Bonnie has talked about going to New York for years and we finally got to go. Stacy's husband Lance went out April 25, for a 7 week internship for the advertising program at BYU. We left June 6, so the family could be there for his last week. This was our first trip that included the whole family. Bonnie, Jared and I, Scott, Cheryl, Allie and Kara, Lance and Stacy were all there.
Cheryl found a great looking apartment for us but after making all the transactions on line and over the phone, we were worried if it might be a scam and there would be no apartment waiting for us when we arrive. Fortunately, that was not the case and we had a wonderful place to stay for the week.
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June 6: We left San Diego on Jetblue Airlines and had a nice direct flight to JFK Airport. From the airport we took a shuttle bus to our apartment. The driver was very good and was skilled at maneuvering through traffic. We were thrilled to find that our appartment was as advertised: On the 34th floor with beautiful views of the city, with 3 bedrooms and two baths and beds for everyone.
Bonnie Jared and I stayed in this room.
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We had a beautiful view to the south. We could see the
Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building from
our Window.
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A beautiful view of the Hudson River to the west from
Stacy's room.
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This is Cheryl and Scott's room with a view to the north.
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The floor to ceiling windows were very nice.
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This is stacy's room. The wall on the left was added to
make this room separate from the living room.
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Another view to the west.
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June 7: We went to church this morning in the same building as the temple. The building is only distinguished as a temple by the statue of the Angel Moroni on top. We then took a walking tour with our guide luke. The tour was very interesting as Luke gave us all the history behind the sites that he showed us. We took the subway to various sites such as Central Park, Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park and Ground Zero.
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This is a memorial to John Lennon who was murdered
just across the street where he lived in the Dakota
Apartments.
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A group shot in Central Park.
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The lake in Central Park.
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A bridge on the lake.
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Cool fountain.
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Bon, Kara and I at a small amphitheatre in the park.
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This is Sheep Meadow in the park. It was a huge grass
area. Ton's of people were out playing and sunbathing.
I've never seen so many frisbees flying in one spot before.
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We took the subway to Greenwich Village and Luke told us
that this was the best pizza in New York. It was very good
but a bit on the pricey side. The day we were leaving we
found an ad under our door for a place in Brooklyn that claimed
to have the best pizza. Guess we'll never know for sure.
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The girls preferred to eat at Qdobas.
Cheryl really liked the salad.
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Stacy and Jared on the subway.
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The gang on the subway with our guide Luke.
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Grove Court where the story "The Last Leaf" originated.
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A street corner in the Village.
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Bon, Kara and I at the fountain in
Washington Square Park.
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Allie at the Cafe Wha where Jimmy
Hendrix and other celebrities got there
starts.
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June 8: We took the subway south and spent the day at Coney Island. We stopped at Nathan's Famous Frankfurters for hot dogs. Coney Island wasn't really very exciting but the Cyclone Roller Coaster was fun and the El Dorado bumper cars were probably the funnest thing there.
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Nathan's Famous Frankfurters.
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Jared, Dave, Cheryl and Scott about to try a famous hotdog.
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Jared and Dave on the Coney Island Boardwalk.
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Allie loved the Carousel as Dad looked on.
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Cyclone Roller Coaster.
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We went to China Town on three different days. This was
a place where we ate lunch.
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Scott and Cheryl in China Town.
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Dave and Bon in Little Italy.
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June 9: Today we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was very interesting but it was an enormous building and we only saw two of the four floors of exhibits. It was very busy with lots of kids from different schools running around. We made the mistake of eating lunch in the cafeteria where the lines were long and our meal was the most expensive of the whole trip. We then went to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). What a difference. No kids running around, fairly quiet and I got in trouble for using my camera flash. I missed the huge sign in the lobby. Jared and Scott got in trouble for sitting on the front steps ( among hundreds of people) because they were in the walkway. All we could think to do was make sport of the art.
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Natural History Museum.
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Dave, Bon, Cheryl, Stacy and Jared.
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The Met.
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Illegal Picture. (Flash)
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Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
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Cheryl's best impersonation.
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Jared had a try as well.
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Dylan's candy bar was a cool store. They
carried about every kind of candy you
can imagine.
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The girls in the candy store.
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Allie on the illuminated candy stairs.
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Rice to Riches was an interesting place to eat. They have
a bunch of different flavors of rice pudding that were just
excellent. They had a lot of interesting signs, some of which
weren't very appropriate for kids.
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Dave and Bon.
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Allie posing at the store front.
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Here's a shot of Grand Central Terminal.
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The boys just had to see Madison square Garden.
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Kara looking cute a cozy as ever.
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The girls in front of Macy's.
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The Apple Store was cool. It had this beautiful glass store
front at street level and there were stairs and an elevator
that led down into the store.
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June 10: We took a trip down town and visited wall street. There was a vendor there selling these awesome ties 4 for $20. The boys bought several. After Lance got off work we met at Rockerfeller Center and went up to the "Top of the Rock" observation deck. It was probably the worst day for viewing as the city had fallen under a thick fog. While at the top, we celebrated Allie's birthday with a Mickey Mouse Cupcake and a candle. ( Not one person had a lighter for the candle). Because Allie turned Two, she flew out for free but we had to buy her a plane ticket to fly back home.
Finally get to see the NY Stock Exchange and the building
is covered with this stupid drag racing banner.
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Typical tourist under the Wall St. sign.
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Radio City Music Hall.
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Scott and Cheryl at the "Top of the Rock".
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The Empire State Building is barely
visible in the dense fog.
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Stacy and Lance.
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The Empire State Building finally
peaked out from the fog.
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Allie enjoyed her birthday cupcake
on top of the Rock.
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This was an interesting room at the Rock. When you walked
inside you would be "assigned" a color and that color of lights
in the ceiling would track and follow you wherever you went
in the room.
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June 11: Of course we had to visit the Statue of Liberty. We got our tickets yesterday for today because they had run out of tickets to go up inside of the base of the statue. The security for the statue was crazy. Just boarding the ferry boat required going through airport-like security. Once on the island, those going up into the base had to stand in another security line. 2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES LATER we were able to go into the statue. We then took the ferry to Ellis Island and spent some time there. That night we went to see "The Lion King" on broadway and was the highlight of our trip. The stage, costumes and music were incredible. Allie was amazed and watched everything with fasination. She fell asleep at one point but woke up to applaud with everyone else.
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Statue of Liberty tickets.
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The ferry ride over to the statue.
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The Statue from the ferry.
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The whole gang, except for Lance who
had to work :(
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Ellis Island.
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Interior of the processing hall.
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"The Lion King"
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June 12: We took Lance and Stacy on the Staten Island ferry just for a ride and to let Lance get a look at the Statue of Liberty that he missed the day before and for us to see the Brooklyn Bridge. The sun came out after a few days of rain and fog.
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Lance and Stacy before the boat ride.
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Love birds on the Staten Island Ferry.
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The Brooklyn Bridge from the ferry.
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Leaving the ferry terminal.
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June 13: We packed up and took the shuttle bus back to the airport. We had a few hours to kill so we took a bus and the subway back to Manhattan for lunch and then back to the airport.
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AWESOME TRIP!
