The Big Apple (sans kids)

I'm so thankful for this blog. Because now I have an outlet for all the pictures I take of subjects OTHER than my kids! You see, I try to keep up with the printing of the pictures of the girls for my actual photo albums. I've got about 300 prints sitting on my dining room table patiently waiting to be put in the latest album. But I'm certainly not organized enough to keep a photo album up-to-date with random "sightseeing" pictures. Not post-kids, at least.

So now I can share the pictures with you, have them show up next year in my 2nd annual "blog book" that I've already started editing (Year One turned out so great!), and then not feel guilty for not actually printing the pictures. Ahhhhhh.

So. Our trip to The Big Apple.

On Thursday, Dale and I flew to New York, via LaGuardia. Many thanks out to my parents who made our weekend getaway possible by graciously agreeing to fly out here and babysit the girls! The impetus for the trip was our men's basketball team's visit to Madison Square Garden for the Coaches vs. Cancer yearly season tip-off tournament. That was the only slight push we needed!

We didn't have a whole lot of formal activities planned for the trip. To be honest, neither of us had much time to think about it, as November snuck up on us! So Thursday and Friday consisted of a lot of wandering the streets of New York. Which, really, isn't that part of the fun of New York?!?

We'd hoped that more Christmas decorations would be on display, but we ended up being a few days early. By the time we left this morning, we were starting to see signs of the frenzy, though, since the countdown has begun for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in only 5 days...

Here are the things I want to remember about our trip...

1. Benjamin Steakhouse rocks. We had a great dinner on Thursday night with our good friend, Chad Holbrook, after an afternoon/evening of walking around in the chilly rain.

2. Friday was Central Park day. With lunch at a little Jewish deli, Lansky's Old World Deli, on the way. Dale had a reuben, I had an open-faced roast beef sandwich. I lost the bet with Dale about the type of bread my sandwich was on. He said rye. I didn't think it was. We asked the waitress. I was wrong. I followed up my sandwich with a chocolate chip cookie that looked better on the counter than it actually tasted.

3. I gave in and agreed to spend 50 bucks (I talked him down from $65 without uttering a word!) to have one of those guys on a bike with an attached carriage drive us around Central Park. It was worth every dime. We heard the history of the Park, found out where many famous people have apartments, saw locations at which many a movie scene was filmed, and had someone to take pictures of the two of us together. Dale originally resisted the pictures, but ultimately surrendered after knowing he had no choice. You'll see them in a bit.

4. I passed Adam Greenberg walking the streets. He played baseball at UNC and is one of my favorite all-time Carolina student-athletes. I admit to having been smitten with him, from a distance, when I was a grad student. I've grown up since then, of course...

5. I spotted Jon Voight standing on a street corner. I recognized him as Jonas Hodges from 24 last season.

6. It's hard to say which of these two men I was more excited to see.

7. Macy's is overwhelming. And beautiful at Christmas time.

8. I saw my first Broadway play. Wicked. A+++. But I don't really have anything to compare it to, I guess. Sarah, you've got to see it. Being the Wizard of Oz fan you are, you'd love it. The 3 hours disappeared about as quickly as my box of Mike and Ike's (Tropical Typhoon flavored).

9. I went in the M&M Store 3 times. And the Hershey Store twice. Hershey's was much smaller (only 1 story, as opposed to the 3 stories of the M&M Store). The second trip into Hershey's was SOLELY to get a Reese's Cup sample following the play Saturday night. And it was my idea, not Dale's, though he gladly accepted a sample with me prior to immediately exiting the opposite door.

10. It didn't take us long to revert to "pre-kids" sleep patterns, staying up until midnight and not getting out of bed until 9 or 10a. That all ends tomorrow morning...

11. ESPN Zone only had our football game versus Boston College on one tiny TV. So we went to an Irish pub instead. The Pig 'n' Whistle. Big screen at the bar. Great burger.

12. Didn't get New York pizza until Saturday night, right before the play. But it was worth the wait. Tuscany Pizza Cafe.

13. Dale said that one of his highlights was seeing a game (two, actually) in Madison Square Garden (self-proclaimed as "The Most Famous Arena in the World).

14. As we exited the plane in Raleigh-Durham, Dale said, "You know, the sign of a cool city is when you spend the trip home thinking about what you want to do the next time you visit." I couldn't agree with him more.

15. The best part of the trip was walking into our house and having two sweet little girls run into our arms. That will NEVER, EVER, EVER get old.

City Sights

Central Park

And, drum roll please... US!