New York City - Day 1

My mom and I are taking a short bus tour to New York City. She hasn't been on a vacation in several years because of my dad's health and we've both wanted to visit New York. We found this "long weekend getaway" tour online and the timing is perfect. In a way it's a little bittersweet as we still miss my dad very much; in fact, there have been several times today that one of us has said we can't wait to tell dad about something. But we know he would want us to enjoy ourselves and that's what we plan to do. It's good to have this short vacation time together.

We started off very early this morning (5:30 a.m.) boarding our Blue Lakes Charter bus in Adrian, Michigan and then spent a very l-o-n-g day traveling. I didn't realize how long of a drive it is (although we stopped for a few short breaks). Beautiful scenery along the way, though. We even saw the sunrise.

We arrived at our New Jersey hotel around 5:30 and then headed into the city for the evening. Did you know the Lincoln Tunnel goes under the Hudson River? I hope they keep checking to make sure there are no leaks!

About half of us had New York pizza for supper at Cafe Rustico II - delicious!

Then we walked to Times Square for a bit of exploration. Apparently you can find almost anything there: caricaturists, rappers, live snakes (being held by people, not just wandering around!), girls in thongs and body paint (nothing else) in patriotic red - white- and blue colors, costumed characters, and tons of people with cell phones. Actually tons of people in general.

I did learn a lesson involving the costumed characters. As we were walking past some of them I thought it might be fun to have my picture taken with one of them to show my students. "Elmo" saw me glancing over and immediately came up to me, shook my hand, and began to pose. I realized I was going to have to give him a tip, so I handed my mom my phone to take a photo. As she started taking the picture, three other costumed characters slid into place next to us and then I had to give them each a dollar! (Even though they didn't all get in the photo!) So from now on, I will not make eye contact with any costumed characters in New York City!

The photo that ended up costing me $4!

Lots of lights, signs, tall buildings, people, movement = a busy place! 

And we found the theater where Amazing Grace is playing - can't wait to see the show on Saturday!