Celebrating 40 NYC Style

What an adventure!  Our trip began with heading downtown around 10:30pm.  The weather was fall-like but not bitter cold.  We joined a LONG line of “waiters.”  The bus arrived about a ½ hour late and our driver, JJ, was a bit stressed about that.  Still, we got seats together on the upper deck (of the double decker mega bus) and headed off on a new adventure.  The first stop was in familiar territory of State College and then we made a 2^nd stop as a break at a Pilot.  Jesse woke up and in looking around said “I have never seen so many Optimus Primes” as it was definitely a truck stop location.

As we arrived in NYC, we could ‘look down’ upon almost every other vehicle.   “That bus looks like a twinkie” is what Eric said when we saw a school bus drive by.  He also liked being able to see the top of the tunnel as we entered the big city.

Upon arrival, we started wondering around eventually deciding upon a place for breakfast.  Jon wanted a ‘real’ New York bagel so we found a place for him to do so.  A little while later, we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and Eric learned how good frappaccinos that have coffee in them are.

 We headed to Central Park where we climbed some rocks, played on the playground and watched a lot of dog and people activity.  After that, we headed to the pier to take a water taxi down to the Statue of Liberty area.  We had to wait awhile in an inefficient line, but ended up getting free tickets to the newly opened World Trade Center memorial site.  We weren’t able to order tickets online so that definitely made up for the inconvenience of our wait.  We walked through the construction zone and visited both of the pools.  It was a solemn site, but to me, there was serenity and a peaceful calm from the flowing water.  It seemed to wash anew the area and perspective over the unprecedented tragedy from ten years prior.

We then caught another boat and headed over to see Lady Liberty.  By this time, Eric was feeling some growing pangs in his leg so we took it easy there and basked in the wonderful sunshine the day was just filled with.  We decided not to stop at Ellis Island this time due to the timing of our next reserved activity.  We also ended up taking the subway to make it up to Rockefeller Center in time for our NBC Studios tour.

On the way there, Eric was a little obsessive about following each stop and how many there were before we got off of the train.  In doing so, he lost his seat to an arriving passenger.  He then stood, holding onto the pole and dancing a little dance while he did so.  He also says to us, after looking at the empty tracks, that he could see how Charlie could end up as a “meat balloon” that exploded.  This is how they  (Rose) recently explained killing off Charlie Sheen from Two and a Half Men. 

We had a decent trek but made it to the tour on time.  This was something that I had wanted to do the last time we were there, but had not made reservations in time.  During the tour, we learned a lot about their studio, network and shows (including Dr. Oz and Saturday Night Live).  We actually got to observe some of their rehearsal for the latter and just as we leanred that Ben Stiller would be the host, he walked on stage and waved to us.  No video or pictures were allowed.  Jesse actually got selected to be a volunteer for a news presentation demo so we did at least buy the recording on DVD of that as well as a souvenir photo.  It was a neat experience.

After that, we grabbed some grub – as the boys couldn’t agree, Jon & Eric went for pizza while Jesse & I got burgers.  Then, we headed off for some shopping at ToysRUs.  This is an amazing four story building with tons of sights to see.  They each had saved their money for this stop on our trip.  Eric got Shockwave (a Transformer) while Jesse got a few DSi games, cars and a couple of Star Wars action figures with his birthday money.

 All of our legs were getting tired by early evening so we actually found a movie theater in Times Square and decided to take a load off and watch Real Steel.  Regal Cinemas was in a skyscraper building so we went up several escalators to get to our theater.  It was a neat place and did the trick of giving us some rest time.

After that, the last thing on our agenda was to find some NY Cheesecake so we went to Lindy’s to indulge in that treat.  Eric had chocolate cake, but Jon, Jesse & I all got a different variety of cheesecake…cherry, brownie & blueberry and YUM.  Terrific dessert is a terrific way to end our adventure.  We then headed off to where our bus would be picking us up to take us back home.  Unfortunately, Eric was feeling sick on the way back but we survived and he bounced back pretty well.  Sunday was a relaxing, calm day as we recooped from our birthday adventure.