New York Trip Day 2

We were up bright and early the next morning (4 a.m.) to head to "The Today Show" and Rachel Platten concert.  The only place open for breakfast was McDonald's, not our fave!  I made a new friend there, who kept watching me and finally asked me what we were doing there so early.   I asked him the same thing.  He went on to tell me all about his life in New York, and called me one hip mama.  He was so fun, and I just had to take a picture with him.  He told me it was because I needed some chocolate. :)

We stood on line for about and hour and half waiting to get in to the Today Show, and then stood for another 2 hours as the show was taped.  We watched Rachel Platten rehearse, and then the cast of the today show would come out at different intervals of the taping to record, as well as Rachel performing one song at a time between takes.  It took forever, but the producers made it fun by giving out prizes and getting the crowd on film making everyone hope for some time on air.   Our feet and legs were pretty stiff by the end, and our day had just begun!

The New York Public Library

The architecture was beautiful!

The Empire State Building

We spent an hour at the empire state building, it was awesome learning about their revolutionary cooling system and history.  And the view from the top!!

We then took a ride on the "Big Bus." It was great hearing all the in's and out's of NY from our tour guide, and seeing some awesome architecture and sites.

Everyone was a little tired!

9/11 Memorial

This was a beautiful tribute and reminder of what makes New York what it is.  We found out after that there is another museum that actually highlights the families of the victims and the survivors.   I will definitely make sure to see that next time!  The fountain was built where the first tower actually stood.

Clipper Ship Tour 

The weather turned bad and we never actually got to go out on the ship!  But we did have fun taking pictures! :)

 Armed Forces memorial

NY driving range...shot this for my dad!

We got a little soaked, okay poured on, on the way back to the hotel and had to bribe our bus driver to drop us of right at our hotel.  He was awesome, I love the people of New York!

A Manhattan Miracle!

People are good!  So Kimball left her phone wallet complete with debit card and drivers license on a city bus our first night here.  For those of you that have been to NYC you know that these buses are utilized by thousands of people a day.  Well, we called the bus company within 20 minutes of realizing she had dropped it,  and after checking his bus told he told us it was not there.  We prayed and were both surprisingly calm. We did not want this to ruin our trip.  Miraculously a woman riding the bus the next day found it and turned it into the driver.  He took the time to drive it directly to our hotel and drop it off.  Then security from the hotel delivered it to our room and when I offered him some money for getting it safely to us, he said he would not accept it, but make sure it got to the woman who turned it in.  People are good! 

We Celebrated with room service before heading to our who that night!

Wicked! 

That explains it all.