Delaware Rugby Fundraiser, Johnny and New York City

I have been here in Delaware since the 11th of October. I am working as a travel nurse at the VA Medical Center in Wilmington until early January.

The thing that never ceases to amaze me with this sport is that if you go to any good sized city, you can find a rugby club and affiliated community.  My work schedule prevented me from getting a chance to see the Wilmington RFC play http://www.wilmingtonrugby.com/, but I had a chance to meet some of their players and old boys at their hangout in Wilmington( http://www.deadpresidentspub.com/ )

My wife and I got word about a rugby fundraiser that the Delaware Rugby Union was putting on in Newark-home to the University of Delaware. My wife and I had a great time

While here in Delaware, we had a chance to catch up with Johan, better known as Johnnie. My son Ian's South-African born, rugby playing room-mate during Ian's first year at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Johnnie actually played for the USA at the Under 19 World Cup. He still has been keeping in great shape-a good thing, because he is in Army Basic Training before he goes to Officers Candidate's School. I am glad that he had a chance to drive down to Delaware and see us before he took off for Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Just a really nice young man. He'll make a great Army Officer.

Delaware is the second smallest US State, after Rhode Island. It's located almost exactly half-way between New York City and Washington DC.(About two hours either way) An hour from Baltimore, about 40 minutes from Philadelphia, and an hour and a half from the South Jersey Shore or the Southern Delaware shore. My daughter Rachel came out for a visit, as she had never been to the East Coast before. It was great to see her. My daughter is a huge fan of the show, "Cake Boss", set at Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. What we decided to do, was to drive to Hoboken, New Jersey-just across the river from Manhattan-then go to New York.

Carlo's Bakery did not disappoint. It was worth the drive through a rare October snowstorm on the Jersey Turnpike. They had the best Cannoli's and Lobster Tails that I had ever had. Rachel was in 7th heaven.

Hoboken, New Jersey is known as the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, but if you are looking to get a good picture of the Manhattan Skyline,  Hoboken is a great place to start your trip to NYC.(You can take the Path subway train from the World Trade Center Station to get to Hoboken) I had no desire to drive or find parking in Manhattan. Leaving the car in Hoboken at a parking garage and then taking the PATH Subway to Manhattan was a lot less stressful.

In spite of the bad weather on Saturday, we made the most of our brief time in New York City: We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square, had dinner in Chinatown and toured the area around the 9/11 site, and were two blocks away from the people protesting Wall Street greed.

Overall though, it was a good trip to New York City.