In The Great Wide Somewhere: It's Been Waitin' For You

I w T e l 'S c B o E m E e N W t A o I n T e I w N' y F o O r R Y k OU

Walking through a crowd the village is a-glow

kaleidoscope of loud heart beats under coats

Everybody here wanted somethin more

searching for a sound we hadn't heard before

and

said

Welcome To New York

Sang Taylor Swift in my head on the bus ride all the way from Woods Hole Massachusetts to

New York City

`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`~..~`

It was a dream that maybe, we could make it to the big city being as far east as we are. After some discussion with parents about the logistics, safety, and money we decided Boston would be a better choice. Go see Boston for a couple of days, it's safer, cheaper, and amazing.

True True and True

Boston would be amazing, I love U.S. history so I know for a fact I would have enjoyed it immensely.. however..

New York City:

Big Lights

Lady Liberty

Broadway

Times Square

Empire State

Metropolitan

Pizza

Cheesecake

Hot Dogs

China Town

Little Italy

Rockefeller

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Elf

Night At The Museum

How I Met Your Mother

When In Rome

Bride Wars

Spiderman

Hitch

Radio City

World Trade Center

Central Park

Madagascar

Wall Street

Fifth Avenue

These are only a few of the things that kept going through my brain as we have been nearing the end of our stay in Martha's Vineyard.

Some of my favorite movies, tv shows, food, and landmarks period came from or reside in

"The City That Never Sleeps"

A couple of things I also thought and still think

As much as I would appreciate Boston, I am just a kid. An 18 year old kid. Even if I would appreciate it as much as I would in 20 years, which is highly unlikely, I am positive I wouldn't appreciate NYC as much in 20 or even 15 years as I would as an 18 year old.

So the obvious choice was made

It was last minute we had less than a week to get everything in order and planned.

We could have told our parents and had their help, but we decided to plan and carry out everything on our own. Got to grow up someday right?

Also: We weren't sure they would be a-okay with it.. That was important to consider.

Not too long ago, my cousin Charley, now known as Sister Peterson, sent her mom a text

It pretty much said I love you mom :)

Later we found out she was about to go skydiving and didn't want her mom to worry.

Skydiving = New York

It was my turn to go Skydiving. ;)

So not a word of this adventure was uttered to any of our parents.

Let me get something straight, this was not an act of rebellion.

It was a coming of age surprise

"Look What I Can Do Mommy"

So in the little time we had we made some plans

Planning was just as fun as the trip

minute for minute

(not an exageration)

we figured out how long it would take us to get from point a. to point b. to c. ect. and how long we would need at said point a. or point b. and c. ect.

We google mapped out everything and wrote it all down.

We had to see it all.

Living quarters were a bit more of a stretch..

Hotels in Manhattan are not super cheap, even the crappy beyond crappy hotels we found were still about 150 a night.

So we found a website my teacher told us about in High School it's called airbnb.com

People all over the world rent out extra rooms/apartments/houses that they have to travelers.

You can pick your destination, price, housing type, dates, and host.

The host's have background checks to insure safety

the living areas are also checked

the surrounding area to the living places however...

User Discretion Is Advised

The graph of user discretion decreases when you are a poor recently graduated college student.

In other words, we didn't do any research on Brooklyn.

LOL

50 cent grew up there. He is a rapper. He raps about his life there sometimes

So as I sort of mentioned we went with the 50 dollars a night loft apartment in Brooklyn NYC

That's right

three people

three nights

150 ish dollars total

50 a person

for 3 nights

The pictures of the inside of the apartment, online, looked pretty rad actually.

So after an almost missed ferry ride

I asked them to show me how they felt to have made the ferry. We were stuck in traffic on the bus to the ferry and we were about two minutes away from missing it. After running to get our tickets and running to get on the ferry, this is how they felt about that experience.

6 hour bus ride, subway ride, and finally taxi ride.. stepping out to the address of our loft and not being able to find the front door because the front door was covered in graffiti and blended into the wall next to a gas station, we were a bit confused.

Turns out, Brooklyn is a bit more scary than we had imagined.

But I have to back up to the bus

We took a bus and kept track of where we were on the way, Rhode Island, Connecticut, it was fun to even drive through these places that we had never been. As we got to New York and finally in Manhattan..

I looked to my right as we drove and all of the sudden.

Times Square

Obviously I didn't take this picture
but
Driving by honestly gave me the chills

It was like nothing I had ever seen

Being the late hour, it was dark, but the lights. Holy cow.

I've seen it in the movies sure, but Times Square at night, even passing by in a bus was a million times better.
You just can't recreate that on a screen.

Took my breath away

Also before I catch up

The Subway.

