I have some amazing friends!! WAY back in March when we went on our trip to Las Vegas this trip to New York got planned. It finally came and Maria, Dianne, and Korina came out to visit me. It was a quick, whirlwind weekend. We didn't sleep much, but we had such a great time. Since our move away from Las Vegas I've been very blessed to make some wonderful new friends, and have some great experiences. However, like I said in my last post, the hardest part of living so far away is....living so far away. Even though it's been 3 years, (2 1/2 - when this trip actually took place) I still miss my friends so much. It meant the world to me that these 3 fantastic chicks :) came out to visit. We had such a great time together, we're planning to make it an annual event.
I picked them up Thursday night in Hartford and we came back to my house and got to bed very late. VERY early the next morning we drove into New York, well actually to New Jersey to our hotel. We dropped our stuff off then headed to the Statue of Liberty. We went to the island and walked around and up inside Lady Liberty.
Next we headed back to New York.
Once we got to New York we tried to navigate the subway system. By the end we were AALLMMOOST professionals. We made our way to High Line. This was my first time being there. Because we got a little lost we ended up walking several blocks through Chelsea to find it. I was actually so glad. Something that has always intrigued me about New York is what regular life is like for those that live there. Kind of funny when I think that I lived in Las Vegas and I'm sure tourists go there wondering what "real life" is like for those that live there. They all probably think Vegan's live inside the casinos. haha. Just like Las Vegas, those that live in New York just have regular life like everyone else. Still it intrigues me. I think some of the neighborhoods we walked through might have been a little sketchy, not that I felt like we were in danger, but just not quite as upper class. It was interesting to see a few schools with the playgound on the roof of the school. I guess when real estate is so expensive you get creative. Walking on the High Line was very cool. I want to take Jerry there too. It is an elevated walkway/ trail that is above old train tracks. They've planted flowers along the way. It's just cool.
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| Here is a view from the high line. While I was taking this picture there was a transvestite sitting right behind me, wearing a very short skirt. A little disturbing. hahaha. |
Next we wanted to grab some dinner. We went to the Stardust Diner. It was fun. The waiters and waitresses are off broadway performers. They sing and dance around while you're eating. Super fun!
That night we went to see "Wicked" this was the highlight of our trip. It was AMAZING! I've heard the soundtrack, but never seen it. I just loved it. There were parts that I just bawled. First, I'm just an emotional person anyway, but also it was just a wonderful time being with such great friends, and it just made me grateful that even through distance and time apart we can still be close.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early again and went into Rockefeller Plaza. The Today Show had just finished recording about 20 minutes before we got there. Darn it! We had fun looking through the NBC store though, and chatting with an NBC exec that smelled of alcohol at 8 am.
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| This was our favorite little french bakery that we ate breakfast at. We loved it so much we had to stop by later that day to grab another pastry. |
Then we went to the Empire State Building. What a view.
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| This picture made me so nervous! One of the girls held her phone out between the bars of the fence and took a picture. I was so sure she was going to drop her phone. This is straight down from the top of the Empire State Building. |
Next we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. There was a lot of construction work going on, so there was lots of scaffolding up.
We also got to go up and see the temple as well. We didn't plan to go through the temple because we didn't pack our church clothes, but the temple workers said we could go in in our street clothes so long as we had our recommends. Unfortunately 2 of us didn't have our recommends with us at the time so we couldn't do a session. It was still awesome just going inside the visitor waiting area. And we went upstairs and walked through the church house that is attached on the other side of the building.
We did so much walking that day, it was nice to relax and take a horse and carriage ride. It was an hour long ride through Central Park.
After another late night we woke up dark and early again on Saturday morning. Maria wasn't feeling well so she stayed back at the hotel while the rest of us went into Hobokken, NJ to Carlo's Bake Shop. I've never really watched much of the show, Cake Boss, but it was still very cool seeing the shop. And the cookies and pastries were, um, so delicious. I don't think I've ever spent so much money at a bake shop. Oh, but it was yummy!
We went back to the hotel and rested and ate, and just spent a good amount of time just talking and laughing. It was great. Then we headed back to my house. They were able to see Jerry and the kids for a little bit then it was time for me to take them back to the airport. Sad saying goodbye, but now I'll just look forward to our next trip.
