So, we've been thinking a lot about how it won't be long before our kids (now 16- and 13-years-old, respectively) are leaving the house for whatever post-secondary experiences await them. As such, we have been having conversations with them about the types of family adventures that they would be interested in having in the next couple of years.
Based on their feedback, last weekend we packed up the car and made a family getaway to New York City. This was the first time that either of my children had been to the Big Apple.
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| Hitting the road, with the 16-year-old driving! YIKES. |
We got the kids just as they finished school on Friday afternoon and drove to Hoboken, New Jersey. We spend the night in a Holiday Inn Express (because, free breakfast), then took the
NY Waterway ferry from Port Imperial/Weehawken into Manhattan on Saturday morning. The ferry was great, but even greater was the NY Waterway bus that drove us into mid-town (so that we didn't have to drop money on a taxi/Uber).
Our reservation was at the Crowne Plaza Times Square, but we couldn't check-in to our room until later in the afternoon. So we stowed our luggage with the reception desk and hit the city!
It was a chilly weekend in the city, as evidenced by our "bundled" appearance.
After walking through Times Square, [getting me some coffee: priorities] and seeing all of the sights, hearing all of the sounds, and
smelling all of the smells, we made our way across 42nd Street to the New York Public Library. None of us had ever been there, but Melissa thought that it would be cool to see. AND. IT. WAS.
Honestly, the Library felt more like a museum than a library. But as we walked around and snapped pictures and marveled at the ornate nature of the building, sure enough there were people at tables and in alcoves absorbed in their reading. We saw one young woman wearing a Stuyvesant shirt studying at a table behind a political sticker-laden Macbook - as if this was just another library.
But does your everyday town library have the original Winnie The Pooh plush characters - on which the famous stories were built?
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| Tigger doesn't look very bouncy... |
Yeah, probably not.
After we left the NYPL, we headed next door to Bryant Park. I don't know what it's like in the non-winter/non-holiday season, but this time of the year the park is a beautiful oasis filled with vendors, shoppers, and an ice-skating rink. The only picture that I got of the location was the whimsical sign at the entrance:
We grabbed some lunch, did some people watching, and The Boy made a friend:
After getting some grub we headed back down Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center, where we found the Christmas tree behind scaffolding.
...and of course, more ice-skating:
As we walked around the Plaza, we stumbled into
FAO Schwarz - the famous toy store. Given that the holiday shopping season is upon us, the place was simply packed.
But when in Rome, you do as
Tom Hanks does in Big:
(For those uncivilized, you're hearing The Boy's attempt at "
Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. Also a f
ight song that is heard often at Penn State home football games.)
While at Rockefeller Plaza, we did the NBC Studios tour. We saw the news studio (where Lester Holt does the Evening News each night), as well as studios each for
Saturday Night Live and
The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. No cameras were allowed on the tour, so the only picture I got was of The Girl at a mock desk from
The Office.
After 30 Rock, we went back to the hotel where we relaxed until it was time to head back out. For dinner, we went to the Times Square Diner and Grill (which, ironically isn't actually
in Times Square). A great art deco spot on 8th Avenue at 49th Street.
After dinner, we walked over to the Gershwin Theatre for the focus of our trip:
Wicked.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the show was
excellent. In particular, Ginna Mason's portrayal of Glinda stole the show. This was my first time seeing
Wicked, and I was impressed. The story is quite unique, and the production was what you would expect from a real Broadway show. If you've never seen a show in New York, I would highly recommend it as an entree into that world. It's family-friendly, entertaining, and quite the spectacle - all with characters that are familiar.
After a busy day, we headed back to the hotel where we we able to get a pretty good night's sleep. This is remarkable because we had to share two double-beds between the four of us. Not the most ideal of sleeping arrangements. But, getting two rooms in a Times Square hotel was out of the question for
fiscal reasons.
Sunday morning we woke up and I texted a friend of mine who lives a few subway stops away from Times Square. I mistakenly believed that he and his family lived in Brooklyn, so we got a metro card and hopped on the train to 36th Street. As we were crossing the bridge into Brooklyn, I got a text from him that read, "NO! 36th
Avenue! In
Queens! You're on the wrong train! Turn around!"
Yup.
So, after doing some mental gymnastics, we figured out which train we needed to get back through mid-town and out to Astoria/Queens. Eighty minutes later we were greeting my friend and his wife and daughter at the
Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. There is a splendid Jim Henson installation there, which I highly recommend. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.
After walking through the museum for a bit, we decided to grab lunch at a local pizzeria called Sak's Place, and catch up. A couple of hours of great food and conversation later, we got back on the train into mid-town, picked up our luggage at the hotel, and caught a bus back to the NY Waterway ferry. Five-plus hours later, we were back home and simply exhausted.
The kids had school the next morning but the Wife and I were smart; we took the day off.
While seeing new sights & sounds and old friends was great, there was a much larger take-away for our family on this trip.
Living in a small town in central Pennsylvania can be something of a bubble. My kids have a relatively narrow world view. I don't say this to sound belittling of their experience, but outside of trips to Disney World in Orlando, they haven't traveled to places where they can experience a diversity of people.
As we were walking around the city we saw people from all backgrounds, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, and socio-economic situations. My kids' eyes were opened to how other people live outside of the bubble in which we live. They were also shown precisely how fortunate we are. This is a learning experience that no museum or library could ever display.
That makes a great trip, an
excellent trip!
It's true. Comic Sans font gets me triggered, even though it has just 