New York City!

NYC! What a place. It is incredible the amount of human life that exists in a place like this. Every street has something going on, and every neighborhood has it's own character. For many years I've been hyped to visit NYC, and it was everything I wanted it to be. 

Most of the time, our goal is to get into nature, barely seeing another person, and explore the desolate vertical world that is rock climbing. This weekend, we had the complete opposite.

Before we begin, let's do some shout outs.

Shout out to Megan for coming up with the brilliant idea of making a white erase board on our door.

Sketching out areas allows for great planning.

Here's our Manhattan/NYC map.

(As always, ignore the Wordle score)

Shout out to the Simon family!

They were incredibly hospitable to us. Such great people.

They allowed us to store the van at their house while we visited New York.

This was a huge relief. Cities in the van are very stressfull, for a myriad of reasons. 

Ok, on to the city.

We stayed in a hotel in Jersey City, which is on the other side of the Hudson River. This was a cheaper option, and with a 10 minute walk, and a 10 minute subway commute, it pops you out in Manhattan.

I was actually excited about our daily commute. Sometimes the mundane to some, is new and exciting to others.

We arrived in the afternoon and had a concert scheduled at Irving Plaza (Near Washington Square) that evening. This allowed some time for our first NYC adventure, semi randomly walking around with a goal of getting to the restaurant SMØR (Scandinavian cuisine). 

I'm sure it's hard to pick a bad choice in Manhattan, but we were stunned with the beauty of this area (1st ave and 12th st).

Big smiles.

Street view from SM/OR restaurant.

Random building from the area. The history and architecture of the buildings were so intriguing.

Random view down a road. Every new corner brings a new incredible sight.

After dinner it was concert time!

We were able to match our NYC time with a Daði Freyr concert.

If you have not heard of Daði Freyr, you have lots of homework to do.

Look up his stuff, and look up Eurovision. I'll see you at the next watch party.

The show delivered! Half music, half comedy show!

An absolute blast!

Quick shout out to this girl who has the strongest arms I've ever seen, she was able to hold her phone up for most of the concert! I hope she drops her phone in the sewer.

After the concert we blissfully strolled back to our subway and rode home, gleaming with stoke from our music en-devour, and dreaming about what adventures and experiences the next few days would have to offer.

Surprisingly, or I guess not so surprisingly, we didn't have to wait long.  Our subway thoughts were interrupted by two women getting louder about who was pushing who on this crowded subway. The subway car stopped and the doors opened, one of the women yelled "don't you touch me with your bum ass scooter", and of course the other woman had to defend her scooter honor, they exited the subway and it was on! Fight, fight, fight!

Luckily it was broken up very quickly, and as the doors closed, with the fighting women on one side of the doors, and the rest of us on the other side, a collective feeling of relief was shared that they would not continue this subway journey with us.

The next morning started with a different vibe. We jumped on the subway and got off at the World Trade Center. Time to visit the 9/11 memorial.

Looking up at the new World Trade Center. The optical illusion was intriguing.

Next to it are the two pools that now exist where the towers used to be, inscribed with the names of those who perished.

Below the pools, underground, is the 9/11 memorial and museum. 

I would highly recommend going there.

Fire truck parked next to the towers when they collapsed.

Seeing the imagery and being in Manhattan in person, brought on a new perspective of that day.

After the museum we headed a block down to eat lunch at O'Haras.

The inside walls are lined with patches from all over in solidarity with the 9/11 first responder casualties. Hanford's patch is front and center when you walk in.

We were only a few blocks away from the southern tip of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, so time to start walking!

Such stark differences between the buildings. Old Gothic church, next door to endless towering skyscrapers.

We made it to the south tip and took a look at the statue of Liberty

Can't see it? It's right there.

Can't see it? It's right there.

Not very impressive. We did not take the boat tour to see it up close, so this is all we got. I imagine boating close to it and seeing Manhattan in the background would provide a better experience.

I planned NYC with a bunch of stops and to-do's, but also with leisure time to walk around and explore, and the Statue of Liberty boat tour did not make the cut.

Next we walked north along the west side, along the Hudson river. It was such a beautiful day, perfect for exploring.

Bearded man (foreground)

Hudson River.

Jersey City (background)

World trade building towering behind.

