NYC

Finally I am getting to talk about my wonderful trip to NYC a week or so ago. So here it goes.

Friday

My morning was absolutely hectic as traffic was miserable getting to the airport. I didn't think I would ever make my 7:30 flight when I got to the airport at 6:45. I saw the security line and about lost it. So I thought what the hell I might as well try to make it. I walked up to the kiosk and I couldn't print my boarding pass. So I went up stairs to see a HUGE line for check in. I got through this line at about 7:15 and they had cancelled my reservation. I cancelled one of the 2 tickets I had b/c my friend couldn't go with me but they ended up canceling both. So I finally got the ticket and took off running. Luckily they had a secondary security line open. I got through it and looked at my watch and it was 7:22. I thought there was No way I would make this flight I took off running through the terminal and by some luck, I made it in time to board the plane.

We both got to LGA airport at pretty much the same time which worked out great. That airport is crazy, I had to take a bus to another terminal to find SS and get our stuff together. I was pretty tired from not sleeping much the night before and anxious because I haven't seen her in a while but it all went away when I got off the bus. It was great to finally see her, touch her etc.. again. We grabbed a cab and headed down to Midtown Manhattan.

First stop was our hotel, Milford Plaza. I have stayed here before and it is a nice little hotel in the heart of Broadway and 2 blocks from Times Square. We got very lucky as a room was ready and we were checked in at like 10:30a when it is normally a 3 pm check in. We got situated and then headed out to see the sights.

SS had never been to NYC so I was really excited to show her around. We walked over to Restaurant Row to have some lunch. Nice little place and I love RR, fixed price menus and lots of choices. After a good lunch, we took the Grey Line bus tour around so we could see everything with out walking it all. We had two concerts this weekend to stand through so giving the dogs a rest was a good idea. Our tour guide was a rather old fella and he tended to repeat himself to drive the point home. We went through most of the tour getting off up towards Central Park. Had some drama happen during the tour with some text messages from a crazy girl which I will talk about more in another post. Once the tour was done we did some walking, saw Radio City Music Hall, St. Patricks Cathedral etc. Then we went to SS favorite place, Tiffany's. We avoided the engagement ring floor, more as a joke than anything but did end up buying a nice necklace to match the rest of her stuff. We then headed out towards Central Park and got to go in the new Apple store.. very cool place.

The final stop for the day on the LONG walking tour was Central Park. SS is a huge DMB fan just like me so I figured that we should walk up so I could show her where the CP show was on the great lawn. I really enjoy CP, this tranquil place in the middle of this fast pace city is really neat. We walked all through it, clear up to the great lawn which is a long way. We sat at the Great Lawn and watched some softball and relaxed. It was a gorgeous day and we took advantage. After relaxing we headed back out of CP towards the entrance to jump on a horse and carriage. This was really nice and relaxing. The "driver" gave a lot of great facts about CP and it was so nice out, it was around sunset and the park is just so so peaceful. I was completely relaxed and very happy and I am pretty sure SS enjoyed it. It was supposed to be a surprise but in my infinite wisdom I asked her friend if SS would like it and she spilled the beans. Surprised or not I think it was a really really nice thing.

After that we headed back to the Hotel to change and then went to restaurant Row for dinner again. Nice Italian place, good food and a couple martinis :). It was pretty late by this time and we were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Saturday

We got up Saturday and headed out to our Brunch destination Essex in the lower east side. Miss Bitch (blog linked on the side) suggested this place as a great spot and boy was she right. For $15.50 we got 3 drinks and food. I started out with a super spicy Bloody Mary and SS had a screwdriver. I ordered the sausage gravy biscuits and eggs and she had a super huge omelet. We proceeded to down 3 or 4 more drinks, mimosas and screwdrivers. The drinks kept on coming b/c SS started talking to one of the hostesses/waitresses and found out they were both from Chicago etc.. so she kept on bringing us drinks. We finally stopped her b/c we were already 1/2 way shitfaced and had a concert to go to. Either on the way down or on the way back we stopped at this store to grab a USB drive for SS and I was looking for some sunglasses. I tried on some killer dolce & gabbana glasses that were pimp. I think the price was $200 and unsure of their authenticity I balked. He then tried some wheeling and dealing, gave me 30% off etc.. then I knew that they could be fake so I bailed.

Now this is where the fun begins, SS drug me to Madame Tussauds wax museum. It was expensive but a good time. The figures looked real and we were drunk cheesing it up with them for pictures and stuff. I had a good time even though I hate to admit it. Some funny pictures of me with the Rock, Prince and my man Bill Clinton. SS took some really funny ones with Joe Montana, Usher, her obsession Regis and N*Sync. Good times...

We headed back to the hotel and took a nap till about 2.

We got up and headed out to the show at Randalls Island. I had 6 tickets to sell, 2 sets of lawn for night 1 and 1 set of seats for Night 2. I got 50 dollars out of them which was horrible. There were tickets everywhere and I didn't want to deal with it so.. I took the money and ran.
Night one was a good show, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones opened first, then Govt. Mule and then DMB. Our seats were horrible, couldn't see the band at all, the people around us just stood around and didn't even sing and about 1/2 way through just left the section. So, SS and I had a ton of room and she was dancing all over the place. The band put on a good set with a Cortez the Killer highlight w/ Warren Haynes and #41 w/ the Flecktones. Once the show was over the clusterfuck began. It took us over 3 hours to get off the island and to midtown. They weren't prepared at all for all the people they needed to bus out of there to the subway. It was really lame and frustrating. We stopped at one of my fav. pizza joints once we got back to midtown and then hit the sack.

Sunday

We got up and went in search of sunglasses and lunch. We walked up to Hotel QT, this little boutique hotel that I stayed at last year in NYC which is awesome. Found a pair of sunglasses too for $9 so I was well on my way. We also checked out the MTV store which was kinda lame. We ate a a place called Chevy's for lunch. It was a chainy Mexican place but SS really liked it from when she ate there in Chicago. The food wasn't bad, the Margartias were awesome, I had a sour apple one. We walked around some more then headed back to the hotel for a little bit of sleep then it was off to another show at Randalls.

Tonight we were in like the 10th row and they were awesome. Bela opened again and then I finally got to see David Gray. If you haven't heard him, he is a must see.. his music is awesome, the guys got no rhythm when he dances but he can sing. DMB was really good even though the cut out my favorite song from the set list (Seek Up). Bela guested on Lie in Our Graves and Bela and the Flecktones guested on Jimi Thing. It was a great show, lots of energy. We got to meet Victor Wooten, the bassist for the Flectones as he was just hanging out in our section. The night before we saw Rashawn Ross but he was on his cell and seemed not to want to be bothered. Tonight was much less of a problem getting back to the hotel we were down there by 12:30 so a little over an hour. We ate at this joint by our hotel that wasn't too bad and then headed to bed.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Monday was too short from when we woke up (6am) till our flights (11am) it seemed like it was barely an hour. NYC is always a great time and being there with SS was just awesome as she would say.