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Showing posts with the label empire state building

Empire State Building Surprise

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S heila and I kept a few things about our plans for our time in Manhattan a surprise for Lukey and Kenzie.  One of these surprises was that, unbeknownst to Lukey and Kenzie, we had previously purchased tickets to visit not just the common observation deck but the 80th, 86th and 102nd floors of the Empire State Building which includes the topmost small, enclosed observation deck.   When we surprised these two grandchildren with this Christmas trip back on Halloween (see this blog post ), one of the many tickets we had gifted to them was for the Empire State Building.  At the time, we made it clear that, unfortunately, we would not have time to go up to the observation deck because it will be the busy Christmas season with long lines so it would take up far too much of our valuable time.  Regardless, they still seemed excited to be seeing this monumental building from the street.  I put their minds at ease explaining that, at the very least, we could see what the lobby looks like just li

A Couple of Preview Photos

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I shot quite a few photos while in Manhattan last week but a significant portion of these photos were shot atop the Empire State Building.  I decided to preview a couple of these photos and since they looked so good, I will share them here in this blog entry before I write about our visit to the famous observation deck towering above midtown Manhattan. To be honest, when I first previewed and sorted my photos from the trip, I was a bit disappointed by the photos I shot at the Empire State Building.  Even when I was shooting the photos, I was a bit uncertain about how good they would be for quite a few very good reasons.   First, it was frigid up there so I was shivering and distracted.  It is hard to stay focused and think clearly when you are being blasted by frigid air and wind.   As you would expect at this altitude (1,050 feet),  the wind was whipping so much that I had to brace myself to keep from wobbling and swaying in the wind...  I had no tripod since they are not allowed at

Trip Changes, Diversions, and Viruses

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W e spent four days in Manhattan this past week and it was a really nice trip but not without its problems.   This Christmas trip to Manhattan was really for our two oldest grandchildren, Lukey and Kenzie, but Sheila and I enjoyed it too.  Christmastime is a great time to be in Manhattan because it seems like every window and every building is decorated very well. As I mentioned above, though, this relatively short trip was not without its little problems and even some big problems.   We had made two changes to our hotel accommodations in the weeks even before leaving the house.  In the end, we settled on staying at the Hilton Midtown and that was a good choice.  One problem was trying to find a hotel with vacancies when we needed a hotel.  Amtrak availability and hotel availability had to coincide.  Another problem is that we definitely wanted to be in midtown Manhattan where all the major sites are located.  We planned this two months in advance yet we still had some scheduling issue

A Night with Family

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During our visit to Manhattan last week, we managed to squeeze in a visit with some of my family. They live only a short commuter train ride away from Manhattan and seeing some of Manhattan at Christmastime sounded good to them anyway so we all met at a restaurant in the Empire State Building on our last evening in Manhattan. Sheila's family has been growing in recent years so we've been busy with grandchildren and creating our own new family events and memories so there really has been little time for anything else. Health problems, medical appointments and hundreds of miles of distance don't help with this situation at all either. So, it has been quite a few years since we've seen any of my own family.  After Sheila put her radiation treatment behind her, there were a number of things that moved up in priority for her, as can be expected. Seeing Manhattan at Christmastime was one of those things and getting to see my family again was another. So, once Sheila