NYC

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, Ronnie and I left the kids in Utah with his parents and took off to New York for a few days. We lived in Manhattan right down town when Ronnie was training for investment banking about 8 years ago. We stayed just a block from the World Trade Center and left just a few weeks before 9/11. Ronnie has been back several times for work but I had only returned once while living in Maryland just for a quick day trip. It was so fun to go back, just the two of us, and explore some of our favorite New York spots. We didn't feel pressured to see all the sights since we had done all that when we lived there so we just relaxed, wandered around, took pictures, and ate our way through the city.
I just love Manhattan! Each neighborhood has it's own vibe and energy. I think I would have to say my favorite neighborhood would be the East Village. It is low key, fun, and has great food. I spent a lot of time there in 2001 when my sister and her BFF came to visit us. This time I fell in love with the Upper West Side near Lincoln square. It is beautiful, clean, and of course, has some good eats. Everywhere you go there is something going on and it is SO easy to get from one end of the city to the other. I think the subway is like riding a bike, we hopped on and felt right at home.

After a red-eye flight we were pretty tired and tried to check into our hotel in Time Square but they didn't have anything until the afternoon. So, what would you do? Well, we went to Magnolia Bakery and got cupcakes for breakfast!

Then, we saw a 10am showing of Transformers in the biggest IMAX ever! I know, why would you go to NYC and watch a movie? But it was good! After the movie we headed over to the Temple and then to get some lunch at the Shake Shack in Madison Park. It was an hour long wait but well worth it! It takes a lot for me to say this but the burgers are better than In-N-Out. The fries, not so much but the shakes- AMAZING!!! Holy moly, the best chocolate frozen custard shake hands down! After that we headed back to the hotel, checked in, and took a nap. We woke up a bit later than we thought but were able to run down to the Village to see STOMP.
We got great seats and had a blast. After the show we went out to Lupa for some Italian food. It was so fun to sit and chat, eating dinner at 10pm just the two of us. We then finished up and cruised over to Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt. It was quite good and is now at the top of our frozen yogurt list, just above Red Mango. We hung out at another favorite spot, Union Square, eating our Pinkberry, watching a young crowd play "pick up volleyball" and enjoying the New York summer night.

The next day we decided to go to one of our all time favorite spots in the city, Central Park. We rented bikes and cruised around on our one speed beach combers. We should have listened to Kent and Becca and took their advice on NOT renting bikes anywhere, anymore. We, and they, have had one too many bad bike experiences on vacations. But, we did it anyway! Let's just say, those bikes do NOT do hills! Seriously, I was getting passed by runners! But it was a fun ride and such a beautiful place to get away from the concrete jungle!


And this boy...
Loves this girl...
So he took her to this spot...
And gave her this... After Central Park, we headed to change clothes and go to dinner with some good friends who live in New Jersey. Tad and Ronnie were missionaries together in Honduras and we vacationed with him and his wife, Melanie, there after graduating from BYU. They met us at Patsy's and we were able to catch up a little before heading off to see Mama Mia.
It was a fun show to see with good music and cute dances. But, it just wasn't that big Broadway production you think about. We had a great time though and again, worked up our appetite for some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. Again, SO yummy! I really didn't have high expectations for it but, I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was.
The next day we ordered breakfast in bed and then packed up and checked out of our hotel in Time Square to move downtown and stay at the Smyth Tribeca. It is a swanky new European influenced boutique hotel that they are trying to promote so we got a pretty good deal on a room. It was a beautiful place with some pretty cool decor.

Ronnie striking a pose in the shower

After all of our eating in NY, I figured I had better work off a few of those calories so I made Ronnie pack the camera and follow me to the Brooklyn Bridge. I have always been intrigued with this bridge and thought it would be a great place to run. Also, it is one of the only places in the world where you can have an airplane fly over a helicopter hovering over a person running over a car driving over a boat floating over a subway train tunnel. Got that?

I did it!

The rest of the day was spent shopping and yep, you guessed it, eating! We had lunch at Mary's Fish Camp (the best ever!), browsed a few thrift stores in Greenwich Village, ate dinner at Mesa Grill (Ronnie had the best pork tenderloin I have ever tasted!) and made sure to get some knock off ties for Ronnie at Century21 and a bag for me in Little Italy. We also headed over to Bloomies in the rain to check out Forty Carrots version of the fro-yo. Yes people, we had frozen yogurt every day! My review: good, creamy, but not as tart as I like it- Pinkberry wins!

I think the only 2 things we planned to do that we didn't get to was the Met and Ground Zero. I was bummed about not seeing the Met but okay with not visiting Ground Zero. I think I prefer to remember it the way I know it best.

Neither of us were ready to leave our lovely NYC. We had too much fun being together, remembering our life before kids and making new memories in one of our favorite cities. But, both of us were ready to see our kids again. Even though they were having a blast and getting spoiled rotten, they missed us too! Until next time New York, lets hope it doesn't take another 8 years to get back! And if anyone is headed to The City let us know, we'll fill you in on some good eats and things to do!