I took another bite of the BIG APPLE!

New York City is one of my favorite places. I have been fortunate to get to go a few times these past few years. Well this last week I was able to go again!
Garrett’s baseball coach grew up in Long Island and scheduled a tournament for the boys this week. Kori has never been to New York and Mom and Dad jumped at the chance to go so I too tagged along.
We left Monday morning at 2:30 am, met up with the team and drove to Las Vegas to catch our flights. The team flew together into Long Island with mom and dad on a plane right behind them…I on the other hand left an hour later, flew into JFK, took the air train to Jamaica Station, learned how to board the Long Island Railroad…with little to no help from anyone else, rode the train for over an hour, exited at Ronkonkama Station, caught the shuttle to the hotel and still beat everyone else. Mom and Dad had a layover in Chicago and Kori and the team had a layover in Baltimore…which because of the weather turned into a 6 six hour layover full of hungry, tired, grouchy 13 year old boys. I didn’t envy her!

Tuesday Dad met up with the team and went to Yankee Stadium for a ball game. This has been a lifelong dream of Dad’s…he has always been a huge Yankees' fan. While the boys went one direction the girls caught the LIRR and went into Manhattan...Kori slept. We went to Times Square, ate at the Hard Rock, went to Macy’s and walked 7th Avenue from top to bottom.



Wednesday we stayed on Long Island and drove up the coast to the Hamptons and Montauk and Kori slept. It was beautiful…small quaint country towns with trees that grew over each road and lined each street, shading the entire drive and gorgeous homes hidden by 9 foot tall shrubs, cute little shopping centers on every corner. We visited the Montauk Lighthouse, ate at a small café near the beach and shopped for a bit in East Hampton…not that we could afford ANYTHING in that town. It was a part of New York I had never seen…I am so used to the chaotic city, taxis, sirens, etc…it was such a nice change…calm, plush, peaceful and CLEAN.

Thursday morning we went to the boys' 2nd baseball game and then we went back into the city on the LIRR...Kori slept...for more tourist activities. We went to Rockefeller Center, ate lunch in the Concourse, went to Central Park and then shopped on Canal Street. We literally walked from one end of the city to the other and back again. We were exhausted.

I tell you...Kori is an absolute BLAST to travel with!!

Yesterday I got up, got ready for the day, packed up my luggage, caught the train back to Jamaica, got back on the air train and made it to JFK in plenty of time…I am a Long Island PRO now. It was a good thing I was early because it took me 2 hours to get through security. I boarded my plane at 5:00 pm and we sat at the gate for an hour and a half...with no communication from our pilot. Then we taxied out to the runway where we sat for another hour and a half…the pilot finally told us there were storms ahead so we were headed back to the gate to comply with the federal “three hour rule”. We unloaded the plane, I cancelled my shuttle reservation, put Brent on hold for his, unexpected, drive to Las Vegas to pick me up and got something to eat. An hour later we reboarded our plane, sat at the gate for 30 minutes, taxied out to the runway for 45 minutes and FINALLY took off. Brent picked me up in Las Vegas at 2:00 am…3:00 Utah time and we got home this morning at 5:00 am...it was quite the trip.

Another successful New York City trip…however, I didn’t buy a single thing…can you believe it. 5 days in NYC and I came home shoe-less, souvenir-less with nothing to show off. It was a fun eventful trip but as always I am glad to be home to my normal, quiet, calm life and next to my handsome hubby.