Kuntry Kids in the Big City

Our Big Apple excursion began bright and early at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. With the exception of airport security throwing away my hair gel, hair spray, face soap, and shaving cream because it was not proper "travel size" (can you tell I'm not a frequent flyer) and receiving a full body pat-down at the Chattanooga Airport ( including the baby bump) the flight went smoothly. Jimmy quickly reassured them when they pulled out the scanning wand that that was indeed a baby under my dress, not hidden explosives.

I got a little nervous at LaGuardia when we hadn't even left the terminal and our taxi meter was already up to $7.25... but 20 minutes and $20 later we were at the Mave Hotel on 27th and Madison. I feel very confident after spending 3 days there, that what New Yorkers save in car payments, auto insurance, and gas money, they more than make up for white knuckling it in the back of a taxi watching the meter climb... whoo, scary!

We checked our bags in and had an hour or so before our room was ready so we took off down Park Avenue in search of food. After we got checked in and changed we headed back out to make our way down to Chelsea Piers where our Sunset Adirondack Sail was departing. We had several hours to kill and after walking for what felt like miles we decided to add one more mode of transportation to our Planes, Trains, and Automobiles day and braved the subway. We figured in a matter of 24 hours, we had been in a car, plane, taxi, train, and boat... we'd done it all.Total dork, I know. We had tourist written all over us!

We got several pieces of advice from friends who had been there. "Don't go north of Central Park on the subway (especially after dark)... NOTHING good happens there." " Do not make eye contact with people on the train and don't attempt to talk to them... they don't want to talk to you"

Good to know.

You can only imagine what people were thinking when we get on the subway and actually start taking pictures! To make matters worse, I started talking to Jimmy during our short ride and realized, if possible, I had developed an even deeper southern twang by simply flying north of the Mason Dixon line. He was like... "just shut up and hold on." ha!

The weather didn't seem ideal for a "sail" around the Hudson on an open air boat, so Jimmy asked if we could trade it for an enclosed one. It left an hour later so we had a while to look around and eat dinner. We ate at the Chelsea Brewery overlooking the marina with flat screen TV's in ever corner broadcasting the final round of the PGA Championship, gotta keep the hubby happy!

I have seen this so many times in the movies... the 5 level driving range that hits out into the Hudson. Kinda sad, when you have to go all the way to the southern tip of Manhattan to find a patch of grass large enough to hit a golf ball across and then pay $25 for a bucket of balls. Totally different world than ours!
We boarded the Manhattan, a glassed in 1920's Criss Craft for a wonderful ride around the New York harbor. It was truly breathtaking! Although there was no sunset because of the rain it was still a great way to see the skyline, Statue of Liberty, and Brooklyn Bridge.

There were 25 m.p.h. winds, 3 foot seas and drizzling rain the entire time, but we braved the wet decks, held on tight and went onto the front for some pictures. I wasn't about to miss this view.



As we were riding, we passed the boat we were supposed to be on and the poor people soaked to the bone in yellow rain coats, holding on for dear life. We felt very fortunate we got to change boats! As we docked, we saw the sailboat... notice all the rain coats hung over the rails drying out.
The next day, we took a taxi to Time Square and bought double decker bus passes. For $54 a piece, we got a 2 day pass and could get on and off whenever we wanted. WELL worth the money! It was a perfect day, a little overcast with a light breeze and felt great sitting so high where you could see everything. You literally couldn't stand up going under red lights or signs or you'd get your head knocked off. Enthusiastic (and tall) picture takers beware!
Look who Mommy met! So far, this has been the only picture Trace has been impressed with.

The Twin Towers sight... very surreal to see. I noticed that every time a New Yorker would talk about 9/11, they would say, "and the people that were murdered here that day." So true! It was amazing to see in person what I had watched on TV for hours on end during that time and to see the impact it had and still has on that city.

China Town massage parlor... you could almost hear a little giggle from all the men on the bus. Sadly for them, it wasn't one of the "hop off" spots!
We got off the bus and went to "Top of the Rock" at the top of Rockefeller Plaza. It is nearly as high as the Empire State building.

Beautiful view of Central Park...
Empire State Building...

Whew... I was in dire need of that hair spray and gel they confiscated at this point!
I could fill up 3 posts with all the pictures I took on this trip, but I'll spare you.

We grabbed a hot dog and pretzel off one of the 10,000 vendors in Manhattan and my animal loving husband insisted on feeding half of his bun to the pigeons. One of them thanked him afterwards...
the culprit...
He texted my brother and Kadi later that night and said, "We've been here a day and I've already saved your sister from being run over by a scooter, set off the smoke alarm twice and just got pooed on by a pigeon."

I didn't know how he felt about the city until I saw the text Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly... far, far away from here (from Forrest Gump), he sent to his buddy. ha! That was early on the first day, when he couldn't find a tree or blade of grass in sight. He said at first he felt claustrophobic, because all you can see are buildings and people, but he got used to it.

When we got back to the hotel that night, there was a big crowd gathered out front. We went in to ask and they said they were shooting White Collar on USA. You could really tell the tourists from the natives. The tourists where trying to catch a glimpse of a star and snap tons of pictures, the natives where just waiting on "cut" so they could cross the street and get on with their life.

We watched for a while and saw the star of the show (don't know his name)...
Then we recognized Tiffani Amber Theissen (in black dress) from Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210. You can see her name on the chair behind her.
Her husband and baby girl, Harper, were on set.The day we left we had lunch at Bread and Butter. It was SO good and huge I had to take a picture from the mezzanine area up above where we ate. I could eat there everyday and never have the same thing twice... salads, soups, sandwiches, pasta, sushi, fruit, Mexican, pizza, etc...

We were eating there when Sisty called after picking Trace up from school. This was only his 3rd day in his new class and we had been gone for 3 days so I didn't know how he would do. It was the first real conversation we had with him since we left other than a quick hello as he ran by the phone on his way to play. Being with the grands for 72 hours straight was like a dream come true for him, I'm sure.

Today, though, he was captive in his carseat and figured he had nothing better to do. I'll admit, I teared up when I talked to him, I was really missing my boy by that point. He said, "Hi Mommy, somebody cried at school today, but it wasn't Trace! I love and miss you, are you getting on the airplane to come home?"... cue, tears.

We headed to Central Park for the afternoon and to see as much of Uptown as we could before we headed to the airport. We were lugging our bags with us since we had to check out of the hotel and were wondering how we were going to manveur around massive Central Park with luggage until we saw one of these...
He gave us and our luggage a ride around the park in his Rickshaw. Can you imagine his calves?

The fountain where the Friends opening was shot.
We saw the Kennedy's penthouse, where Brad, Angelina and their brood call home and then headed over to the Plaza.

The line "I want my wedding...at the Plaza... in June" kept coming to mind. After seeing it, I would too!

We were rolling our luggage so we got treated like royalty since they thought we were actually staying there... ha! Little did they know we probably couldn't afford to eat lunch there, let alone stay the night.

Finally, it was time to hail a cab for the last time and head back to Queens for our flight home.

We had such a good time, and it was something I will never forget! I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised at how nice and helpful everyone we met was. New Yorkers get such a bad rap for being rude, but we didn't encounter any at all.

Everyone has to experience New York City at least once in their life. I can't thank Diane enough for all her help and advice, she made our trip so much easier and fun!! Thank you!