Part 3-New York City!!!!!!!

I could go on and on and on about New York. I absolutely loved it! Except for times square...I didn't love that. But I loved everything else! Honestly navigating the city was completely overwhelming to me but luckily I had Kort with me, who is better at directions than I am.  And also luckily John's old friend and his wife (James and Melissa Winder) happened to be in Boise the week before I left on my trip, and we got together with them for dinner, and they lived in New York for 5 years!  Melissa helped me so much and completely mapped out a route for us to follow so that we could see as much as possible in our Saturday in New York.

We woke up early that Saturday morning and got on the subway at the Newark Penn Station.  We were completely intimidated but we eventually got where we needed to go.  Our first stop was the site of the twin towers.  We didn't have time to go through the museum but just to see where they stood and see the memorial was a neat experience.

We walked through the city past Trinity church and the nearby cemetery.  Old cemeteries in big cities are so cool to me. They just make the history and age of the city so real.

Next we made a quick jaunt near Wall Street. Although somehow we missed the bull.

We stopped by a TKTS (thanks to Melissa's tip) and bought our tickets for broadway that night.  We didn't know what we were going to see when we were in line and ended up deciding on Matilda at the very last second. 

Up next was a walk to see the Broolkyn Bridge.  It was slightly cold and windy!

Then we walked to battery park for a view of the statue of liberty.  It was actually closer than it looks in this picture.  Is it just me or do I look tired.....

After Battery Park our task was to get on the subway and make our way up town.  I never figured out the subways (in the entire day we were there:).  Our usual strategy was to get near a train that we thought we should be getting on, and then ask someone.  Most people were really helpful and we always got where we needed to be!

Our trip on the subway got us  near central park and the MET.  Both were amazing!

I was very under educated and didn't even realize the works of art that were in the MET.  I was blown away.  Within minutes we were lost just due to the sheer size of the museum. 

I could have spent a full day exploring the park and the museum...but time was not on our side so every stop was slightly rushed. 

After our walk through the park we ended up and the museum of natural history.  To be quite honest I didn't love it near as much as the art museum.  Apparently I like art more than natural history.

After a quick lunch at Shake Shack (completely packed.....and crazy place!) we hopped on the subway again and made a stop at Grand Central Station. So pretty! 

By this time we were getting tired. I wish one of us would have worn a pedometer to clock our miles.  I can only imagine how many we walked. By late afternoon we were enjoying walking around town, seeing the brownstones, and we made our way to Times Square.  For me Times Square felt like Vegas.  I didn't really care for it. I'm glad we went just to say we did but I wasn't a fan.

We ventured away from Times Square and saw the NBC studios, Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rock.

Not to mention the super cool Lego Store....

By this point we were so tired we had no energy.  We were literally standing right near the Rockeffeller Tower and were too tired to figure out where we needed to go to ride to the top for a view of the city.  We figured it would be easier just to look at the view in a picture later.  We grabbed some street meat from the Halal Guys for dinner (delicious and only $5!!)

And then it was time for our show!  Matilda did not disappoint.  It was really amazing.  We were worried with it being a mostly kid cast that the acting would be lame.  But I was seriously impressed.  Our seats were about 20 rows back and in the center.  The play was hilarious, and the music was great. When I got home I looked it up to see if it was one I could take my kids too...no such luck.  They don't come anywhere even near Boise!

At the end of the night we made our way back to the subway station.  After much confusion we eventually got on the right train. But without a ticket.  We thought our metro card worked for a ticket but the people on the train explained that you needed a separate ticket. I don't even know where we could have bought one!  But luck was on our side that night...and the train was so packed full of people that they didn't come by and collect tickets.  And even luckier for me....I had to stand on the hinge of the train.  And a nice guy made sure I didn't fall over when the train started moving and I freaked out because I could see outside through a giant gap between the rubber "hinge" and the train itself.  I literally could have squeezed out of that train had I wanted to. 

And then Kort and I took a scary taxi ride together to get from penn station to our hotel because we missed the last shuttle.  I'm sure we got ripped off. But at least he took us straight there instead of to an alley to kill us!

Part 2-More Driving and Niagara Falls

After leaving our amazing hotel we got back in the car and made our way to Niagara Falls. Originally our plan was to go straight to New York and see Jimmy Fallon...but getting tickets is insane and we only made it through the first step of the insane 3 step process. So Niagara Falls it was!!! And it was freezing. We had heard the view was much better on the Canadian side so that's where we went.  We drove up to it.  Parked.  Took a few pictures.  Admired the beauty of the falls.  Froze.  And then got back in the car and left.  Yay for incredibly fast tourist stops!

 

After that we drove straight down through the state of new York to get to New York City. As we were leaving Canada we were asked where we were going.  When we told the patrolman he just looked at us and said, "you know there's a hurricane coming right for there, right."  Yes, yes we do know that.  And thank you kind sir.  He was very helpful....