In the beginning, we got our weekly pass, it was late, we had a nifty app telling us which station to go down and which line to take so that wasn't too difficult. As the subway drove up I was taken aback. So fast. So dumb to be talking about it but truly it was thrilling to be standing so close to something moving so fast. It was an experience and I was thrilled to be there.

I would come to have a very strong dislike for the Subway, but for that first moment I was a True New Yorker and it was amazing.

Later known as the armpit of New York

We got off the Subway in Brooklyn and we were lost. Google maps wasn't working super great, the area we emerged from the Subway surrounding us was the sketch in sketchy, and as we started walking next to the freeway we heard a noise unlike any noise I had ever heard in the building next to us over a fence. I won't go into too much detail about this sound that probably lasted four seconds, but I'm pretty sure there was a seance going on with a lot of people and they were doing some pretty dark juju voodoo contacting the dead type stuff up in there.

In the day time it's not so bad, it's actually kind of pretty :)

Needless to say it scared the heck right out of us. Or rather it scared the Hell right into us and I made a decision. I knew at that moment it was time for me to flag down a taxi for the first time in my life.

This is a big moment. I just graduated from a town called Plain City next to Farr West so far away from anything related to a city they had to add two r's to the Far in Farr West.

So how do I do this?

In the movies they always yell out "TAXI" and hold their hand out. I figured I was not that advanced, so when a taxi finally drove by (it took a moment we were not exactly on a main street) I just held my arm out. I later found out no one actually yells taxi in the real world. The driver can't hear you anyway. I was just one step ahead ;)

We told him where we were going, he had no idea where it was, so we used google maps to lead him in the right direction. We got out, and now we are caught up.

"Where the actual flip are we"

Our host's friend came down, let us in, gave us a tour of the loft, left the keys and went back to their apartment across the hall.

Good news: the inside was a million times nicer than the outside and looked like the pictures we had seen online.

More good news: there was two other people staying there they were together but each had their own room and they were normal keep to themselves people.

Even more: Real Mattresses and a real kitchen with cooking utensils for our usage and shampoo in the bathroom

up that ladder was another bed in a small loft

this was the top

but we didn't have any time to cook some grilled cheese because four hours later we were up and rearin' to experience our first day in Manhattan

1. The Statue Of Liberty ft. Wall Street

The plan had been to go straight to Battery Park and then to Wall Street to take pictures with the iconic Bull and soak in the city. As we walked to the ferry, I saw the Wall Street bull that is famous for representing New York's financial industry.

But to us, it was famous for being in one of the most hilarious movies ever

Hitch

I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself.

So we figured we would save some time, take some pictures before on our way, and skip it on our lists of to do's for after the statue.

We had purchased our tickets online but due to some technical difficulties

(Chancey forgot to tell her bank she was leaving Utah for the summer so they shut her account down)

We didn't have tickets waiting for us at the ferry to the statue.

We panicked, but we ran. We got tickets. And we were still aboard the first ferry to both islands.
I am just now realizing what bad luck we had with ferry's thus far

When I first saw the statue clear across the way I have to be honest, I sort of started getting liquid in my eye area. Not quite crying, let's be real, it's just a statue. But it is such an iconic piece of history, and a symbol of the belief this great country was founded upon which is Liberty. Freedom.

How amazing to actually see what I have seen a million times before, only this time in person.

My awe and amazement only grew the closer we got on the boat. How huge it really is!

As we got as close as possible, we made a decision.

We had not purchased tickets for the inside of the statue because they were out of sight, just the grounds. So after getting pictures pretty dang close to the statue from the boat and being able to see it just as well as we would on the grounds, we decided to stay on the boat and continue onward with our schedule to see all of New York in a day. It was a good decision, because there was still so much more to do! We stopped at Ellis island, soaked a little bit of that in, and continued on to our next stop. The Statue Of Liberty, is there a better way to start the day?

kisses for New York

2. Empire State Building

Of course going inside would be ideal, and a ride to the top would be lovely, but the lines and prices were not worth it to us to be honest. We got there, we saw, we were amazed, we left. What more is there to say?

3. New York Public Library

Just on schedule, we hit the New York Public Library and were surprised to find that it didn't have very many books in it, for being a library. It's more of a quiet place to study. But the building was beautiful, and the Air Conditioning was very welcoming, so we were glad we went.

Can you spy me ;)

4. Times Square in the day ft. Toys R US

We walked to times square and were blown away. In the night time, the lights and screens and happenings are even more impressive, of course, but in the day it was still super sick.

That day a huge crowd was gathered in one spot, we didn't know why as we were leaving, but apparently Tom Cruise was 50 feet away from us in that crowd and we didn't even know.

