I'm in a New York State of Mind

As many of you know, Travis, Mom E. (A.K.A. MomEEEEEEE as she likes to refer to herself), Dad E., and I travelled to New York to apartment hunt for Travis and me. Fun fun! the end.

Ahhh, JUST KIDDING! You know I can't shut up that quickly! I will tell you alllll about our journey, so sit back, relax, and enjoy your virtual trip to New York. (Cue fog machine and blackout into Scene 2: Flashback.)

Our journey began obviously by laundry... then packing... then 4 hours of sleep the night before our flight out of Charlotte Airport. Travis's license recently expired, so guess who had to drive the two and a half hours to the airport... joy. Oh, did I mention that Friday night (we left Saturday morning) I babysat from 6:00pm until 12:00am in Beech Mountain, NC (40 minutes away on The Long and Winding Road)? Regardless of our grogginess, we woke up, got ready, and left half an hour late; big surprise, eh? Despite the late departure of Taxi a la Brittany, we arrived in time for our flight and left for our future state of occupancy.

Once arriving, we found the guy who sold tickets for the bus. He promptly looked at my legs and said, "Nice tan! Where are you guys from? You guys are tan!" We replied, "Florida." He wasn't surprised. We bought the ticket and arrived at Grand Central Station after a lovely bus drive... one word- yum.


I decided, once arriving at Grand Central, that I was going to count the number of Starbucks cafes from Grand Central to our hotel.



Four.



Eight blocks, four Starbucks cafes...



my kind of city.



Now, if you live in an area that gets hot and muggy, you understand how miserable that can be. Well, let me paint a picture for you. Add the smell of molten garbage and the feeling of decaying city sludge being baked into your skin as you walk around in the heat. Ahhh, almost as great as Da Vinci, eh?

Once arriving to our hotel, we got settled and headed to the parents' hotel. Both our hotel and their hotel were grossly overpriced and housed relatively unimpressive rooms with grotesque carpets in need of replacing if I do say so myself. Regardless, we hung around for awhile until Dad E. had to get back to work (he was on break from conferencing, etc.); we then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening. What was in store? Not that, ya nasty! We were going to see The Lion King, of course!

Now, I cannot possibly go on without giving our shower an honorable mention- not that it deserves it. Truth be told, this shower does not deserve to be in my blog, but I couldn't leave it out after the lovely experience it gave me. Now, by lovely I of course mean painful, and by experience I mean the high pressured water leaving me begging to have skin remaining after showering. Usually when you think of someone having a problem with the pressure of water in hotels, it is that the pressure is just not high enough. But this shower? No no... this one left you with the ability to make a commercial bragging, "I lost 15 pounds using the 'Blow Your Skin Off' Shower! It is guaranteed to blow most if not all of your skin off so that you can fit into that summer dress!" Well, that is about all I will waste on that waste of a shower. Hey, I suppose I at least knew that I was clean to the point of exfoliation afterward. Always a silver lining.

Aaaaanyway, after getting pretty, we headed out in the city to dinner! After a yummy dinner, we were wowwed by The Lion King. I was thoroughly impressed. I have seen multiple Broadway shows, and this one gets four thumbs up (including my "toe thumbs"). If you are going to be hitting the Big Apple anytime soon, I urge you to see this phenomenal work of art. Was the singing incredibly impressive compared to other classic Broadway shows such as Phantom of the Opera and Wicked? No. The singing was not what truly amazed me. I was blown away by various components to this exciting show:

1. The unbelievable energy and chemistry of the cast
2. The mind-blowing props
3. The stunning set
4. The unique, fun costumes
5. The overall color
6. The overall energy and "pizazz" that had goosebumps forming, tears rising, hands clapping, and audience members thirsting for more

Please, do yourself a favor the next time you hit NY- see it, absorb it, love it. Although, if you do the first, you have no choice for the latter two. ;)

After my mind was officially blown, it was my taste buds' turn. We hit the Stage Deli where I consumed 1/3 of the best chocolate cake ever to grace my lips. I shared it with Travis and Dad E.; we were all swept away by the nearly coma-inducing scrumptiousness. After being fatty fat fats, we headed back to the hotel where we all died. Thus ended the first day of our New York weekend.

(To be continued...)