East Coast Trip - New York City

The New York City part of our East Coast trip was amazing! We have wanted to take our kids back for several years now, so with Christian leaving, we knew it was now or never. We arrived at Penn Station in New York City at about 9:30 pm. Luckily, it felt earlier to us with the time zone change, so we weren't too tired. We grabbed all of our bags and headed out of the station and up onto the streets of New York. As soon as we exited onto the streets, all the familiar sights, sounds, and smells came back. It has been a long time since I have been in New York, but I was surprised how much I remember from our days living there.

We walked a couple of blocks to our hotel room, rolling our suitcases behind us. The hotels in NYC are crazy expensive. The three nights in NYC cost us more than the other 6 nights. The hotel (TRYP by Wyndham NYC Times Square/Midtown) was nothing fancy, but it was comfortable, fit all of us in one room (with bunk beds), and was super conveniently located close to the subway and the train station. Even though it was expensive, it was worth it. 

We got a good night's sleep, and then got up early on Friday to go to the Statue of Liberty. Jonathon stopped by a little grocery store early that morning, so we had bagels and yogurt to eat for breakfast. We hopped on the subway for the first time and took it down to Battery Park. We each bought our own 7 day pass because it seemed way easier than trying to pay for each individual ride. We taught the boys how to navigate the subway system (uptown vs downtown, the different tracks, and the main subway lines that we would need). Once again, their great traveling skills surprised me, and they handled everything amazingly well. Hyrum loved the subway and was particularly excited to get to ride it all over the island. In the past 15 years since we were there, they have finally updated some of the subway lines. The "A" trains were all new and much nicer than the other ones. They also had electronic signs throughout the stations and subway cars that told us where the trains were, the next stops, and how long until the next train would arrive... Big improvements that were long overdue.

When we arrived at Battery Park, we walked down to the check-in area for the Statue of Liberty cruise tour. The line was long, but it went very quickly, and we only waited about 30 minutes total. That was good because it was hot and humid that day. We were very hot standing in the sun, but being on the boat helped because of the nice ocean breeze. 

That Statue of Liberty is a must-do because it is so iconic. The harbor was a little foggy that day, but we still got some amazing shots of Lady Liberty and the New York skyline. When we arrived at Liberty Island, we took a few minutes to sit down and eat a snack and drink some water. The New York heat really sapped our energy. After 15 minutes though, we were rested enough to carry on with our tour. We walked around Liberty Island and took lots of pictures. Then we used our reserved tickets to go up into the pedestal for a tour. I had never done that before, so it was pretty neat. We couldn't see much more of the statue because we were so close to it, but we had a nice view of the city skyline.

The next stop on our trip was a boat ride to Ellis Island. Again, we were exhausted from the heat and humidity, so before we even started, we sat down in the cafe and ate ice cream and smoothies. We had to really make sure we were hydrated because we weren't used to the extreme weather. The little breaks also helped a lot with our moods. At Ellis Island, they have a very informative audio tour that covers all of the important information. The boys listened to the tour in Portuguese, and I listened in English so I could understand. The tour took us through the whole museum and described the place from the point of view of a new immigrant. I really enjoyed learning about the whole process, and it made me mindful of our ancestors who came through Ellis Island as they were joining the Saints.

When we got off the boat at Battery Park, the sun was really beating down on us, and I had forgotten my hat, so I was a bit grumpy. The kids, however, had a great attitude which I am thankful for. We walked up the street to see Wall Street, stopped at Trinity Church (of National Treasure fame), and finally ended the afternoon at the 9/11 Memorial. We lived in NYC after 9/11, but before the memorial was completed, so it was new for all of us. The giant fountains where the buildings used to be were etched with the names of all the victims. It was shocking to see so many names and put it all into perspective. 

We jumped bak on the subway and headed back to the hotel to rest for a few hours. A good nap and some air conditioning made all the difference, and I was ready to go again. We took our kids to one of our favorite places to eat, Juniors. We had never had a meal there, but we loved their cheesecake, so we thought it would be a great place for dinner. Jonathon really wanted a classic New York Reuben, so he and I split that while the kids had chicken tenders and burgers. For dessert, we ordered 3 amazing cheesecakes and shared them around. We got raspberry supreme cheesecake, apple pie cheesecake, anda brownie explosion cheesecake. Everything tasted delicious!

After dinner, we walked a block over to where the line was forming for our Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play. Jonathon and I have been to several Broadway plays, so we let the kids choose which one they wanted to see, and Harry Potter won out. The theater was beautiful with lots of HP themed decorations. We sat in the dress circle seats (middle of the balcony area). They were the cheapest seats we could get that still had a great view. They were a bit pricey, but it was worth it for the experience. The play itself had some positives and some negatives. First off, the play was so much better than the book! The book was a huge letdown, but the storyline made much more sense in play form. It was easier to suspend reality watching the play, and the magical effects were incredible! At several points during the play when various characters time-travel, the sound effects and the lighting created a really cool effect. There were also lots of cleverly done magical spells throughout the performance. At one point, we all looked at each other in awe, wondering how they had done that. We were all very impressed with the staging. 

