Empire State Building

Friday July 17, 2009
Today dawns bright but hazy as we set off to visit NYC. The City is about 40 miles south of Nana’s house. We squish into the car and head downtown. Chris is a little nervous to drive but all goes well. We find a surface parking place for Big Red but it is pretty far from our first destination…The Empire State Building. We do not get a very early start so arrive at the same time as lots of other people. Chris takes the kids up to the top and Kim and Nana wait below. Little do they know they are in for a very long wait! The reconfigured Empire State Building visitor area hides lots of people storage. It felt like we waited in line just to wait in line! We eventually make it to the top and the view is pretty good, considering it is hazy. The teenagers are excited to be at the site of Mt. Olympus in the Percy Jackson books and spend a lot of time looking for the elevator to the 600th floor. We finally return to street level after 4+ hours! This changes our plans for the rest of the day. We hunt for street food to feed the hungry hoard, but it is late and we end up sampling some mediocre hot dogs. Definitely not living up to the memory of the ones eaten years ago! Nick samples a potato knish and enjoys it a lot. We then begin the long walk back to the car. We are close to Rockefeller Center and wander in to see it. Kim spent time in this area when she worked downtown so some of us go inside to see the interesting murals on the walls, then we take a side trip to underground NY and dip below the center to a large mall, thoroughfare that covers many blocks. The kids like it and we sit and enjoy a snack and they play some games that New Yorker’s deem decent performance art and everyone agrees it was a fun stop. Though tired we decide to detour through Times Square and spend some time in the giant Toys R Us. The older kids just sit but Logan manages to get a pre-birthday treat of a new box of Legos. It is now getting dark and the light show is in full swing. We ogle the new seats set up for viewing, thanks to the New York City Green Space initiative. It is a mind blowing spectacle reminiscent of the movie Tron. We make it to the car, tired, hungry, dirty, but very satisfied that we have had a good day in NY!