I Wanna Be a Part of It, New York, New York

Oh Frank...he had such a great voice. And now I'm sure you are all singing that song.

ahem.

So our trip to NY started on Thursday, Aug 14. We were up at the butt crack of dawn for our 7am flight. We flew Virgin America and kids, if you haven't flown Virgin America, give it a try. They were amazing. The flight crew was, astonishingly, happy to be serving us. The cabin environment is unlike anything I've seen. I kinda felt like I was in a dance club. Purple and pink lighting. It was amazing. But the best part for me was, you can order your drinks "online" - if you will. Each seat has a touch screen on the seat in front of them for viewing movies, etc. AND for ordering food or drink. I seriously heart them.

We landed at JFK in a different terminal than mom, so after much debate and not really knowing what was where, mom took a taxi to the hotel, as did we. We all pulled up at the same time. Crazy.

After a short problem with our reservation - they thought we didn't have one - we got to our room. Room 205. Turns out it's the EXACT room we stayed in during our last trip to NY. What are the odds? I think we should get a plaque that says, "The Wraspir Suite" on it.

We dumped our belongings, freshened ourselves up a bit and hopped in a cab for The Dubliner. The bride and groom was having a post rehearsal dinner celebration.  This joint was hoppin for a Thursday night. Which, frankly, I'd expect in almost any joint in NY. That city is always alive and awake.

Its not a great photo, but my niece Sarah (also in the wedding) was there too and we got a chance to get caught up over some libations.

We stayed long enough to greet the natives, have a couple of bites of the yummy viddles they had there and a drink or two. We were all pretty much exhausted so we turned in "early".

The next day, Friday, we had a limited amount of time to do/see things since we had the wedding that night. So being the logistical queen that I am, I suggested we go to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty and then up to Chelsea Market for lunch.

Once at Battery Park, Blueberry felt the Statue wasn't close enough for her liking, so we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry for a closer view.

What a riot that is. It fells much like what I assume cows feel like, or any animal, when they're being herded. Squish everyone together and every starts moving forward as one giant person.

If you look closely Mom and Seattle SIL are in that crowd.

The trip over and back was about an hour - give or take, and it was a perfect day for this journey. The weather was beautiful and the people didn't annoy me nearly as  much as I expected them to.

The MomUnit, Seattle SIL and Blueberry on the Staten Island Ferry.

Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Manhattan and the coast guard all in one photo. Not sure why the coast guard escorts the ferry back and forth, but there they were.

What a skyline!

Once done with that adventure, we hopped in a cab (we did that a lot) to Chelsea Market. Packed with people would be an understatement. Still, it's a fun place to see if you've not been to NY and since I'm a Food Network fan I kinda feel like it's a must.

We went our separate ways for lunch - mostly. The MomUnit wanted a lobster roll and the rest of us wanted Thai. So the MomUnit was to come and find us. We were stalking a table full of old ladies waiting for them to leave. When they got up, Blueberry pounced. Another lady and her family tried to pounce too, but Blueberry put on her NY panties and would have none of that. Though admittedly she felt slightly guilty - as all good North Westerners would. I, however, figure when in Rome...or in the case NY do what they'd do and not feel guilty at all.

I'm no fan of tofu and I swear they put all the tofu in the world in our pad thai. Blech. Being the picky eater that apparently I am...I picked it all out. Blech times two.

We walked the market for another hour or so and got a chance to see all that there was. I would love to live in that area and shop there. So many amazing things that are completely over-priced. But in my fantasy world IF I could live in that area, PRICE would not be a problem.

We stopped for not only doughnuts, but gelato too. I figured I'm on vacation and should be allowed both treats. No guilt here.

After our stroll through the market and the up above garden stroll, we headed back to get ready for the wedding. More on the wedding later. Suffice it to say, I got a wee bit drunk thanks to these:

A Wraspirtini!!!