Royalty is going North of the Border over the first weekend in 2019!

Here's the game plan:

I'm renting a car from Budget Rent A Car on Friday morning 1/4 to start the first 2019 weekend off right.

The King & I will be driving to Glens Falls, NY then up into Canada in particular, Laval & Montreal, Quebec as well as Ottawa, Ontario to see some hockey games before returning to NYC late Sunday night.      
             
Friday January 4th Manchester Monarchs at Adirondack Thunder 7PM

Saturday January 5th Rochester Americans at Laval Rocket 3PM

                                     Predators at Canadiens 7PM                                   

Sunday January 6th Hurricanes at Senators 1PM                        
          
If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty is going North of the Border over MLK Day weekend!

Here's the game plan:

I'm renting a car on Friday January 16th from Avis for the Martin Luther King Day weekend.

The King  & I will be driving up to Utica, NY before we head North of the Border for the rest of the weekend. We plan to return home late Sunday night/early Monday morning.

Friday January 16th Milwaukee Admirals at Utica Comets 7PM

Saturday January 17th Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators 7PM

Sunday January 18th New Orleans Pelicans at Toronto Raptors 3:30PM

If you're interested in going on this exclusive getaway royalty style just let me know so I can arrange to have you join us.

It's going to be a blast so why not come for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty goes North of the Border over Martin Luther King weekend!‏

Friday night after work the King & I passed up the opportunity to go to the Transformed Garden to see the Knicks play the Los Angeles Clippers. By doing so, we were able to head towards Canada for the weekend.

After work I took public transportation out to Long Island. I went to Avis where I rented a Toyota Camry for the long weekend. I got there just before 7PM. I drove back home to Astoria where I met up with the King. I picked up my bags that were packed  & we were ready to go.  I made a reservation for us at Super 8 in East Syracuse which was midway to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We arrived there around 1AM. We got a good night sleep then we continued the journey in the morning. We had to weather some snow that fell over night. Thankfully it was only a few inches so it didn't slow us down too much. We finally pulled into the parking lot at the newly renamed Candian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators at 1:36PM. We had just enough time to make the opening face off that occurred shortly after 2PM as the Senators welcomed the New York Rangers to Canada.

As for the game we saw, the Senators scored first early in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Rangers tied the game at one midway through the period. The Rangers went ahead for good in the second period as they found the net twice. The second one came with just 12 seconds to go which devastated the Senators. The Rangers added another goal late in the third period as they cruised to a 4-1 victory. 

After the game, I drove us 130 miles to Belleville, Ontario where we went to see a hockey game on the junior level. We saw the Belleville Bulls take on the Ottawa 67's in an OHL game at Yardmen Arena. Due to time constraints, we wound up getting there midway through the first period. I did the best I could to get us there as soon as possible but we were forced to drive on a rural road which made it difficult. Once we got settled in, we enjoyed the rest of the game. The 67's went on to defeat the Bulls, 2-1.

After the game, I drove another 100 miles to Whitby, Ontario which is 35 miles from Toronto. I booked a room at Motel 6 there. Upon arrival, we wound up going to have dinner before we checked in at a restaurant called Kelsey's which is similar to Applebee's here in the States. It was conveniently located within walking distance. Since we were hungry, it worked out perfectly for us. The food was excellent. After we finished eating, we checked in at Motel 6 & we got a good night sleep. 

Before we continued on to Toronto where we went to see the Raptors play the Lakers at the Air Canada Centre that afternoon, we went to the Sunset Grill for breakfast. It was right next to Kelsey's where we had dinner. Quite amazingly, I had no idea these restaurants were even there. It was pure luck. 

We got to Toronto at 12:15PM which gave us time to make the opening tip. We wound up parking at a meter because the place we used to park at jacked up their price. Let it be known even on Sunday they charge to park on the street there. 

As for the game we saw, the Lakers outlasted the Raptors, 112-106. After the game, we drove back through Buffalo which made it possible to meet up with our pals, Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell for dinner before we returned home. We wound up eating at Duff's Wings, a local favorite of theirs. I wound up having a roast beef on weck sandwich which was really good along with their famous wings which were outstanding. As always, it was great to see these guys again. I want to personally thank them for making time to join us.

