Ramblings of a Wayward Goddess

So Saturday was a big day in the city. I got up as early as I could without an alarm blaring in my ear, and got ready to go.

We drove from Newark, through the Holland Tunnel. I’m NOT a fan of tunnels, lol. Found parking in the city and set out on our trek. We started in Central Park. I wanted to see Strawberry Fields.  We walked and walked and walked all over Central Prak. I think we still ended up only seeing half of it. It’s just HUGE.

We came to Tavern on the Green and sat for a while watching the cyclists and runner. I really wished I had my bike. There were horse drawn carriages at Tavern on the Green, so we headed over there for the carriage tour. That was nice. I love horses, and I’ve never had a carriage ride (not something you find in NC), so I just sat back and enjoyed it. It was funny to have other tourists taking pictures of us. I also pulled out my camera and took pictures of them.

After the carriage ride, we headed out of the park. We walked down by Columbus Circle and down…somewhere…ok, I was honestly lost most of the time so I can’t tell you exactly where were walked. We did hit this awesome little Irish Pub for lunch called The Emerald Inn. It was quaint and our waitress was from Dublin. I just loved listening to her talk.

We did more walking…then, more walking, and just a little more walking for the fun of it. We hopped on the subway for a bit and ended up somewhere else. Then we walked some more. All in all we walked for over 12 hours. While walking we ran into people handing out tickets to a comedy show. I love  live comedy so I was up for it.  the show was ok. Not spectacular, but for $5 I couldn’t complain.

When we left the show it was raining, so walking around wasn’t on my list of things to do. We went to eat and by then the rain had stopped. We headed to teh subway, but they were doing work on our line and it wasn’t running through that particular staion. We looked on eth map and to get back to parking we would need to either walk 14 blocks, or walk 1 block to eth next sub station, then 2 blocks to our car. We kept standing our talking about what to do and I finally said “I don’t care, let’s just do something” So we walked 14 blocks to our car. By the time we got there I was seriously hurting.

We got back to the room and I texted my friend to check on the kids, but then I crashed before she could text me back. I was that tired!

Next installment….Sunday in the city and my first Broadway show

One week ago, I started my NY journey. It started with sending the kids off to school for half the day while I finished up the packing and got the dog off to the vet for boarding.  I got all of that done and headed to get the kids, hoping to get them from school and hit the road by 1. That didn’t quite work out and we ended up running about an hour late. BUT! We did get on the road, making the 3-4 hour trek to Va (depends on how many times I take a wrong exit, have to stop to pee and how much traffic I hit).

We got to my friends house around 5-ish. Not bad time at all, for me especially. I spent the night on her couch and of course couldn’t sleep because I was so excited. She babysits her niece and nephew so at 7am, I was woken up by the sweetest not quit 2 yr old hug. Awwwwww.

Showered, dressed, and got ready to head to the airport. I’m not a good traveler. I’m one of those people who will get to the airport 3 hours before the flight, then sit by the gate because if I move, I might miss the flight!!!! Actual flying I do fine with. It’s the pomp and circumstance leading up to it that causes me issues.

My flight up to Newark, NJ (we stayed in Newark and drove into NYC everyday) couldn’t have been better. I had an A seat on a small aircraft so I was all alone by the window, and isle. YAY! We were number 1 to take off and by the time we got to cruising altitude, it was time to descend. Perfect, smooth, uneventful flight.

My husband was waiting for my by baggage claim. We headed to the hotel to drop stuff off then went on a tour of NY. It was cloudy and overcast, and rained off and on. After we ate, we decided to head back to the hotel and nap then go back out at night and see the city all lit up. We were both pretty exhausted and even after a semi-nap, we just weren’t up to go out later. We headed to a little Jersey pizza joint and ordered a pizza to go. We sat and had a beer while we waited for our order. This little place was very cool. Full of character. I loved it.

Back to the hotel, eat, then crash.

OK, that’s not too exciting. The real excitement started on Saturday, but if I wrote all about that in one day then what would I have to post the rest of the week.

I’m tragically a small town girl. Growing up it was my dream to escape to the Big City. It never happen and the older I got the more I felt like I just wasn’t cut out for city life. I grew comfortable where I was and people and crowds and noises just grated on my nerves. I used to watch the ball drop in Times Square and wish I was there….then I’d watch the ball drop and be soooo glad I was far from there.

Two years ago I went to Boston. I was very excited to finally be in a big city. Truthfully, I hated it. I found Boston to be dirty, and loud and the people were rude beyond belief. I was so happy to be home, where people let you in front of them in traffic and held the door open for you and said things like “Thank you” and “Excuse me”.

While I was excited about going to New York, I was a bit apprehensive that I wouldn’t like it once I got there. What if it was just Boston all over again? I am so glad that I was wrong. I love New York. I love The City. I was to have an illicit affair with Manhattan and flaunt it for all the world to see. Sure there were crowds, sure there was graffiti and trash on the street….but I never encountered one rude person. i even had a few people hold the door open for me (I’m sure they were just fellow tourists, lol).

I have so many stories to tell. The weekend was far too short. I now have a dream to live in New York, right in the heart of the city with nothing but my bike and a metro card for a month after my kids are grown and gone. I just want to soak up the city.

I’ll tell all about my adventures in teh coming days…for now I need to sleep.

A puzzle for you….

Strawberry Fields.

Slap my ass and call my Judy, I’m going to New York. I’m over the moon excited. I’ve never been and it’s been a dream of mine to go one day. My husband is working in Newark, NJ, close enough to the city to throw a rock out his hotel window and hit a New Yorker. He convinced his bosses that flying me up instead of flying him home was a good idea, so the transport there wont even cost us anything. How freaking cool is that! I immediately went online and booked tickets for a Broadway show. We’ll be seeing Spamalot (His name is Sir Lancelot, he likes to dance, a lot!)

I have such great friends too. I live in NC, but my best friend in the world lives in Richmond, Va…about 4 hours from me. I’m leaving on March 22nd and driving to Richmond where I’ll ditch the kids. I’ll fly out of Richmond on the 23rd and spend the weekend (which just isn’t enough time) and fly back to Richmond on Monday the 26th. We will probably spend the night in Richmond and drive home on Tuesday.

There is so much more I want to do while I’m in NY, but we just don’t have the time. I want to go to all the museums (we are planning a trip to MT wax museum), we could spend the entire day in Central Park and not see everything there is to see there. I want to SHOP! I was looking at  touristy site for all the cliched things to do and came across a day at the spa, lol, wont be doing that one. For the cost…I’d better get a happy ending.

I’m literally vibrating with excitement. Yeah, I know how that sounds, but it’s true. My husband is really trying to redeem himself for our lousy 10 yr anniversary a couple weeks ago. I can’t wait!!