New York City!!!

New York City trip!!!!

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I am so happy to have visited the big apple with Morgan and Nana to visit dad and see where he and Tonya lives and what they do day-in-to-day-out. I have always wanted to visit New York City and I am so thrilled to also mark it off of my bucket list! And I've visited 18 of the 50 states!! So pumped. 

So late Wednesday night after work I drove to Knoxville to spend the night with Nana because our flight was early the next morning. Nana and I packed the car, ran some last minute errands and sat and caught up with life! We were so excited! 

Morgan flew up the day before to spend a day at work with Dad (and because she hadn't started her job yet so she had the time to take). 

The next morning Nana and I woke up at 6:00am to make our 8:00am flight out of Knoxville and had smooth sailing with our direct flight.

I fell asleep the whole way (with this sweet neck pillow Cody got me for work travels) which really passed the time.

As we started to land I looked out the window to see the statue of Liberty!! How awesome! Can you see it?!

And of course central park, that dark green strip of land.

We arrived at the airport to jump in a taxi and head to the Manhattan area where dad resides. It was my first time ever in a taxi and let me tell you what, I sure did make sure the entire time that he wasn't going to kidnap us or kill us. It actually wasn't so bad! Expensive though!

So Dad and Morgan met us outside of dad's apartment building to take us up and drop our stuff off. It was about 1pm at this time and Nana and I were starving! Before dad and Morgan went back to work we took a minute to marvel at the view (below)! I mean wow. Dad lives on the 66th floor out of 75 and he can see 2-3 states from his apartment window alone. It was so beautiful! There were also a lot of buildings around the area that were in famous movies such as Men in black, Enchanted, Ghost Busters, National Treasure, etc. 

Such a breathtaking view which I could stare at all day long!

Dad's apartment building from the outside is quite the architectural work! It's that tall silver twisting building behind the three of us above.

We cool 😎 

Nana and I ate lunch at this amazing Greek restaurant and explored the rest of the day just the two of us.  

We took a ferry around Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty simply because it was too cold to be around outside for the 8 hour total wait. 

I can not begin to explain the absolute freezing temperatures, it was only about 20F but with the shade, wind from the buildings, wind chill factor, and just being up North, it was BRUTAL. 

The hour long ferry ride was gorgeous!

Lady Liberty in the background!

We got to drive very close! I was so happy to see the statue! It was really important to me even though everyone else had already seen it. Thank you Nana for sticking with me to see it!

We passed the Brooklyn bridge. If it had been warmer, we would have walked across!

On the walk back we stopped by Wall Street to see the famous Bull and touched it for good luck!

We met back up with Dad and Morgan at the apartment to find some New York style pizza but took a quick picture of the view at night!

I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the NY style pizza but honestly it looked like Sabarro's pizza from the mall. It was really good though! After eating we went to a few super malls and stores! We stopped at a place called the Oculus which was this mega mall with hundreds of stores! The Oculus was incredible to walk through but it has nothing on the Mall of America ;) (Minnesota all the way)!! The other mega store we went to was called Century 21, a 6 story department store filled with clothes, sports attire and a few household furniture items. 

On the way back home dad took us through where he works. My dad is a computer scientist/engineer and works for a very prestigious company! It was neat seeing the fun and competitive atmosphere all around including game day after work every Thursday.

After that we went back to the apartment because it was getting late and we settled in, watched Friends, snacked on the delicious gummy snacks Tonya bought for us and went to bed. 

Tonya wasn't here with us on this trip unfortunately because a member of her family passed away in Ohio so she had to attend the funeral, but she made her and dad's apartment sparkle! We were welcomed with spick-span rooms, places for us to store our things temporarily, thoughtful notes for each of us with scavenger hunts, and sweet little snacks to tide us over between meals between all of the walking. Every day we walked around 15,000 steps even with us riding the subway every now and then. So with all of Tonya's sweet touches, we felt like she was there with us a little more!

The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the Greek restaurant eating authentic Greek yogurt!! We had to get some energy in us preparing for our jam packed day!

We started off by riding a horse drawn carriage through central park (thanks to uncle Wade's gift card to us all)! It was nice to bundle up and be taken through a little bit of central park.

