Since my last post in late July (Yikes!), as a family we've gone camping with friends, had BBQ's with friends, started school, gone on many field trips, and went camping in Monterey while Scott attended a conference. That's on top of our day-to-day business/house stuff of course. And Nolan celebrated his 4th birthday on Sept. 23-a very low-key day, as we'd had already had a train ride and museum trip a couple weeks before the big day.
I don't want to down play any of the above activities as they were special in their own right and each deserve their own post...but with time constraints and such....it isn't going to happen. Many of you know that my sister & her wonderful-generous husband (yes I'm suckin' up Ron :) ) granted me yet another "make-a-wish" sister's trip. This time to New York City. And thus, what this blog post will be focusing on.
I flew in to Chicago late Friday evening and my very pregnant sister was there to pick me up and take me back to her condo. I had enough time for a quick bite to eat, a short visit with her in-law's & husband...and then it was off to bed for our early morning flight to New York City!
Ron took us to the airport on his way to work and we had an uneventful flight in to La Guardia. We arrived in NYC around 11am? and took a cab ride to our hotel. The cab ride however was eventful-no thank goodness no accidents-just very fast and swervy as if I were on a roller coaster. (I think my nausea subsided about an hour after we arrived at the hotel) We were able to check in to our hotel by noon and after a brief rest (and recuperation on my part), we were off in search of food. We ate at a yummy deli just beneath our hotel and then we were off to explore NYC. Our hotel was a block away from Times Square.
We walked to Rockefeller Plaza and went to an observation deck "On Top of the Rock", a location with an amazing view of New York City. We spent quite a bit of time there as I tried to get numerous photos from each of the 3 observation deck levels. After the viewing on Rockefeller Center, we strode down the streets of NYC to check out the New York City Public Library where scenes from the first Ghost Buster's movie took place. We got photos of the outside of the building, but we reached the library at 5pm just as it closed! (We forgot to go back to check out the inside of this building). We then made our way to Grand Central Station to take a "midnight train to Georgia". Just kidding...mainly for me to take photos :) Unfortunately the photos taken inside didn't turn out, but it was just as well-as I am sure they would not have done it justice to this Grand building. Of course between stops we'd jaunt into to a cafe or ? to grab a coffee, or bite to eat, or use the bathroom, or all 3 :)
We caught our "tour" bus back to Times Square and decided against a Broadway show that night. We went back to our room-rested and then went to find a bite to eat. On our way back to the hotel-Times Square was lit up and bustling with people. It was incredible. We went back to our room and stayed in for our first evening-snacking and watching a movie.
The next morning we we're off and running to find Annie's Bakery that Lisa had read about. We found it by the line of people outside. The line moved quickly and we even found a table inside for the two of us once we made our decisions & purchases for breakfast. Let's just say-it was delectable! After breakfast we walked to find our tour bus stop just outside of Central Park. After waiting about 1/2 hour or so, we both felt able to hoof it & Central Park was on our destination list to tour. So we walked through Central Park on our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once we reached the museum we toured a few exhibits before we hit a cafe for lunch. With all that walking-we were famished. We then finished touring as much as we could handle of the art museum. We spent 4 hours there and didn't even see 1/2 the museum. I think you need a good solid 1 1/2 days to tour this museum. We then found our tour bus and headed back to Times Square.
Lisa and I being the savvy Broadway Babes we are (NOT), decided we'd get in line for a show we'd both read about and wanted to see-The Book of Mormon. When we arrived at the theater 4 hours before show time-we discovered that night's show was sold out-but there was a cancellation line to buy tickets for people who cancelled for that night's show. There was also a line next to us for Advance Purchase. We felt pretty confident we'd get tickets-as the cancellation line was moving & we were only 8 people back when we arrived & 3 people ahead of us had left with tickets. Then our line stopped moving. And we waited. And waited. Then we heard a person in the Advance purchase line saying that the show was Sold out 7 months in advance! What? Hmmm...maybe we wouldn't be so lucky. It was 5pm now, Broadway shows started between 7 & 8 and we hadn't been back to our hotel to change or even have dinner! We left the line-bee-lined it to the 1/2 price ticket booth in Times Square and got in that line which moved very quickly. We were able to purchase tickets for an 8pm show that night. We hurried to our hotel, had a brief rest, changed, and went in search of dinner. We made it to the theater with 5 mintues to spare and saw a show called "Rock of Ages". I highly recommend it. It was late 80's music-hilarious and fun! After the show we stopped at "Roxy's" for dessert & coffee and then back to our hotel.
Day 3 in New York-we had breakfast at the deli beneath our hotel (New York style bagel for me) and then caught our tour bus to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The tour on top of the open-air bus was quite informative and well worth the ride. We arrived at the terminal and took the Ferry to Staten Island and back-where I got some amazing photos of the Statue of Liberty. I also could not believe that you could ride the ferry for FREE! We then walked to the 9/11 memorial and toured a local church that had been an integral part in helping people on 9/11 and after. We then took the subway to Greenwich Village and browsed through the streets, a shop or two and had lunch. We then took the subway back to Times Square, got in line to buy that evening's Broadway show tickets and went to the hotel to rest and clean up. We had dinner down the road from our show and then went to see "Mama Mia!". It was fantastic. Not as phenomenal as "Rock of Ages", but pretty good. We found dessert after the show and then headed back to our hotel for our last night in NYC.
The next morning we went back to Annie's Bakery & we were one of the first people there for breakfast. We found a table in the back and enjoyed our last meal in New York. We then went back to our hotel and gathered our belongings. We took un uneventful & much more pleasant cab ride to La Guardia for our flight back to Chicago. We arrived in Chicago and took the train closer to Lisa's home. We had lunch and then grabbed a cab to her condo.
I had 1 1/2 days to spend in Chicago with my nieces and do some thrift-store shopping and then it was home to my birthday boy and his party. Then packing for the trip to Monterey. Whew!
So that's been the last two months in a nutshell. I'm hoping it will slow down by Christmas, but I have a feeling it won't. There is a baby boom starting with 7-yes 7 of my family/friends all having babies from Dec-March. :)
Hope all is well with you and your families!
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