Stay tuned for some more special posts that will finish recapping our adventurous month of January.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 1/9 in review

View from the West Balcony

I basically spent my week at Madison Square Garden after work Monday-Thursday.

I took turns watching the Knicks on Monday and Wednesday nights and the Rangers on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Here's how the games I saw went:

Monday night the Knicks hosted the Charlotte Bobcats. The Knicks played them the week before and they lost to them. I didn't go to that one. This time it was payback as the Knicks returned the favor as they beat the Bobcats, 91-87.

I did get to see Kemba Walker play as a pro for the first time. He played college ball at UCONN and he's from the Bronx. He came off the bench and he scored 10 points.

Tuesday night I saw the Rangers play the Phoenix Coyotes. I sat in the newly added West Balcony which is located upstairs behind the goal. It's a great aerial view of the action.

As for the game, it was scoreless after two periods. In the third period, both teams scored a goal which forced overtime. Neither team was able to score in the extra session so the game had to be decided in a shootout. This one took six rounds until the Rangers finally emerged victorious as Derek Stepan lit the lamp to give the Rangers the 2-1 victory in the skills competition.

Wednesday night I saw the Knicks take on the red hot Philadelphia 76ers who had won six in a row. The Knicks came to play as they held off the tired Sixers who played the two nights in a row prior to coming to the Garden. The Knicks won the game, 85-79.

Thursday night I saw the Rangers entertain the Ottawa Senators. Once again I sat up in the West Balcony. This time I wound up meeting a guy named Evans Longacre who was at the game with his co-workers. We spoke to each other during the game which enhanced my game experience on this night. I hope to see Evans down the road again.

As for the game, the Rangers had an off night as they failed to score a goal as they fell to the Senators, 3-0. Jason Spezza of the Senators scored two goals to lead the way. I'm a big fan of his since I remember seeing him play back in 1999 in Junior hockey. He has had himself a nice career with the Senators.

Friday night after work I came home and rested since there were no games of interest in the local area for me to attend.

More importantly, I had to do my wash and get ready for my busy weekend getaway for some playoff football and then some.

Stay tuned for the special post I'm going to do that will recap all the festivities of this classic weekend. It was very royal to say the least.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 3/7 in review

After work Monday I went to Madison Square Garden to see the new look Knicks take on the new look Utah Jazz.

The last time I saw the Jazz play in January in Newark they had Deron Williams aka "D-Will". Since then he was traded to the Nets right before the trading deadline for Devin Harris and rookie Derrick Favors. In addition, they picked up Al Jefferson from the Timberwolves.

The Jazz lost to the Nets and on this night they got blown away by the Knicks, 131-109!

The Garden was once again packed with the arrival of Carmelo Anthony. Needless to say, the atmosphere is different these days.

Tuesday after work I went out to Newark to see the red hot NJ Devils play the lowly Ottawa Senators.

The King and I met up with our friend Frank and my cousin Andy who always loves our company.

We all had a great time together at the game.

As for the game we saw, it turned out to be a good one. The King and I thought for sure the Devils weren't going to lose and they did.

The Senators played well and they edged the Devils, 2-1 as Erik Condra scored the game winning goal with 2:13 left in regulation to give the Sens the victory.

Wednesday night I went back to Newark to see the Nets play the Golden State Warriors.

Newly acquired Deron Williams aka "D-Will" was missing due to his wife giving birth to their fourth child.

The Nets managed to win the game without him, 94-90! This was a closely contested game throughout but late in the game the Nets were able to pull through and they emerged victorious.

Despite the absence of "D-Will", his teammates stepped up to their third straight game in a row which included two wins overseas in London.

Since the trade, the Nets have improved. As a result, the crowd was bigger too.

Thursday after work I got a much needed night off to rest and recharge the batteries.

Friday night after work I went back to Newark to see the Nets host Blake Griffin and the LA Clippers.

My cousin Andy joined the King and I again. He had a blast. He couldn't thank us enough for getting him a ticket for this game.

As for the game, it turned out to be an exciting one. The Nets who trailed by 20 points in the third quarter came back and forced overtime as Blake Griffin missed one of two free throws at the end of regulation time.

