New York Part 2

So here's the continuation... The next day we took the subway all the way to lower Manhattan so I could see the Statue of Liberty. It was freezing, with a stiff wind blowing. Far different from the mild 50-something degrees we experienced the day before. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the sights.

Here she is--Lady Liberty. There just wasn't time to go out there and do the tour and stuff, but I was content to see her from across the water. She was much smaller than I expected...a dainty little thing. She looked cold standing there in the wind. Glad it's her and not me!

This is the Staten Island Ferry. I thought Spencer would love to see how big it was, and particularly that he would love the color.

Next we went to Ground Zero. Not a lot to see there besides a big construction site. I'm glad to say I've been there, though. It blows my mind to imagine such huge buildings coming down. Standing in the midst of the others, it seems impossible that a structure like that could ever be destroyed.

Next we went to Union Square where I found my beautiful purple skirt. I have a picture of myself wearing it, but it's hard to see it. I'll have to try again and zoom in more.

This is inside Macy's Department Store. They were all decked out for the holidays. It's so hard to capture the full vision in a picture, but it's the best I could do. It's a huge store. We went up to the women's shoes and just that one department was the size of my entire Macy's store here at home. Phenomenal! Again, lots of crabby shoppers. New York is not the place to go if you're looking for Christmas cheer.

This was the view out our hotel window. We were on the 16th floor. I thought the kids would get a bang out of all the taxis. I brought a little toy taxi home for Carson and it's been a major source of contention.

Here's me posing with a bronze businessman. He reminded me of Andy when he's so absorbed in finding his old "friends" on Facebook. Just about as responsive, too.

We didn't see the Rockettes, but this made a cool picture, anyway. New York seems to really have the holiday spirit on the outside. The decorating is beautiful.

Unfortunately, this is more the attitude you'll find when you start interacting with people (or trying to). You're lucky if you even get the fake smile.

We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral--a breathtaking archtectural wonder. It's open for tourists to come in and explore. It was filled with votive candles and shrines for various saints. The only place that photography is not allowed is right behind the pulpit. That's where they have several plaques indicating where deceased clergymen are. Creepy. I took this picture of their nativity, then I noticed there was no baby. I asked the nearby security guard if he knew where baby Jesus was. He said with a patronizing smile, "He's not born yet." Interesting. I guess he has to wait until Christmas Day or something.

This was Virgin Mary's little corner. She is obviously well-loved. I just thought all the flowers were so pretty, I had to take a picture.

This is (of course) Rockefeller Center. We tried many times, but couldn't get a great picture in the dark.

You can barely see the ice skaters here, but the ice rink was a lot smaller than I expected. It made me want to try skating again.

To wrap up a fun-filled day, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. It was incredible! We both left the theater singing and wishing for our dancing shoes so we could twirl all the way home. Dori had never seen it or watched the movie, so it was a treat for her, too. Even though it was cold and snowing, we were too wrapped up in "the music of the night" to care!

The trip home to Utah was somewhat of a disaster. I got to the airport to discover my flight was delayed 10 minutes. No big deal. We boarded and found out the plane had mechanical problems that would require at least a 30-minute repair. That was pushing it, but still probably okay. The stewardesses served snacks and drinks, then informed us we all had to deplane and rebook. That was exactly the kind of situation I was afraid of. I never do airports by myself. I'm used to just following Andy and being "along for the ride." This time I had to think for myself. I ended up getting a flight out of JFK nearly 6 hours later. That meant I had to take a taxi over there. Yikes! I found my way out and handed my voucher to the lady at the taxi booth. She sent me to a car and I told the driver where I was headed. After a few miles, he stopped for gas and asked if I had my voucher. I explained what I had done, and he said we had to go back for it. Oh well, I still had hours of waiting ahead, so it was okay. We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge. I got to JFK and was completely drained of cash. I thanked the driver for the ride and wished him a merry Christmas. He probably cursed me all the way back to New Jersey. When at last I was on another plane bound for home, there was so much traffic we taxied for 50 minutes. It may have been more, but I fell asleep. Anyway, I read the entire second book of the Twilight series that day and finally got to SLC at 9:00 pm. I thought I'd never make it.

Everything was in place when I got home. The children were asleep, the house was tidy, and there were leftovers in the fridge. Andy did an excellent job, as you probably guessed from reading his blog entry. Though I had a wonderful time, it was great to be home again. I don't know if the boys even missed me very much, but I sure enjoyed watching them sleep that night. I missed their little soft cheeks!