A few weeks ago, I took a little time out from my crazy cross-country adventure to get away. New York is one of my favorite cities and I indulged in everything it had to offer. The main purpose of the trip was to make sure my good friend Tay was able to enjoy the time she had taken off to help me move, since those plans were changed and our cross-country trip was cut short. Long story short, I wasn’t able to get the rental car I reserved for the move, so last minute we had to fly back and buy same day tickets. Tay had flown out to Vegas on the 27th and we turned around and flew back to Maryland on the 28th. She was originally coming out to help me pack and drive from Nevada to Maryland. Since plans were changed and her trip was cut short, I didn’t want her to miss out on her remaining days off from work. So, when we got back to Maryland, we drove up to New York. Her and I have always enjoyed taking road trips together, and this was no exception.
The day before we took off, I went online to look for a hotel for us to stay in during our overnight adventure. I wasn’t familiar with the area the hotel was in, but I knew it wasn’t too far from Central Park, and that was one of the places we were stopping by. I made reservations at The Manhattan at Times Square. This hotel was PERFECT! It was definitely an ideal spot. It was steps from Times Square, a few blocks from Central Park, right across the street from Rockefeller Center and not too far from the Empire State Building! Knowing that all of this was right outside our door, we started to plan our excursions.
The night we got there we went to the Rockefeller Center. We saw NBC Studios and where many of our favorite shows were filmed. We saw were the ice skating rink is during the winter months. It was so much to take in. From there we went to Pier 16 to get on the Statue by Night Tour we purchased. On this tour, we boarded a ferry boat and sailed around the river, passing the Brooklyn Bridge, Governors Island, Jersey, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We were able to get amazing pictures! We also captured amazing pictures of the New York skyline! This is an amazing excursion that I recommend every tourists takes. It’s definitely worth the money.
From the cruise tour, we ubered to Ripley’s Believe it or Not. That was an adventure all itself. I didn’t think the museum would be all that great; if you’ve seen one Ripley’s, you’ve seen them all. But there was a lot of content in there and it took us over an hour to go through it all. There were so many sights to see, and a lot of great photo opportunities. By the time we were done with Ripley’s, we were pooped. We had a log day of traveling and lets face it, neither Tay nor I can really hang anymore. We are old ladies! So, we retired to the hotel to prepare for the next day.
The next morning, we packed up our things and made our trek to Central Park. Again, I didn’t know what to expect. I read somewhere that Central Park is 847 (?) acres. And that is NOT an understatement. That place is HUGE! We started our adventure by heading to the Central Park Zoo. It was very interesting and sooo cute. I even conquered a few of my bird fears while there. From the zoo, we made our way to Belvedere Castle and on to the Jackie O reservoir. But in between all of that, there is so much to see. You get the opportunity to see many areas where films we’ve all grown up watching were filmed. We went past the famous boat house from 27 Dresses. There, you can enjoy the paddle boats. We went through a few of the Arches that can be seen in movies like Home Alone: Lost in New York. There are numerous baseball fields on what is called the Great Lawn. There are a few merry-go-rounds and other smaller ponds to fish and take pictures. Central Park has it all. You could literally spend an entire day there and be entertained the entire time. On my next trip to New York, I’d like to explore more of Central Park.
We had such a fabulous time exploring so much in only a 24-hour time frame. I’m grateful to be able to travel and experience different states. Each state has its own culture and beauty. New York is definitely a state all its own!
XOXO,
💋TJ