Our New York Experience

Tim and Kaitlyn arrived on Wednesday late afternoon to join me in New York City, where I had been since Sunday on a Merrill business trip. We stayed in Mid-Town Manhattan at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers. I've stayed in much nicer hotel rooms in my many travels, which was disappointing considering what we were paying for the room, but the location was central to everything!

It rained most of the day on Thursday, but that didn't detour our plans. We took a double-decker bus tour, complete with our rain ponchos. We saw the Village, SoHo, the Financial District, the south Seaport, and more.

Friday the sun came out and we took a harbor tour out to see the Statue of Liberty. Then we headed to China Town and did some secretive handbag shopping. It was quite the experience. A little woman stopped us on the street and asked me if I wanted a Coach or Gucci, I said yes and she asked us to follow her. Somehow along the way we lost Tim. Kaitlyn and I were led into the back of a little store front, into a storage room, up a secret staircase and into a secret room full of handbags. A little freaky, but funny just the same. I got a great deal on a red Gucci purse. We bought a Juicy Couture bag for Rose, but she didn't like it so we bought her a Coach on 5th Avenue the next day. Kaitlyn also bought 2 Dolce & Gabana knock-offs during our purse shopping spree. They were great deals!

Later that night we walked through Central Park a little and then had dinner at the Brooklyn Diner (the finer diner according to their sign) and sat a few tables away from Bradley Whitford, an actor from the West Wing or Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, depending on your generation.

Saturday Tim headed to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners. We bought him tickets online from StubHub.com from a computer at the Apple store on 5th Avenue. We can be creative in a pinch. The game started 30 minutes after we bought the tickets, so we threw Tim on the Subway and sent him to the Bronyx. It worked out well because he found his way and was in his seat by the middle of the 1st inning. Kaitlyn and I spent the day shopping on Madison and 5th Avenue and then went to a Broadway play that night, after a quick stop at the wax museum, where she hung with her famous friends for a bit.

We flew home Sunday afternoon and spent today doing laundry and running errands. The most important errand we ran today was picking up Kaitlyn's car. I'll post that next.

Tim and Kaitlyn's first night in NY.

Central Park

The NY Stock Exchange. It was heavily guarded with policemen carrying assault rifles and really cute, but I'm sure deadly, German Shepherds.

Our famous dinner companion, Bradley Whitford at the Brooklyn Diner about 2 blocks from Central Park.

Kaitlyn and her play bill from Grease on Broadway. She got to pick any play/musical that she wanted to see when we were in New York. She picked Grease because we watched the reality show on NBC last spring where they were selecting the new Danny and Sandy to star on Broadway. We watched every week and our favorite duo, Max & Laura, won the contest and were still playing those roles when we were in NY.

One of the most recognizable buildings in the world, the Empire State Building. We actually went up to the 86th floor observatory on Friday night. The view was incredible, but the long lines and the hike of the last 6 flights of stairs were killers.

Mother and Daughter in Times Square.