A Spring Break to Remember in New York City

Last other night Michaela said “Hey, last week at this time we were at Dear Evan Hansen”. If she was counting BACK to something, then she must have really enjoyed it. And for good reason, the trip was EPIC. It was about 8 months in the planning – a birthday gift for Michaela’s 19th birthday last August. Below is a recap of our visit to New York City.

Photos from my Instagram feed below… use the navigation arrows to scroll through the pictures.

Have you ever had a trip just not start off on the right foot? Ours started with a flight delay, followed by a blizzard – among other things that threatened to put a real damper on this vacation. We decided to look at the positive despite the snow building up at the airport or the fact that we would be arriving hours later than we planned. Thankfully the late arrival didn’t impact our ability to meet up up with our pre-paid car service. Although it promised us an “odor free” ride in what was obviously a smoker’s car. 🙄 I stunk anyway and he got us safely into Manhattan so I was not about to let that ruin what was coming next. We dropped off the bags & made a bee-line to the Subway but not before I stopped to take a picture of the Winter Garden Theatre that was right across the street and home to the first of three shows we’d be seeing – The Music Man. SO GOOD (but more about that later)! I admit that I had some pre-vacation apprehension about using the Subway given the drastic increase in crime. But when you’re pinching every dime, paying for taxi/Uber/Lyft to get anywhere in New York just isn’t feasible. I am proud to say that we didn’t get lost once while using that labyrinth they call a subway under Manhattan – no thanks to Google Maps. Michaela proved herself quite the navigator. We moved about easily – AND QUICKLY. $33 each for the whole week w/unlimited rides. BARGAIN. Worth the life risk? Well, if you stay away from the questionable areas, avoid that guy telling nobody to F*xx Off, keep your back to the wall so nobody can sneak up on you and stand well away from the platform edge until after the train stops, you’ll be fine. That sounds like common sense but people can be dumb. I wasn’t about to be a statistic.

When you arrive in New York 9 hours before check in time, what do you do? We headed to The Friends Experience. This planned excursion required pre-purchasing our tickets. At the time of our visit, they also required ID & proof of COVID Vaccination. Broadway shows also required this and it just boggles my mind how many people didn’t research this and opted to carry their actual cards with them. We used the NYC Covid Safe App which was universally recognized everywhere we went in the city that required proof of vaccination. All the app does is take a photo of your license and your vaccination card. It doesn’t send it anywhere. But housed in the official app, it was easily recognizable as legit. Nevermind that I was able to keep my original card safely locked away at home and not risk losing it. It was quick to use and super easy/convenient.

The Friend’s Experience is A LOT of fun. Being a big fan of the show helps. So if you aren’t then I guess go find someplace else to waste time. For us, this was pretty great. There were lots of photo opportunities for taking pictures with your own cameras/phones but also where THEY would take your picture, too. You get digital copies at the end of your tour with the option to buy them printed but you don’t have to. Digital copies suited us just fine. The experience included recreated sets and a lot of memorabilia from the show’s 10 seasons. It was fun to see it all up close.

We took A LOT of photos at the Friends Experience… so here a couple more. Our next stop was the Harry Potter New York Store which for any Harry Potter fan, is a Mecca if you’re not able to go to London (bucket list!!) or any of the Universal theme parks (Florida’s is better). Remarkably, we didn’t buy much here which left me kinda sad because I really wanted to find something. They had A LOT but I think I was being super picky at this point. It was only day one and I didn’t want to spend all my $ in one place. I did covet the Lucius Malfoy cane/wand combo & seriously considered it but then I sold my nephew on it so now I have visiting rights which costs me $0! One thing about this store that I liked over the stores at Universal were the unique wands they had. I wouldn’t mind a few of them myself. Michaela chose the Ravenclaw Diadem wand as her souvenir. While we were at the store, we participated in one of their virtual reality games – Wizards Take Flight. You pilot a Quiddich broom and follow Hagrid to Hogwarts casting spells on Death Eaters. This was cool but the Death Eaters were hard for me to distinguish from other participants and I ended up casting spells on pretty much anyone who flew in front of me. 😂 We ended the excursion with a $12 cup of Butterbeer. You get a souvenir mug – kinda cute but much smaller than the ones at Universal and at NYC prices. You don’t have three choices of Butterbeer like you do at Universal. It’s the cream soda kind. They are missing out by not offering the frozen or hot Butterbeer – both are far superior, IMHO.

