Grandmother does NYC

About five or six months ago, I called my sweet grandmother and told her that I had a dream. I wanted to take her to New York City. Last Christmas she had mentioned in conversation that she had never ever been to New York....several months later Whit and I were discussing this and saying how that was so sad, bc NYC is one of our favorite cities ever. There is just nothing like it. So Whit encouraged me to talk to my grandmother and see if she would be up for a "grand-daughter lead" trip to NYC.

She was was totally game! So, we made our flight and hotel arrangement and all the plans were in the works. I made reservations at this cute little B&B on the upper west side two blocks from the Park, its called the Hephzibah House and is available for people to stay who are in full time or part-time ministry. I had stayed there with my friend Amy Marie during our fellows program and had a great time! Its close to everything.

I was getting so excited about the trip. I have been to NYC over a dozen times now, but its always so special when you go with family. A couple years ago I went to NYC with Whit, his mom, Karen, and sister Clara......it was an absolute blast to go with them. So, I asked Karen (Whit's mom) to see if she could take Columbus day off of work and join us. She did and it was a complete blessing to have her there and she is such great fun!

Grandmother (from Dallas) and Karen (from Spartanburg, SC) decided to fly into DC on last Friday, they would spend the night with us in Friday and then we would leave early Saturday morning, drive to New York and then come back Monday after breakfast.

Everything we did was great fun, but I think my favorite memory happened on Sunday. We had a great brunch and then walked over to Central Park, we were walking around a little bit when grandmother saw the rikshaws.....these bicycles that have seats in the back and these guys pedal them around for you. Grandmother was getting a little tired of walking so said she would treat us to a ride through the park. We had the nicest driver and we kept laughing hysterically as he would huff and puff and pedal us all around NYC. Such a funny sight!!! We pulled out of the Park, bc I had aksed the driver to take us over to Pier 83 for our boat tour. We were going along on some of the side street, when things began to look famliar, right as I was saying "Um, guys, I think we are about to...." the driver took a left and what do you know?!....We are driving down Broadway, right in the middle of Times Square with all of the Taxis, cars and buses all around us.....US, in our little RIKSHAW! Too funny!!

here is a re-cap of our activities:
Saturday: Arrive in NYC and check into hotel
-Cab down to pier 17, south street seaport and stand in line at TKTS to get cheap tickets to that night's performances on Broadway, our tickets to Gypsy were only $30!!!
-Walk over to China Town and shop along Canal Street
-Walk over to Little Italy and feast on some of the best Itallian food ever!
-Cab over to Times Square, walk around
-Walk over to the St. James Theater on 44th and Broadway, see Gypsy
-After the show we got some ice cream in Times Square and then headed back to our hotel

Sunday:
-Get up and grab some yummy brunch on the upper west side
-Walk over to Central Park
-Take a rikshaw through the park, Times Square and over to Pier 83
-Take a Liberty boat tour to Lady Liberty, past Ellis Island and city scape of Manhattan
-Cab down to World Trade Center, take a look through the Winter Garden
-Cab back up to Rockefeller Center, walk around and then go all the way up to the viewing dock at "Top of the Rock"
-Stroll down 5th Avenue
-Take a look into St. Patrick's Cathedral
-Cab over to the Meat Packing district to make our dinner reservations at The Spice Market
-Walk over to Pastis to grab dessert

Monday: grab breakfast, walk around/shop a little, drive back to DC!



The drive into the city....me with the directions...Entering the Lincoln Tunnel~~
At the lake in Central Park....Boat House across from us...
View of City Lights, at Sunset, from "Top of the Rock" (viewing from top of Rockefeller Center)
Karen, in the Winter Garden, overlooking 9-11, World Trade Center Construction
Sail Boat and Lady Liberty
Grandmother on the Lady Liberty Boat Tour down the Hudson River
View from the boat



Karen and me on the Rikshaw in Central Park

All the ladies and the blessed Rikshaw
The Look on Grandmother's face as she is riding through Times Square on the rikshaw
Times Square

The Streets of NYC
Times square at night, after seeing "Gipsy" on Braodway!