Technically we drove through New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  It was honestly the most beautiful drive of my life!  I couldn't get enough of it.  The trees and hills and scenery were breathtaking.  I wish I had even one photo that did it justice for me to look back on but I have nothing even close.





Our drive that day got us to our hotel in Newark New Jersey. After some crazy driving in the city in the rain (there was a hurricane coming remember) we made it safely and we were told that we should go get food at a diner called Tops.  It was awesome!  It was and old 40's dining car that had been added to over the years.  It was packed with every type of person in every type of clothing.  I was rocking the sweats I had been wearing for the last 3 days. The food was yummy and just what we needed to get us ready for our venture into the city the next morning!

The Trip of a Lifetime! Part 1-The Drive

Last year Syd's husband, we'll call him Cy (mostly because that is his name), joined the Coast Guard.  Due to that fact, they learned that they were going to be moving to Woods Hole Mass. where he would be stationed beginning the end of September 2015. With all of the excitement that ensued and the planning that began, somehow it became decided that Kortney and I would drive Syd's car across the country for her because that would be much cheaper than paying to have it shipped over.  And also it gave Kort and I a chance to drive across the country with no children.  A win for us!!!  Neither of us had driven cross country and we were both excited.  I can't speak for Kort, but I was way more than excited!



So on the afternoon of October 1st we dumped off volleyball practice (we co-coached Ainsley and Bria's volleyball team) on our husbands, loaded up the teeny tiny Toyota Scion (with no cruise control) that was soon to become our best friend and headed off.  Until I realized I forgot my phone and so I drove back home and got my phone and then headed off again.  On the trip of a life time!!!

Our first night we only made it to Wyoming.  Where we stayed in a run down hotel full of Indian people.  It was strange.  When I called ahead to get the reservation and I was talking to an Indian person he was making all sorts of crazy claims, so I asked him if he was actually in Wyoming.  I was not aware that there had been a large exodus from India to Wyoming.  But apparently there has been.  I got yelled at for assuming this man wasn't in Wyoming, and then to my surprise there were multiple people from India working at that hotel.  Who knew!?  This was just the first little fun fact I learned while traveling across the country.

We made it through Nebraska our second night.  Our drive across the rest of Wyoming and Nebraska were pretty boring. Lots of cornfields.  And a lot of straight roads.

On our third day of driving we headed straight into Iowa.  Which I loved.  Somehow the cornfields there were beautiful.  The hills rolled and I loved driving there.  That is until they sent me a speeding ticket in the mail.  Now I'm not sure how I feel about people from Iowa.

We crossed the Mississippi River.  Stopped for a picture.  And then got back in the car.  We still had a long drive ahead of us!

By that evening we had made it to Michigan.  We took a few minutes to stop in and visit some old friends, the Ashby's, and took a few minutes to see Lake Michigan.  I had seen it from the Chicago side years ago. But seeing it in the daylight again was pretty amazing!  It is so beautiful there!

And aren't Kort and I beautiful too...after 48 hours in the car.  I literally wore the same pants for 3 days in a row.  We were super classy.

On our way our of Michigan we learned fun fact #2 on our trip.  We needed dinner and were running behind schedule and thought it would be a good idea to grab a pizza at Papa Murphey's to eat in the car.  Kort went in and ordered a Hawaiian pizza.  I went next door to get gas.  And Just FYI...you can fill a tank on a Scion for like $13 and drive forever. 

Anywho, I went back over to Papa Murphey's where we waited and incredible amount of time for our pizza.  Our first clue that something was wrong should have been when the girl working the cash register looked confused while pushing random buttons on her screen while repeatedly asking if we wanted a Hawaiian pizza.  Our second clue should have been when I was watching a guy make a pizza with the weirdest combination of toppings I had seen in my life and I thought, "who would order a pizza like that?"  Unfortunately we didn't realize anything was wrong until we were on the freeway and opened the pizza box and the stench hit our noses.  Our Hawaiian pizza came complete with BBQ sauce, pineapple, bacon, 2 pieces of sausage, a few pieces of grilled chicken, and piles of onions.  Not onions dispersed.  Piles of onions.  It was disgusting.

And now we know there is no such thing as a Hawaiian pizza in Michigan.

And then late that night, at like 1:00 in the morning, we made it to Canada. We barely made it across the border because Kort was tired and chatty and giggly. And apparently border patrol people don't like chattiness and laughing late and night.  Fun fact #3.



We pulled into our hotel in London, Ontario that night exhausted.  But our hotel was so nice!  I wish we had been able to stay there for more than 8 hours.  It was hands down the best hotel and breakfast of our entire trip.  We loved Canada!!!