Our first full day in NYC started with a late start to give us time to recover from our red-eye flight the day before. We were zombies, I fell at the Friends Experience (some can say I’ve reached that age but seriously, wearing masks that block your lower peripheral vision & being in a place where there is a lot to take your focus off where you’re going is a bad mix. Plus I’m a dork & clumsy), so I was a total train wreck. The slow going on Monday was much needed. We made our way to the Museum of Modern Art for a little “culture”. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand modern art that much. Some of it I get but there is a lot that I am like 🤔 and others where I am 😡. Michaela said I was enraged by “Blue Monochrome”. Well, yeah! It was ONE shade of blue painted on like a 4 foot canvas (in 1961). It supposedly represented an “open window to freedom”. Whatever. It’s a paint sample from Home Depot my dudes. And the very fact that it took up space in a place that housed masterpieces by Van Gogh, Dali and Picasso just boggled my mind. At least give it an ironic name. Sheesh.

After MoMA, I needed to cool down my anger (ha ha) with a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. While I have been there before I really do like revisiting this place if for anything than to see how others express their faith. I appreciated how reverent everyone was. The architecture is amazing and while in the middle of the hustle & bustle of #NYC it is obviously a safe haven for a lot of people.

Not far from this is Rockerfeller Center. We didn’t explore this as much as I anticipated because by this point the wind had picked up. Wind & I do not mix well and I had already wasted a lot of energy being frustrated with the art we saw at MoMA (gonna milk that one cuz I think it’s funny). A trip to New York should always include a visit to FAO Schwartz but honestly the best part of this store is the toy soldier that greets you at the door. Did they move this store? Why does it seem really small now? It wasn’t as cool as I remember it being and the kids playing on the giant floor piano were taking way too long. We lost interest and went in search of cheesecake which we found at Magnolia Bakery.

When I moved to Nashville in 1996, my boyfriend (& future hubby) followed. It was pretty controversial at the time because not many in Mike’s family had left their hometown in rural Pennsylvania before. His rebelliousness must have rubbed off a little on his niece because she now calls #NYC home and as luck would have it, she worked in the building literally next door to our hotel. She & Michaela hadn’t seen each other in 10 years so it was a long overdue visit. It was a great way to cap off day 2 with dinner overlooking Time Square. We met up the next morning Angelina’s Bakery next door (so good!) before taking the subway down to #Brooklyn to experience #DUMBO. We quickly learned that while the views from Brooklyn are spectacular, the wind is just as horrid. Our plans to walk back to Manhattan by way of the Brooklyn Bridge fizzled. We walked around a while hoping to find Jacques Torres Chocolate for some hot chocolate but they didn’t open for another TWO HOURS! There was literally nothing for us to do there because nothing was open… at 10am on a Tuesday. WEIRD! So we headed back to the Subway & along the way found some cool murals so it wasn’t a total loss. We made our way to SoHo to check out the Museum of Ice Cream & THAT was closed too! We were striking out big time. We headed back to Times Square & found Michaela a hoodie from the Hamilton store & stopped for some grub from Juniors – VERY decent food & excellent cheesecake! We had extra time to chill out & rest before our first Broadway show of the trip – The Music Man!

The Music Man was the show I was looking forward to most. When I first got the idea to take Michaela to NYC for her birthday it really depended upon what tickets I could get for what shows. At the time Broadway was still closed because of COVID and I was really taking a gamble that in 9 months things would be back to somewhat normalcy. I thought that if I could get tickets for The Music Man then it was meant to be. Tickets went on sale in June 2021. They were NOT cheap. If we wanted to see any other shows AND still afford the rest of the trip, it would mean getting us in the building. Our seats were in the 2nd to the last row of the balcony. Honestly, I don’t think the Winter Garden Theatre has a bad seat in the house. We may have been in the back but the theater is shallow & wide. We didn’t feel far away from the stage at all & we could see all of the joy that Hugh Jackman obviously feels when he performs as Harold Hill. We envied Sutton Foster getting to say “ugh!” every time she looked at Hugh. 😂 The cast is so perfectly cast that we forget we were watching young children instead of seasoned performers with decades of experience. They are all SO talented. But best of all, this timeless story is being reintroduced to new generations who have yet to hear its music. I didn’t realize how much of it I actually knew. My parents were on my mind the whole time because the music reminded me of when I was kid & hearing them sing the songs. Michaela quickly realized where all the music from Main Street USA @Disneyland came from! The Music Man is wholesome & great fun. Honestly if everyone had a chance to see it, I think that we’d have world peace. 😏 I really hope they will do a cast recording of the music and here’s to a huge wish that they’ll film this so more people are able to enjoy it. 🙏🏻

