Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
The next day we were supposed to go into NYC it self, but we needed a day to recoupe from the stress of the last few days, and be recharged for the following full 2 days in Manhattan. The kids liked the park here at Croton Point Campground. We are an hour out of NYC, via the metro. We decided to stay here, as it is $60 US a night versus the $150 to stay in New Jersey, which was way closer to Manhattan.
I do have to mention that I have been to Manhattan twice before, both different experiences, once with just Adam, and another time with a close friend, and this is time was no different. NY with kids.
Day 1: Insert Taylor swifts song, ‘Welcome to NY’ and Alicia Keys, ‘New York’ 🎶
We caught the Metro line going into Manhattan and had an hour long commute to Harlem. We excitedly exited the station and started walking towards my absolute favorite bagel shop, Bo’s Bagels. Here, it was a small crowded shop, which the kids quickly learned, is everywhere in NYC, but we managed to scoop a small table and enjoyed our bagels. What makes this place so good is that they make their own bagels and cream cheese, and give generous portions of both when serving up. The kids liked them, but I think I was still the only one in love. The salt bagel with maple walnut cream cheese is THE BEST!
 |
Harlem landscape |
After filling our tummies we continued to walk towards Central Park. We did make a quick pitstop at the Harlem library to use the bathroom, and to pick up some free eclipse glasses. One thing you need to know about NYC, is that not all restaurants and coffee shops offer bathrooms, even if they feed you. Space is a premium here, and so bathrooms are less readily avaliable than when in Canada. Central Park was a different experience with kids, as I mentioned. Instead of strolling and taking in the sights (we were unable to rent bikes as the kids were not 16 years of age), the kids just ran from playground to playground to playground, checking them all out. I think we visited 6 or more parks within Central Park, as we walked South. An hour and half later we worked up another appetite, this time for some cookies. Now there is a place, Levain’s Bakery, that is world renowned for their amazing cookies, and they did not disappoint. We each bought a massive cookie. My favorite was actually Gibson’s dark choclate and peanut butter ball of goodness. Gibson liked my coconut carmel cookie, so it was a fair trade. MMMMMmmmmmm! I would love to do a week long eating tour here. NYC has the most amazing food. I lament the loss already.
 |
The Hippo Park      |
We were a bit tired of walking, so we hit up the subway, which, to the kids, is an amusement ride all in itself! We headed to the southern tip to take the free Staten Island Ferry, and to get an up close and personal view of the Statue of Liberty. She was prettier up close for sure. The ferry ride allowed us an hour of sitting (round trip), and it offered great views of New Jersey, and Manahattan from the water. John, a New York native chatted us up, and made the time pass more quickly.
Our next stop was the Empire State Building. Now, Adam and I have done it before, and so I opted to wait for the boys as they did it. To me, this was an over-priced elevator ride ($150 USD for the 3 of them), but, when in Rome. The kids liked the view from the 86th floor (it has 102 total floors- costs even more to go to the top). This excursion took an hour, and by the time they finished, we had 1.5 hours till our Broadway show. We wanted to get Joe’s Pizza on Broadway, but the line up was ridiculous, what we eventually learned is the norm here, so we decided on the Shake Shack instead. And, the boys unanimously agreed the burgers were pretty delish. We made it to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with 1/2 hour to spare.
Harry Potter on Broadway was EPIC. I was sad there was not a musical component, as I loved Hamilton, and the Wedding Singer from my previous NYC visits, but the special effects and overall use of the whole theatre made this show special. Dementors flying up near the balcony, where we were sitting, magic and sleight of hand, flying fire curses thru the air, and blacklight engulfing the theatre showing hidden messages everywhere. It was spectacular and I would recommend it to anyone. The boys loved it, as we knew the characters, for the most part, and so we were invested in the show. Wyatt sat beside a group of theatre girls that were here as part of a school trip. He was impressing them with his Harry Potter knowledge. And so it begins… 😉
After the show ended, near 11pm, we went to see Time Square, but once we got near it Gibson was too tired and asked to see it the next day instead. We knew that we had an hour train ride home, so we agreed. We walked the short distance to Grand Central Station. Now this building, while not tall, was impressive. The detailed architecture was beautiful, and it was so pretty inside. It was well organized, and easy to navigate to our track. Back to La Jefa we went.
Day 2: Started a lot later. We slept in, but the kids were eager to go in again. We left at 11 am and arrived around noon. This time we took the train all the way in to Grand Central Station and started the day off with Shake Shack milkshakes, and some street food (Adam said it was tasty).
