Rain and Regis (Day 2-3 of NYC)

Written by Lacy in the persespective of Matt.

Day 2 was spend in NYC getting soaked in the rain. We thought that would make it a good day for museums and shows, so at 6:30 AM we were on the corner of Columbus and 63rd St, in the stand by line for tickets to see LIVE with Regis and Kelly. We waited in the rain (and cold!) for two hours. I was an excellent sport, fetching bagels and hot chocolate, then holding the umbrella for Lacy while she ate and drank. I didn't fit under the tiny umbrella which also had a few gimp legs. Then they handed out stand-by numbers. We were numbers 22 and 23. They told us to line back up in 15 minutes. We dried off in the Starbucks across the street, then got back in line. 5 minutes later, the warm, dry people from inside came out to tell us they didn't have any stand-by seats left for today. Our hearts dropped! We were also a little mad. A few minutes later, the same woman came out and said they had 10 tickets for tomorrow mornings show. Everyone freaked out and many people who were behind us in stand-by tried to cut in front, but the group of 4 girls in front of us (from Utah, by the way) flipped out and we were able to go wait inside in the correct order. They started taking down our info for tickets and after she took ours, she told us we were Tickets 9 and 10 and then said to the people behind us, "I am sorry, that is all I have, please try stand-by for tomorrow." We were grinning from ear to ear.

Feeling pretty good about ourselves, I made the phone call to the Late Show for stand-by tickets for that afternoon. After redialing about 15 times, I finally got through. Much to my DISMAY, Lacy did not know the answer to the trivia question because she does not watch the Late Show and I was a little upset with her (just a smidge). I assume she knows the answer to ALL trivia questions. We did not speak for the entire subway ride to the Museum of Modern Art.

At MOMA, peace was made, but the museum sucked. We are sorry if that is downright blasphemy to those who appreciate art, but we will tell you that the modern art we saw was either pointless or perverted. Honestly. Lacy was done after about 5 minutes, but the accountant in me wanted to get my full money's worth and made it through all the floors. This was Lacy's favorite part of the museum:

(Please don't hate on my wife for looking like a drowned rat. She had been standing in the rain all day and was wet from head to toe).

We trekked back to the Ed Sullivan Theatre to get in our stand-by line. Because Lacy could not answer the trivia question, we got stand-by tickets only. We had some good luck with Regis and Kelly (in the end), so we thought we could try our luck for this show and wait in stand-by.

We didn't get in, they only took the first 2 stand-by's, but we did get this amazing photo of me in front of the theatre where we waited in the rain.

One of the many subway stops that Lacy and I made during our stay was the Grand Central Terminal. Great shopping and cool architecture.
We hit up the stores in Times Square, ignoring the drizzling rain. Who knew that Ernst and Young had an office in Times Square? Imagine trying to do an audit with tweens on the sidewalk out your window holding up signs that say, "Marry me, Carson Daly!"
My favorite store...ESPNZone. I even bought stuff there!

Another museum attempt?? Alas, this one was more successful. We headed to the Museum of Natural History and it was freakin cool. It was like all the field trips, zoo trips, and sea world trips from your childhood all combined into one place. Mind-boggling. We found this huge squid, which you can't tell from the picture, but in actuality, was about 20 feet long.

Lacy fell asleep within about 10 seconds of the lights going out in the space show. The Manhattan Temple. Just around the corner from ABC studios.
Early in the AM on the morning of Day 3, Lacy and I made our way again to the upper west side to see Regis this time WITH TICKETS! We were in the 3rd row and had great views of Regis and Kelly.
Gelman was a bossy man. He comes off on the show as a gentle guy that smiles and goes along with the flow, but behind the camera, he was Mr. Producer and bossed the audience around!!! It was cool to see how the show isn't as add-libbed as we thought. Kelly and Regis even rehearsed before it aired. They had poster board with magic marker prompters written by crew members on the spot.
Gwyneth Paltrow was one of the guests. My favorite prompter was one really quickly scribbled by a crew member when the children were brought up. It said: Apple (girl, 4) and Moses (boy, 2). Nice ;)

Kelly looks like she weighs about as much as a green bean. She could probably hold onto a couple of helium balloons and float her way through New York instead of hailing a cab.
I was pretty stoked to do this part and I researched this area really well. We walked down Wall Street and saw all the businessmen and women in a hurry, talking on their phones and smoking. They look so stressed out all the time. No fun :(

Ground Zero was quite a sight to ponder. The area was literally HUGE where each of the two towers stood. We always knew that the buildings were tall, but never estimated how wide they would be. They pretty much took up a block each.

This is the last remaining piece of the towers: a stairwell left intact that also saved many lives that hid underneath it.


The subways are underground and you usually have to take an escalator or stairs down to them. They are so steep! We tried to capture it in photo, but it still doesn't do it justice.

The Yankees game. Little did I know that my wife had butterflies in her stomach every time she thought about heading into the Bronx, but upon stepping off the subway, her fears were put to ease. There were TONS of people. I liken it to an Oakland A's game, where the stadium resides in the 'hood, but on game days, you are pretty safe.

We stayed through the first 5 innings because it was cold and well, baseball can get a little boring sometimes. It was cool to be in that stadium before they tore it down. It was so old and small, the hallways were narrow and the ceilings were low. But there was an amazing spirit in it. Yankees fans really get into their game. They don't go halfway on this.

This is my wife looking around and wondering when someone is going to pull a gun on her.
Two very enjoyable and adventure-filled days in NYC. Our final Day, number 4, was pretty chill in comparison. We didn't have much to hurry to, we took our time and the weather was sunny and warm.

(From Lacy): I will post about that later, because American Idol is coming on and I need to watch David Archuleta rock the Murray High School crowd.