Even though the completion date for my
101 Goals in 1001 Days list was more than 9 months ago, I finally...FINALLY...crossed this off from my Bucket List!
With a little help from some local friends, we packed a LOT into our week+ vacation. Here's a snippet of the hundreds and hundreds of pictures we took.
NEW YORK, Day 1
We flew all day, from Phoenix through St. Louis to LaGuardia. Our tickets were CRAZY cheap. $114 one-way!!! I was thrilled, since I had budgeted $2500 for airfare for the five of us.
After Ubering to the apartment we found in Midtown (through vrbo.com) we started walking toward Rockefeller Center in search of dinner.
Everyone was hangry and craving pizza, then we stopped at Ben & Jerry's for milkshakes and "The Tonight Dough" ice cream.
We casually walked back to our apartment, enjoying the lights and famous sights everywhere we looked. On the way, we stopped at Whole Foods for water bottles, eggs, cereal, milk and snacks for the zoo the next day.
 |
| Kaylin brought her camera and Ryan took tons of pics on his phone. |
 |
| Captivated by Rockefeller Center |
 |
| This display is made out of Lego guys! |
 |
| Made a wrong turn and - LOOK OVER THERE! It's Radio City Music Hall. |
 |
| Looked up while waiting for the light to change and we were standing on 5th Avenue. Of course we were. |
NEW YORK, Day 2
Still on west coast time, we awoke to the sounds of a honking war between two vehicles. We took showers, ate breakfast in the room, then used the app City Mapper to figure out how to get to the Bronx Zoo.
The street where we were supposed to catch the first bus was blocked off with police everywhere. There were people holding their phones high and news cameras holding cameras on their shoulders. Within minutes, down the street comes the Presidential motorcade right before our eyes! The President was in town to meet with the U.N. and he literally drove right past us. That may never happen again in my lifetime!
After we missed our bus, we decided to attempt to jump on the subway. We had a great day at the BEAUTIFUL Bronx Zoo, then headed back to Midtown in time to go to a show. I pre-purchased tickets to Aladdin, based on multiple recommendations, and it was beyond fantastic.
On our walk to find dinner and navigate Times Square, everywhere we looked, we saw something familiar: the Waldorf Hotel, Trump Tower, Grand Central Terminal, the list went on and on.
 |
| We needed a bathroom break, looked up...and there's Bloomingdale's! |
 |
| Our first subway ride |
 |
| The Bronx Zoo |
 |
| Famous buildings everywhere we turned! |
 |
| The Waldorf Hotel |
 |
| Times Square |
 |
| Grand Central Station with the Chrysler building in the background |
NEW YORK, Day 3
After eating breakfast at the apartment, we took the subway down to Battery Park and spent the day visiting Lady Liberty, walking through Wall Street to have lunch and gelato at Eataly, then toured the 9/11 Museum.
 |
| We were walking to lunch, saw a crowd, then noticed they were all standing around the Wall Street Bull |
 |
| Foodie PARADISE |
 |
| the boys watching them make homemade pasta |
 |
| One of the 9/11 Memorials |
 |
| In the 9/11 Museum |
 |
| An actual set of stairs used by evacuees of the World Trade Center |
NEW YORK, Day 4
For our last full day in New York City, we went to the Top of the Rock and looked out over the entire island of Manhattan. From there, we grabbed lunch, did some shopping, got ice cream from a street vendor and hopped on a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park. We ended the day meeting friends and touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then eating a late dinner with the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3.
 |
| The Chrysler Building |
 |
| Rockefeller Center |
 |
| The view from the Top of the Rock |
 |
| Central Park with buildings in the background |
 |
| The Met |
 |
| Ryan, reading on the steps in front of The Met while we figured out dinner |
PHILEDELPHIA, Day 5
After a true New York bagel breakfast, we left our apartment, rented a minivan, navigated our way out of New York, then drove down to Philly. We saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, ate hot donuts made by the Pennsylvania Dutch, had (dry) Philly Cheesesteaks at the famous Pat's, then drove an hour west to stay with our old neighbor friends from back home.
 |
| My view from the drivers seat - navigating out of NYC |
 |
| Jason was captivated by squirrels everywhere in Philly |
 |
| Independence Hall |
 |
| The Pennsylvania Dutch making apple fritters before our eyes |
 |
| the boys playing football on the lawn in front of Independence Hall |
 |
| The Liberty Bell |
 |
| Pat's cheesesteaks for dinner |
BALTIMORE, Day 6
Instead of spending a day at Gettysburg, like we had planned, we were talked into adding Baltimore and DC to our trip. We drove through Baltimore and stopped to eat crabs for lunch at Phillips. I have never worked so hard for a tiny piece of meat in my life!
Before moving on, we went to Fort McHenry, the site that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.
WASHINGTON DC, Day 6
Our first day in DC was a Sunday. It also happened to be the day after the grand opening of the Museum of African American History, so downtown DC was packed full of people, cars, and blocked roads. We finally found a place to park and just started walking.
We strolled past the front, then the back, of the White House, over to the Lincoln Memorial, then on to the Washington Monument with a small glimpse of the Capital Building before we were starving and left to find food.
Our South African friends recommended that we try Nando's Peri Peri Chicken for dinner, but Yelp led us someplace different. Ironically, we never found our preferred destination, but walked smack dab into a Nando's, so we ended up eating there after all!
WASHINGTON DC, Day 7
After an all-you-can-eat breakfast at our hotel, we set off to the Smithsonian museums. We started at the Air and Space Museum, then the Museum of Natural History, then we spent some time taking pictures in front of the Capitol building before heading back to Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out before rush hour, so our drive back up there took a lot longer than expected!
 |
| Ryan taking pictures in the butterfly garden |
 |
| The Hope Diamond |
PHILEDELPHIA, Day 8
We didn't get to see everything we hoped to see in Philly that first day, so we headed back on the last day of our trip to visit the Ben Franklin museum and Betsy Ross's house. The kids were thrilled that the Ben Franklin museum was completely hands-on and interactive, with signs that read "please touch" all over the place!
Day 9 was our day to travel home. It didn't want to be the "boring" day of our trip, so to add some excitement, we discovered upon arriving at the Philadelphia airport that Mike's ticket to return home was never purchased. The same-day fare was nearly $600.
A quick call to Southwest fixed that problem right away (it was the ticket agent's fault!) and they honored the $140 price we paid back in June. Thankfully, our flight was delayed an hour, so we had time to get all of that taken care of with time to spare.
Almost all of us slept on the flight home, which didn't even have a layover. We were up late every night, never really got onto east coast time, and I know we were all running on adrenaline most days!
As much as I enjoy vacations like this, I equally enjoy getting home and back into our routine. 5 of our 7 suitcases were packed with dirty clothes and all 4 loads of laundry were done by the next morning. No rest for the weary!
Good-bye, New York! Thanks for being everything I hoped you would be and MORE.
Posts