In the extra session, the Nets behind Jordan Farmar who filled in for Deron Williams who missed a second game scored all 24 of his points in the second half and four in overtime to help secure the victory for the Nets.

The victory sent the near capacity crowd home happy.

Saturday night I went back to Newark to see the Devils play the Islanders again.

Sunday at the Nassau Coliseum the Devils outlasted the Islanders in a shootout.

This time the Devils needed overtime to secure the extra point as their defenseman Annsi Salmela scored his first goal of the season with 1:51 left in the extra period to give the Devils another dramatic win much too the delight of the sellout crowd except for the Islander fans who were on hand.

It should be noted that Devils forward Jacob Josefson scored his first NHL goal that opened the scoring in the first period.

Sunday I went to Madison Square Garden to see the Indiana Pacers play the Knicks.

The crowd was disappointed as the Pacers outshot the Knicks and they beat them, 106-93!

Tyler Hansbrough scored a career high 29 points to lead the way.

I saw him back in December 2007 when he starred at the University of North Carolina. I knew he was going to be a star in the NBA someday.

Hopefully this performance is just one of many memorable games he has in his NBA career.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 1/31 in review

Monday night after work I went to Newark, NJ to see the Nets play the Denver Nuggets.

For some reason, when I see the Nuggets play in person they usually don't play well. This was yet another example. They fell to the Nets, 115-99.

The lone bright spot for the Nuggets was Carmelo Anthony who was showcasing his talent.

Melo as he's known was rumored to be possibly coming to New Jersey in a trade until a few weeks ago when the Nets decided to stop pursuing him.

He scorched them for 37 points and he pulled down 9 rebounds in his cameo appearance.

Needless to say, he heard the boos from the announced crowd of 14,039 which didn't seem nearly that big. Despite the Nets trying their best to discount their more expensive tickets in hope of attracting more people.

The NBA in particular has a propensity to fudge their attendance figures.

As for Melo, the latest rumors have him coming to the Knicks instead. If that happens, I'll see him play regularly at the Garden where the atmosphere is second to none when the team plays well.

Tuesday night after work I went back to the Prudential Center to see the Devils host the Ottawa Senators.

It was a nice peaceful evening at the "Rock" as the Devils came away with a 2-1 win.

Wednesday night I was at the Garden as the Knicks played host to the visiting Dallas Mavericks.

The Knicks hung around for the first half. In the second half, the Mavericks went on to pull away and they cruised to a 113-97 victory.

The result was much to the delight of my former co-worker, Justin Huff, who I arranged to get tickets for. I know Justin was a big Jason Kidd fan so I made sure I accommodated his need to see him play live. He was grateful for the opportunity to do so.

That's just another example of how Royalty satisfies others needs and wants.

After having a night off on Thursday, I wound up back in Newark on Friday night as the Devils entertained the Florida Panthers.

Unlike Tuesday's game against the Senators, this game featured more scoring and some unusual breaks.

The Devils got an early goal as the puck took an odd bounce off the side board and they took advantage as Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun was out of position. They  lead 3-2 in the third period when the Panthers got the equalizer with just over 7 minutes left in regulation as Mike Santorelli lit the lamp with a shorthanded goal. The score remained tied at the end of regulation time.

Rostislav Olesz of the Panthers got the game winning goal exactly two minutes into overtime to give the Panthers the extra point as they left Newark with a 4-3 come from behind win.

Saturday I wound up getting an unexpected night off due to the fact I needed to dig my car out of the snow and ice. By the time I finally got it out I was exhausted and sore. I decided to use my brain for a change and I passed up on the Islanders/Senators game at the Nassau Coliseum.

Sunday the King and I had given our Knick tickets to our friend Frankie Centola from Philadelphia who wanted to see his 76ers play at the Garden.

We were going to go to Newark to see the Nets and Pacers instead.

At the last minute, Frankie called us and he said he couldn't make it so he mailed the tickets back to us and we wound up going there.

After the Knicks lost a heartbreaker in Philadelphia on Friday night, they came home and returned the favor in front of a sellout crowd as they went on to beat the 76ers convincingly, 117-103!

