Day 6: July 2, 2010

We decided to head into New York for the day.  Thought it was going to be pretty easy.  We got a hotel just across the border in New Jersey.  You can see New York from the hotel.  Boy were we wrong.  I had been to NY on one other occasion and knew there was no way David would make it in that traffic.  So we were advised to get a hotel outside of the city...which was good advice.  So I new Newark, NJ was just across the river.  That's where we stayed.   Once we arrived at the hotel, we were able to check in early and unload the car.  Then we had to wait on a hotel shuttle that would take us to the airport to catch a bus.  Once at the airport, we had to first ride the airtran to the city bus pick up.  Then we took bus 62 to Penn Station-NJ.  Once on the slow moving train, it took us to Penn Station-NY.  While this looks quite simple written, it was actually about a 2 hour ordeal.  However, the kids enjoyed the train rides.

Carson insisted on riding in the bag holder.

Our first stop was pizza.  When I was here before, a friend recommended this place.  It has some great pizza.  It is located next to the Church of Scientology of New York.

Our next stop was the little Hershey's store in Times Square.

Then the  M&M store.

TIMES SQUARE

We are in this picture.... on the left, right in front of the sidewalk

Next Toys R Us and the biggest ferris wheel ever.....

We rode on the Little Tykes car....

A view from the 3rd floor of the store for the ferris wheel.

A life size Barbie dream house with upstairs.

Next we were off to find the Disney store but apparently it closed 6 months ago.   So we went to the American Girl doll store.  This was Haylee's first time.  There is one in Dallas but we have never gone.

Once purchases had been made, we continued to walk the streets of NY.  We passed Christie's auction house.  (I did not know that it was an auction house.)  I noticed in the window a very familiar item.  This is what I saw....

TRIGGER…. But David thinks it is Trigger Jr. The museum in Branson closed and the family sold the items.  That is so sad....

To me, this looks like Dale Evans' horse....  I think its name was Buttercup...

We briefly went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Haylee and Carson love watching Home Alone: Lost in New York. Haylee’s first request was to stay at the Plaza Hotel. She was quickly told no… There are still some hotel rooms but most of it has been turned into shops and apartments. We also visited the Eloise store.

As we are leaving the hotel, a man in a baseball cap gets in between David and I, not realizing he separated us. He turned and said, “Excuse me.” He was very polite. When he turned and I saw his face, it was Pat O’Brien. Maybe he lives there???

Not too far was Central Park. We rested for a short time and then had some ice cream. Another thing Haylee wanted to see from Home Alone was the ice skating rink. Well in the summer, apparently it’s the ground for some carnival rides.

Now that we were all the way at the other end of the city; we decided to try the subway instead of walking. The coolest terminal of course is Grand Central Station, so that is where we headed.

We finally made it on the subway. It takes a while to make sure you are buying the right ticket and the right amount.

We rode the subway to ground zero. They have started build the new towers and a memorial.

Waiting on the subway….again. We decided to ride back to Times Square for dinner at 10:30… you know, it’s the city that never sleeps…

Another place I ate at on my previous trip to NYC was Junior’s. Once again, I remember the central location. Luckily, a policeman was able to give us the cross streets. The food here is great!! We also tried New York Cheesecake… David’s favorite.. He thought it was very good and so did Carson. I am not a big cheesecake fan so I thought it was ok. Haylee didn’t care for it..

By the time we finished, it was about 11:30. Now it was time to head back to Penn Station.

Carson shows off the ticket that we bought for he and Haylee that apparently we did not need because on Friday after 6 kids ride free. Were there any signs at the ticket booth….NO!!!! More money we flushed down the toilet…

Prior to loading the train, we were on the wrong track so we had to run over to the other side. …which meant up 2 flights of stairs and then down 2. While David was checking on which track we were suppose to be on, Carson got away from me and took off near the train track. Even though it was late, luckily my reflexes were still intact and I grabbed him so fast, I think Haylee was as scared as he was. That was my fear every time we went to get on the subway… By now it is about midnight… but one of the tracks was shut down, so we waited and actually left about 12:25…



Once we got back to Penn Station-NJ, we needed to catch the bus back to the airport. By now Carson has fallen asleep. There was a bus there but of course not ours. We asked what time 62 came in, he said, “that bus isn’t running now.” I almost lost it… about the time I noticed it at the very bottom, he said, “oh, there’s one more at 1:00.” Current time: 12:40. So we waited at the bus stop for 20 minutes. The bus came right at 1:00.



Once back at the airport, we caught the airtran back to the hotel shuttle pickup. David was heading over to call the hotel to let them know we needed a ride but on his way, he saw that one was already there. We ran out to get on but it was packed. There were 2 empty seats but he would not let us get on. The time now was 1:45. So once again we headed to the nearest bench and waited for 15 minutes. He was back in exactly 15 minutes. By the time we got to the hotel and in bed it was about 2:30 AM…needless to say, we slept in the next morning..



Lesson Learned: If you are going to stay outside of NYC to avoid the traffic, at least stay somewhere in New York because the subway runs all over and you don’t plane, train, and automobile to get back to your hotel…



Tomorrow: Statue of Liberty via Liberty National in New Jersey…