Day 25

Today, we got Andrew back! He had been gone for much too long. While he was in the air making his way to the rest of us, we enjoyed brunch at the Morning Glory Cafe with Tim’s grandparents and drove out to Laguardia to pick up Andrew. 

  From there we figured out our plans for our day in New York City. We parked the car for the day near Citi Field and took the subway to the Freedom Tower. We spent some time at the 9/11 Memorial and got to go up to the observation deck of the Freedom Tower. 

The security set up to get in was very similar to being in an airport. We had all of our stuff for the game with us, and for Tim, that meant he had 20 shot glasses in his bag. The security guard commented on that as the backpack went through the scanner, and when we explained the trip to him, he was very excited for us. 

  The tower is 104 stories (1,776 feet) tall. The elevator ride to get from the lower level to the observation deck took less than a minute, and wasn’t your typical elevator ride. The walls of the elevator were video screens that showed the innovation made to the area from the 15 hundreds to today. We saw the city develop before our eyes, up to the construction of the tower and then we were at the top. After a great opening presentation, we got to experience the incredible view. It was a little overcast but we were still able to see so much. After staring out the windows, taking plenty of pictures, and seeing a cool video presentation, we went back down to join the rest of the people on land. It was a much different elevator ride going down. The video screens made it so you could see the outside of the building as you were going down. It also made it feel as it you weren’t going straight down, which was a little strange. The most upsetting part of our time at the tower regarded one of our pictures. We have joked over the trip that eventually someone we ask to take our picture will say no. Well, figures it would happen in NYC of all places. Oh well, we eventually got it!

  After the tour, we went to John’s Pizza, a favorite of Andrew’s family and ate a lot of delicious New York style. For dessert we walked around the corner for some gelato. 

We took another subway back across the city to catch the game. The Mets were playing the Blue Jays and we got to watch our second extra inning game of the trip. We were also able to get on the jumbotron, which doesn’t happen as regularly as you would think. Andrew’s dad and Uncle Dave, joined us for the game. The Blue Jays tied it up 2-2 in the 9th inning, and the game went to 11 full innings. Bautista of the Blue Jays hit two home runs over the course of the game, hitting one in the 1st and one in the 9th. 

  Blue Jays pitcher, Mark Buehrle, threw four perfect innings during the game, but then the Mets got a base hit. The fourth inning was an active one. The home plate umpire was hit by a ball, and couldn’t continue umping the game. So for the first time any of us had seen, there were only 3 umpires for this MLB game: one at home, 1st, and 3rd. Because we were down an umpire, there is a chance that the Mets shouldn’t have won. But, who are we to question their decisions. 

The Mets ended up winning the game in 11 innings 4-3, ending the Blue Jays 11 game winning streak. 

  We made it back to the car, spent what felt like forever waiting for the valet to help us check out and drove the Chatham, NJ to spend the night at Andrew’s house. We were welcomed in with late night snacks and comfy beds. 

We are into the last third of our games, which is hard to believe. 21 games and 25 days down, 9 games and 12 days to go!