We had planned to meet Rebecca Simon (from the aforementioned Simon family), that afternoon and it was great to see a familiar face in the big city.

She would join us for the rest our time in NYC.

Rebecca stopping to smell the flowers, always with the biggest of smiles.

Felix. (Foreground)

Felix. (Background)

We had some time to look cool at Washing Square Park before the sun went down.

Views like these around every corner. I mean, COME ON.

Now for the activity of the night.... A visit to the comedy cellar!

I was so excited to be going there.

They have a strict "no cell phone" policy. So before you enter, you have to put your phone in a sealed envelope not to be opened until after the show. We obliged, and as soon as we sealed the envelope, we saw someone we recognized across the street.

Walking at about a foot taller than anyone else was none other than Daði Freyr and crew!

We walked over, thanked them for the great show last night... and took no pictures because our phones were unavailable.

Anyways, we made it into the cellar.

And it sure was a cellar. Tiny little place. But they made a great job not making it feeling crowded or claustrophobic. 

We listened/watched several comedians that only got better and better.

Who knew getting hit by a bus could lead to 20 minutes of hilarious jokes?

Real live action, not at all staged photo of us enjoying the show.

After the show it was time for another NY classic. Pizza!

Unfortunately I'm on a cheese free diet, so I had to settle for non pizza food.

When Megan makes this face, I know she's gonna eat some of my food.

With our bellies full, we called it a night and headed home.

The next day was a marathon of walking. We did a terrible job taking pictures, but I'll include what we have.

We started by walking to the NYC public library.

Walked by the Chrysler building

Grand Central Terminal (wow!)

We kept on walking north all the way until we got to Central Park. I always assumed that Central Park would be impressive, and it lived up to it. It is astonishing how big this park is. Even to call it "one" park feels wrong, just like how NYC is made up of different boroughs and neighborhoods, Central Park is made up of lots of smaller subdivisions, each with its own characteristic.

It was great to see such access to nature, mere blocks away from the craziness of the streets. 

But somehow... We did not take a single picture of the park.

Next to the park is the American Museum of Natural History.

It is much bigger than expected, with so many different rooms and exhibitions. At this point we realized we where getting overwhelmed with sightseeing and after what felt like only experiencing 50% of what the museum had to offer, it was time for a Central Park nap.

After nap time we walked through the rest of Central Park and then started thinking about dinner. Megan and I do this thing when we want to experience as much as possible in as short amount of time as possible, we'll split a dish at two different places.

Dinner stop number 1 was a huge success. This meal may have been the best one we had all weekend.

If I remember right it was a quinoa bowl and a side of coconut ceviche.  

Dinner number 2 was not as fancy but still very good. A Turkish/German fusion kebab.

No time to waste, keep exploring!

Rockefeller Center.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Radio City

We also went to Times Square

0/10. Would not recommend. Worst 15 minutes we spent all weekend.

Don't let the smiles fool you.

After that we called it a night and headed on the subway home bound.

Even after this long day we felt energized enough to walk a little bit extra and look at Manhattan from the Jersey side we were staying on.

I love the way cities look at night.

We finally made it back home and laid down. I had happened to track my steps for the day.

I don't really know what a lot is, but 41k sure felt like a lot!

The next, and our final day in NYC, started out in the financial district.

Famous bull

The behind got some action too

The New York Stock Exchange. This blog is mostly PG so I won't tell you my thoughts about it. 

We continued our morning and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Rebecca was with us almost the entire time, somehow we slacked on taking pictures together!

Halfway across the bridge we were met by a giant crown and an even gianter girl.

Rebecca excitedly remembered that this is "Little Amal". A 10 year old Syrian refugee who has traveled all over the world representing children fleeing war.

We would later see her on TV that night. It's crazy what you experience in big cities.

We enjoyed a great ramen lunch in Brooklyn and then walked back across the Manhattan bridge. It provided incredible views.

What better way to end our experience than with cocktails and a photo shoot at a rooftop bar!

 

After we were done, our private chauffeurs (the incredible Simon parents) picked us up and drove us back to New Jersey, where we prepared for a upcoming short trip to Oklahoma.

I look back very fondly on our time in NYC. I had expected so much from the experience, and it totally delivered. Life in Manhattan is an animal I wish I got to experience more often. 

If you've never been to Manhattan, put it on your bucket list!