New York New York

On Friday we slept in and got breakfast at the hotel and walked by the river front for a couple miles. When we came back, we were talking about what to do for the day. I had mentioned that we were only 3.5 hours from New York. I have always wanted to see New York! I was just joking actually but after Robb finished with his work calls, he said, Lets go to New York City! I'm not going to lie, I was thrilled! We didn't have much for plans other than I really wanted to see the Rockefeller tree and The Statue of Liberty. So, we set off. We soon learned that the Interstate to NY was painfully slow and busy! At one point it said we had 10 miles to go and 60 minutes. That's a little different than NE. When we had told Sal, a guy that Robb was working with on this project, that we headed to NY, he thought we were CRAZY. He lives in Connecticut and hadn't been to NY due to the crazy traffic and driving. We didn't even know what we didn't know but I knew that 3-4 hours away was the closest that I was going to get anytime soon. It sure beats the 19 hours from Nebraska.

Thankfully, Robb drove in NY because at times it was scary! We paid $60 to park in the valet lot because that was the only spot to park. We walked to Rockefeller Center first. I have always wanted to see the big lit up tree. As it turns out they do the annual lighting of the tree the day after Thanksgiving. The best view of the tree that I got was seeing it covered in scaffolding while they applied the lights. Bummer! Its ok. It was still exhilarating being in NY. It was busy and bright. Robb and I were surprised how much trash was stacked on the streets and sidewalks. We weren't sure if there was a trash strike or labor shortage, but it was very odd to see 50+ trash bags stacked in front of every business on their front sidewalk. We walked through Time Square, and people watched.

The site of the Today's show. 

This was the tree that I was really wanting to see. Not much of a view huh!

This was the ice-skating at Rockafeller Center.

So many billboards and crowds and food carts and honking!

And people in character, you never know when you are going to see a random Spiderman.

We walked to Central Park and walked around for a little bit but we got out of the crowds and decided it was probably safer to stay where it was busy.

Robb had us take a detour into what we thought was a strip mall to find a bathroom. Turns out if was one of the hallways of Grand Central Station. This building was really neat and huge and busy as expected.

There was a high police presence here and also Armed Military guys carrying AR. Unnerving! 

We saw the Empire State Building. I will say, for the amount of walking that it took, it was a little underwhelming.

The New York Skyline. It was so unlike what we are used to! All the buildings were huge and so close together. 

The bridges were really neat. 

We drove a really long way to a Statue of Liberty viewing site. We were still really far away and the viewing area pretty dark and secluded so we didn't stick around for very long. I wasn't able to get a good picture due to the lights, but it was very cool to see. Tonight, was a night that I will remember! It's not every day that you decide to visit New York on a whim.