Wednesday, December 30, 2015

I Still Love You, New York

A few months ago, Meghan and I talked about going to NYC for her birthday in early November. We'd visit Holly and have a fun weekend, which would be a good distraction from her entering a new life decade and escaping her grad school stresses. We bought tickets and got ready. And then week before, Meghan called with the news that she couldn't go to NYC anymore - she had to fly to the Bay area for a job interview, at a place she really wanted to work. Boo! I decided to still go, and I'm sure glad I did.

I arrived super late at JFK on Thursday night and had to trek way Upper West Side to get to Holly and Brandon's place. The AirTrain wasn't running from the airport, so I had to take a bus to get connected, and even if I wanted to just be quick and take a cab, there were probably 100 people in line. Ugh. They graciously waited up for me, and I got to their place around 1:15 or something. But I so loved that as I came up from the subway onto their street, there were still so many things going on so late at night. A welcome change from Utah nights.

Holly had to work on Friday, and I had planned to do the same, so that worked out well. I popped down to 250 Hudson and worked for a bit. Always good to see people in person. We popped over to Alidoro for lunch, where I was advised to order quickly, not ask questions, and get out of the way. Quite a delicious Italian sandwich.

After work I met up with Holly in Times Square to sort our options for a show that evening. The Curious Incident is one of my favorite books, and I'd been curious about the stage adaptation, so after seeing 50% off tickets, we picked that one. We popped over to Totto Ramen for a bite before the show, then settled into our seats.

I really loved how they pulled the writing and diagrams from the book and turned them into a visual display. It really helps you get inside Christopher's head. The minimal set up and multi-use props were interesting, and the lead actor did an incredible job.


Brandon finally got out of work, and he met us to pick up some cheesecake at Junior's. We grabbed it to go and cabbed home, thanks to his work paying for it.

The next morning Holly and I popped over to the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, which is gigantic! We did a quick look in, and I wanted to see the Geography of Poverty exhibit, but we were short on time. Waking up on east coast hours isn't exactly my forte. We'd planned to even get up super early to try and get a cronut, but we failed. And I'm okay with that.

Holly and I popped down to meet Carol for lunch at Cosme.

I really dug it - we ordered a few things to try, and I think we all walked away very satisfied.


Still had room for a Dough doughnut after though!

We had to rush further downtown to meet a group for a tour of the Woolworth Building. When Carol realized that I'd been in town the same weekend she would, she invited me to join a group of people she was getting together. Holly and Brandon were game as well, and it turned out to be a fascinating tour.

You can go read up on it here - I won't bore you with details. Frank Woolworth was an interesting guy, and the five and dime stores are legends. Here are a few photos.

Coming in - we were late. Our tour group had already left for an outside viewing, so the very kind security guard told us where we might find them. We did a quick loop around the block, but had no luck. Luckily they came back inside soon, and we continued on.








The whole gang that Carol brought together.







After our tour we walked over to Brigham's temporary home, where he was recovering from surgery.

Great views from his place.


Carol and I ventured off for some shopping in Soho after visit, and then I met back up with Holly and Brandon for a quite bite at Shake Shack (hooray!) before we headed to Josh and Carly's pumpkin party. Angela came over too, and it was a solid Phoenix reunion.


Even at 1am, Holly's grocery store is bright and shiny, and I love it. We grabbed a few things for Sunday dinner.

Sunday morning we went to church (Primary Program, awesome!) and then I wandered off in search of an art gallery, which was sadly closed that day.

Remember that time I sang at Carnegie Hall in 1996? I do.


I meandered up into Central Park for a bit before going back to grab my things and leave town.



Broke the Sabbath at Levain for some cookies to take home, as well as a thank you for my lovely hosts.

Bye, Holly and Brandon!

LIRR is the way to go.

I got super sad as I flew over Manhattan on the way home. Love you, New York! Wish we could be in a steady relationship. See you again soon.


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