New York trip

When Justin was prepping to go to Cooperstown, he started looking at schedules for Major League baseball teams in the area.  He saw that the Yankees were playing on the Tuesday following the tournament and thought he'd try to go since he was on that side of the country anyway.  His goal in life is to visit every baseball stadium in the country.  Attainable?  Maybe, but we'll see.  This would at least check another off his list.  So he was planning on that which meant I needed to choose between catching some games at Cooperstown or doing a few days in New York with Justin and Stockton.  I felt bad about missing the baseball games but I ultimately decided to do the NY part of the trip (I thought doing both was too long for me to be away from home and leave the girls with someone else, not to mention how much more it would cost).  Then, since Justin and Stockton were going to be there, and then me, I didn't think it would be too nice to leave Molly home.  It wasn't a lot extra to tack her on to the trip, especially when we made her pay for half of her airplane ticket.  So all of that led up to Molly and I taking a red-eye flight from Salt Lake to Newark the night/morning of July 9-10.

The plan was to fly into Newark the same morning the boys were driving back to Newark from Cooperstown.  We landed around 7:00 am, they had a four hour drive.  I knew that we would need to kill some time before they made it into town and we could meet them.  I had planned on taking an uber to our hotel but Justin told me about a train from the airport into Manhattan that would be way cheaper.  So I was planning on doing that.  It was slightly intimidating but I was so proud of myself for mastering it on my own, with a 15-year-old in tow and all our luggage (two backpacks and a suitcase).  We got on the airport's Airtrain until we were able to transfer to a line that took us over the river into Manhattan.  Then we transferred onto the subway to go north 20 blocks to the closest stop to our hotel.  I got a little turned around walking but we eventually made it to our hotel with no major hiccups.  They held our bags until we could check in later that afternoon.  

First on our agenda was breakfast.  I wasn't sure where to go but google maps showed us a bagel spot close by so we headed there.  When we saw the line winding through the restaurant and out the door, we figured we had found a popular spot (it was called Pick A Bagel)!  Our first experience of New York food couldn't have been better.

 

We explored a little around us, found a TJ Maxx, and finally made it to Central Park.  We were pretty tired so we killed a good chunk of time there.  We watched some softball games, walked The Mall and saw the fountain, watched some street dancers, found a big grassy area and took a nap.  I didn't want to go too far until we were reunited with Justin and Stockton.

 

The boys finally made it around 2:30 and we were able to check in early.  We were tired so we took the chance to relax and get settled in our hotel room for a little while.  We had had bagels as a late breakfast/early lunch and the boys were getting hungry too so we set out for an early dinner.  When I saw there was a Halal Guys close by, I talked everyone else into going there.  I have a copycat recipe that I make and love so I was super excited to get the actual thing.  We got a couple gyro platters and Stockton got a gyro.  It was all so, so good.

 

It had a Greek/Indian vibe so I was curious where halal food came from.  We saw several other halal food carts.  Basically, halal food is meat that has been blessed before being slaughtered.  I thought that was interesting.

 

We explored the area around Rockefeller Center.  MLB store (as if the boys hadn't spent the previous week in baseball paradise), Radio City Music Hall (Stockton says "who are the Rockettes?"), Rockefeller Plaza, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Lego Store (such a fun store-we got Brynn and Ivy souvenirs from here).

found bathrooms at NBA headquarters

St. Patrick's was amazing.  I took a few pictures of some of the displays in the chapel.

We walked the few blocks over to Times Square.  This place was insane.  It was moving from afternoon to evening and it was really crowded.  Maybe it was all the people, maybe it was because our feet were exhausted from walking so much, maybe it was that we were worn out from traveling all day (Molly and I hadn't even slept in a bed the night before) but we didn't stay here for longer than it took to take some pictures.  It was a little overwhelming.

 

We decided to call it a night.  We walked back to the hotel and relaxed.  We started a movie but everyone fell asleep so we turned it off and got some needed rest. 

 

Monday: There were three different options in New York for going up really high and seeing a view of the city.  We knew we needed to do one and so we picked the most historical one, The Empire State Building.  We rode the subway to get the the right area of town. 

I was really glad we chose the EST.  Before you go up to the top, you walk through a museum of sorts where you see how it was built, how long it took, and other fun facts about that era.  We couldn't get over how comfortable those workers were being so high with no harnesses! 

 

You take an elevator up to the 80th floor where you can take a peek of the view out of several windows.

Then another elevator up to the 86th floor where the lookout is outside in the open air.  We made sure to walk all the way around so we could see the city from all vantage points.

A couple of things worth mentioning from our trip back to the ground.  One hallway has pictures lining the wall of famous people who have visited The Empire State Building and we saw one of John Stockton.  We had to go back and get a picture.  Also, the kids and Justin recognized this hallway from Elf, their favorite Christmas movie. 

