New York 1998

In November of 1998 a group of over 50 youth and adults made the journey long journey from Kissimmee, Florida to New York City.  I didn't know it at the time, but it would be the final NYC trip I ever took with my great FUMC-K group.  It was also the largest group from a single church I ever took to the Big Apple- partly because of the large number of adults who went, including at least 6 who had no students of their own on the trip.  Not sure how that happened...  I captured some of the highlights (and a whole lot of walking and standing around) on my ancient Magnavox VHS video camera.  Earlier this week I watched that tape again, and blogged along as I watched- what I call Live Retro Blogging!  Here's what I saw:

• The video opens with the group standing around the baggage carousel in the airport waiting for our luggage to arrive.  Jerry Hanbery was hogging camera time and uttering his signature line for the week- "Get some monkey, work that dum-dum."  I still have no idea what that meant.  Other adults like Cindy Martin, Janet Cook, Andrew Lewis, Joyce Bay and Sharon Lynes were attempting to hide from the camera and not be indentified as being part of our group.  And Ben Thompson was rushing the camera for close-ups at every opportunity.
• Jerry had the camera as we loaded our luggage and boarded our bus.  He interviewed a number of participants, including Kim Miller, Diana Esry and Cindy Franklin.  Cindy stated a fact that was true for so many Floridians who made the trip with me: "It's really cold and it feels really, really good!"  Jerry filmed through the bus windows as we rolled through Manhattan.  Pass the Dramamine, please...
• A quick tour of my room in the Milford Plaza Hotel (The Lullaby of Broadway) showed my roommates- Andrew Rogers, Adam Hill and Jerry- and just how small those rooms were.  But staying 4 to a room in those tiny spaces kept our costs way down.
• Seeing Nate Hill, Teresa Reep (complete with her bright yellow Banana Jacket) and Jacob Lupfer dancing in the lobby of the Milford Plaza reminds me that the hotel seemed really fancy when you first walk in.  Matt Lupfer and Ben Thompson were making short jokes about Cyndi Reep, and Jill Souther was on crutches as her mom Vanessa helped her out.  Our group was never shy about being the center of attention in public places...
• I walked with the camera as we went to the Empire State Building.  Jill Souther was now in a wheelchair as Sandi Lynch pushed her.  We had such large numbers that we walked though mid-town like we owned it, singing and dancing along the way.  We saw Macy's all decorated for Christmas, and Jay Lynes buying a hot dog from a street vendor.  There were brief interviews with Colleen Martin and Amber Herrick at the top of the ESB, and then suddenly we were back on the ground again.
• We walked through Times Square and all the way back over to Rockefeller Center.  The camera work along the way was awful, with lots of weird moving shots of feet and blurry bodies.  I did capture Wayne Cook (introduced on camera as Juan Valdez) striking a pose, Teresa Reep and Nate Hill hogging the camera on numerous occasions, and Jerry continuing to mutter "Get some monkey..."
• At Rockefeller Plaza some of the group went ice skating, where we could see that Erin Bay was now wearing the Banana Jacket, and that Sarah Marland and Nate Hill were on the ice as well.  Others were hanging out watching and creating their own excitement, including Ben T. throwing Colleen over his shoulder and twirling her.  Everyone joked about how enormous (she weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet) Colleen's butt looked on camera.  Wayne, Debbie Rogers, Marilyn Jones and Catie Cook went on a horse & buggy ride.  Why Wayne's wife and Marilyn's hubby were left out is still a question in my mind...
• The next footage came from our tour of the United Nations.  I filmed much of the tour itself, capturing interesting comments from Sarah Crudele, Kay Hill, Jay, Amber, Lori Shannonhouse and Ashley Arrington.  Also captured a lot of yawning...
• The final segment was filmed inside the great Italian restaurant, Carmine's.  The sheer amount of food (I had ordered for everyone, and it was served family style) was incredible, and the quality was even more impressive!  As I filmed our various tables, I spotted Christine Cooper (and her parents Dennis & Ann), Abby Marland and Andrea Marland playing with the calamari.  Food was piled high on many plates, and Wayne and I discussed on camera how thankful we were that gluttony doesn't really count as a sin, even though it is one of the 7 Deadly Sins.  Welcome to Bad Theology!  And then, as the dessert platters (with the best chocolate cake in history) were served, they all sang Happy Birthday to me.  Again.  If you counted all the times the FUMC-K group celebrated my birthday I would now be 106.   Meanwhile Teresa R. and Sara Autrey were taunting me with dessert, trying to look sexy while eating and then doing the old "see food" trick.  When the dessert platter reached my end of the table, I signed off.

And that was it.  So many other things happened on that trip, but that was all I got on video.  I hate I missed Kay Hill and Debbie Rogers (see pic) and their great hair-styles for The Scarlet Pimpernel.  But mostly I am sorry that I didn't get a chance to sit down with every single person who was a part of that trip and record their thoughts and memories, because it was a trip for the ages.  And someday I would love to able to sit with some of you who enjoyed that trip (or any other) and share in the memories.  There were many things we did as a youth ministry that brought us closer to Jesus and closer to each other- but few things ever topped our NY trips for building bonds and making memories.  Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone, and if you watch any of the Macy's Parade, I hope you will REMEMBER our time together in NYC...

Because of Jesus,