The Big Apple

My sister Annie will be graduating from high school this year and for her senior trip, she really wanted to go to New York.  Mom wanted some additional helping hands to make travel plans, do things with, etc., so she invited Ashley, Jori, and I to come along too.  Taylor was able to work it out so that his training in New York would coincide with our trip and we could crash at his hotel.

With everyone's different schedules, the three of us girls had to divide and conquer so we weren't ever there all at the same time.  Mama and Papa Z were gracious enough to drive up from California to help watch Leila while I was gone.  It was my first time ever being away from her for more than a day and I have to say it was a good break.  I flew out on Monday and then came back with Mom and Annie early (EARLY) this morning.  Here's a breakdown of our amazing trip!

Tuesday
Tuesday morning we got up and made our way to the Donut Plant for breakfast.  They had a wide variety of doughnuts and their specialty were fresh fruit and cream donuts.  I chose to try lemon poppyseed cake and vanilla bean.  They were tasty, but at $3 a doughnut, I wouldn't make it a regular habit!

After breakfast, Annie got to do her favorite thing: shop!  Every time we asked her what she wanted to do in New York, she would respond that she wanted to shop.  We stopped at a sample sale for Elizabeth and James and then wandered through more reasonably priced shops like Gap and Forever 21.

After getting our discount play tickets for that night, we went back by our hotel where we ate lunch (burgers and fries) at the Shake Shack.  Then we went to the hotel room to chill for a bit and send Jori on her way home.  We made our way back out that night to go to Newsies.  We had amazing seats (like 9th row) and I LOVED it!  I watched the movie over and over again growing up and even though it deviates from that a bit, it still made the little girl in me very, very happy.  Plus, we were able to meet up with the Thaynes and Annie, Josh, and Zack provided us with entertainment during the intermission.

After the play, we ate a late dinner at Olive Garden at Times Square and then went back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Wednesday
We tried to get up and going Wednesday morning in time to have breakfast at a diner near Times Square that the others had gone to for dinner earlier in the trip.  Unfortunately by the time we made it there after getting our discount play tickets for a matinee, they were no longer serving breakfast and were closing down while they made the transition to lunch.  We missed it by minutes!  So, we set off for Rockefeller Center instead and grabbed some bagels and pastries at Starbucks to tide us over.

We wandered all around Rockefeller Plaza, but our timing was still off and the earliest tickets we could have gotten to go to the Top of the Rock wouldn't allow us enough time to do that and get to our matinee in time.  So we wandered through the NBC shop and Nintendo World where Annie crossed paths with one of her friends.  Then we walked over to Sak's on Fifth Avenue, where it felt expensive just to breathe the air.

Spring was in the air

Our matinee that afternoon was Matilda.  Between the three of us, it got mixed reviews.  Annie would later tell us it was her favorite play we saw.  I thought it was cute but had a hard time understanding some of the kids' "British" accents, especially when they were singing some pretty complex songs.  And Mom had a hard time following it and staying awake.  It probably didn't help that we hadn't eaten anything since our Starbucks stop earlier that morning.

And food would remain a lower priority because after the play we had to rush back to the hotel so that Mom and Annie could change and we could make our way to the Manhattan Temple.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten my recommend, so I sat across the street at the Lincoln Center while I waited for them to do baptisms.  Its pretty remarkable that a place like the temple can exist in the middle of bustling Manhattan!

Taylor came and met up with us after they were done and we made our way to dinner (finally)!  I found a Mexican place that had good reviews on Yelp and the food turned out to be pretty tasty.  Only trouble was it was more of a take-out/delivery place than a sit down restaurant but we made do with the few stools they had and stuffed our faces before going back to the hotel.

Thursday
This was our last day and we wanted to make sure we made the most of it.  Learning from our mistake of not eating enough the day before and started the day off going to Pick a Bagel, right by our hotel.  I had a delicious, and very filling, ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on a toasted sourdough bagel.  We ate while we walked to the subway station and made our way back to Times Square.  We had some time to kill before our next scheduled event, so Annie did some more shopping in the area.  That girl does like to shop!

Mom was brave and hailed a taxi for us (we took the subway or walked everywhere else, except to/from the airport) and we made our way towards the river where we went on a sightseeing boat tour around Manhattan Island.  From the boat we were able to see the Statue of Liberty, famous buildings, bridges (including the Brooklyn Bridge), Yankee Stadium, etc.  It was a really neat tour, but lasted about an hour too long.  If we were going to do it again, we'd just do the half-island tour instead of the full one.

Once we were back on dry land, we grabbed another taxi and made our way back to Times Square so that we could pick up discount tickets for one last play that night.  While we were there, we stopped in the little Times Square museum where they have one of the old New Years Eve balls.  They also have a bunch of confetti that you can write a wish on.  All of this confetti will be put into the 2015 NYE ball.  Pretty neat!

Then we took off for a quick run through of the FAO Schwartz toy store, Chanel, and Hollister so that Annie could do yes, more shopping.  Along the way, we passed the entrance for this Apple store that is actually underground.

Annie wrapped up her shopping and we tried to get tickets on our phones to go see the 911 memorial.  But the system was down!  We made our way there anyway but knew we didn't have time to wait in line.  So, we stopped for a bit across from the One World Tower and a guy told my Mom all about the memorial and sold her a couple of picture books.  Even though we didn't go to the actual memorial, it was still a somber moment filled with reflection and reverence for the events of September 11, 2001.

We went back to the hotel to dump our shopping bags and freshen up for our last Broadway play: Phantom of the Opera.  As Broadway's longest running show (25 years now), I knew it was going to be good and I wasn't disappointed.

After the play, we grabbed a few more souvenirs, hit up McDonald's for some late dinner, and went back to the hotel to pack and sleep for maybe 2 hours before we had to get up and head out for the airport.

Needless to say, I am exhausted, but I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything.  I am so glad that Annie let me crash her trip.  And Mom spoiled me like crazy (I mean, who gets to go the THREE Broadway plays?).  Not to mention the fact that the Ziebarths were so kind to come and watch Leila for me.  It was truly a remarkable experience!