So it was Kate, and her friend Pauline, and Pauline's 16 year old daughter Sarah. We had such a great time. We visited Rockefeller center of course to see the tree.
On Friday the 4 of us girls went off on our own to tour the city, since none of them had ever been to NYC before (and Alex had to work). We started at the southern point of the island, got on the Staten Island Ferry at the suggestion of Grampi (because it's free) so that they could see the Statue of Liberty and get some pictures of her. Then we walked up to Ground Zero--but couldn't see anything. The fences were all covered up--but what we did catch a glimpse of was lots of construction going on in there.Then we hopped on the subway and headed up to Central Park to walk through there. It was actually my first time walking through Central Park. All the times I've been to NY, I never walked through! Then we headed over to 5th Ave to do some window shopping at Tiffany's, Godiva, The Disney Store, etc. We went back into Times Square, did some more shopping and went and had dinner at one of my favorite BBQ places, Spanky's. I love that place, it's so good.
And thus ended our NYC adventure. We headed back to Alex's, exhausted. But I was very proud of myself for knowing the city well enough to take 3 newcomers around without any problem.
This is Sarah, Kate, me and Pauline.
Saturday, the Aussie's were off to their next destination, Oregon. And I had made plans with a few friends. I was able to see my friend Crystal, who I also know from Teen Missions. She was on my first team to Haiti! We got together for lunch, and then did some walking around in the area. On the Lower West Side. It was very cute. We found these great hats, and decided that we both had to have them. I've pretty much been wearing mine non stop since then.
Then for dinner I had made plans with my friend Jenn, who I know from college. We were in the College Choir together, and were always roommates on choir tours. Jenn had the distinct privilege of kicking me out of bed in the morning. Not an easy task if you know me at all. Poor Jenn even had to kick me out of bed one time on one of our European tours when she was so sick, she couldn't even stand. But apparently I hadn't heard the alarm...so here is sick Jenn, trying to push me out of the bed so I don't miss the bus. What a good friend. :)
We had dinner in Times Square, and then started to walk around. We both realized that we needed a restroom, which is not always easy to find in NYC. But then...I remembered that I had seen the previous night a "Charmin Holiday Restroom" right in the middle of Times Square. Jenn is all about the unique adventures, so she was super excited. Sure enough, you head up into this place on escalators, it's like going into a store. And you are faced with a whole bunch of bathroom stalls, but not like regular stalls, they are all actual bathrooms, like what you would find in a house.
This place was crazy. On the tv screens, they had a music video for Charmin going on. One of the guys who was working there, and telling people which bathrooms were open, had a megaphone and was saying things like "you know I have a crappy job" It was so funny. After each person used a bathroom, they would go in and clean it, spray febreeze if needed, make sure it looked nice, before the next person would go in. Its too bad they don't have this place year round.In the bathroom, you had lots of options for toilet paper. They wanted you to try them all out, and then when you walk out of the bathroom there was a machine to vote for your favorite, and it would spit you out a coupon. Personally I liked the soft one. :)
And how could Jenn and I leave Charmin without taking advantage of the photo opportunity. Those were even LLBean sleds!
It was so fun to see Jenn, it had been way too long since I had spent any time with her. Years I think, honestly. I saw her last year at Homecoming, but didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with her. I really think that the last time I spent a lot of time with her, was when I had Felicity...which was 5 years ago. So it felt good to really get to just hang out with her. I miss her.
After Jenn got on the train to head home, I met up with Alex and Ryan (Alex's roommate) to go see a movie. We went to see National Treasure 2. It was very good. Ryan is hilarious. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. The poor guy though, most of the laughing was at his expense--Alex was kindly relaying stories to me...with Ryan right there. I was supposed to meet Julie, Alex's girlfriend, too while I was there. But she was unable to make it back into the city, she was already in Albany with her family. But I did get to talk to her on the phone, and it just makes me want to meet her even more. She seems amazing.
Sunday, I was on my own again for a bit, while I was waiting for the house to open on Alex's show. Alex got me a ticket to see it. "Is He Dead?" is a Mark Twain story. It was so good--I hope everyone gets a chance to see it. Alex even has a bio write up! You can see it on the website too, under cast and crew bios.
So, just before the show, Alex and I had checked our flight, which was scheduled for 9pm. Mom had called the night before, telling us that they were forecasting high winds--it didn't seem to be windy, but it was raining. We checked our flight at 1, and it was already delayed 2 hours. Uh oh. But there wasn't anything we could do about it. Alex had to work. At 5:30, we left the theater, and I noticed that I had a message on my phone. It was Jetblue. Our flight was canceled. Alex had the same message. They canceled because the rain made them so congested that they were already backed up on the runway 4 hours! So they just started canceling flights instead. So Alex got right on the phone with them to see what our options were. Basically we had none. They didn't have any other flights until the next afternoon (which was Christmas Eve). So Alex requested refunds for us. We started trying to call Grampi, but he wasn't answering his phone. He always gives us a hard time for not answering our phones...and he wasn't answering his!We were starving, and I was getting cranky due to lack of food, so we headed into the McDonald's which was right there. Not our first choice...but we weren't feeling too picky at that moment. Alex got on the phone with mom, who sat down at the computer at home, and they started looking up other alternatives for us. Of which there were none. Literally none. No trains, buses, other planes, or any rental cars within a 40 MILE RADIUS!! No kidding. We couldn't believe it. We figured our only option was Grampi's car...but we still couldn't get a hold of him! I think we would have walked if it came right down to it. We were determined to get home. Finally, 2 hours after we started this fiasco, I tried Grampi one last time. And he answered his phone! I bet he was wondering why he had 18 missed calls. ha. He had been at the movie's this whole time. We told him our predicament, and after a quick discussion with Maks to make sure that they didn't need the car for a few days, he told us we could take it.
So off we headed to Queens to pick up the car. We left Queens about 9:30, and got home to Freeport about 2:30. We were so thankful for that car--and for our wonderful Grandfather who let us borrow it.
Of course, the only problem with this plan is that it meant Alex would have to drive back instead of taking his flight. But, we really didn't feel as though we had any other choices...because we didn't. But we did make it home for Christmas!
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