My brother Brian and his wife Nicole had a baby girl, Eva, in June. They decided to do her baby blessing in September. When Chad and I found out my parents were flying to Indiana for the blessing, we decided to tag along.
Since Chad had never been to NYC, we thought it would be fun to visit while we were out there. With our Delta Sky Miles, Chad found a deal that would allow us to go from SLC -> NYC, NYC -> IN, IN -> SLC for $15!! I don't know how in the world he found that deal, but we definitely couldn't pass it up! {Prepare for a super long post, I don't want to forget anything!}
September 11, 2013
We boarded the plane and took off at 12 am, ready for our red eye. Luckily, we stocked up on Tylenol PM and slept the entire flight. We love red eyes because we aren't wasting our day flying.
September 11, 2013
We boarded the plane and took off at 12 am, ready for our red eye. Luckily, we stocked up on Tylenol PM and slept the entire flight. We love red eyes because we aren't wasting our day flying.
We landed at 6:15 am and our day started bright and early. Our shuttle driver was supposed to be waiting for us at the baggage claim, but after looking for 10 minutes, he was no where in sight. Chad called the shuttle company and a few minutes later, we saw a little old man holding a "DeVore" sign. We were excited to get out of the airport and begin our journey into the city.
Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3 pm, we dropped our luggage off at the hotel (The Sheraton) and headed to subway so we could go to the Statue of Liberty.
Our first experience at the Subway was crazy!! We got there right when everyone was heading to work, so it was extremely busy. It made us very overwhelmed. We stood against the wall and watched the large amounts of people flow through the exit doors. After asking multiple different people for directions (careful who you ask in NYC, some people hate tourists!), we finally made it to Battery Park safe and sound.
There was a ferry that took us out to Liberty Island. Luckily, we went in the morning because it was HOT, it was almost 90 degrees at 10 am! We were only able to go up to the pedestal because the crown is booked out for a couple of months. Instead of waiting in a 15 minute line, we decided to walk the 195 steps up to the pedestal. Lets just say we definitely got our workout in for the day, our bums were burning! It was so fun being up there, the views of Manhattan and Brooklyn are spectacular.
Replicas of Lady Liberty's foot and face (the exact same size).
NY Stock Exchange
Wall Street
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There is a Trinity church right on Wall Street. Neither of us had been to a Trinity church, so we decided to check it out. Right when we got inside, a mass was just beginning. We decided to stay and see what it's like. It was definitely different than an LDS meeting, but it was very interesting to hear about their beliefs. I couldn't stop staring at the beautiful stained glass and details throughout the chapel. It was seriously incredible!
There was a really old cemetery just outside the church. I have never seen head stones that old, you couldn't even read the writing. Chad heard that Thomas Jefferson was buried there, but we couldn't find his head stone.
Next on the agenda was the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway and walked about 1 mile up to the bridge. It is the largest suspension bridge in the world. It is really cool!!
The views of the city from the bridge
The subway became our best friend. We seriously took it everywhere because it's cheap and quick, no traffic!
Our next stop was at the Rockefeller Center. As we were walking there, we passed Radio City, where a bunch of shows are filmed. We noticed that there was a huge line of people. We went up to one of the workers to see what was going on and she said "America's Got Talent" was being filmed tonight. She said in order to go, you need to print vouchers on their website, take the vouchers back to Radio city and stand in line for tickets. There was a limit on tickets, so not everyone would get one. Since the line seemed so long, we decided to do the Rockefeller Center tour instead.
After we bought our tour tickets, Chad decided we should try and get tickets to "America's Got Talent" since it was the only night they were filming it. We exchanged our tour tickets for the next night and started walking back to our hotel to print the vouchers. Chad pulled up the vouchers on his phone and read the qualifications. There was a really strict dress code, we needed to be dressed in black and no logos. We were both in light colored clothes and Chad had on an Aztec shirt. Since we were running short on time (the show started in 2 1/2 hours, but we were walking everywhere) we didn't know if it would be worth it to walk back to our hotel, change, and get back to Radio City and be at the end of the line.
We decided to stop at Radio City and see if our outfits were acceptable, that way we wouldn't have to run to hotel to change. As we were asking the employee, she wasn't understanding what we were saying. She kept saying,"You guys haven't even printed your vouchers, you need vouchers to get tickets to go to the show."
I saw another guy (he was actually the producer), walk by. I decided to ask him since clearly we weren't getting anywhere by asking this lady. He looked at us and asked to see our vouchers on Chad's phone. He pulled us inside the building and said "if you guys can change into dress clothes, I will get you seats right behind the judges." We couldn't believe what we were hearing, how did we get so lucky? Why did this guy choose us? As we started freaking out, we realized Chad didn't bring any black button up dress shirts, he only had v-necks (which weren't allowed). The producer told us to run to H&M down the street and buy a cheap shirt. An hour later, we were both in new outfits and people were still in line waiting to get tickets :)
We arrived at the show at 6:45pm. We were directly right behind the judges, like 10 ft away!! On the tickets it said, "ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONES OR CAMERAS." Luckily, the girl sitting next to me, snuck her phone and was able to take our picture in front of the stage to prove we were actually there. The show was great. It was fun to see how it works behind the scenes and to be on TV :)
Since it was 9/11/13, we ended the night by going to the top of the Empire State to see the twin tower lights shinning from the memorial. Our hearts were very full for those that lost their lives that horrific day 12 years ago.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
After a busy first day, we decided to take it easy and take a morning stroll through Central Park. I couldn't believe how HUGE the park is... it never ends!
We stopped at a little cafe for breakfast. There were some street performers dancing, we couldn't help but stop and watch. I could've spent all day there, it was so beautiful!!
