My 9-year-old son Michael and I embarked on our yearly summer adventure last week. Our trek began at the Jacksonville Amtrak Station, as we both took our first choo-choo train ride. I have been on a couple of European bullet trains before, but never on a long haul passenger train. These super-fast trains can transport you great distances very quickly and for much less money than the hassle and expense of flying in a plane. Something they have talked about doing in Florida and other parts of the United States, but as far as I know there aren’t any in the process of being built. These trains are very fast, cruising at about 190 miles an hour, amazingly quiet and offer an incredibly smooth, comfortable ride.

The first leg of our trip was to visit some friends in Washington, D.C. We boarded the train at 5:30 on Monday afternoon and arrived at Union Station on Tuesday morning around 7:00. It was great fun for us, both with big reclining seats, lots of legroom, a dining car and a plug for our iPad and phone. It took us about the same amount of time as it would to drive, but I didn’t have to do the work. We got look around, enjoying the countryside, play on the iPad, have dinner and shut down for the night, all while moving along at 80 or so miles an hour…it was great!

After a good night’s sleep, we pulled into Union Station and spent the next three days visiting places in D.C. we didn’t have a chance to see on our previous trip. A couple of those included a private tour of the Pentagon along with a visit to the Pentagon 911 Memorial. We also visited the Capitol, Library of Congress and an extended visit to the Arlington National Cemetery, where Michael got a chance to visit the gravesite of his favorite president, John  F. Kennedy.

So, back on the train for the main reason for this trip, and that was to find the best pizza in New York City (and to make a trip to the Bronx to see the Rays play those “Damn Yankees” of course!). We pulled into Penn Station after a quick 3 ½ hour ride, and three minutes later we were gobbling down our first slice. That would be the first of our five visits to various pizza establishments ending with a dinner pizza at Lombardi’s in Little Italy.

The next day, after Michael and I made our pilgrimage the Dakota and Central Park to visit the memorial to John Lennon, we had lunch at Angelo’s. This is a restaurant, on 57^th & Avenue of the Americas, that a friend of mine recommended as his favorite pizza in Manhattan, and boy was he spot on. It was both our choice as the best pizza we had on our NYC adventure. Crisp, chewy thin crust with mushrooms, onions and fresh basil. They make their own mozzarella cheese each day to use for the next day's pizza. It is creamy, fresh  and wonderfully delicious. If you go to New York City without eating at Angelos…oops!

To top off the summer's adventure to New York, we caught the subway to the Bronx to watch our Tampa Bay Rays play the Yankees. So me, Mike, a handful of Rays fans and 44,000 of the Yankee faithful sat down in beautiful Yankee Stadium on a perfect July evening for baseball and saw the Rays send all 44,000 Yankee fans home thoroughly disappointed as the Rays beat the Yanks 10-6. The game ended with the Yankees having the bases loaded, with only one out in the ninth inning only to see the Rays get the last two outs. The stadium went from hysteric mayhem to church quiet…except for my Son screaming and cheering wildly, a second after the third and final out was recorded. A great day and a winning night!!

Next year's adventure?? It will be hard to beat this year's, but I’m sure Mike and I will think of something…

Ken Amendola, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Wine Supervisor

Follow him on Twitter @abcwinekena