Next, we hit up MoMath, a fun and interactive math museum near Madison Square. It was in the midst of moving buildings, so was not as impressive as we had hoped, but fun none the less. An hour later we went for a walk and realized that the farmers market was on. What a big farmers market, and oh, if I did not have the kids, I would have spent all day here. However, kids wanted to hit the bookstores and go exploring.
After eating, we all waddled to the subway to take the train back to Time Square. Here, we had more energy than the night before and toured the area, along with what felt like a million other people. This place was SO SO SO crowded. I was eager to leave, but we ended up watching some street performers - hip hop dancers worked the crowd and entertained us before asking for money. After what seemed like too much time spent asking for money, and not entertaining, we moved on. We saw some other musical entertainment happening, but we did not stop to enjoying it. We were eager to leave the hustle and bustle of too many people! Back to Grand Central Station to head home.
When leaving NYC and heading upstate, I have to say that I loved the narrow little, old 2/3 story houses with front porches everywhere. I have to say that NY has character with a capital C. I did not really take any pictures. I just enjoyed the scenery of the buildings and the colors.
We left early as was able to make it to Corning NY by 1 pm. Do you know why we chose Corning to visit next? Anyone seen Blown Away on Netflix? Well, if you have not and you are artsy like me, it’s a great show. So, we ended up here, at the Corning Museum of Glass, and it was free because of the reciprocal agreement with the museum/science centre in Oregon that we bought a membership from. As soon as we walked in the door, we all knew we would be here for sometime. We chatted with the receptionist and realized that all the actual art activites we could make with glass were sold out for the day, but the next day was available. I really stressed about this decision because the next day was the Eclipse, and we were supposed to be in Erie PA for it to be in the ‘Path of Totality’. But we all wanted to make some art, and so we threw caution to the wind, and booked the earliest classes possible the next day, so we would be able jump in La Jefa and get as far West as possible with hopes of reaching the path of totality in time to see the eclipse.
So with the afternoon ahead of us, and knowing we were able to make art the following day, we spent the next 3.5 hours exploring the Corning Museum of Glass. We saw three live demonstrations, one on glass blowing, one on glass breaking and one more flamework. All were impressive in their own right, but what drew me in, was not the glass blowing like we watched on TV, but the flamework. It is more of an independent type of art, with less help needed from others. I felt like this is something I will be trying at home in the future! All the exhibits were truely absorbing, and I did not want to leave. I loved this museum! We all took some applications home to draw something to submit for the glass artists to make. Each month, the museum creates a few glass pieces from the drawings that have been submitted, and we were all eager to try and be one of the lucky ones. Even Adam drew a puck! Gibson wanted a Dorado sculpture, and Wyatt did an image of a full suspension mountain bike. Now all we have to do is cross our fingers and wait. If they do end up choosing yours, they will mail your piece to you.
We stayed till the museum closed, and arrived the next morning soon after it opened. We watched another live demonstration of flamework before heading over to a different building to make some glass art. Gibson, Wyatt and I did some sand blasting on cups (or you could have done a bowl). It was a fun activity. Following that Adam and Wyatt did some flamework to make a couple pendants. Sadly, Gibson was not allowed as you had to be at least 10 years old. We enjoyed the experiences none the less.
We rushed out after finishing and got on the road. By noon we were driving West and making good time. The Eclipse was supposed to start at 2:20, peak at 3:18 for complete coverage, and then finishcat 4:20. We were originally headed to Erie PA, but the weather there was saying more cloud cover, so we diverted. We felt like storm chasers, but only in reverse. We were chasing the sunshine and blue skys. So with the help of a couple of weather apps, we headed south west and got to a place just near the Pennsylvania border, to a to a small town called Busti. Here, parked near a golf course, nestled in with the farmland, we got to see the Eclipse from the outskirts of the Path of Totality. Now, Adam and I are not real space people, but we do have an appreciation for phenomenons, so we got the glasses and watched the show. It exceeded our expections, and to watch the light go out for those few seconds was eerie. And the ring around the moon was so….. unique, beautiful, bizarre. It also had this red flare on the bottom left, which we now know was a solar flare, but actually seeing it live made more of an impression on us than watching it on TV would have done. I am so happy to have had this experience with my family. And later that day we found out the Erie PA had expected 200,000 extra people to see the eclipse, and pretty sure it rained during some of it. We were so happy not to be in that craze of people and traffic.
All in all, NY state has been one of my favorite states, which I did not see coming. I love the landscape, the beauty, the experiences and attractions.
Comments
Post a Comment