We bought tickets to see Young Frankenstein at the Hilton Theater a few months back for this past week while we vacationed with friends at Spring Lake NJ. (Between Point Pleasant and Asbury Park) My wife and I had planned all along to take the train which is blocks from their house into Penn Station and walk from there. They kicked and screamed (whined mildly) that they wanted to take the ferry into NYC from across the river. It is such a great view and time...bla bla bla. They thought they knew where we were going and mapped it out on mapquest.

So, we get in their Audi A6 and get 4 blocks away when the tire pressure light goes on. We stop and our friend gets out of the car to look and finds a ridiculously large gash in the sidewall of a 3 week old tire. His wife pipes up to say while backing out of their rental property the night before, she cut the wheel too soon and clipped the little garden wall. Wisely not trusting the tire, we went back to the house where I now got suckered into driving to Hoboken. (turns out there was a nail in another tire that was tripping the alarm)

They told us it was a half hour to the ferry. After driving for an hour and a half, we pull into south Hoboken and find the ferry station. We proceed to find a parking lot close by. As we pull in, they hand the guy a $50, which they now have to get someone to open the safe for change. While we wait, I ask if I have to give them my keys to find out yes. Sorry, I do not EVER hand my keys to a stranger for a day. Besides, earlier we had placed my wife's pocketbook and about $3k of jewelry in the back of our car because they never lock their house and we did not expect to drive. After 2 other lots, we found a place several blocks further where I did not have to leave my keys.

We made our way to the ferry terminal and as we attempt to buy tickets, we find out we should be at Hoboken North in order to use the shuttle buses from the pier. Now we have to take a cab from south Hoboken to north to the other ferry station. So we get our $7.50 tickets for a nice ferry ride and get on. Three minutes later we arrive at the pier that is our destination. Whoo Hoo what a frickin good time! As we walk out of the terminal and step onto the street, our bus pulls away leaving us to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.

So we get to Rockefeller Plaza and get off. After discussion about where we were going to have lunch, we kicked and screamed for the Original Soupman, that's where we headed. Our friend didn't like hers cause she ordered cold squash soup. My wife and I were dying to try the Lobster Bisque after hearing people rave. The guy rings two soups up at $28! Welcome to New York!

We make our way to the theater for the show which was absolutely fabulous. I picked a good one for my first show and thoroughly enjoyed it. The music and dancing was very good along with the added adult humor (childish is more like it). 2.5 hours just flew by and I wished it never ended.

Next up we head to a place to eat called Dervish, a Turkish restaurant. We specifically told the waitress we did not want the Pre-Theater menu which adds for coffee and desert but somehow the bimbo did it anyway. I didn't catch it before my friend paid the bill and I was settling up with cash. The food was ok but nothing all that special.

We walked a few blocks to catch the bus back to the ferry. All our return connections were seamless so we made it back to Spring Lake NJ without delays.

I did not have anything to drink all day since I was driving but had been waiting patiently to get home to nail a few ice cold Long Trails that I had bought a case of. As we pull into the driveway, we see 20 some kids scrambling to get away from the house via windows, doors and over fences. It turned out that our friend's 16 year old boy had yet another uncontrollable party while we were away. He had done the same thing a month earlier and we all thought he learned his lesson....wrong!

We walked into the house, which by the way is on the market for $2.5 million and being shown daily, and found the whole downstairs trashed. Beer and god knows what else spilled everywhere and marker writing on the tables, food in the dishwasher.... As our friends reprimanded the idiot, we decided to escape to our room only to find that some fool had puked all over our bathroom. Walls, floor, doors and furniture. I spent 2 hours cleaning it all up. They also had poured beer in decorative vases, left chewed gum on the furniture and floor.

The fridge in the garage where between us had at least 2 cases of beer was empty. I was pissed. I had saved a half case in a spare bedroom that was unused so I went to get a few to chill only to find an empty box. Somehow 20 16 y/o kids drank over 5 cases of beer in about 3 hours. The only thing left was some crappy light beer found in a girls pocketbook left behind. No thanks.

What a day! I was pretty unamused with NYC and do not care if I ever return. I hate cities and people crawling over each other like bacteria. I did see the Naked Cowboy and off to the side, an 80 y/o ugly woman in a teddy as the Naked Cowgirl. That's enough to make one sick by itself.