Right around the corner from the ESB was Koreatown and we knew that we had to have lunch in one of the Korean restaurants.  We spent some time letting Justin browse the menus for the places that lined both sides of the street (they were pretty much all the same) before he settled on the place.  He picked a good one!  It was a fun food experience.  They cooked the meat on a grill at your table.  It was a full on, traditional Korean meal...look at all those side dishes!...and it was completely delicious.  Justin was in heaven.  Molly and Stockton thoroughly enjoyed everything they tried.  Yum!

 

Next on our itinerary was to go find the Harry Potter store.  I thought this was a cool area of New York to walk around.  Seemed a little cleaner and more open, if that's possible in Manhattan. We found the Flatiron Building which was a neat building to see.

 

I loved the Harry Potter store!  It was two floors and it was interactive and fun!  We downloaded their app so we could do the scavenger hunt...we found all the clues, unscrambled the word, and then forgot to get our prize.  Oh well.  I bought a Gryffindor backpack that I'm proud of (my only souvenir) and we explored here for a while.  We shared a butterbeer ice cream before leaving.

the elevator was like the Floo Network

 

When we were done with HP, we took a subway to the 9/11 Memorial.  This was a neat and somber experience.  They have done a beautiful job with the memorial.  We were standing in one spot but had to move when a couple came to remember a name on the memorial.  That brought tears to my eyes.  We walked around a little, even found a Goodrich.  It was hard to comprehend how many people died that day and seeing all those names was sobering.  Glad the kids could see it.

this was something else right before we got to the memorial but I have no idea what it was

 

We tried to order an uber to get us to the Statue of Liberty but he got pulled over when he tried to pick us up illegally.  So, we took the subway down to Battery Park, the best vantage point to see Lady Liberty.  I wish we would have had time to take the ferry over to the island and walk around the museum but that wasn't in the cards on this trip so the lookout point was going to have to do.

also forgetting what this is called

Statue of Liberty out there on that island.  Ellis Island in between Molly and Justin's heads.  It looked closer in person.

We packed a lot into this day!  We took another walk (we did a lot of walking) further south to the Brooklyn Bridge.  We walked across the bridge.  It was hot.  The bridge was made of wood and made Stockton a little nervous.  It was raised up above the road (unlike Golden Gate that was right next to cars) so it was a tad bit quieter.  When you got about halfway across, you could look back and see the New York skyline and I loved that.

 

Someone had recommended to Justin a pizza place in Brooklyn so that was our end goal.  It was conveniently located right underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was classic NY pizza and it was delicious.  We snarfed it down in no time at all.

 

We were tired and decided to call it a day.  We took the subway back to our hotel, got ready for bed, and finished our movie from the night before.

 

Tuesday:  Way back when I knew we were going to be going to New York I got online and got an appointment for baptisms in the Manhattan Temple.  Justin and Stockton didn't have room for church clothes but Molly and I had plenty of space for their things so we made sure to pack them.  It was a quick walk from our hotel to the temple that morning.  We walked by Julliard...I thought that was cool, Justin had no idea what the big deal was.

 

Being in the temple is quite literally an oasis.  The temple is not surrounded by beautiful grounds and gardens like the temples in Utah that we are used to.  It is in the middle of the bustling and busy city and as soon as you walk in the doors, the peace and quiet settle over you.  Both of my kids said later when we were back in the city that they wish they could go back to the temple just for a little bit of peace and quiet.  What a blessing for members living there.  Anyway, I had not brought family names, the workers said they had plenty but then we ended up using another sisters' family names that she had brought and had excess.  Justin did the baptizing, he baptized a local brother and sister, Stockton, Molly, me, and then two other sisters who were there as well.  They really utilized him that morning!  We got dressed, did confirmations, and were on our way in no time at all.  What a great chance to see a new temple, take a break from busy vacationing, and recharge our tanks before heading back out in the hustle and bustle of NYC.

 

Molly and I had been to Central Park but the boys hadn't been yet so after we went back to the hotel to change, we went there.  We walked through the Mall, around the fountain, and a little further until we found a grill to order and eat some lunch.  We picnicked in Central Park, bucket list item, check!  Justin and Stockton wanted to find a field to play catch and Molly and I wanted to find Belvedere Castle.  We accomplished both.

this wide path is called The Mall and is lined with statues of prominent people and educators

Central Park is a pretty amazing place as well.  It is several hundred acres big and we only saw a tiny bit of that but I enjoyed walking through the gardens and seeing the skyscrapers all around. We walked back to our hotel all along west Central Park where apartment buildings lined the opposite side of the street.  I liked seeing those and imagining how different their lives were from mine and what it would be like to live in a city like Manhattan.

