Life With Briana

March 20, 2019

Day 5 - Heading Home

While we were in NY, we had heard that a winter storm was going to come through the Wednesday we were leaving. It was supposed to hit around 1:00PM or so, and that is when our flight was going to leave Newark. Doug received a message from Delta on Tuesday saying we could try to change our flight. So, he called and he managed to change our flight to 10AM out of LaGuardia instead. Thank goodness! We didn't want to get stranded trying to get out of Newark!

We flew out easily before the snow hit and arrived home to very rainy Atlanta - where it proceeded to rain the rest of that week! Yikes!

I can say that our first visit to NYC was a big success. We had a great time. There are so many things we still wanted to do, but we just ran out of time. So, now we have an excuse to go back. ;)

If you like hustle and bustle, don't mind crowds and enjoy city life, you will love visiting NYC.

I have to say, with my anxiety issues (which I still battle on a daily basis), I did amazingly well on this trip. Yay me.

I give NYC - two thumbs up!!!

If you missed any of my posts, here they are (just click the link). You can also find them in my sidebar...

Thanks so much for reading along. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm already thinking about when we can go back and do all the things we didn't get to do the first time.

Our next big trip coming up this summer - Hawaii! Stay tuned!

March 19, 2019

Day 4 - Central Park and The Strip House

It was time to head up to Central Park, so we took the subway once again. After several days of go, go, go, Briana was getting tired. She decided to close her eyes and rest on the train. Dad decided to take advantage of the situation...

She finally realized he was being a dork...

Central Park ahead...

Central Park!

So many horse carriages...

We were not really sure where we were heading once in the park, but we came across Heckscher Playround...

It's a great place for photo opps...

Bri wanted to swing a little...

I joined her...

We walked around a bit and found a cute gift shop...

Unfortunately, my back started acting up again. Sigh. It was time to get back to the hotel anyway because of our evening plans. After all that walking, we still only saw a smidge of the park. And there was no way I was going to be able to walk to find the subway station again. Uber it was.

We found a good spot to pick up an Uber...

Horse carriage row...

Carnegie Hall...

We headed back to the hotel to rest and get freshened up for dinner. We had dinner plans with a group of Doug's co-workers.

I had only met two or three of Doug's co-workers over the years that he's worked at his company because his co-workers are scattered all over the world. Doug asked his co-workers that work in the NY, NJ and Philly areas if they and their spouses would like to meet us for dinner one evening. We were very happy to get several yeses.

Doug booked a reservation at the Strip House...

What a cool atmosphere...

We arrived first, so we took a quick family selfie...

Everyone arrived (including the daughter of one of Doug's co-workers who's Bri's age and the girls got along great) and it was so nice to finally put faces with names. Everyone was so friendly and nice and interesting! It was wonderful to spend the evening with them. There were a lot of laughs...

The food was so good. Look at this seafood appetizer tower...

The steaks were absolutely amazing. And a few of us split this chocolate dessert because it was so big. Delicious!

It was a perfect way to cap off a wonderful trip.

The next day (Day 5), we headed home.

Day 4 - The World Trade Center

We definitely wanted to visit the World Trade Center area/memorial when we were in NYC. We jumped on the subway from Battery Park and headed toward the WTC.

We didn't realize we were going to get off at the Oculus station when we got there. It's such a beautiful building...

There is an Apple store in the shopping area...

Bri had been wanting AirPods for so long, so she got some at the WTC Apple store. Pretty cool...

Showing off her new AirPods...

The outside of Oculus building...

One World Trade Center/Freedom Tower and 7 World Trade Center...

Map of the Memorial Pools...

Walking to The North Pool...

The North Pool (the water was turned off because of the wind)...

9/11 Memorial Museum...

The South Pool (this fountain was running)...

We spent some time looking the fountains and paying our respects. It was so beautiful but very sad. I asked Briana if she was interested in visiting the 9/11 Memorial Museum. She was not. She knows all about 9/11 and she knew how sad it was going to be. We opted not to see it this time.

We were getting hungry and decided to find something to eat in the Westfield World Trade Center. We walked and walked through the shopping mall and had a hard time actually finding a restaurant. Luckily, we ran into Eataly...

The food was very gourmet...

It was tasty, but it wasn't a restaurant I would have picked specifically to eat at in NYC. Especially if I was going to eat pizza. We were making do. I had really hoped to eat a true NYC style pizza, but I never got the chance. It remains on my bucket list.

After lunch, it was back to the World Trade Center station...

We were heading up to Central Park.