Sunny skies gave way to rain/sleet/snow as our next morning in NYC got started. Weather in early March is clearly very bipolar. I get it. Utah will present a false Spring about 4 times before actual Spring appears. It’s usually a lovely week before the gates of hell unleashes summer on us. Anyway, it was another morning of sleeping in and taking our time before we headed to Spyscape. This place is the perfect escape from the cold/wet weather. You check in and they tag you with an RF wristband. Free lockers are provided for your purses, coats, etc. You are shown to an iPad-like station where you can start 1 of 8 “tests” that will asses your abilities as a spy. You are generally given enough time to finish one of the tests and then you get on a large elevator that takes up to the main museum. On the way up, a recording explains what you will be doing next. Spyscape teaches you about various famous spies in history and if there happened to be a Hollywood movie made about said spy(ies) they have movie memorabilia on hand too. One of the coolest artifacts is a real Enigma machine that was unearthed in Germany after the war! As you check out spy history, you can revisit the iPad stations to continue with your assessment. You scan your RF tag each time you take a test and participate in an activity. Activities include understanding tale-tell signs of lying and observation. In addition, you get to go into a tunnel equipped with lights and lasers to attempt to navigate yourself through without hitting any of the laser beams. I was pretty much terrible at everything 😂 except I aced the lying assessment and I did fairly well with the observation. The results said I’d be a terrible spy because I’m just too darn ethical and I am not willing to take many chances. They keep it positive though. While I would never be a good 007, I guess I’d be ok as an “agent handler”… Gee, thanks 😏 Regardless of my mediocre assessment, we had a great time at Spyscape. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. We treated ourselves to some gelato at Angelina’s Bakery on the way back to the room to get ready for our 2nd Broadway show.

Before we headed to the theatre, we had dinner at the Stardust Diner. We could see this restaurant from our room & every day it would have throngs of people lined up outside. This diner has been around since 1987 and features a 1950s vibe where the waitstaff entertain you with their singing talents. Now I wasn’t expecting gourmet food but how hard is it to make a sandwich and fry up some waffle fries? We were ushered into a corner table by the front door with an obscured view. Michaela got the nachos and I a turkey sandwich. $20 nachos with “cheese” sauce? Edible but not great. And the $19 sandwich had bread that was toasted so hard that my mouth was sore from eating it & this was after they brought me the wrong type of sandwich. The waffle fries were overcooked. It wasn’t worth complaining about at the time because we needed to get going but I will say that there are many choices for cuisine on Times Square & if you need to make this a must see stop, consider yourself warned. I would definitely NOT line up to eat here.

Dear Evan Hansen was as great as they say – super heavy subject matter with language so I’d think twice about taking young children.

The sun came back by Thursday morning in what was to be our 4th full day in NYC. By this point we had moved about freely on the Subway without any incidents. We again took the train but headed north to Museum of Natural History. You may ask yourself how we afforded all of these activities – after much research, I decided that the NYC @GoCity pass was the best deal for our trip. I purchased the activity card about two months before the trip during one of their sales and got us 6 attractions for $149 per person. Many of these places were going to cost us over $40 each to get into if we paid individually so this was a pretty good deal. With this pass we planned to visit MoMA, Spyscape, the Museum of Natural History, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, One World Observatory and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island. Ultimately we only visited 5 attractions because of weather & we ran out of time. Our 6th attraction is still good until Jan 14, 2024. So the question is, will we make it back by then? 🤔 The Museum of Natural History is HUGE. It can seriously take you a good chunk of a day to actually SEE it ALL. I am very disappointed they removed the statue of Teddy Roosevelt from the entrance of the museum. I am in no way a supporter of erasing history & pretending none of it happened (good or bad). This is a neat museum, regardless. The cafeteria food is what you’d expect cafeteria food to be though 😫. This would be a big walking day because after the miles we put in at the museum, we headed across the street to #CentralPark and went in search of Bethesda Terrace/Fountain. We found it. It’s too early in the season for the fountain to be running but that didn’t stop all the people from visiting. A local Asian man played what I thought sounded like a cello but what looked like a stick and a string tied to a tin can…it wasn’t of course, I am sure this instrument has a name. I just don’t know what it is. He played beautifully and it was cool to hear it echo out from beneath the terrace. Another local sat in front of the fountain with a traditional typewriter offering up instant poetry for strangers (for $, naturally). Soon it was time to head back to the room to get ready for our 3rd and final Broadway show – Hamilton.

Our first experience with @hamiltonmusical was watching it on Disney+ which Michaela LOVED. I’m impressed by her ability to rap along to Renee Goldsberry. I can’t even LISTEN that fast! Don’t even ask me to figure out what Daveed Diggs is saying. Thank goodness for closed captions! Anyway, we were big fans before we even go to see it live which we finally got to do in January when the “And Peggy” company stopped in Salt Lake City. One can’t really help comparing casts but I will say that these musical numbers are pretty difficult – even my untrained ear knows that. All of the talent who perform these shows no matter where you see it, are top notch. That being said, Broadway in New York City is just on another level. My favorite characters are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & King George. It was fun to see the actors make the parts their own because the original cast is a hard act to follow. Who are your favorites from Hamilton?

