The Big Apple

Our trip to NYC was a success. What a great experience to have. I am in love with America, so seeing it's most miraculous city was everything I could have wanted (and then some). Wish you could have been there, but maybe this will help you feel like you were!

DAY 1-
We got off of the plane and easily caught a cab. Pulling up to our hotel we were pleasantly surprised by the area that it was located in. We stayed in an area where a lot of families with children live in NYC...so it felt friendly. Fortunately, we were happy with our room...so far things were going great. We quickly checked in and threw our bags in our room so that we could hit the streets. There was no time to be wasted and our excitement had taken over. We took this time to get familiar with the neighborhood that we would be staying in. We found the subway stations and the stores and restaurants that might come in handy for a quick bite. It started to rain so we bought and umbrella and took a romantic, rain soaked walk to Central Park. We wandered around trying to not look too much like tourists, passing the hot dog carts and the locals jogging on the path. We wandered and found lagoons with ducks, The Belvedere Castle and all kinds of other things deep in the trees within the park. I was surprised at the size and green feel of the park right off of the stone sidewalks and gothic type buildings that surrounded it. After a lot of wandering and just taking it all in it was already getting late we called it a day and headed back to our room where we ordered some food and the Sex and the City movie that had just come out- how appropriate to welcome us in to the city.

Yankee Stadium

DAY 2-
This was the big day for us. Our initial reason for going to NYC was to see a Yankee’s game. This is The Final Season at Yankee Stadium. I purchased our tickets last year. After this season they will tear down the stadium which is considered “The Cathedral of Baseball” and “The House that Ruth built” to move across the street to a new stadium that is going to cost a couple billion dollars to build. Yankee Stadium has so much history that we had to see a game in it and being such an avid baseball player/fan I don’t think Matt could have lived with himself if he never made it there to see an actual game! We woke up and once again it was warm and humid!! Luckily, no rain! We had been worried that our game might be rained out since the game the day before had been rained out. So, we made our way to the subway station and caught the 4 train to the Bronx- home of Yankee Stadium. As we rode the train, more and more Yankees Fans joined us.

We got off of the train at the stadium and saw the new one in construction across the street. We didn’t pay it too much attention, but we did notice that it looked very expensive! The Bronx is a poor area, so that stadium sticks out in the midst of other old, worn down buildings and construction. In the article that I was reading on the plane the author stated “while the new Yankee Stadium is sure to be an extraordinary place, the reality is that it will always be The House Next Door to the Site Where the House That Ruth Built Once Stood.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. So, we got in line to go and see Monument Park. If you are a baseball fan then you definitely know all about it. The line ended up being long and since they only let a certain number of people in we were lucky that we got there so early. Matt really enjoyed his tour through the park…he was like a kid in a candy store. We then went and got Matt a hot dog and made our way to our seats. We sat on the third deck and the steps are notoriously steep up to this level. It was easy for us, but I noticed the older people having a harder time. One old man wearing a NYC Firefighter hat looked at me on his trip up the stairs and said “You gotta be a mountain goat to get up here!” I thought that was a perfect description. This steep approach to our seats created a spectacular view of the field. We were lucky enough to be seated in front of a row of New York natives. These guys were like the guys in the movies…they had the accent…they had the phrases and they had the attitudes! We got the real experience from everything they were saying and it was about as entertaining as the game for me. Our seats were actually great and the atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. The weather was perfect. We bought some souvenirs and left before the crowds to catch the subway back to our hotel.

We got a little cleaned up and then got back on the 4 train to Grand Central Terminal. This was a beautiful train station and the architecture was surprising to me. Next, we made our way to Rockefeller Center. It was nice, but there were too many people for my taste. We then walked past NBC studios and Radio City Music Hall. We went to Times Square and went in the Hershey Candy store. We went to Virgin Records store and it was 3 levels. We decided that we could have spent a lifetime in there. Times Square was very packed and once again it started raining a little bit. While we were in New York I felt like we were in a Monopoly game, since we saw Madison, Park, Broadway, Wall St. etc. Matt and I were agreeably a little in shock the whole time. On the way back to the subway we stopped at Good Burger (Home of the Good Burger ). Once we were back at our hotel we played cards (UNO- which Matt is addicted to now), watched TV and went to sleep

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

DAY 3-
Our last full day in the city. We woke up and headed for Battery Park to get on the Staten Island Ferry. I have always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty in person and this was my chance. We boarded the ferry along with many other tourists and made our way across the bay to Staten Island. This trip provides the best view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was weird to see it in person. She really is green. We landed on Staten Island, New Jersey and then got on the ferry back to Battery Park . After that we made our way up to the World Trade Center Site. The whole site is fenced off and undergoing major construction, but along the fence there are many pictures and flowers from those who lost someone. I can only compare it to Pearl Harbor, because of the eerie feel of the place. There is an obvious void in the skyline where the buildings used to be. Next, we went to Century 21 for a tiny bit of shopping. If you like shopping and have not been to this store then you are missing out. After that we went to the Brooklyn Bridge. This day was HOT!!! And HUMID!!! Matt and I were both sweating, but so was everyone else. We went across the bridge which took a good 40 minutes. We ended up in Brooklyn and then went down through the city and under the bridge to Grimaldi’s Pizza. This place is world renowned for its pizza, so of course there was a line outside. We waited in the heat, but once we were inside it was worth the walk and the wait. Matt said it was the best pizza he had ever had in his life. I agree. So, we made our way all the way back across the bridge in to Manhattan and caught the subway back to our hotel. We rested a little and then went back out to get on the subway to The Empire State Building. We waited in a long line and then made our way to the 86^th floor viewing deck. It overlooked the entire city. You could see as far as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. After that we went back to our hotel with our tired feet and slept.



Central Park

DAY 4-
We woke up and had the front desk call us a car to the airport. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and then just hung out playing cards until takeoff. We sat on the runway for 1 hour, but once we were in flight we picked up some time. We both watched the newest Narnia movie. We landed at Salt Lake City and then got straight on our plane to Pasco…we landed at 8:30pm…happy to be home.



On top of the Empire State Building