Empire State of Mind

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do, Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York

Yes, I sang that song in my head most of the trip.

Molly and I took a spur of the moment trip to NYC while she was on spring break. We both needed some time away from work/school/stress and decided that NYC was the place we were going to go. I had suggested Washington DC, but she said that was lame. Whatever.

Neither of us had ever been to NYC before, so as well as a fun trip it was also an opportunity for us to prove to ourselves (and our Mom) that we could do something on our own and not be dependent on anyone else. And I must say that we successfully navigated ourselves there and back without one little hitch. Unless you want to count me being a little confused in Penn Station when we went to leave town. Or when we couldn't figure out which corner the double decker tour bus stop was located and missed two buses. But that was it!

 We drove to NYC, which was a long, long drive. Molly and I split the driving on the way there. We each took two hour blocks. She slept while I drove and I read all about JFK's adultery while she drove.

Pennsylvania is a long, boring drive.

Long, Long, Long drive.

This is about when we confessed to Mom where we were headed.

Adorable little church on the side of the highway. Reminded me of Alma UMC.

We got to the train station in Iselin, NJ around 5:30 and hopped on a train shortly after we got there. I was a little worried about not getting on the right train, but with 300+ people wearing NY Ranger jersey's we must be headed in the right direction. 

Headed into the city.

SOOOO EXCITED!

David Beckham welcomed us to the city!

We had to walk about 14 blocks to our hotel from Penn Station. I didn't realize there was a subway that connected the two. Whoops! :)

We spent Friday night walking around Central Park, eating pizza in Times Square, Rockafeller Plaza and watching the Ohio University/UNC game in a bar on Times Square where everyone at the bar was cheering for UNC until the bartender told them we were from Ohio and they started cheering along with us. ha. We also went into the Forever 21 store that was 4 stories!!! And then on to Toys R Us that had a ferris wheel inside! A real Ferris Wheel!

Central Park.

$3 slice of pizza. Same price as the Pike County Fair.

Times Square

Seesters :)

A giant Ferris Wheel!

On Broadway

OU/UNC game at the bar. Heavy drinkers obviously.

Molly had OU picked to go to the Sweet Sixteen and she let everyone know it.

Michael Kors store.

American Girl store. If only I was 12 again.

Rockefeller Plaza

30 Rock

Saturday morning we got up pretty early and went and got our tour bus tickets. I grabbed breakfast at Mickey D's and we went on our double decker bus tour. We saw Macy's, Madison Square Garden, the Flat Iron Building, The Empire State Building, the WTC site, the Statue of Liberty from a far distance, some fancy neighborhoods, NYU and Central Park.

Why you can't stand up on the tour buses.

Empire State Building

I forgot sunglasses.

WTC would have been in that empty skyline space. :(

NYU

More self pictures.

Saturday afternoon we got off the bus at the WTC site and walked around it. You have to have tickets to get in, so we just walked around the outside, ate lunch at a food court (not what I had planned) and took the subway up to the SOHO area, so we could do a little boutique shopping. We visited a farmers market and the Occupy Wall Street protesters too!

WTC memorial from the bridge

I wanted this dogwood table cloth. But not for $50.

Fishs Eddy

This little boy was hailing a cab. Adorable.

24 hours in the city and we're gangster. In our scarves.

Saturday evening we had planned on leaving early, but we walked Central Park and Times Square again, then went back to the bar we had been at the night before and watched the OSU basketball game. No one was cheering with us this time because OSU was playing Syracuse. Molly even made fun of a 10 year old little boy. ha.

Central Park

Merry Go Round was closed.

Subway on the way home. Can you tell it was windy?

Good bye David Beckham.

Madison Square Garden

We left pretty late in the evening and didn't get back to my car in NJ until almost midnight. We drove to Philly and stayed in a hotel, then drove the rest of the way home on Sunday.

It was a very quick trip, but it was a lot of fun. We didn't have time to do all the things we wanted to do, so next time we will definitely be visiting the Statue of Liberty, a Broadway Show, a Yankees game and the Brooklyn Bridge.

But, we did it. On our own.