NYC Day 1

Earlier this month I traveled to NYC! 

Sara, my friend of almost 30 (!!!) years, moved to New York earlier this year. When Kelli and I learned she was moving we took swift action and began planning a trip to visit her in the BIG APPLE!

Author's Note: I went to NYC for the first time in 2002. This was shortly after 9/11 so a lot has changed in the 20 years! I've been to New York two other times, but they were for mission trips so I don't really count those since we didn't do much tourist-y stuff.  So essentially this was only my SECOND time in New York (as a tourist) 
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Kelli and I left home early on a Thursday morning and got to New York by 10am.  We ended up staying at Hyatt Grand Central Hotel which was an ideal location. It took probably 50 minutes from JFK airport to get to the hotel, but once we got there it was within walking distance of so many things! 

We dropped off our bags and headed to meet Sara for lunch. We ended up eating at Joe's Home of Soup Dumplings and it was DELICIOUS!!! Highly recommend!  (Near Rockefeller Center)

We then headed to Central Park and rented E-Scooters. This was SUCH a fun way to explore Central Park! I think we all really enjoyed having the scooters. It was $19 each for one hour and definitely worth it! 

After the park we headed to Times Square which, nicely enough, was within walking distance. I love seeing Time Square because of the lights and busy-ness of it. Great photography spot! 

We had Dolly Varden for dinner and then went and saw WICKED at Gershwin Theatre. It was a GREAT night! So much so that we even decided to go back to Times Square so we could get some night time pictures! 

Kelli and I had been up since 5:30am and we probably didn't go to bed until after 11:30 that night. It was a LONGGGG day, but so worth it!