New York, New York!

Ahh, I have no idea where to start with this post. I returned late Monday evening from the city that never sleeps after spending five wonderful days there visiting family. Just me. No children. It was like a dream.

So I suppose I'll start at the beginning.  I flew in Thursday and was met in La Guardia by my bro & sis-in law, Trevor and Erin.  We had some dinner and then headed back to their apartment in New Rochelle. I'd left for the airport at 5:30 that morning, and had to get up at six the next day in order to get ready for our amazing adventure. What amazing adventure, might you ask? Well, another brother-in-law, Trajan, works for GE, and got me, Erin, and his wife Lauren a sweet VIP tour of the Today Show!

We also got to watch Natalie Morales and Al Roker film some of their segments from about fifteen feet away, it was amazing! After that, we headed up to watch Gillian Michaels, of Biggest Loser fame film a section about her new cookbook touting the virtues of whole foods. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but Erin snuck one in, albeit a blurry one:

As soon as we left that set, we ran into Richard Simmons singing about how he loved Gillian Michaels. Of course, we had to ask for a picture, and after kissing us all on the cheek, this is what I got:

 
His idea, not mine. I have to say, he was quite charismatic :) Then we got to go see the SNL stage, and a few props and stuff.  I couldn't believe I was walking down the halls, and seeing some of these incredibly iconic sets. Since we were there on a Friday, we weren't allowed to go down on the set as they were setting up for Saturday's broadcast, but I took a picture of the monologue stage:

And one of a prop box for one of the sketches.

 So technically, we knew there was going to be a presidential sketch beforehand :) I also got a picture of a very small section of the Wall of Hosts:

And of the Church Lady costume:

Well isn't that spec-ial.  Our tour was wrapping up, and we walked out to the elevators to head back to the lobby when who should we run into? Why, Matt Lauer and Al Roker! Al Roker bee-lined it for an elevator shortly after Lauren told him she wanted to take him home, but Matt Lauer was kind enough to take pictures with us on the ride down:

After that, our tour guide Mallory said she'd never seen anyone meet so many famous people on a tour, and that this was definitely one of the better ones she'd done. Lucky us!  We stopped in the NBC gift shop to buy some swag, and then take a picture in front of a giant peacock filled entirely with M&M's.

Then we headed out and into the city. In one day we managed to get some amazingly delicious frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity,

walk around Chinatown, and Little Italy, where we negotiated the price of souvenirs and ate some delicious cannoli. We also tried on some hats, scarves, bracelets, rings, you name it.

We went to Dylan's Candy Bar, and checked out the stairs made out of candy,

and of course, checked out Times Square:

And we rode the subway everywhere. I lost track of how many times we got off an on, and how many flights of stairs we climbed up and down to get there.

I got to check out Grand Central Station, and see the new artwork on the top of the dome. Erin took a picture of me taking a picture of the ceiling, I was in awe of just how HUGE it was. We hit a ton of other places too; Sephora for makeup, Skechers to buy some new shoes for my sore feet, Toys R Us to see the giant carousel they had inside, and about a zillion different store fronts. It was one VERY busy day, and we were all completely exhausted at the end of it. The next day we decided to do something a little more leisurely, so Erin and I headed to Sleepy Hollow. Apparently the school mascot is the headless horseman, and he was parading around one of the streets advertising a car wash. Weird.

It was an amazing little town, and I'd highly recommend stopping by if you're in the area. Quaint shops, and old Victorian-style houses everywhere you turn. We went to the Philipsburg Manor and had a tour of the property. Our guide was so great, and kissed me on the cheek when I told her I was here visiting from Utah. She was awesome, and looked like she could have walked straight out of the early 1800's.

The buildings and properties made you feel like you'd stepped back in time, and the scenery was gorgeous.

Quite the contrast from where we'd spent the previous day, as the embodiment of a much simpler time.

That night, Trevor, Erin and I drove out to Hartford, Connecticut so I could meet up with Trajan and Lauren and their family, where I'd be spending the remainder of my trip.  I got to spend a lot of quality time with my three nieces, Maddy, Suzy, and Elise, which was fantastic since I hardly ever get to see them.

During my time there, we drove out to the sea wall on Long Island Sound, and went to Stew Leonard's, a really cute grocery store full of animatronic milk cartons, and puppets, and a Chiquita Banana:

We also went to the Thimble Islands, a grouping of tiny islands that people have built houses on. The only way to get to and from the mainland is by water taxi. Changes the whole meaning of "take out", doesn't it? It was raining really hard, so I couldn't get any pictures, unfortunately.

I left Monday afternoon for the airport with Trajan, who was headed out on a flight to Wisconsin. What should have been an uneventful car ride ended being quite the opposite as a semi jackknifed about a mile ahead of us, blocking all three lanes of traffic. We didn't move an inch in over an hour. Trajan missed his flight completely, and I barely made mine by the skin of my teeth, and courtesy of a very helpful Frontier employee. I guess customer service isn't dead after all.

All in all, it was an absolutely amazing trip, and one I was grateful to be able to take. Teag (bless him for his insight), knew I needed a break after having been quarantined with my two youngest kids for the past four months, and told me to just set it up and go. We've always been pretty frugal, and aren't given to spontaneous trip taking, but every now and then we like to cut loose. I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity, and to Trev & Erin, and Trajan & Lauren for hosting me, taking time out of their days to shuttle me around to all the sights, and for literally paying for my meals by force! Thanks for a wonderful, memorable time!