Wednesday, May 6, 2009

New York City! April 22-27








My cousin, Jayni Dowse and our friend Whitney Metcalf and I went to NYC April 22-27, 2009. We stayed with my Uncle Cory and Aunt Gayle who live in Queens. My Uncle is the CES Coordinator there. It was such a treat to be able to stay with them and have them guide us around the city. I loved it! One of my favorite things was just standing in the streets of the city and looking around, especially Times Square at night. Below are some of the highlights of the trip:



























We arrived in NYC Wednesday night. Uncle Cory and Aunt Gayle picked us up from the airport and took us home to a delicious meal. They also took us to a parking garage to get a great view of the city from Queens. My Uncle Cory mapped us out as to how we should tackle the city, and where we should go on which days to cover the BIG APPLE! So Thursday morning Aunt Gayle was our tour guide and helped us learn the subway. We covered Lower Manhattan: Ground Zero, St. Paul's Church, Trinity Church, Wall Street, the Federal Building, Pier 17, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and headed up to Times Square. We bought tickets to see "Mary Poppins" that night, Friday we saw "In the Heights" which was probably my favorite! Then Saturday we saw "Blythe's Spirit". Friday we hit the streets again: 5th avenue, eating at great deli's (Carnegie...mmmmmm, meat :) and I met up with my friend Jed, who also had some other friends. So we soon all became friends...I love people! Friday night after the show Whitney and I went to the top of the Empire State Building, caught our first cab, then walked from the Empire State Building on 34th St down to 8th Street where Jayni, Jed, & Julie were...ya that was a long walk. We then got on the subway and realized that our train the "R" didn't run after midnight...it was an adventure getting home, a little scary with the creepy drunk people in the subway, we got home at 3am. We discovered that being in Times Square late at night is cool...I could look for hours and hours, but once you get away from all of the people it can be a little scary! Saturday we slept in a little then went to Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Natural History & spent time with our friends again. Sunday we walked all over Central Park again, and it was beautiful. We saw the Manhattan Temple and headed back to Cory & Gayle's ward. It was wonderful to be there and meet all of the wonderful people. Uncle Cory took us to see a sweet "Panorama" of the entire City. He pointed out where were and where all of the significant places are & what we had seen & where we had been. It was so neat, and he new everything and could answer all of our questions! Aunt Gayle had a wonderful dinner ready for us when we got home. It was so fun to be with them. Monday was our last day, and we spent it seeing the Statue of Liberty, and saw Airforce One circling for the photo-op...only we didn't know why, nor were we concerned. We shopped on Canal Street and I bought some cute things for myself, I love knock-off brands and a good deal! It was a fantastic trip, and I want to go back! But there are other places in the world I want to see too...so next, MELBA, then the big trip will be Germany! I'm excited to be an AUNT!