After a busy first day, we decided to take it easy and take a morning stroll through Central Park. I couldn't believe how HUGE the park is... it never ends!
We stopped at a little cafe for breakfast. There were some street performers dancing, we couldn't help but stop and watch. I could've spent all day there, it was so beautiful!!
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| Lou Gehrig's jersey and bat |
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| Babe Ruth's jersey and bat |
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| This is what the players locker room looks like. We weren't allowed to take pictures of their actual locker room |
We took the subway (we saw Pauly D from Jersey Shore!) back to the Rockefeller Center and ate lunch at a restaurant called "Tri-Tip". They had the best tri-tip sandwiches ever. We did a tour of the Rockefeller Center. We saw the SNL set and where different shows are filmed. It was a way cool tour.
That night we walked around Times Square and ate dinner at Steak 'N Shake and walked through some stores.
There was a lady selling half off tickets to a comedy show. All the comedians were from MTV and comedy central. We decided to give it a shot.
There were about 15 people that showed up. Once the comedians found out we are Mormon, they couldn't stop making jokes. We were practically being made fun of the whole show. It made me realize how little people actually know about our religion. We learned our lesson... that will be our last comedy show we ever go to in NY.
September 13, 2013
My mission on this trip was to get a "name brand" bag for super cheap. We got up bright and early and headed to China town. China town is full of sketchy transactions, so we were determined to find this bag.
We looked at many shops for these bags... but none of the stores carried them. I asked a korean lady that had a booth on the side of the street if she knew where we could find them. She said, "Start walking down this street and I will have my daughter come find you."
A few minutes later, her daughter caught up to us and pulled out some papers under her shirt. She whispered, "Take a look at these bags and let me know if there are any you would like, but hide behind this truck." As we were looking, she was constantly checking for police and security. If she saw one, she would yank the papers away, put them back under her shirt and walk away. It was definitely sketchy.
The one Michael Kors bag I actually liked, felt really cheap and so we didn't end up getting it, but it was definitely an interesting experience :)
We headed back into town and decided to go to the Rockefeller Center. As we were walking around the CBS store, one of the workers started talking to us about our trip. She asked if we were going to Jimmy Fallon. We told her we didn't have tickets and we didn't want to waste a whole day waiting in line for standby, since it was a weekend we probably wouldn't get in.
She said, "Everyday Jimmy Fallon does a monologue rehearsal before his show that night. He goes over his jokes and he is more personal with the crowd. Not many people know about this because it's not filmed."
She pointed to a corner in the store and said, "If you come back at 2:45 and stand over there, a line will start to form and a guy will come hand out 60 tickets."
Awesome!!! How were we getting so lucky on this trip?! We came back at 2:30 and there was a few people standing over there. We stood behind them and a few minutes later, we got tickets!
There were no camera's allowed in the show, but it was seriously so cool! We got to meet and talk to the writers of the show before the rehearsal. Jimmy Fallon was hilarious, we were laughing the entire time. It definitely was one of the highlights of the trip!
Next on the agenda, we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was crazy to see the progress of the memorials (4 buildings, and 2 waterfalls where the buildings were) since 9/11. I was there in 2004, and it was all under construction, you couldn't see anything.
It was such a beautiful memorial. It felt very sacred and peaceful. It's hard to believe that thousands of people lost their lives from the 2 buildings. I would definitely recommend seeing the memorial, it was a neat experience.
We heard "Keste" was an amazing Italian restaurant. Since we were right by it, we decided to try it out. I got a margarita pizza and it was amazing, probably the best I've ever had!
On Times Square, there is TKTS building where they sell discount broadway tickets right before the show. We got in line to see if there were any shows we wanted to see. Right as we were about to purchase tickets, the windows closed (we didn't know they closed right at 8 pm).
We were bummed.. it was our last night to see a show. "Annie" was playing right across the street so we walked over there to see if there were any tickets left. There were 2 tickets left, front and center in the 10th row. We got so lucky!
The show was absolutely amazing. All the little kids in it were about 5 years old and they were singing and dancing, I couldn't believe it. I was very impressed with the show, it was so good, I would definitely see it again!
Inside the theater... it was beautiful!
When we were walking back to our hotel after the show, we found a local vendor selling purses. Another super sketchy transaction, but it was totally worth it, I got a Luis Vuitton purse!
Saturday, Sep. 14, 2013
Our last day in the Big Apple :( We took a taxi to Levain Bakery (we heard it was really good). When we got there, the line was through the store, up the stairs and out onto the street. People must really love this bakery! We got muffins and cookies and other pastries for breakfast, it was pretty good.
We decided to spend our morning on Times Square. We had fun walking through a local farmers market and eating hot dogs (probably the best hot dog I've ever had!)
Our flight left NYC at 3:55pm to go to Indiana.
Once we landed in Indiana, We got our rental car (a convertible Mustang!) and drove to my brother Brian's house.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Brian blessed baby Eva in church. She looked adorable in her pretty blessing dress. I'm glad we were able to be there to support.
We drove into the city and stopped at the "Soldier and Sailors" monument. We walked to the mall and met up with my family.
We said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 5:00pm to SLC. It was sad to see this amazing trip come to an end. I'm definitely grateful we had the opportunity to go. I'm already excited to go back!
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| Left to right: Isaac, Lilly, Zoey, Clara |
Monday, September 16, 2013
Chad and I went to the Indy 500, the largest race track in the world. We took a tour bus to the "behind the scenes" of the track. We got to go in the middle of the track where the gasoline stations are and see where the race cars are stored. After the tour, we walked through the museum where all the old race cars are held.
We drove into the city and stopped at the "Soldier and Sailors" monument. We walked to the mall and met up with my family.
The State capital and the Lucas Oil Stadium (where the Super Bowl was held).
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