In A New York Minute — #meadadventures

I'll start by setting the scene for how this particular adventure was created...

It was a Friday evening in December and I was waiting for Tommy to get home from work when I received a text from him asking me if I wanted to go to New Jersey/New York. We had not made it to New Jersey yet and because no one could ever get enough of New York, my answer was an obvious yes! The next text I received left me a little speechless when I read, "Okay we leave tomorrow. We'll talk details when I get home". Um, REALLY??! Technically the only thing I had planned for that weekend was to make a new recipe I found for cranberry muffins, but this was very last minute and that left me a little nervous. The feeling was fleeting when I thought about the fact that we have created a life that allows for us to make our adventures our children and the memories our retirement fund. That night we planned for my parents to watch our dog, an estimated time we should leave in the morning, and then went to bed. The next morning we rented our car while we packed and then hit the road to start the 10 hour car ride...yep, ten hours.

There is something about being in a car on your way to somewhere new that truly compares to nothing else. One thing that is brought to your attention as you drive through entire states is how large they actually are. (For example: Virginia is a very tall state and it goes on forrrr-eeev-eeeerrr!) Other things that occur when we make a long drive are: very large consumptions of sugar (mostly bags of Peachy O's), lots of horrible singing, and some of the best talks. I also end up taking a nap or two that I feel guilty about taking (as Tommy has no choice but to stay awake and drive), but for that I blame my parents for using the car as a method to get me to sleep as a child because I cannot fight the urge now as an adult.

We kept the spur-of-the-moment theme of this trip going by waiting until we stopped for dinner in West Virginia to book our hotel. We arrived in Edison, NJ (our home base) late in the night, and once in our room we went straight to bed. The feeling of laying horizontally felt amazing on our legs after being crunched in a car for ten hours straight. The next morning we started the day off in true Jersey fashion...at a diner. Skylark Diner to be exact. It was there that I ate some of the best french toast I have ever put in my mouth. After breakfast we made a short drive to Metuchen station where we took the Amtrak into NYC. It was a short train ride into the city then we hopped on the subway to Washington Square Park. As soon as we reached street level out of the subway, we were hit with some of the most perfect weather for early December (low 70's with blue skies and full sunshine). In the park my odd obsession with large architecture took over when I began taking insane amounts of pictures of the Washington Square Arch. The hypnosis was finally broken when I became distracted by all of the different performers throughout the park. Honestly, I could have stayed there all day, but we had a lot of things on our list so we moved on.

With the weather being so amazing, we decided to ditch the subway altogether and walk all day. I was upset that I had missed visiting the Flatiron Building the last time we were in the city, and made it second on the list to see on this trip (yep, more pictures of an odd building). Afterwards we made our way to Bryant Park (which was transformed into a winter market and ice skating rink) where we became aware of just how many people were out enjoying the weather. More walking led us to 6th Avenue to take in a Honey I Shrunk The Kids -esque string of Christmas lights and red ornaments. A little bit further down the street brought us to Radio City and then crossing the street took us to Rockefeller to see the infamous tree and skating rink. Buildings were decorated, store windows were dressed up, and live trees for purchase were on every corner...even the Grinch couldn't resist the holiday spirit!

Onwards we walked toward Central Park...and lunch because my french toast was long gone. We ended up just grabbing a sandwich and eating while we walked around the park. You really need a full day (probably more) to enjoy all of Central Park, but we tried our best to fit it all in. This time around I finally found the Alice in Wonderland statue...and promptly fought children out of the way to take my turn sitting on a mushroom beside Alice. From there we visited the MET and followed suit by taking a brief seat on the steps (of course this brought out my inner Blair Waldorf and I had to make Tommy sit a step below me), walked by the Guggenheim, and then we watched the sun begin to set at the Jackie O reservoir. Dinner was at Hummus Place (so good), and once fully recharged we set out for Times Square and Rockefeller to see everything lit up at night. Times Square isn't really our cup of tea, but we still wanted to at least walk through it again as a detour. Another pass by the giant string of lights and ornaments, and then that is when we questioned our sanity. The crowds had tripled since that afternoon and as soon as the light to cross the street changed, we were shuffled from 6th Avenue to Rockefeller like cattle. We pushed our way to get closer to the tree and then went around the block to get this picture:

There isn't a word large enough to describe just how many people I had to swim through to get that picture...I literally had to abandon Tommy and puuuuuush my way through. Just as I thought I was about to be swallowed up by the sea of people, the Saks Fifth building across the street began blasting loud Christmas music with synchronized lights on the building's face. In one motion the entire mass of people turned around and were so distracted that I was able to make it to a semi-clear opening, snap the perfect picture, and push my way back to Tommy. After that entire scene we were d-o-n-e. To complete the block and get out of the mess we had to follow the crowd at the speed of a mere shuffle (no joke, there were so many people a full step was impossible). Finally out, we walked down Madison Avenue to avoid any more crowds until we made our way back to the train. We made it just in time to catch the next train back to Jersey and after the day before I never thought I would be as excited to sit as I was.

The next day we ate breakfast at the Edison Diner (seriously diners are everywhere), explored the Thomas Edison Memorial Tower, grabbed some pizza for lunch, and then started our long journey home. Needless to say, we were very tired for work the next morning but the memories of this trip are sure to last us longer than those cranberry muffins.