NYC Part 2

After a week of anticipation (I’m sure all of you are still at the edges of your seats) I continue my tale of the big city. After the Conan filming, we hopped the subway to the World Trade Center site. Although it is now more of a construction site than one of destruction, the stunning photographs on display and strange empty space are still reminders of that horrible day four and a half years ago.

It was early to bed and early to rise for Thursday as we got up extra early, grabbed some Starbucks and headed for the studio of “Live with Regis and Kelly.” Regis was absent due to his heart surgery, but Neil Patrick Harris (also on Conan the previous evening) was the guest host. We even got front row seats that had an amazing view of singer Josh Gracin and Kelly’s very cute shoes.

We took a walk through Central Park until rain cut our visit short. We then decided to take the NBC studio tour to escape the weather. As it turned out, it was an excellent choice. We caught Carrie Underwood rehearsing for Saturday Night Live. After the tour, we headed to the top of the Empire State Building. After dinner it was time for a visit to the wax museum. Jen and I had both been to wax museums before, but Cindy had not. I think she was expecting either a traditional museum or something cheesy. Instead, she took more goofy photos at the wax museum than either of us. She sang with Bob Marley, posed with N’Sync (which, for some reason, was missing Lance) and danced with Usher. “That was fun, do you guys want to come back tomorrow?” she said only half jokingly.

On Friday morning the “vacation” was starting to wear me down, so Jen and Cindy got up early to go to the Today Show while I slept in. I met them at Rockefeller Plaza only to find out I really didn’t miss anything by sleeping in. We met Meredith Vieira and the rest of the Today Show crew. Pink performed inside the studio, though she did come outside to greet the crowd. We spent the rest of Friday visiting the Statue of Liberty and had a late lunch in Chinatown. Friday night was concert night with Christina Aguilera at Madison Square Garden.

On Saturday Cindy awoke not feeling so great, but after a run to the drug store she was good to go for shopping on Fifth Ave. About 800 stores later, we stopped in a deli for pizza, then headed to “The Lion King,” our musical matinee. Times Square was unbelievably crowded after the musical, so we headed to Grand Central Station for a snack, then planned to go on a harbor lights cruise. However, we opted out after standing in line in the rain and hearing there were no more inside seats. Instead we finished our souvenir shopping, then Cindy decided to turn in early. Jen and I visited an Irish pub for drinks and nachos, then turned in ourselves.

The flight home was a little more exciting, but not in a good way. Storms made the flight longer, and a bumpy landing made me very happy to be on solid ground. I was even more thrilled to be back home with Jacob and Nate that night on a quiet country road.