So last time we talked, we recapped Part 1 of our NYC trip, which means today we're recapping Part 2! And yes, an entire week occurred between the two because the nesting phase has kicked in which means I'm organizing ALL.THE.THINGS.
What's funny is my dad texted me after reading part one to tell me that he's eager to hear what happened in part two. Silly man. :)
Like I mentioned last time, I made a full blown itinerary for this trip, and after the first day and a half, we were completely zonked. These Texans are just not used to the amount of walking New York requires. We tend to sit on our rearends and drive.
That being said, Saturday morning was a (much needed) slow morning. It also happened to be the morning of my 30th birthday! I didn't have breakfast planned since I didn't know what we would feel like doing, but as it turns out, while mom and I were at Frozen, the men went and got supplies. So when I woke up Saturday morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed and a big bouquet of birthday flowers!
And by breakfast in bed I mean a garden omelet and fresh watermelon :)
We all ate, relaxed, got ready, and then donned our Yankees gear and headed out to the stadium for Game TEN!
By this point, you all know what this means, but juuuuust in case we have a newcomer...
My dad and I decided back in 2015 that we would go to 10 out of state stadium games as part of my bucket list before I turned thirty. And on my thirtieth birthday, we hit all ten! And we factually checked the birth certificate and actually had a couple hours to spare! (An afternoon game and the time change were in our favor!)
Hi there Yankee Stadium.
And as you can see from the bottom of the picture, we attended with half of New York City. Seriously, I was FLOORED at how many people were in attendance at this game. It was unlike anything I'd seen before.
Mom and I got to walk in the stadium behind none other than Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth. We considered ourselves some pretty lucky women!
We finally made it in to the stadium a little after the game started. I'm telling you - SO many people.
I know this isn't the old Yankee stadium, but something about being here made me all nostalgic for history. And I don't do history.
Across the outfield they had a line-up of all the retired Yankees numbers. We quizzed my dad and he was able to name the players for the majority of them without any help! It's like he grew up a baseball fan or something...
Now - here's the part of the story where I'm kicking myself. Behind all those retired numbers was a historical monument to all the greats (such as Mantle and Ruth). What I didn't know is that the monument closes 45 minutes before the game starts. So unfortunately we weren't able to see this, and I know my dad would have loved it, so I'm still kicking myself for it. ULTIMATE TOUR GUIDE FAIL.
But we still managed to eat hot dogs and have a good time nonetheless!
Even Susie's smile looks kinda genuine! She was a good sport that afternoon :)
7th inning selfie -- I can't believe it was our LAST game of this lil journey!
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| Game 10 - Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees - June 16, 2018 |
We didn't stay for the whole game since we 1) had to get home and get changed for our next event, and 2) knew if we left the stadium with the same amount of people we entered the stadium with, it would have taken us three hours.
So we took one last look at Yank Stadium, high-fived at a completed challenge, and headed back to the apartment. Only after stopping at the store for some gelato. You know, to have at the freezer in the apartment... just in case.
So, if any evening of this trip had to be a "fail," I would definitely say it was Saturday night. And I'm allowed to say that since I planned everything :)
After freshening up, we went to Southern Hospitality for dinner. I thought, hey - birthday girl could use some fried chicken for dinner, and my mom/sister and I went there back in 2013 when we visited NYC. Here's the deal: it has definitely gone down hill since we were there 5 years ago. I get that it's 'JT's restaurant' and everything, but you cannot claim to be a southern restaurant and serve fried chicken that is painfully dry. I mean none of our meals were that good, honestly. So, I hate to say it, but if you are headed to NY anytime soon, I would not recommend you eat at Southern Hospitality. Too many other yummy options to choose from!
All smiles! ...before they brought out the food :)
After dinner, we headed to see Aladdin. We had high hopes for this show because, well, it was Disney after all, but also because Jeff and I actually saw Aladdin in Australia and LOVED it.
See? All smiles ... before we went in...
Y'all. It was NOT good. We considered leaving at intermission.
Granted, we are a tough bunch of critics. My whole family is musical and I grew up in a dance studio. But even Jeff (who is not so much on the musically inclined) was less than impressed. (PS - you should see how cut throat we get when we watch DWTS on Monday nights.) The acting was bad, the dancing was not together, and I honestly wanted to take a bathroom break every time Aladdin had a solo. It also very much lacked that 'Disney magic' that you see in every other Disney show. I don't know - it just made me sad.
And you know what else was sad?
After leaving that lackluster performance, the exit we took from the theater put us out on a different street, and when I looked up I realized I was standing in front of the Nederlander.
What is the Nederlander you ask?
Oh - just the theatre where I saw the greatest Disney broadway show to ever see a stage.
That's where we saw Newsies back in 2013, and I had tears in my eyes the whole time simply because it was SO. GOOD.
So remembering that glimpse of goodness after leaving Aladdin just twisted the knife a bit.
