NYC

For my birthday in November, the Man bought M.E. plane tickets with a destination in mind, but I quickly change that to visiting my BFF Brandi.  

Brandi and I met back in 2000 in Bellingham, WA as grad students at WWU.  (a life time ago).  

She's originally from Albany, NY and currently lives in Brooklyn.  

She has always been a part of my life and will be forever.  We get to visit about every 3 years or so.    And this go around it was my turn to travel.  

I have to admit I was a little (or a lot) nervous about going solo and leaving all the boys.  I hadn't been away from the boys for more than two days in their lives and it was weird being alone, not bad, just different. It was great and all worked out fine.   

My first glimpse of this giant city. 

I arrived after lunch on Thursday of Easter weekend and we spent the first 3 hours talking at top speed and it was like we saw each other yesterday! I love that about her. 

 Brandi lives really close to the water. This is the view from the end of her block and there's a running/biking trail all along the water.  The Promenade. Looking one way you see this awesome bridge and the other way the Statue of Liberty.  Seriously.  She runs here everyday and is like "hey, Lady Liberty". Surreal. 

Friday morning we took to the city. Manhattan. Brandi was great about taking pictures and captured M.E. about to have my first train (subway) ride. 

My only request for the trip was to go to Central Park.  Unfortunately is rained off and on all day, so it was cloudy, overcast and a bit foggy. But I really didn't mind too much.  

The park is huge. Seriously just as big as everyone says.  so is the city. 

Columbus Circle.

After leaving the park we walked south down Broadway, then cut over at Radio City Music Hall to go to 30 Rock.   While walking up the cross street, I had my first celebrity sighting.  Derek Hough from Dancing with the Stars was going into RCMH.  I about flipped out.  I was on one side of the street and he the other, but still I saw him.  

30 Rockefeller Center, home to NBC and some of our favorite shows.  

Rockefeller Center made M.E. laugh because its so tiny.  Seriously you see this place on tv all the time and it seems like this great ice rink, but in reality, it's just the size of normal house.  No joke, its that small. 

My artsy "where I stand" shot. 

Time Square.  or I called it one gigantic light bulb. 

I was not impressed and by this point of our hundred mile walk (only a few miles), I was done.  

The city was not for me.  The tension of so many people was overwhelming. 

I have no desire to ever live that way, ever. 

In the above picture that extremely tiny "2015"  in the top center is the new year crystal ball drop. Again, extremely tiny compared to the jumbo trons. and 5 story bill boards. 

Empire State Building. 

We would make our way to Madison Square Gardens, where I was done and we got on a train and went to SoHo for a few blocks, saw NYU and then finally Brandi gave up on dragging M.E. through street after street that for M.E. was the same thing. Concrete and People. whew! I know I probably should have enjoyed it more and embraced it, but it was nerve-wrecking. 

Saturday we spent the day in Brooklyn.  First stop of Shake Shack a local hamburger joint.  It was pretty cool, and I'm glad I checked it out. 

But I'll take my Tulsa Brownie's Burger any day. 

The Brooklyn Bridge was also cool and I thought I'd be nervous with the height and all, but it was actually totally fine.  There's so many cables and people, that there's no way to fall off. Ha. 

The bridge was the first bridge built to Manhattan and was and still is a foot bridge.  a deck below was added later for cars.  

 Brooklyn Bridge selfie. 

Next stop Juniors, home of the New York Cheesecake.  Oh my. 

If you know M.E. you know I love cheesecake.  Here I brought home a slice of red velvet and cheesecake combo. YUM! 

Later that night, we stayed in to watch KY lose in the NCAA tournament. Bummer. 

Sunday was my day to head back home and I managed to get this great shot of the Statue of Liberty.  She's not far from Brandi's house. 

It was a whirlwind and wonderful trip.  3 little boys and a Dad were pretty happy for M.E. to be home and so was I.