40 states down.

8 more to go over the next 2 weeks in our quest to see 50 States Before They Graduate.

And now, 19 hours after we rubbed our bleary eyes in NC at 5am, we are calling an end to Day 1 of vacation. ☑️New York #41.

Some of us were happier than others to jump start our vacation so early.

BUT we have 14 days and 8 states, so we have to Clark Grisworld parts of this trip to maximize our time 🤪

Wheels up and on our way at 7:30 am, means we are in NYC by 9:15am. That’s a whole day to jump start our trip! We snagged an SUV (we don’t fit in cabs) and off we went zipping and zagging through New York traffic. Can you imagine learning to drive up here???

Of course as we traveled through the Lincoln Tunnel, we had to have a Buddy the Elf moment… “traveled past the sea of twirly-swirly gum drops and then I walked through into the Lincoln Tunnel”

We made it! Look out New York!

Our room wasn’t quite ready yet, (in the hotel’s defense, it was 10am 😀) so, we dropped our bags and headed out. Boys did their own research and discovered that Pelè has opened his own soccer store in Times Square, and off we went.

Purchases in hand, we headed to the Top of the Rock. They definitely maximized the space in the elevator. 😬

But WOW… these views! We checked out every side (and snapped a photo) and had so much fun finding famous sites from the top. Found the model for Stark Tour, the Times Square ball, Central Park and all my favorite people ♥️

After we came down, we went out through what at Christmas time is a skating rink, and grabbed a picture in front of the golden statue.

We explored Times Square a bit, and then we did a little more shopping… The Lego Store and the Puma store were awesome.

We stopped by the New York Public Library and took a walk through St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful inside, but we could only walk through half of the cathedral since there was a wedding going on at the same time. Could you imagine having strangers taking photos and walking up and down the right aisle during your wedding?

We headed back toward the hotel and stopped for lunch at Handcraft Burgers & Brew. The burgers were huge but no leftovers with teenage boys 🤣

We headed back to the hotel, and while the rooms still weren’t quite ready, we were able to rest our feet and watch some of the COPA soccer matches. Well, we started watching, but some of us decided to nap instead… at the table… and in the lounge chairs.😴

Luggage in the room, (and by luggage, I mean luggage and cooler full of clothes) face and hands washed (finally), we headed out to see the Mets play. We navigated the subway and decided with traffic, this is absolutely the way to get around the city!

We made it to Citi Field in Queens by the 3rd inning and did our best to cheer on the Mets. ⚾️ Let’s Go Mets! ⚾️ We sat in front of what can only be described as the most-New-York-Mets-Loving-Family on the planet. Between the accents and over-analysis of the every play, we were dying laughing by the bottom of the 8th. We also thoroughly enjoyed the 7th inning stretch and the 8th Inning Karaoke of Billy Joel’s Piano Man🎶 Shockingly the boys did not enjoy it as much as Mike and I 🤣

After the game, we headed toward Little Italy for dinner at DaNico’s, and to meet up with our friend, Prue Rudiger. Prue met my cousins about 20 years ago on a cruise. We’ve all kept in touch since then. She is so fun, and we love her accent (and her). Ten years ago when Mike and I came to NYC, we met her for drinks and wanted to catch up this time as well.

Dinner was wonderful and we headed back to the hotel on the subway. But not before seeing a rat on the subway… ☑️ officially New Yorkers now 🤣

And now, here we are back at the Hotel, showered and ready to crash!

I don’t think I have ever heard my boys say “Mom, can we please just go to bed?” But I have now 😊

According to Michael’s fitness app, we covered 7.72 miles and walked ~18,000 steps. Jimmy Maske is looking down on us from Heaven and smiling because we got our money’s worth out of today!