We're here on vacation visiting some of Viking's huge extended family. One of his first cousins was Donald Regan, a FDNY firefighter who lost his life at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Donald was a part of Rescue 3, the city's building collapse specialist team, so their unit took a huge loss of life on that day. Most of them died as they ascended the stairs of the towers. This was our first trip to the city since then where all our time wasn't tied up with work, so of course, part of this trip had to be in tribute to and in memory of Donnie.

First, we went to the WTC site and explored a bit. They have the new tower about halfway built now next to where the fallen towers once stood.

They have little "museum" set up as a preview to the new memorial that will open on the tenth anniversary this September. It was quite moving, with many of the pictures like those we've seen before, but somehow standing so close to where it all happened made them that much more poignant. There was a graphic of a flag made up of the names of all the people who perished that day, so we found Donald's.

After this, on a whim, we decided to go find the Rescue 3 fire house in the Bronx. We knew that they had recently moved to a new station and even more recently installed a memorial wall with plaques honoring each of the men who had died in the line of duty while working for Rescue 3. We were hoping they wouldn't mind a few strangers popping in for a visit. Getting there on the train was a bit of a challenge, especially given that the subway station was about 15 blocks from the station. We ended up finding a cab to take us, since Viking's mom was with us and not up to the walk. Once we were there, they could not have been more welcoming! When we shared our connection with Rescue 3, they brought us in and told us stories while they let us take pictures.

One of the guys there served with Donald for 16 years, both at Rescue 3 and at a previous station. He's now a lieutenant at Rescue 3. Another of the guys currently there is Danny Foley, the younger brother of Tommy Foley, another of the men from Rescue 3 who died on September 11. I remembered hearing about Tom, especially the story of him being listed as one of People Magazine's 100 most eligible bachelors of 2000. Gosh, I don't know why I remembered that about him...

When they learned we were from Gainesville, Danny Foley said rather nonchalantly, "Oh, yeah? My cousin is the baseball coach down there." Yep, Danny is a first cousin of Kevin O'Sullivan, and he had the whole company following the Gators in the CWS this year.

So, after a wonderful visit, as we were saying goodbye, Viking asked if they had a recommendation for where we could find a cab back to the train station. They said, "You're not taking a cab. We'll give you a ride." Yep, they gave us a ride in the fire engine back over to the subway. They also escorted us down the stairs and let us in through the emergency door, so the ride back to the hotel was free.

It all made for one heck of a day!