Ken’s surprise trip to New York City was absolutely FABULOUS!  It’s hard to imagine that NYC is actually in the same country as Kansas they seem like they’re on opposite ends of the Earth!  Our flight left very early on Saturday morning (5:40am) but we arrived in plenty of time to enjoy the afternoon and part of the evening before heading to our first Broadway show, Young Frankenstein.  Our plane had a 110 mph tail wind that got us to NYC a 1/2 hour earlier than scheduled!  Too bad our bag didn’t make it and we had to wait until the next plane arrived with it on it!  It was drizzling and extremely windy but not unbearable to be out walking around Times Square.  Our hotel, the Millennium Broadway, was only 1/2 block from Times Square so we didn’t have to worry too much about transportation except from the airport and back.  We ate at Bubba Gumps restaurant after the Forrest Gump movie overlooking Times Square before heading to the Hilton Theatre to see “Young Frankenstein.”  The show was the best I have ever seen!

The following day it was beautiful weather with the sun shining so we decided to visit the Statue of Liberty.  We took the subway down to the lower part and got on the Staten Island Ferry to view her a little differently before heading for tickets on another ferry that actually took us to the base of the statue.  What an amazing sight!  The photos don’t do her justice but check out Ken’s blog as his pictures are so much better than mine.  After visiting the Statue of Liberty we headed to Ellis Island then back to NYC with some more walking to reach Ground Zero and Wall Street.  We didn’t see much of the World Trade Center sight as it was all fenced off and there were big cranes in the way.  We could see the amount of space the Centers took up and could imagine the debris in the narrow streets surrounding the zone.  It made it so much more real than what you would usually see on television.  Wall Street was amazing too with guards standing outside the New York Stock Exchange building and tourists milling around snapping pictures of the buildings and the flag.

The next day was another nice day although the temperatures were indeed dropping.  We saw so many different things walking around the city.  Our first stop was to B&H photo, Ken’s favorite camera store he’d only seen via catalogs.  Then we walked over the 5th Avenue and Avenue of the Americas.  There were stores you just couldn’t imagine all over the city unless you saw them — a 4 story Toys R Us with a full-size Ferris wheel inside?  A 3 story McDonald’s.  Macy’s.  A 3 story M&M shop.  Souvenir shops galore.  All the street vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels, handbags off sheets laid on the sidewalk, scarves, you name it!  We visited the Empire State Building (but didn’t go it), NBC Studios, Rockefeller Plaza, the American Girl shop (yes, I resisted buying a doll for Jocelyn!), and saw sooooo many other things and places.  It was breathtaking.  Oh yes, and can’t forget the people watching.

On our last day it was pouring down rain and although our flight didn’t leave until late afternoon, we were extremely limited with it being so cold and miserable.  We bought a huge golf umbrella so we could at least walk around the Square again and buy the rest of our souvenirs to take home.  To be honest, I was worried about going with all of the stories about getting mugged and the streets not being safe.  I felt totally safe and the people weren’t even that rude.  I would most definitely go back again although if we took the children, they would have to be A LOT older.  There’s no way they’d be able to walk as much as Ken and I did while we were there.