Amar'e Stoudemire tied his season high as he poured in 41 points while rookie of the year candidate Landry Fields added a career high 25 points to go along with 10 boards.

As a result, it turned out to be another exciting afternoon at the mecca of basketball.

After the game, the King and I went to our good friend Frank Anichiarico's place to watch the Super Bowl. Frank's lovely wife, Tina did the cooking and provided the hospitality as we watched the Green Bay Packers do what our Jets couldn't do. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Big D, 31-25!

With that being said, another eventful week was in the books.

Just so you know I expanded my followings on Twitter so please feel free to follow @royaltytoursusa. 

As always, thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty says goodbye to 2010 in Columbus, Ohio!

The King and I left Yankee Stadium after the Pinstripe Bowl and we headed towards Columbus, Ohio to say farewell to another amazing year.

We drove to Brookville, Pennsylvania to spend the night.

Before we departed for Columbus we stopped off at the local post office in town. With our trip to Calgary coming up over President's weekend we needed to get our passports renewed in order to get across the border. Thankfully we found a little time to do so. After we finished we were both relieved.

Next stop Columbus, Ohio which was 260 miles away.

We drove just under four hours and we arrived in Columbus shortly after 4PM which put us in position to secure a pair of $10 tickets that were going on sale at 5PM.

The Blue Jackets put 250 tickets on sale 2 hours before every game. This time we were able to take advantage of this tremendous promotion.

The Blue Jackets were playing the Ottawa Senators to close out the calendar year.

It should be noted the first Blue Jacket game we saw was ten years ago against the Devils on New Year's Eve as well.

This was our fifth visit to Nationwide Arena, which happens to be a great place to see a game.

If you have been there yet I strongly suggest you get there. The arena is conveniently located right in downtown off the highway.

As for the game we saw, the Blue Jackets build a 3-0 lead until late in the second period when the Senators finally got on the scoreboard to make it 3-1.
In the third period, the Senators continued to apply the pressure and they wound up tying the game at three. They forced overtime. In the overtime session, they kept bringing the pressure but they missed out on their opportunities to win the game and then the Blue Jackets got a break and they went down the other end and they lit the lamp to come away with a 4-3 victory.

What a way to end the year.

Stay tuned as I recap our change in plans to start the New Year on New Years' Day.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty is closing out 2010 and opening 2011 in "Classic" fashion!

2010 is coming to a close and Royalty is going out with a bang. In addition, we'll be starting 2011 in "Classic" style thanks to the NHL.

The game plan is as follows:

The King and I are going to see our first ever college bowl game which takes place in our backyard at the New Yankee Stadium.

Thursday, December 30th after I work a half a day I'm going to Avis to rent a car for the weekend. Once I pick up the car then I'll go to get the King after he gets a few hours sleep after working. After that, we're driving to the Bronx home the newly created Pinstripe Bowl between a team from the Big 12 Conference and one from the Big East. This year it features the Kansas State Wildcats and the Syracuse Orangemen. The kickoff is scheduled for 3:30PM. We'll be leaving town after the game to make our way towards our next stop that being Columbus, Ohio.

Friday, December 31st we'll arrive in Columbus in the mid to late afternoon which will get us plenty of time to get to the 7PM face off between the Ottawa Senators and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After the game we'll be bringing the New Year somewhere along I-70 as we make our way to Pittsburgh for New Year's Day.

Saturday, January 1st we'll be starting the New Year like we have 3 of the past 4 years at an outdoor hockey game aka the Winter Classic. This time Heinz Field is the host for this unique event that hockey has taken by storm. The game features two of the league's greatest young stars, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. The puck drops at 1PM Eastern Time so if you want to watch the game tune into NBC and you'll see it. If you do so, you can think of the King and I who will be in the house.

After the game, we'll be driving back home so we can be at the Jets game on Sunday at the New Meadowlands Stadium against the Buffalo Bills at 1PM.

Please feel free to check back for all the details of how this getaway turned out.

If you want to join us, please let me know so I can arrange to make it happen.

Happy New Year to all!

2011 is going to be another great year especially if you add some royalty to your life. Don't just read and think about it, contact me and we'll make sure you do something about it. Life's too short why not go for a "royal" ride.

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman