New York Day 2 9-11 Memorial

 Day 2 in New York was much better than day 1! We woke up early so we could hop on the Subway and head to the 9-11 Memorial. 

John was a little paranoid about me taking pictures on the Subway. He didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. I told him he watches to many murder shows. He lightened up a little the longer we were in New York. 

The 9-11 Memorial was an incredible place. I was limited on where I could take pictures for the privacy of the victims families. What we saw was so well put together. It was an amazing tribute to the victims of that terrible day. 

Top Left: Dedication Pedestal for the original towers

Top Right: Pictures before and on 9-11

Middle: Piece of one of the towers 

Lower left: No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time Wall

Lower Right: Original tower wall (The whole museum was built around the ruins of the North Tower.)

While we were at the museum the were hundreds of police officers. John said we were in the safest place in New York. It was neat to see so many officers in uniform. 

      

One part of the museum that I found absolutely incredible was the Survivor Staircase. The staircase was used by hundreds of people to escape the towers and it held up when both towers fell. The stairs were moved from their original spot on Vesey Street in 2008 and became a part of the museum in 2010. Those stairs saved a lot of people. 

The motorcycle was created to honor all the first responders that participated in the events of 9-11. The mural was painted on fire station door. 

South Tower grillage. A steel support grid that is used to secure heavy columns. This grillage was installed in 1968. 

More pieces from the original structures. 

North Tower Communication Antenna

 

Left: Ladder Company 3 Fire Truck from the New York City Fire Department

Right: Ceremony one year after 9-11 after all the debris had been cleared and before construction started on the museum and the Freedom Tower. 

This is the only pane of glass that survived the fall of the two towers. 

We spent some time walking around the water feature that was built. All the names of the people lost on 9-11 are listed. 

Freedom Tower

It was so nice spending this time with John. 

Barbara G. Edwards was a teacher at Palo Verde. I was student aide to her my junior year. She was a passenger on flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania. At Palo Verde High School, they have a memorial for her. around the anniversary of 9-11 history classes visit the memorial and discuss what happened that day. It was unreal to be connected to a victim of the attacks. I am grateful I was able to find her name and view her profile in the museum. 

The Arms of Friendship Building. We didn't go inside. I really liked the look of the building. 

New York day 1

We had the incredible opportunity to go to New York to see Jack's school band perform at Carnegie Hall. We left Vegas on March 5th early in the morning. We had to have Jack to the airport at 4:30 a.m.

We look very happy for 4:30 in the morning. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. I was so worried about missing the alarm at 3:00, I couldn't sleep.  

Jack was so excited to go be in a new city and state with his buddies. I love this group of friends! They are so amazing!

John and I decided to fly 1st class on this trip! It made the trip much more comfortable. I unfortunately experienced some head and sinus pain during the flight. I had been dealing with a cold for the previous week. When we got to cruising altitude, the left side of my face felt numb and my teeth hurt like I had just been to the dentist. It was really weird! And painful! 

We may have left early but with the time change, we didn't arrive until late afternoon. I wasn't feeling great because of my head and my skin started reacting to the cold as we waited for the driver to come pick us up. We were going to head to the hotel and figure out where to go for dinner. 

Mariska called John as soon as we landed. She had a problem with her printer and ended up getting hacked. John spent the rest of the evening helping her so we ordered room service for dinner. We were both so tired from lack of sleep and the time difference, we found it very easy to go to sleep at 9:00 p.m. It was a very interesting start to our little vacation. 

 

Alphabet Date Letter D

Yesterday we had our D Alphabet date. Just like our B date we had company on this date. One of our favorite couples Steve and Amy Dunafin! We spent the afternoon at Fox Hill Park playing Disc Golf. The weather was Delightful! End of February and 80 degrees. 🌞 Steve Dazzled us with his throwing skills! He is really good! It has been a long time since I have thrown a Disc. I am not very good. Dreadful is probably a more accurate way of describing my game. 😂

After we finished playing at the park, we met up at Donna Maria's. The Dunafins introduced us to this restaurant and it became one of our favorite Mexican places! We had a wonderful time with Delicious food, Dynamic conversation and true friendship. Love that we were able to spend time with Amy and Steve! 

 

President's Day Weekend 2026

 We decided to head up to Utah for the long weekend. Mariska met us in Salt Lake City and we spent the whole weekend as a family. Boy do I miss her!

We had an incredibly nice hotel room. Mariska asked if we could have a laid back weekend. It was really nice just spending time together.

We met up with the Jennings and Johnathan Wareham at Huhot Mongolian Grill. It is one of our favorite places to eat when visiting in Utah. I love seeing my sister and her family. 

We didn't tell anyone else that we were going to be in Utah. We were there for such a short time, I wanted to spend as much time with Mariska as we could and not split our time between lots of people. John found a vinyl record store near where we were staying. I will be honest, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had looking through all the records. I did not think that I would have a good time doing that. I really can't wait to go to the record stores here in Vegas! 

Aurie and Austin have a huge chair that they call "The Throne." We had a lot of fun getting all three Johnathans to fit into it. 🤣

           

We spent the evenings at Aurie's house playing games and enjoying each others company. 

Before heading home, we met everyone at Top Golf. It has been years since I have hit a golf ball! I sure enjoyed it today! I think everyone enjoyed the time. It was nice enough weather. It was a little chilly, but they had heaters at each of the stations so we stayed warm. 

I hate saying goodbye to Mariska. It always makes me so sad. I can't wait to see her again. Not sure when that will be and that makes it a little harder. I am just glad that we had the time with her this weekend.