride to our hotel in Weehawken, New Jersey. Located right along the Hudson River, we had a perfect view of the New York City skyline.
After a short rest, we took the ferry and had our first walk around Times Square. It is hard to describe the intense energy and excitement around every corner. Crowds of people line the streets and there are so many things to see and do. We ate lunch at the Brooklyn Cafe and then took the subway to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets play the Rangers.
Unfortunately the game was rained out, but we did get to see the Rangers players come out and play slip-n-slide on the tarp covering the field. We also saw several cars catch on fire in the stadium parking lot.
I really liked Shea Stadium and was surprised it was going to be torn down at the end of the season because of all the history. In 1965, the Beatles started their North American tour at Shea to 55,600 people. It was also home to the New York Jets until 1984 when they moved to Giants Stadium. Across the parking lot we could see Citi Field under construction.
On Sunday we went back to the city to watch Grease on Broadway featuring American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. Then we explored Central Park and eventually made our way to Serendipity for their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate.
We decided it was too hard to leave the city and went to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to search for a new hotel. We found a deal at the Times Square Hilton and moved out of Jersey.
I was really excited to get up early on Monday morning because we had tickets for Live with Regis and Kelly. As a huge Regis fan, I was disappointed to find out that he had the day off. But we got to see Kelly, special guest host Emeril Lagasse, Brittany Snow, and American Idol winner Jordan Sparks. After the taping, we took the subway to Coney Island for lunch at the original Nathan's Hot Dogs.
We also explored Trump Tower, China Town, Rockefeller Center and took the Saturday Night Live tour at the NBC Studios. We had the best Italian dinner at Vincent's in Little Italy before getting some rest for the real reason for our trip...3 games at Yankees Stadium.
The House that Ruth Built opened in 1923 in the Bronx. Being inside the stadium was magical. It was easy to close your eyes and imagine Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, and Mickey Mantle playing on the field.
The Yankees won all three games so we got to hear Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York" after every game while we snapped as many pictures as possible. We could see the New Yankees Stadium being constructed across the street so it was only a matter of months before this iconic stadium was going to be torn down.
One of the highlight's of our trip was meeting many of the Padres players in their hotel after one of the night games. We talked to Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy signed Fernando's jersey!