In Times Square we went to Toys R Us and it didn't disappoint. Three stories, entire sections of Candyland, Barbie, Lego's, Willie Wonka, and more. Not to mention the first thing we saw walking in the door. A Ferris wheel. People were riding a Ferris wheel in this toy store. Talk about mind blowing. We felt like kids again.

Wonka

5. The Plaza Hotel

If you have ever seen Bride Wars, you know why we had to go see the Plaza. This place truly was the definition of Class. We only went into the lobby but boy oh boy, it was beautiful. Chandelier here, chandelier there. Here a chandelier there a chandelier everywhere a chandelier.

"I'm gonna swing from the Chandelier. From the chandelier." -Sia

6. Central Park ft. a phony fountain, and Bethesda Fountain

We wanted just a picture in front of Central Park Zoo because of Madagascar (we watched it on the way to New York) but unfortunately we had a very misleading map and at this point our feet were about ready to fall off, so we went straight to Bethesda Fountain Terrace in the middle of the famous Central Park.

Thought this was the F.R.I.E.N.D.S fountain because on my map it said so, and it looks so, but Madswagg shattered my dreams. Apparently the real one is in Califonia ;)

Bethesda

It was really pretty, but what grabbed my attention was under the bridge there was a piano and a group of singers singing. No way right? Singers singing.
Anyway, they were amazing. The next song they sang was A Capella and it was some sort of gospel song. We bought their cd because it was so pretty. They are truly amazing artists.

7. The Met

Using the map.. We were misled again (imagine that) and not super sure how to continue on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was a must see. Luckily a native New Yorker about 70 cute African American lady was walking that way and insisted we go with her because without her, "There's no way you will know where you're going." Through the park she explained to us why exercise is so important and why we should do it everyday. She said she comes to the park to walk everyday unless it's too cold. I totally believe she knew what she's talking about, because she looked super fit and was speedy, walking up those hills way faster than any of us young whipper snappers. We finally got there, thanked her, and went inside the Museum.

Wow.

We had more than three hours at this place, but we also all had dead phones and dead legs from all of the walking on four hours of sleep and no food.
Yeah, we just hadn't gotten around to eating because there was so much to see! So we went to the basement of the Met first things first to recharge our phones (there was plugs, drinking fountains, benches, restrooms, and carpet) and to recharge ourselves. I fell asleep on the ground which for those of you that know me, you aren't surprised because I can sleep anywhere anytime all of the time.

It was great to take a minute to breathe.

When I woke up feeling refreshed and hydrated, we grabbed our charged phones and walked upstairs. I can't really completely describe the amazing things I saw in there.

Paintings, sculptures, Van Gogh, pottery, metal work, drawings, and more.

Definitely not a waste of the next two hours of my life. Even with the time we spent there, we barely saw half of the place. It is insanely huge. I would love to go back someday and spend literally an entire day there.

My sis Rachel plays the violin, I play the piano, that other random girl is Seth ;)
JK Seth, I love you

If you don't know what this art piece means, you aren't artistic enough to hang with me.
;)
(I literally do not have a clue)

Dear father who also happens to be an artist Ryan, if you ever find yourself in need of a traveling companion to see amazing stuff at the Met, I volunteer as tribute.

8. Papaya King

We had to get a hot dog in NYC and were told this was the place. Not just by my uncle, but also Ted in How I Met Your Mother. It was pretty good, not a huge hot dog person myself, but it was pretty good. An experience anyway to say the least.

Papaya King

9. Forever 21

We went back to times square to explore the three story Forever 21. I bought a skirt for my mission, something for my sister, socks, and a shirt. All under 35 dollars.

10. Rockefeller Center

Turns out we should have looked into the tickets to get to Top Rock because they were sold out for the time we needed, but we still got to see where the NBC studio is, and the outside was really cool too.

11. Ippudo

Corey (my moms brother who up until recent times has lived there and was just with my family in Utah a few days before but was back in the city for business) had us meet him there and It was so worth the wait to get in. It was authentic Japanese Ramen. Delicious! I love Japanese food, and this place was so good. I miss it already.

I also took a picture with my uncle and sent it to my mom and dad saying

"Surprise! Happy anniversary"

How funny to be telling my parents where I was finally, and it was also their anniversary.

haha

Surprise ;)

My mom was freaking out. It was so funny. I sent them a ton of pictures and they were really excited to see me experiencing NYC.

Corey being the great human he is, gave us a ride to our loft, and had a hay day checking out our place. He was taking pictures, we showed him around, he was just in awe at where we were staying. In truth I think he gained some respect for the hood side of me he had never known.

I rep Brooklyn all day son.