NYC 2013

I'm so glad to have a good amount of time off during the summer so I can travel and visit family and friends. This summer I went to Michigan and Pennsylvania. One of my dearest friends Wendy lives in Michigan and I have gone out to see her almost every year for the 16 years she's been out of state. I flew out to her place and spent a week there then drove over to Pennsylvania where I could spend some time with my brother and his family. We took one day to go over to New York City and find some new adventures there. We parked our cars by Yankee Stadium then rode the subway to Manhattan. Our first stop was the 9/11 Memorial where we were able to walk around and see the two fountains memorializing the Twin Towers. It was an amazing site and experience. It was hard to image the devastation that came to this city nearly 12 years ago. Touching the names of some of the people who were lost on that fateful day was surreal. 

Our next stop was Times Square. I wasn't sure what to expect really but it was amazing. There are billboards, signs, shops and people everywhere! You could spend days in just this part of town. 

After catching some great food at an Italian restaurant we made our way up to the corner of Central Park where I split off from the rest of the family for a while. I had made plans to meet a friend of mine for dinner. The family jumped on the subway and headed up to Yankee Stadium for the game that was going to start. I stayed there and waited to meet up with Brett. We walked for a little while and walked past some pretty cool places. I'll definitely need to come back and get more of a tour from my impromptu NYC guide. We walked by the Manhattan Temple and took a few pictures. It was so weird to see it on a city block surrounded by common buildings on each side. 

After a quick dinner we headed toward the subway to get to the Yankee game. Brett was such a gentleman and took me all the way there so I didn't have to be alone trying to find my way. 

I arrived at the game during the seventh inning but loved watching the rest of the game. It was my first professional baseball game and I was elated!! The Yankees lost but it was tons of fun non the less. Of course I had to get a team hat before I left. ;)

After the game and a little souvenir shopping, my brother told me that we were going to drive our cars back down to Times Square to pick up a cheese cake. Yummm! I was excited to give driving in Manhattan at night a shot so we took off. I had to stay super close to Jason in the car in front of me. Those New York drivers will squeeze into the smallest of spaces on the road. Apparently 1/3 of a car length is PLENTY of room for them to jump in. It was cool and I'm happy to say I drove a car in Manhattan at night and no one got hurt!