But alas, we headed back to the apartment, finished off the gelato, and called it a day!
Sunday morning was a bit of a wild card. Jeff and I had a birthday brunch that started at noon, and mom really wanted to see Ground Zero, so the couples split ways mid-morning. However, we split only after I made a run to Dunkin Donuts because it was Father's Day and my dad's blood type is DD+ and Jeff could eat donuts every day of his life. So, we had another quiet morning before another busy day!
Jeff and I decided to take the long, scenic route to the birthday shindig by taking another stroll through Central Park. We grabbed coffee, people watched, and (being as this trip was one week after the gender reveal) talked about what we wanted to name our little girl :)
We got to Ryan's party - in a really fancy old speakeasy by the way - and had a blast. We ate good food, had good cake, jammed to an incredible playlist (I'm looking at you Now Hits of 2000), and played with a photobooth! Plus, I invited two of my work friends from Dallas who now live in NYC - so it was a little reunion too :)
After the party, we headed back to the apartment to meet up with my parents and get refreshed for our last big evening in the city. And after Saturday night being a fail, I am happy to report that Sunday night was a huge success.
We kicked off our evening with an early dinner at Carmines. Y'all - best Italian food I've ever put in my mouth. And I've been to Italy!
Okay, so it was probably comparable to Italy, but seriously - I will never make another trip to NY without going to Carmines. The whole menu is family style, so between the four of us we split spaghetti bolognese and chicken parmesan, and we had enough food to feed a small army. I'm not kidding when I say that Carmines' spaghetti bolognese was the best I've ever had. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
I went to take a picture of the portion size and Jeff made a sneak attack at the last minute :)
After we ate as much as we could (and cried a little when they took away our leftovers), we took a 5-minute walk to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Alright, here's the deal: when I was first researching/inquiring about what shows to see, a few people told me about this one. And my response was very much "but I have no idea who Carole King is." However, I listened to the album on spotify and was SHOCKED with how many of her songs I knew! That girl must have written like half of the 'oldies!'
So when I told my dad about the musical he, of course, knew who Carole King was, but when I played some of the album, he got SO excited! And I knew then and there that I wanted to take him to see that show for Father's Day.
We 'splurged' and got seats on the front row of the balcony, but it also was a much smaller theatre than Aladdin/Frozen, so everything just felt more intimate.
Eeks! It was go-time!
Y'ALL. It was SO. GOOD. Seriously - if you are looking for a feel-good, family-friendly musical -- this is it. And if you're going to NYC and you're above the age of 50? It's a must-do. I mean we didn't want it to end! Plus just watching dad beam and snap his way through the performance gave me all the feels. (Cause let me tell you - none of us were beaming and snapping during Aladdin!).
I seriously can't say enough good things about this show. No, there was no "Disney magic" (it wasn't even a Disney show) - but it really didn't need any. It was good acting, a good story, and some fantastic music/vocals. In fact, I just decided I will be listening to the soundtrack at work today.
So, Saturday may have been a huge fail in the food/show department, but Sunday DEFINITELY made up for it!
On Monday morning, Jeff had to hop a 6a flight to Florida for work, but the parentals and I didn't fly out until Tuesday morning, so we had a whole extra day! We kicked off Monday with something I've been wanting to do for FOREVER...
We did brunch at the Plaza. ;)
The ceiling of the Palm Court. Not a bad view at all!
This trip had many highlights, but this right here was definitely top three for me. We spent almost two hours just drinking coffee, feeling fancy, and talking about life. We had a really great time. And let me tell you - we ate like we hadn't seen carbs in years. Pancakes, french toast - all of it.
I mean - look. It's kind of starting to melt, but my chocolate chip pancakes had a chocolate made "Plaza" emblem on top. Not too shabby for Katy!
After brunch, we had time to kill before heading to our hotel. (We also had a super early flight out on Tuesday morning, so we decided to stay in a hotel right by the airport Monday night to eliminate the travel from the city on a weekday.)
We were throwing out random options of things to do, but we knew mom REALLY wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History. So that's what we did. And I'm pretty sure we were there for nineteen hours. My mom is obsessed with history, so she reads any and every plaque there is. So that combined with the monstrosity that is that museum meant Dad and I had to kick into survival mode.
This was the one picture I took at the museum:
I thought it might resemble what I look/feel like at the end of this pregnancy. And because I'm documenting this 14 weeks after I actually took the picture, I can confirm that I'm well on my way :)
After surviving the museum (and again, feeling like my feet were about to fall from my body), we grabbed a quick lunch which just HAPPENED to be right by our gelato place.
So we indulged one last time and then headed to the airport hotel, where we all curled up on the bed and watched Newsies (the broadway show version) on Netflix. The perfect way to end a trip to New York City. :)
And that's a wrap! Seriously one of the greatest trips I've been on and one I'll remember forever :) Thanks for hanging in there with me! Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!
Until next time,
Katy
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