NYC: The Streets

I am spoiled. Not many people would readily admit that, but since marrying Jaron I'm not afraid to say it, I'm spoiled.

The night before she left for New York City, Nancy came over to say "Hi", or to bring us something, I don't remember exactly. But, she mentioned that if I could buy my plane ticket, I could go with her to NYC. Her roommate, an athlete, had become ineligible to attend the track meet at the last minute. Or she wasn't supposed to go in the first place, something. Whatever it was, it left a free bed in Nancy's hotel room.

Jaron was immediately for me going. I, on the other hand, was not so sure. Being 6 months pregnant at the time, and leaving my boys so quickly was a little scary. But being able to go to NYC for such a great deal was too good to pass up.

The timeline went as follows:

• 8:30 PM- Nancy plants idea in our heads.
• 9:00 PM- We call her to say I'm in.
• 10:00 PM- She calls with confirmation that I can go and we buy the ticket.
• 2:00 or 3:00 or maybe 4:00 AM- I go to bed. Jaron is up all night packing.
• 7:30 AM- Nancy and I leave for BYU to get on the bus to the airport.

What a whirlwind of hours! Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Our first meal in the big city was from "Kitty on the corner"; as it's affectionately nicknamed. It was chicken, lettuce, flat bread and something else (maybe kitty)! It tasted good, though.
We were so tired. Our flight was non stop and when you're traveling with about 100 other people, everything takes longer. I was exhausted and hungry but it was totally worth traveling with the team.

Surrounded. The perfect word to describe how you feel in NYC. This is looking out our hotel room window. There's not a moment that passed when I wasn't very aware of my surroundings for my safety.

Classic. I can't count the number of movies I've watched where I've seen this exact scene: A taxi, trunk popped, pulled next to a very tall apartment building.

These pigeons reminded me of the NYC pigeons from a recent cartoon. Wish I could remember the name of the cartoon! These particular pigeons were pecking around a few blocks up from Ground Zero. (More to come on Ground Zero.)

Heaps. Heaps of people, nowhere to put their heaps o' garbage. Especially when the budget for garbage pickup gets used for extreme snow removal instead. We had extremely good weather while there. The building the garbage is heaped next to is called the "Armory". It is an indoor track where the "New Balance" (as in the shoes) track meet was held. And to the left, across the one way, one lane street, is a hospital.

Access. Access to anywhere in NY. Don't get on the wrong train! Notice the red "1" on the sign? Getting on the "1" will take you pretty much wherever you want to go.

Escape. When I think of NYC, this is one of the things I always thought I'd see if I ever had the chance to visit NYC. And I was right. I took many pictures of different fire escapes this was one of my favorite.

Go big, or go home! This picture is taken from the Broadway theater where we saw the awesome production, "Lion King". Not only was the production big, check out all the advertising. Behind the beach landscape picture, a 3 story Toys R' Us! Inside that Toys R' Us... a Ferris Wheel. No joke. Pictures to come.

Busy. This picture is out the window to the right of the last picture. See Time Square? And Bubba Gump Shrimp? I had no idea there was really a Bubba Gump Shrimp company. Let alone, one in NYC! The level of busy never ends here.

Mind-blowing. See the clock? Above it is the famous Macy's Flagship store. It has 8 floors, at least, and 10 restaurants. We didn't have time to stop, we were on our way to the Empire State building. But it was cool to see mainly because I love the movie Miracle on 34th Street.

Huge. The Plaza Hotel was huge. Just to the right of it, across the street is Central Park. Now that I know this, and have seen it, I understand Home Alone a lot better. At least how he got from the hotel to Central Park so easily.

Surreal. First, I loved this apartment building and it's architecture. It struck me as very "NY". But it was the location of this building that was surreal. As we walked from Ground Zero back to the subway, Nancy and I tried to imagine what it was like on this very street on 9/11. I couldn't do it. I think my mind, my emotions were not able to grasp it.

Trump Tower. It looks just like you would see it on T.V. Except, it's on a one way street. A very posh, one way street. It's also near the Atlas statue and Rockefeller Center.

Scaffolding, construction, steam. There was a lot of it and it helped me feel at home because of all the orange. This particular steam was next to Ground Zero.

Another reference here to "Go big or go home": a Mini Cooper on the side of a building. And you know you're in the big city when you come out of the subway and see a car, on a building. It was definitely not something I'd see at home.

The Fashion District, by mistake. We got off the subway at the right stop, but went the wrong direction.

We didn't actually attend the show, but my dad loves David Letterman. So I took a picture in front of it. Our hotel was about 2 blocks from here.

Atlas. Not sure why he's here, but I knew I'd seen him before.

Rockefeller Center. See the red line through the flag poles? That's the news reel from the Today Show. It's cool to see things in person that you've only seen on T.V.

Radio City Music Hall is right down the street from Rockefeller Center.

NYC is such a highly concentrated town. Most everything is closer together than you think. I've always thought, because of the way I've seen it on T.V. that it was much bigger than it actually is.

My overall opinion of NYC is... once is enough! One of the first things I wanted to do when I got home was to drive myself somewhere, anywhere. I needed that feeling of autonomy back.

Come back for pictures of Ground Zero, crazy shops, The Empire State Building, the temple, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.