NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Just about two months ago, Adam and I had our 11th anniversary. We decided to go to New York to celebrate (since we were at a funeral for our 10th). We had a GREAT time - the only regret was we didn't stay longer!!

Our adventure began with our cab ride to the hotel at 1:00AM: We walked out of the airport to get a cab to our hotel. Adam's friend, Josh, had advised we only take the yellow taxis, but a man just came right up and "wisked" us away to his car...a dark black cadillac, tinted windows and all beat up - we got inside anyway! I was so nervous, I kept thinking in my head, 'maybe I'll pretend to call my mom and tell her we're on the way to the hotel and we'll see her in a minute' so this mobster would think that we would be missed if not dropped off at our destination right away!

We drove through multiple alleys, and everytime we did, I thought "this was it...I can't believe we didn't even make it to our hotel!?!" but, in the end, we did...and decided from then on, to follow Josh's advice, not just for our safety, but to keep our blood pressure down!

Our hotel was right in time square - views from our room, 22nd floor:

We woke up the next morning at...10:30a (woo hoo!) and headed down to Time Square:

Went to Roxy's deli for an early lunch. We looked at the menu and couldn't believe that a sandwich cost $26.00...until we saw the sandwich!! (and I ate the other half....)

We wanted to see a few Broadway shows while we were there - two for sure - Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. Josh had also advised we buy any Broadway tickets in New York vs. in advance...you can get them for a discounted price at the TKTS booth in Time Square, so we headed there next to buy tickets for that night...we were able to get tickets for Phantom of the Opera - and it was AMAZING!!

Before the show, we went to Rockefeller Center to Top of the Rock - that was an amazing view!

New York's skyline is something!

We walked past some huge cathedrals and had to take a peek inside one - St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue:

The next day we took the subway to Central Park to see the museums...turns out our feet only allowed us to see one (and we were there for 4 hours) We had to pick the Museum of Natural History (we had to see the characters from Night at the Museum)

Here's "Dum Dum...bring me sum Gum Gum..." and the whale (and a really huge tree)..we were too tired to make all the way up to the last floor to see the infamous T-Rex...oh well...

That night, we decided to go see Mary Poppins on Broadway (since you can't get Wicked tickets through TKTS) . What a FUN, Family friendly show!! It had some great new songs, a revamped "supercalifragelistic" song and some great special effects! After the show and dinner, we were walking back to our hotel and came across a crowd of people - we peeped in and saw this amazing artist! Watch this:




I was thinking, "why is everyone watching this abstract artist so closely and why are people standing in line to buy on of these?" (b/c I'm not an abstract art kind of a person) - and then he continued...

wait, here's a little more of the progression...

And one more to finish off the painting that people were waiting in line for (inlcuding us after we had seen the finished painting)...it's amazing what this man could do with spray paint, a few random plastic lids, and a razor blade!

For our last day in New York we decided we had to 1. go see the Statue of Liberty and 2. Try to get tickets to Wicked!

She is an amazing work of art and sculpture!

On our way back from touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, we met a nice lady from Texas who was going to walk to "Ground Zero" when she got off the ferry; We decided to do the same...we ate at a deli just right across the street from the site and it was a little eerie. The deli had been used as a water station for firefighters. They had pictures and signs from 9/11 and the days after. The site was all fenced off - which I was a little disappointed in that because I wanted to SEE the actual place - it seemed the whole block surrounding ground zero had a somber mood about it...everything was a little bit quieter there than anywhere else we had been. They had a little make shift memorial/museum right there as well, but just looking inside, I knew I would cry if I went in, so we chose not to go and see anymore.


It still amazes me that it all happened -

Now, for the finale of our trip comes the best story!! As mentioned before, we really wanted to see Wicked, but found the shows were all sold out for a week (except for the $250.00/ ticket seats). We were going to see a show called Rock of Ages that night, but I just wanted to go and see if, possibly, someone had cancelled their Wicked tickets. We walked all the way to the theater and were told the tickets were still all sold out, but we could stand in the cancellation line and might possibly get tickets (for full asking price).

Adam and I did not want to waste our whole day waiting in a line where we MIGHT get tickets, so we decided to leave...however, while we were walking out of the theater we noticed a Lottery sign and asked the ticketman how that worked. He told us , 1 1/2 hours before the show, you could stand in line to put your name in a lotter drawing for two tickets and then, if your name was drawn, you would get two tickets to the show. We thought it was worth a try (are you guessing where this is going since it's such a long drawn out story?!?) We stood in line, put our names in the lottery and waited...there were about 300 other people signing up for the lottery as well...

After 1/2 hour of people signing up for the lottery, they came out to announce the names (they gave away 6 sets of tickets). I told Adam if I won I would scream and go running up there like they do on the Price is Right... and wouldn't you know it...MY NAME WAS THE FIRST ONE CALLED!! And I kept my promise by throwing my hands up in the air, screaming and running up to get my WICKED TICKETS!!

Now, the tickets were still not free, we had to be able to show our I.D. and pay cash for the tickets (thank heavens Adam is a "cash man"...I only do debit) We had to pay a WHOPPING $26.25 per ticket for FRONT ROW seats!! It was awesome!!

This picture is of the stage curtain, from our seats, without zoom..!!

Needless to say, our trip ended with a BANG! We had a great time together - I love that, even after 11 years of being married, having to deal with childrenand the stress of day to day life - that Adam and I can still just go and have fun together and still enjoy each other's company so much!! I love him a ton and plan on taking many more trips, including another to NY someday, with him!!

Goodbye New York!