Friday was our big excursion day – and also our last full day in #NYC. We got an early start down to the World Trade Center to get in line for the 9/11 Museum. While our GoCity pass was good for entry, it is first come, first served. So we wanted to make sure we were one of the first ones there when they opened. First observation is that the subway station at WTC is the nicest one of all of the stations we went to! What a weird alien-like building The Oculus is! From the outside it looks like one of those aliens that attacks NYC in Avengers. Totally does! 2nd observation is that the museum is one of the best & thorough displays of an event that I have ever seen. This hallowed ground needs to be visited by anyone who is able to go. Housed in what used to be the under belly of the original twin towers, you can see & feel the original foundation, retaining walls and the twisted beams that were bent over like they were made of licorice and not the heavy feet’s thick steel they were made of. The museum consists to two parts – the outer portion has a wrecked fire truck, the stairs used by many who escaped the buildings and pieces of the antenna that sat atop one of the towers. These parts you may photograph.

The 2nd part is the interior portion of the museum that is housed behind walls and protective glass. It is clearly a cemetery-like place – a detailed timeline that explains the events of that day in excruciating detail that includes twisted metal, children’s clothing, blood soaked shoes and recordings of final voicemails of the fallen o their loved ones. Tissue stations are at every display. The silence is in this portion of the museum is thick. If you were alive during this event, you cannot help but remember how it felt that day. For me, watching it from 1000s of miles away was horrifying but it was nothing like what the people of NYC, Pennsylvania and Washington DC had to go through. Explaining how it all felt to Michaela who hadn’t yet been born when 9/11 happened is much like someone else trying to teach me about Pearl Harbor. You just cannot articulate the terror of watching those buildings fall and you cannot do it justice recounting the bravery of those people on that plane flying over Pennsylvania who knew they would die yet who saved untold countless lives on the ground. But this display tells it all succinctly. I was in awe. I was once more horrified. And I cried. The 9/11 museum & the memorial pools that stand in the the ghostly footprints of the World Trade Center buildings is an IMPORTANT place for all to visit.

We didn’t want to rush through the 9/11 Museum too quickly but we had to make a last minute decision to ditch our plans to go to One World Observatory. Time was running out because we had made plans to visit New York’s newest observation deck at the Summit Experience. And to make it to that & still take the boat out to the Statue of Liberty meant giving up visiting the new World Trade Center. Planes still fly over the NYC skyline and standing at the reflection pools at the #WTC offered an optical illusion of seeing a jet flying towards the new building. I saw that & said “Nah, I’m good! Let’s go see the Statue of Liberty instead!” 🤪 It was the right choice because the boat only leaves so often and if we didn’t make it on the next one, we weren’t going to make it. I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen as the line to get through security wrapped around Battery Park. But we did make it. It was a very short visit but long enough to walk around the island and get great up close views of the statue which is NOT as big as they make it look in the movies. I had explained to Michaela that one of the last times I was in NY with my parents, the statue was surrounded by scaffolding because they were replacing her torch. I explained what the original torch looked like (which c’mon it DID look cooler than what they have now) and thankfully they preserved it in the museum they have on sight there. Even though Ellis Island was part of our ticket, we only saw it from the boat because it was nearly 3pm and we had to be back up to midtown by 4 for the Summit Experience which is THE BEST place to see the New York skyline. Yep. It’s better than the Chrysler Building, better than Top of the Rock or Empire State Building. It’s just BETTER – and totally worth the price of admission!

If you want to see skyline views & cannot choose which observation deck to visit, seriously consider The Summit Experience. I believe the prices rival the others but you get a lot more bang for your buck at Summit. It’s more than an observation deck, it’s an EXPERIENCE meant to stimulate your senses while also giving you 360° views of NYC that INCLUDE the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the new World Trade Center, NY Harbor & the Statue of Liberty. Pricing is a little more during peak times (sunset) and they provide sunglasses because you WILL need them. I suspect that it gets quite hot in the warmer months from all the reflective glass. For an additional fee, you can also take the glass elevator up to the very tip top for some of the highest views of the city. Photography is encouraged with your own phone/camera but they also provide a spectacular photo op in an all glass room where photographers will take a photo with their gear but also offer to photograph you with yours. I had suggested our sitting down pose (thankful for sitting down. I don’t THINK I have vertigo but wow, if any place would give it to me, this room would be it!) & the photographer happily obliged. He took several poses so we’d have great shots to choose from. The person who operated the Ascent elevator also offered to photograph the individual groups. He also took several poses at different angles. I was very impressed with not only their willingness to do that but their attention to detail. The views are spectacular & can be distracting to the point that you can miss some great photo opportunities. There was never a shortage of staff to help and offer photo suggestions. There was also ample security there to help you feel safe. I highly recommend checking out Summit One Vanderbilt when you visit New York City! This was a great activity to wrap up our #vacation! We saw A LOT & were exhausted but it was a Spring Break to remember.