This past Saturday morning, after a bit of drama that almost cancelled the trip Friday night, Tara and I got up early and headed to NYC.  I love my daughter, but sometimes she just doesn’t make things easy. She is not very flexible (at least not with things that involve the two of us. She wants it her way, even when my way makes more sense!)

 

Home to NYC it is just under 100 miles, and took us just about 2 1/2 hrs (we had to stop for gas and COFFEE). I’m embarrassed to say, I had not been to NYC in 20 years (6 of those I was living in Florida), and Tara had never been.

 

It was a beautiful late spring day. Not too hot, not too humid and beautiful blue skies! Perfect for a day on the streets of Manhattan.

 NYC Skyline from I-495 in NJ (and moving car!). Tara the passenger took them, not me the driver!

Empire State Bldg on the right of the left photo.

1 World Trade Center on the right of the right photo.

I enjoy driving. Tara and I usually have good conversations during our drives, but she was still really tired, so most of the way we just listened to music. She perked up as we got closer, and then got nervous when she realized we had to go through a tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel is 1.5 miles long and goes under the Hudson river connecting NJ to Manhattan. You have to either go over (the bridges), under (the tunnels), or on it (the ferries) to get there!

We parked near 40th and Broadway.

Our first stop, the WALGREENS! (I needed a rest room, Walgreens always has restroom, NOT THIS ONE!) I had heard that their cosmetic department (which I “run” in our store) , had it’s own floor, so we headed up the escalator. Yes, they have an escalator! I guess many city stores probably do, since there is more space going up then out! The cosmetic department was not necessarily bigger, just on it’s own floor.

 

Next up, we (meaning I – which is a change from the usual) still needed a rest room. I finally found one in McDs.

 

Now that I could concentrate, we headed back out to Times Square. It is a very overwhelming place, so many people, so many things to see. On every corner there are tour bus people trying to get you to to use their buses (really a GOOD idea, but Tara did not want to do this!), or handing you a pamphlet or menu of some kind!

I enjoyed seeing the big screens that are in so many movies/TV shows, and the NYE ball and 2012 sign! I could not imagine the crowd and the noise here on NYE. There was a time I wanted to experience it just once in my life, but I don’t think so anymore!

 Tara is not much on “organized” sightseeing. She likes to just “walk around” and look at things. Sometimes I think it even annoys her if I stop to look at things or take pictures. For this reason, next time I’m going SOLO or with a GROWN UP who understands my passion to take photos of EVERYTHING! My one disappointment of the day was that I really didn’t take that many photos. I did it find difficult to juggle my Canon and my IPhone. I wanted to tweet while we were discovering new things. Maybe next time I will go strictly with the IPhone while in the city itself!

 

We wandered through a few vendors. So many IPhone cases and purses! I would have like to have spent some money, but really didn’t feel like carrying any extra “stuff”.

Next we decided to head to Ground Zero. Thinking we might try and walk it, we headed out with Mapquest in hand on my IPhone.Trouble was,  I must have plugged in the wrong location. We walked for a bit, enjoying the surroundings, only to realize we were headed the wrong direction. We probably walked a good mile when I decided something wasn’t right and HAILED A CAB. I never hailed a cab on the street before!

 

As we rode in the cab and neared the site of the WTC, I tried to imagine what it was like on 9-11. The weather on Saturday was much like that day in 2001. A beautiful day with clear blue skies. I guess no one that did not personally experience it could even fathom what it was like. The sights, sounds and smells I would think are things that survivors and rescuers probably will never forget.

 

We passed St Paul’s Church and I thought of the Mychal F. Judge,the priest, who died when the first tower collapsed. He was carried to the steps of the church by firefighters and civilians. The picture of him being carried is one that always come to mind when I think of 9-11. Although we didn’t get a chance to go in the 9-11 Memorial, I will do that on my next visit for sure.

 

This building under construction 1 WTC. It will be the tallest building in the country when it is complete at 1,776 feet. It is a beautiful building.

Tara and I both decided maybe we had had enough for the day, so we took a cab back uptown to our parking garage and headed home.

 

NYC is a lot to take in! I tried to prepare myself with information for a day trip before hand, but I was not prepared enough. Sometimes it is hard being the only adult. Tara is pretty useless when it comes to navigation or helping to carry the load. She even has SIRI on her IPhone and did not once offer to use it to try and help us.

 

I don’t regret the day. I now have a taste of the city, and know what I did right and did wrong to make the most out of my next visit!   Next trip is going to be back to the 9-11 site and to the Statue of Liberty (which I now realize you can get to from NJ, and don’t have to into the city!)

Our car got to go for an elevator ride! I love that the parking garages are valet! I don’t care for driving in garages!

The trip home was uneventful  Tara was anxious to get home to spend time with a friend who was visiting from NJ. He spent more of his time here with us than he did at his Dad’s!

 

I had not had enough walking for the day (lol – I thought I would have been tired), and the weather was gorgeous, so I went and walked around a car show in town. I’ve been blogging about that on my photo blog.