Hey all. Some of you know that hubby and I are visiting NYC! I can’t wait. Here I am a New Yorker and have NEVER been to the Big Apple. *sigh, I know shame on me.* But in a few days, I will be striking out and heading there.

When we get back I’ll let y’all know how it went and see if I can’t figure how to get some pics up.

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OK all. I’m back safe and sound. No bodily injuries or emotional distress. My verdict:
NYC is GREAT!!! I did’t want to leave. REALLY!!! Now for the details…

We left on the 3rd and had a great flight. Coming into the airport we fly directly over the Statue of Liberty. The first time I’ve gotten to see her and yeah, I got a little choked up. *sniff, sniff* The landing is CrAzY! Flying over the water, needless to say I flipped out a bit. (only a bit though <big grin>) We got a cab and sped off. (NOT LYING HERE!!! WHOA!) Got to the hotel, threw our stuff in some drawers and hit the pavement. What can I say here to make you feel what I felt?!? hmm, nothing! The sights and smells that come to you are amazing. All the food hits you like a brick, great smells, btw.
We took tons of pics every day.

DAY 1:

 

St. Patrick’s Cathedral 

Rockefeller Center

        

Empire State Building….

the view from the Observation Deck

on the 86th Floor

  Times Square

   And this doesn’t even include Radio City Music Hall, Central Park (this is a day trip in itself peeps!), the David Letterman show, Trump Tower, F.A.O. Swartz (<spelling?), in general… walking all over! I walked down the Avenue of Americas, Broadway, 57th Street, 5th Avenue, among others all which hold various publishing houses.  Now that is inspiring. I can’t imagine being within the heartbeat of the publishing world during an SCBWI conference. It was over powering as it was for me. I am so psyched!

DAY 2:

We walked around a bit. Called the kids as we headed over to the TODAY show. We got on the air too!!!! Twice. The boys thought that was the coolest thing. 
Then we hit the subway. Yeppers, I braved the subway. Another fun thing not to miss! We had to transfer from the 1 Train to the D Train to get to 161st Street in the Bronx.
Hmm, now WHAT could be at that address??????? The YANKEES! OMG, just to see the stadium, un-be-live-able! And our seats!? OUR seats were great. We were in left field, first row! Incredible view, got to holla at some of the players. We managed to make the ESPN clip from the game too!!! One of the Boston players hit a homer our way. A guy 3 people over from me caught the ball!!! Then he threw it back… I repeat…. HE THREW THE BALL BACK! What?!?! He said he didn’t want anything some Boston hit.     FUNNY! This is the same game that Johnny Damon got hurt at for all yous Bomber fans.
Then we walked all over Manhattan. I kid you not! We saw the Theatre District, the Fashion District, the ‘idon’tknowwhereweare,butlet’skeepwalking’ District, and finally made our way down to the river where we watched the fireworks! TOTALLY AWESOME.

the new Yankee Stadium

meet me @ the BAT!

what a view!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 3:

Our last day. :^( We woke up and road the subway to the last stop and then took the ferry and floated by the Statue of Liberty. It was cool seeing it up close. 
Once we were back on land we went walking (again!) and happened to come across the BULL and the door to the New York Stock Exchange. We also ran across a grave yard! Yes, a grave yard in NYC. Some of the dates were before the signing of the Declaration of Independance.
Then we got to where I really wanted to go. We visited the WTC site. There are no words in any books to describe how I felt seeing it. There was nothing but space… empty space. Not only was there this big hole in the ground, but it was in the sky too. It was best simply put a hole in NYC’s heart. I took a few pics here. There were some workers around asking us not to take any pictures of the construction going on. Which I can totally understand. Then across the street I saw something that crushed me. Ladder 10 is right there. I mean right there. They lost soooooooo many from that group. And here they were, still there, still going on, still proud. After I composed myself, I asked one of the firefighters to take a picture with me… he did. *smiles* I still get emotional thinking about it. I didn’t know anyone who lost their life that day, but I knew the buildings. I knew the skyline. I knew that I was a New Yorker always. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.

The BULL on Wall Street

 

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

WTC site

                                                               Reflection Park, for those who lost their lives on 911

 

 

 

a pic of me with on of NY’s firefighters from Ladder 10

 

Which brings us to coming home. *cough, cough* I wish I could say that our trip back home was as uneventfull as the one leaving, but…. our flight was delayed for 2 hours. We had given our selves enough time to give 3 hours to get to the airport (cab ride and going security). It took 45 MINUTES! So we sat there, and sat, and sat, did I say we sat there? I almost read a complete book waiting. Oi! But we finally boarded and got home.

I had a blast!!! I haven’t even begun to tell you of all of our adventures while we were there. I’m afraid I don’t have enough space. hahahahahaha! One thing I do know is I want to go back! And yes, we are planning on doing just that. Maybe I’ll get to run into some of my writing friends the next time I go.

Best wishes,

~~~Tracey