See the ice skating rink way in the distance! :)

Nana got a little too close for Lucky's comfort. 😅 No humans or animals were harmed in the making of this photo

Central park wasn't near as dangerous as it is portrayed in the movies! There were kids there by themselves!

We then ventured to this golden statue! Who knows what is was for but the sun hit it just right and it dazzled.

At this point in our day, we were so frozen from being outside for hours so we had to find a nice place to warm up. We happened to be beside the Trump Tower ;) (with a Starbucks inside) so naturally we ran in to get warm and sip on some hot chocolate. 

It was so gorgeous inside! Everything was gold! 

We then ventured to Trump hotel but didn't go inside this time.

The globe outside the doors was a neat touch!

Riding the subway which also wasn't nearly as scary as everyone rumors. 

Next stop was Grand Central Station! I couldn't help but see the Madagascar characters run through here slipping and sliding on the run. 😂

As far as I could tell, trains don't run through the station anymore but it is such a neat place to walk through! 

Old ticket booths!

After going back to the apartment to freshen up we headed back out to Times Square to eat dinner and catch our 8pm Lion King show on Broadway. 

Times square was probably the coolest thing we saw on the trip. The lights, the stores, the sights, all so overwhelming in a good way! We got to see the ball that drops on New Year's Eve (it was a LOT smaller than it looks on TV, they must zoom in really close or something). It wasn't nearly as crowded as people say either. I've been to almost any other event that is more crowded than this (UT game). We ate dinner at this restaurant called Juniors Burgers and headed to see the Lion King. 

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed NYC!

Let me just say the Lion King show was nothing short from AMAZING. The raw talent, the songs, the acting, the engineering of costumes, the music, the props, just incredible. I could watch it every week for the rest of my life and I'm not a play/show type person!

On the way back to the subway we stopped by the Disney store, m&m store, and Hershey store. I bought a Hershey bath bomb!

Once back to the apartment we watched Ace Ventura and then ventured around the building of what all dad's apartment had. We were surprised to see an indoor swimming pool, boxing room, game room, golf simulator, media room, and conference rooms! 

The next morning we woke up bright and early to make the most of our last full day.

We started by eating at a local diner and shopping at the two-level grocery store dad normally shops at. 

Then we headed over to the 911 memorial.

It was a solemn experience to see the place where so much hate and evil took place against us. So many lives were taken here. I am so glad we have a memorial to honor those who lost their lives that dreadful day who were just working to make a living for their families. Seeing the two locations of the North and South building and the waterfalls that now stand there, it brings tears to your eyes. 

I love the memorial building also! We didn't get a chance to go in the observation deck.

To get some sunshine we walked out to the pier and saw a pirate ship! (And a strange dude that would NOT get out of the shot).

At this point my legs and body were so beyond exhausted from all of the walking and climbing stairs that I just needed to go back to the apartment to rest for a few hours. After watching some TV we went back out to get more pizza and walk through the beautiful cathedral of Trinity church!

While resting, Willow my travel buddy wanted to see the sights. Willow has been on every trip with me for the past 3 years, its our tradition to take a picture with her wherever we go. I can't wait to make a photo album of this one day haha. I'm fun.

The rest of the night we played board games, explored around dad's building, talked, and watched the Water Boy.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch a taxi to the New Jersey airport (which brought my total state count to 18/50! Wahoooo!). We had a direct flight to Atalanta, then to Knoxville then I would drive back to Chattanooga. We were so so sad to leave. It was hard saying bye to dad. I can't wait to visit again soon!

In Atlanta we ate lunch and I finally got to try some authentic gelato! Nutella and Oreo flavors on a cake cone! 

On the flight to Knoxville from Atlanta, just as we were about to land the communication and navigation systems failed including the back up ones so we had to blindly land (and had to attempt it 3 times 😳), oh you know, just the casual every time near-plane-crash-death experience. Whatever. #HATEplanes 

But what a trip of a lifetime!! I am so incredibly glad I went and I am so incredibly grateful for this experience! Thank you Nana and Dad! I've never had so much fun in my life! I am so appreciative and grateful for dad allowing us to stay with him for 4-5 days and getting to spend so much time with him. 

With so much love,

Kayla Raborn

1/26/19