 

Up next was the main thing we had come to New York for: the Yankees game.  We got ready in the hotel then caught a subway up to the Bronx where Yankee Stadium is located.  Being at a Major League Baseball Stadium is such a cool experience, the atmosphere and excitement is so much fun.  We are not Yankees fans in the least but awesome to be at such a historical stadium.

Of course, being with Justin and Stockton, we went super early so we could watch batting practice and try to get a ball.  Guess who scored a ball this game?  You betcha, me!  Molly and I were casually watching in the stands when the ball came toward us, bounced near us, then all I had to do was beat everyone else to the ball when it landed.  I was so proud of myself.

 

The forecast was showing thunderstorms so they held off on starting it to see if the storms would pass over.  It did, there wasn't even a single drop of rain.  We were happy when they finally got the game going.  It was pretty fun being in the crowd with the crazy Yankees fans.  They were ahead the entire game but the Reds tied it up and went ahead and won in the final inning.  It was super exciting!

Enjoy a series of Justin/Molly selfies here...

 

The entire stadium seemed to funnel into the subway.  I thought it would take forever to get on but we got on the very first one!  Those subways can cram a lot of people in them!  We even got a show from a guy who was doing tricks with his hat for money.  At the first stop after he had performed, he jumped off to run into the next car to do the same thing.  I wonder how much money he got...he seemed to get quite a bit of change just from our car.

 

Wednesday: We wanted to head home that morning but weren't able to get a flight until that night so we had another day.  We had come for the game and been to the game and we had seen a lot of New York already so we kind of wandered and found a couple things that I had wanted to see and hadn't yet.  We headed out to find Grand Central Station and found that our path took us through Times Square.  I liked it better in the daytime.  We stopped at a few stores this time.

M & M store

We made it to Grand Central Station.  It was cool.  We walked around and then downstairs for bathrooms.  It was a bustling depot! 

Lunch was next.  We were close to a Los Tacos No. 1 and I had heard good things about that so that's where we went.  This was the one place that Stockton wasn't completely on board with but there was a Chick-fil-A around the corner...he and I took a walk around the block so he could get that.  The rest of us got completely delicious and amazing street tacos.

 

Some more walking.  Oh, look!  The New York Public Library.  Here's a funny story.  I actually had the library on my list of places to visit.  When we were walking back to our hotel from the temple, I had noticed the New York Public Library on our route back and told everyone that we had to stop.  I kinda made a big deal about it.  Well, it was a complete dud.  The Heber library is way better than that library.  We had a good laugh and that was that.  Well, that dud of a library was just a branch of the library system and this was the library I was really wanting to see.  It was a beautiful building.  Molly and I went in and walked all around.  I looked everywhere for a room with books that you could actually check out but they didn't have anything like that in the main library.  I thought it would have been way more cool if you could go to that location like a normal library patron and check out actual books.  We also walked past the Empire State Building again but didn't notice until we had passed it.

 

It was a suuuuuper hot day and the humidity was bad.  Justin was happy when we found a Coke Zero for him.

I wanted to walk on the High Line so we did that next (and last).  We found this crazy, weird structure called the Vessel and explored it a little.  It was right next to the Hudson Yards so we had to check out the view.

 

I really liked the High Line.  It is an old railway line that has been turned into a walkway with plants and flowers lining it.  It is raised above the street so, while you hear the noise of the street, you are apart from it.  A little oasis in the city.  Fun views of the city streets and sky scrapers.  We found a donut stand and got a dozen mini apple cider donuts.

Another Justin/Molly selfie moment here...

 

Followed by more High Line pics...
 

And that was about it.  Justin didn't want to pay for another subway ride so we made the kids walk 45 (!!) blocks back to our hotel.  We had checked out that morning but they were holding our luggage.  We got our stuff, had an uber drive us to the airport, checked in, stood in line forever to get through security, caught our flight, and flew home.  We got to Salt Lake around 11:00 pm, found our bags, caught the shuttle to our car, then drove to Gene and April's.  Brynn and Ivy were already in bed there.  Justin and Stockton drove home that night so Justin could go to work and Molly and I stayed since she was playing soccer in Salt Lake the next morning.

 

Here is our take-away from New York:  it was super cool to see the sites and I'm so glad I went.  I loved being with Stockton and Molly.  It would have been way hard to drag Brynn and Ivy around the city and I'm so glad we didn't try.  I had a lot of fun.  That being said, I'm not in a rush to go back.  I'd probably be okay seeing it just this once.  Give me a national park or a mountain lake or palm trees and sand.  

Anyway, it was nice to be home.  We gifted Brynn and Ivy Legos from the Lego Store near Rockefeller Plaza...a New York skyline for Brynn and Lady Liberty for Ivy.  They got them done right away!