The Big, Dirty Apple

Okay. Now that the wedding is documented, I'll backtrack a tad to the week before when I joined 3 of my Austin friends for a girls' trip to NYC. We filled our quick 2 1/2 days in the big city with so much action that we barely even got to catch up with each other, but it was still great. When we did stop go-go-going long enough to speak to each other, our conversations usually included a version of one of the following phrases:

"Can you imagine doing this with kids?!"
"[Insert one-year-old's name here] would have been throwing fits by this point in the day."
"I'm so glad we don't have to worry about kids right now."
"There is no way we would have been able to do this if our kids were here."

It was a jam-packed flurry of activities that was only possible because our combined 11 children were far away with babysitters/daddies, and we were living it up. Oh, and did I mention that New York is a dirty city? Well it is. There are buildings and people and cars and smoke and garbage everywhere--especially in the subway! Yuck. But I still loved it.

We didn't make it out to the Statue of Liberty, but I was surprised by how tiny it looked from the plane!

The first of many subway experiences. What a dirty, weird system that was. But definitely cheaper than taxis. From left: Andrea, Abby, me, Melodi.

It took nearly forever to find the hotel, but finally we were able to settle in....after checking for bedbugs of course. Currently there is an outbreak in NYC, and we were not willing to take any chances of infestation.

The Empire State Building was great--mostly because we didn't have to wait in any lines before enjoying the 360 views! The wind on the top had me so chilled that we stopped at Forever 21 and bought cute jackets after we reached the ground. Totally worth $14.

Outside Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn before walking the bridge back to Manhattan. (See the cute jacket? It's so comfy.)

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and took some silly pictures of ourselves. I had to pee so badly I didn't really enjoy the last 20 minutes of the bridge. A bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge no less, is a BAD place to get that urge because there's nothing you can do about it but keep walking.

Outside the theatre pre-show. Times Square is so over-run with tourists and lights, but it was so nice that our hotel was so close to things.

West Side Story is a big fat downer, b the w, but we moved down to the balcony at intermission and had a fantastic view of the stage.

Chillin' with Vincent. My one regret from the trip is not spending more time at the MET. Should have planned better. Next time. That place was CLEAN. Very refreshing.

We did this free tour of Grand Central Terminal, which was very informative but could have been cut in half, time-wise. Do you see me and Mel's faces? We were so tired!

The girls rented bikes in Central Park Saturday morning and we did not plan on seeing each other, but luckily they caught up to me at the end of my run and were able to snap a photo with one of those classic hot dog stands in the background. The park actually is not that big when you're doing 12 miles, but it was one of the highlights of my trip.

A few other things we enjoyed:

-Jimmy Fallon show taping
-Chinatown and other shopping
-In the Heights on Broadway
-Yummy food

As much as my transporting sucked with all the hours and plane changes and pit-stops and shuttles, at least I got to fly without kids and read the third installment of the Hunger Games series, which left me feeling all thoughtful and introspective thus negating all possibilities for sleep when I was so completely tired. Turns out a short girls trip to New York makes for very little sleep, very much walking, and very many transfers in 4 short days. But all in all, a fun vacation.

The End.