The only negative in my opinion was that the producers had a woke take and changed the play to imply a same-sex attraction between Scorpius and Albus. In the book, the two boys had a true friendship that was platonic, but there were several very strong hints in the play that it was not that way. When we left, I asked Christian if I had been remembering the story wrong, and he said they definitely changed it to fit their agenda. When we looked it up later, the article said that everywhere else in the world stuck to the original interpretation, but the U.S. created their own spin on it, much to the chagrin of JK Rowling. Overall though, the positives outweighed the negatives, so we came away from it with good memories and had a fun evening.

The play ended around 10, and since we were already in Times Square, we walked around for a bit to see the night lights. There were people everywhere, and it felt very crowded. The neon lights were impressive, but it was a little overwhelming for the boys.

The next morning we hopped on the subway and headed to Central Park. We made our way to Bathesda Fountain and took some pictures. The park was nice, but once again, the heat made it hard to walk around too much. Our feet were already sore from walking so many miles the other days, so we cut the tour of the park short and instead went to see the Manhattan temple. The temple was closed for renovations, but we got to see it from the outside. I think the boys were surprised that it was right in the middle of all the other tall buildings, very different than most temples. 

Next we took the subway to our old neighborhood at the very tip of Manhattan called Inwood. Coming up out of the subway in our old stomping grounds was a surreal experience. It felt like nothing had changed, but in reality, 15 years had changed our family a whole lot. We went to our old apartment and got a picture in front of the building. Then we stopped by the playground where Christian, Andrew, and I spent so many summer mornings. Little, if anything, was different. Lastly, we showed them the church building where we made so many friends that were more like family to us back then. Most of the emotions were lost on the boys, but it really meant a lot to me to go back and visit those places. A quick stop at McDonalds for a frozen Fanta helped cool us down.

Then it was on to a Yankees game. Going to a baseball game was kind of a last minute decision, but we had a great time. Even though we aren't really huge baseball fans, there is something really cool about being in Yankee Stadium. We were on the first base side of the stadium because we specifically bought tickets that would be in the shade the entire afternoon. That was the smartest move we made the whole trip! We had a fabulous time and didn't have to worry about the hot sun. We also made sure to get hot dogs and cracker jacks for lunch because they are iconic. The Yankees won the game over the Toronto Blue Jays, and Aaron Judge blasted a 2-run home run to really pump up the crowd. The experience was everything you could really want from a baseball game. 

That night it was rainy. Jonathon and the boys went out to grab a New York style pizza that we ate in the hotel room. The slices were gigantic, and we showed the boys how New Yorkers fold the pizza slices in half to eat them. It stopped raining for a few minutes, and Hyrum and Andrew were antsy, so Jonathon decided to take them out on a walk. They went and saw the Empire State building, the Chrysler building, and the library. While they were gone, it started to pour down rain. When they got back they were completely soaked. I was annoyed because we didn't have anywhere to put their drenched clothes, but they were so happy and had a great time, so I couldn't be too upset. It was a really good memory for them, and their clothes eventually dried out enough to pack. 

Sunday was our last day in NYC. We really wanted to take the boys to church there, but because of construction on the temple (which also houses several wards), the schedules were all messed up and their were no wards in the area with church in the morning. We decided to spend the morning walking around Times Square. It was much calmer that morning, and we had a chance to pop into several shops (M&M's Store, gift shops, Hershey's Store, etc.) We had some time to spare before our train left, so we went down and saw the Harry Potter Store down on 22nd and Broadway. It was such a cool store! They had tons of merchandise there I had never seen before and had great architecture and activities. I was super impressed and wish we could have spent longer there. 

 

By that time, we needed to head back to our hotel to go to the train station. We walked a couple of blocks to the new Target and bought some lunch food and snacks for our long trip to Rochester. The Target was awesome. I wish we would have had something like that when we lived there. It was two stories, and although it was fairly small, it had most of the things that would be needed. From there it was a short walk to Penn Station where we needed to catch our train. After our last experience, we knew that we needed to arrive early so that we could sit together. They don't tell you what track the train will be on until boarding time, so we did some sleuthing on google and discovered that the Rochester train usually left from platform 4. When we walked over there, some people were already in line and confirmed that we were correct. We ended up being some of the first people on and got our choice of seats.... way less stressful the second time around. Since we were a group of 5, I was the lone one out, and a nice nun sat by me. She wasn't much older than me and was pleasant and talkative. She was very interesting, and I learned a bit about her life in the convent.

It was a 7 hour train ride from NYC to Rochester, but it went by very quickly, and we thoroughly enjoyed the ride. We got up whenever we needed, had lots of leg space, and loved watching the scenery out the window. It was a lovely journey, and we again had high praise for trains.

The New York City part of our trip was amazing and everything we hoped for! We made so many great memories in those 3 days, and I am so grateful we got to do it.