What a wild ride this weekend has been! I think we almost covered the entire island of Manhattan and even made our way up to the Bronx for a tour of Yankee’s Stadium. While my dad and Olivia were in Russia this week on a mission trip, my mom, brother and I headed to NYC!

Friday:

So after my half day of work on Friday I boarded the train in Union Station and made my way to Penn Station in NYC. Since this was the first time I have rode on a train since I was 10, I soon found out that there are no actual seating assignments after I wondered from train to train. I met Mom and Blake at the train station, checked into the hotel and headed to John’s Pizza. It was wonderful and a great way to start the trip. We then attempted to go to the Empire State Building, but once we got to the elevators they told us there was zero visibility so we decided to just go back another night.

John's Pizza

Yummy

Times Square

Saturday:

With the early start we were about to really conquer the south end of Manhattan. We decided to head to South Street Seaport to go in line at TKTS to get a half price show for that night. While we were in line (2^nd group there) we ran into our good friend Dusty Ballard who lives in NYC. It is always good to run into him, and he told us the perfect show to go see. We ended up picking Peter and the Star catcher, which was fabulous. It is the prequel to Peter Pan. After getting our tickets we grabbed some lunch and headed to Chinatown. After being hackled for a few hours and getting a few good finds, we quickly headed back to our hotel to change and get ready for the show! We had dinner at a Italian place called Trattoria Dell’Arte. My mom and I split 100 layer lasagna and Blake of course ate an entire pizza. After seeing the show we found a cute cupcake place that had mini cupcakes. It was the perfect size and I got to try cinnamon, cookie dough and tie die (is anyone surprised). After a long day we called it a night and fell quickly asleep.

9/11 Memorial

After the show

Mellisa's Cupcakes

Sunday:

We had another day packed with excitement. We headed straight for the Natural History Museum and along the way we ran into a place called the Shack Shack. I love how hamburgers are always so fresh up here! After spending hours in the Museum, we headed across the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I feel in love! I got the see my two favorite artist Monet and Degas. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the Degas ballerinas and loved just being surrounded by such beautiful work. After the two museums we headed south towards FAO Swartz and Avenue of the Americans. I think this was one of Blake’s favorite parts because I think we stayed in Niketown for about 3 hours. After shopping we ate Subway quickly and headed to the line to see the Empire State Building. It was worth the wait and was absolutely spectacular. There is nothing like it, and it was great to see everything after touring around the town. Later that night we dropped my mom off and me and Blake explored Time Square by getting my favorite Jamba Juice and visiting Toys R US.

Central Park

FAO Schwarz

Empire State Building

Monday:

Happy Memorial Day! We started the morning at Sarabeth’s for brunch and indulged in apple cinnamon French toast and pumpkin waffles. Our table looked out on Central Park. After enjoying our wonderful meal we headed to Central Park to go bike riding. It was quite an adventure and we even went off road a little bit. We got to see strawberry fields and all the beautiful lakes and statues. After our bike ride, we headed to the Bronx to see Yankee Stadium. With the Appel’s being huge Yankees fans it was so awesome being in the stadium. I highly recommend going to see it if you can. We got to see the locker rooms, museum, and sit in the dugout. After leaving the Bronx we did my absolutely favorite thing, we visited THE HIGH LINE! It is an old train track that just a few years ago two guys turned into a walk way above Chelsea. Such a cool place and there is a market that is attached. This place just screamed everything Urban Outfitters ever tries to portray and of course there was an Anthropology inside! We finished up the day at a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos and once again had wonderful food! Anyone visiting the city should try some of these places out! After eating we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station.

Sarabeth's

Yankee's Tour

The High Line

This weekend was an absolutely wonderful trip, and it went by so fast! I am exhausted and will be drinking a lot of caffeine tomorrow, but was so worth it. We are heading back to D.C. now and I am excited for my mom and brother to see where I call home for 6 weeks.