The Mets won the World Series 50 years ago – 1969 – and the Mets are celebrating that championship this weekend. That is why we planned this trip.
We decided to see how much we could do in only two days in New York City!
First stop: Freedom Tower – One World Observatory
Brooklyn Bridge
CitiField
This is the reason for the trip – the 1969 World Champion New York Mets!
It was kind of sad to see how old these guys are, and so many couldn’t attend because of health problems, and quite a few have died.
Of course, my hero Tom Seaver couldn’t make it because he no longer makes public appearances due to dementia. His family represented him at the ceremony. His four grandsons threw out the ceremonial first pitch, each to a 1969 Met player. Pretty cool.
126th Street at Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing was renamed Seaver Way, and the new CitiField address officially changed to 41 Seaver Way.
Flushing
We stayed at a hotel in downtown Flushing, which is extremely Asian! We ate at a Chinese restaurant where the workers understood very little English! The food was good, though!
Fox News Headquarters
We planned to go to Fox News headquarters Sunday morning before church, hoping that we could make it on national TV with the Fox and Friends Show.
After our national TV debut, we walked 18 blocks to church. Along the way, we saw…
Trump Tower
This was another major goal of our trip – Trump Tower, another building built by Donald Trump, and his name is prominently displayed all over this magnificent building!
Fifth Avenue
Leaving Trump Tower, we strolled down Fifth Avenue, window shopping and soaking in the famous buildings. We had over three hours to spend on our way back to our bus.
This is a hidden gem in Culpeper County on Route 3. The house was built in 1757. It is now an archeological site of 19 acres controlled by Germanna Community College Foundation. They rarely open this site to the public, but on Friday June 21, they opened it for 2 hours, and I had an opportunity to take a look.
I had never been here, but had always wanted to, so here is Hollywood Cemetery, one of three locations that contain the graves of 2 Presidents of the United States. Fun trivia: the other two are United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts (John and John Quincy Adams); Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia (William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy). Amaze your friends with this fact!
Historic St. John’s church, originally built in 1741, is the site where Patrick Henry gave his famous “Liberty or Death” speech in March 23, 1775, which helped convince those in attendance to begin preparing Virginia’s troops for war against Great Britain. The most famous lines from the speech are:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
This speech cemented Patrick Henry’s reputation as the premiere speaker in all the American colonies. He later became the first governor of Virginia after American independence. A fascinating figure worth further study.