My Happy Place found again……Day 1 NYC

I boarded a plane and get to once again escape reality…..my favorite place, usually is the solitude of an airplane red-eye. Swallow some magic pills and go to never never land. Not the case this time with 3 screaming children in the row in front of mine. Seriously, for a baby lover this was an absolute nightmare. Shrieking screams for 4-5 hours, land NYC- no sleep.

Find my kid in a candy store excited partner in crime in baggage claim. For any readers who don’t know Danielle, she is my 24+ year cherished friend from college. I’m so truly blessed and feeling spoiled to have her to myself for 6 solid days, a rarity as she is a numero uno star mommy of 3 beautiful children and a loving wife to her husband, she is with her family 24/7. I also get to wear the title of god-mother to there daughter. Beyond special is this family, and one of my BFF’s. As well she could have been a reporter…..she asks our Uber driver more questions than me and I get to listen 🙂 Boy is this gonna be a real treat of a trip!

Let the NYC adventures begin! A real touristy time ahead, as she has never been to the East Coast and I get to be her tour guide, my favorite thing!! We are grateful to have a real apartment to call our home for 5 nights in the Upper East Side, thanks to the gracious NJ Jonathan. A doorman secured building outside of all the hustle and bustle of this magnificent city. We are on the East River and it’s quiet as I type after just getting some much needed sleep after our first full day.

We dropped off our stuff, got settled, and headed out on foot in the rain. Thanks to my sis, Terri I have an umbrella but it is for a child and we try to share it. This was comical- it was gonna be a wet day. First stop- Tals Bagel…..the smell of this place reminds you that only in NYC are the bagels, spices, lox, everything just scrumptious!! I eat an Everything toasted bagel with lox and cream cheese and we are energized and off for our mile walk across town to the MET. We arrive and everyone else had the same idea. It’s raining, hide in a Museum. Well the line wrapped around the building, we were not armed with enough rain gear to wait outside in this down pour. Back up plan, call an Uber.

This Uber ride may have been the high light of the day. We are picked up within 30 seconds by a Packistanian warm, kind, generous man in a Honda Pilot. He has lived here 30 years and answers all Danielle’s questions. He LOVES NYC!! He currently lives in Williamsburg-Brooklyn. As we learn about him, he asks if we mind if he stops at his friends coffee stand, claiming it’s the BEST coffee in the city. We say sure, no problem. He proceeds to get us both a cup of coffee too. Cream/sugar offered……it truly was the greatest coffee. Packistanian owned, crowds of people still at noon swarmed this little food truck type corner stand. Back on the road we Coast down 5th Ave with Danielle getting her first views on lush-green Central Park. Okay…..if you can visualize- we are sipping warm yummy creamy coffee, it’s raining, the accents and chatter of this man, and I can’t help but think we are living our life like in the movies. We had changed course and are making our way to St Patrick’s Cathedral.

We jump out, and walk into this pristine over-sized beautiful church. The stained glass windows, crowds of other tourists and we walk down the aisle to sit down. A mass is in session. We take photos, listen to the priest who by the way is dressed in full gear, a white and red gown type robe. Not sure what you call it 🙂 it was magical. Make our ways to the candles and we both pay the $2 to light one and saw a prayer. We exit and make our way to Rockefeller Plaza. I love seeing this city through Danielle’s eyes, around every corner she is amazed. It’s all scenes from out of every movie. I have seen it all a million times but am just as excited as NYC is a fun iconic city of America! Plus all my family roots are grounded here, it’s all so special to me too. We take a million photos, are typical tourists and make our way to the NY Public library. Again walk around, take pics, and check out an interesting exhibit, very sexual- bizarre yet entertaining. Exit here and walk to Bryant Park. The rain had stopped and the leaves are dripping. The colors that popped out in this park are dreamy. It was a beautiful day and I can’t stop saying, “ we are living like a movie life”! Danielle is taking SO many photos and I love them all. We walk by the carousel, the movie screen for tonight’s movie in the park, take in all the beautiful high rise business buildings in different shades of colored glass structures.

We meet Adam for lunch. My cousin……what a real treat!! The best part of a vacation tonthis part is sneaking in family time too 🙂 Lucky me!! We enjoy his company and learn more must do’s for our long list of the next adventures. He walks with us to Time Square. This is where this city is on steroids! I’m with a kid in a candy store…..Danielle is on stimulation overload!! We take so many pics, selfies, groupies, etc. Say our good byes to Adam. We venture into the Marriot Marquis to regroup, go potty, and make a plan. We decide to do a hop on hop off bus tour of downtown. Find a deal for a tour as so many want to rip you off. This city is pricy!! After a pushy guy tried to get us for $60 we found a tour for $29. Good thing Danielle is here, she tells the pushy guy in a nice way that we’re not interested. We are super excited for this 2 hour tour to show us now the other side of this Island with narrated detail. Only problem, it’s starts to rain again ,lol

With our rain ponchos on, we take many photos giggling as we are sitting on top of an open air bus with raindrops on our head, ear buds in our ear playing the contagious hip hoppy song, “Welcome to New York”. This is the life….I’m feeling like a kid with not a care in the world. Just hoping we don’t get pneumonia, lol 🙂 The tour starts and we go EVERYWHERE!!! This was such a cool way to get the lay of the land and see the entire city. By time we get down to Battery Park after passing through the Village, Soho, Korea and China town, little Italy etc….the Sun comes out! It’s gorgeous…..views of Chelsea Pier and the Hudson River. We have had a full day and it’s not over yet. We get off the bus at the 44st and 8 th Ave exit.

We are meeting my friend Vince from Phoenix for dinner, he just so happens to be here too. He had a successful Pitch of his book at a writers conference. We walk to Columbus Circle and enjoy a yummy meal on a street side patio chatting away. The Smith is where we ate…..Danielle and I shared a flavorful watermelon salad and a most brick chicken with mashed potatoes and spinach, yummy. We all walk back and go through Central Park. It’s foggy and misty and we are surrounded my huge green lush trees. It’s a dreamy setting going up and down hills trying to find our way across this huge maze like park to come out the other side. We say our good byes and make our way uptown. We must have walked miles and miles today. Boy are we beat!! Two grocery stops on the way for fresh fruit, cereal, milk, and the much needed bottles of water. We are finally home at 11 pm. Dirty girls….in need of a shower. My feet hurt…..we truly pounded the pavement on little sleep. We got to FaceTime with a Danielle’s family…..such sweet muffins, all so excited to see their mama and hear about our adventures. We plan out our day 2 and go to sleep.

Until next time……..

miss you all!

love Laurie Sue xoxo