Many months ago when I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my 50th birthday, I decided that a trip to NYC to visit my best friend, Amy, would be the gift that I wanted the most. After running it past Ron, I bought my plane ticket for the last weekend in September. I flew out the morning of September 23rd to spend four days with Amy where we spent two days in the city and two days in the country. And although a Nor'easter storm blew in at the end of my second day there, we managed to do everything that was on my list and still had a great time. This was such a fun and rejuvenating trip! We laughed so much and had such a great time visiting some beautiful places in the Hudson Valley countryside and doing some fun things in New York City. I am so grateful that I was able to go on this trip and spend some quality time with one of my dearest, life-long friends.
September 24th:
We got up and headed out for a day in the Hudson Valley north of where Amy lives. We had a delicious brunch in a darling town on the Hudson River called Cold Spring.
After eating brunch, we walked up and down the main street before driving farther north to the town of Hyde Park to buy our tickets to tour the Vanderbilt mansion located there. We bought tickets for the 4 p.m. tour and then continued on to the quaint river town of Rhinebeck for another stroll along their main street and a stop in Paul Rudd's candy shop for a delicious cookie.
After spending an hour in Rhinebeck, we headed back to Hyde Park where we spent the rest of our afternoon. We went on a tour of this vacation home of Frederick Vanderbilt who was one of the grandsons of Cornelius Vanderbilt who first created the family's wealth. Here is a picture of the front side of the mansion with a tiny Amy and me standing at the bottom of the front steps.
A close-up of Amy and I.
We spent over an hour touring this house with a guide which was just fascinating to me. I love exploring old homes and learning about the history behind them. Here is a picture of the husband's office.
A shot of the winding staircase as we climbed to the top floor.
A picture of the husband's bedroom that was separate from the wife's bedroom.
The stunning view of the Hudson River from the backyard.
Amy and I posing in front of the famous Gingko tree found on the grounds. It is believed to be planted in 1799 and is one of the largest and oldest Gingko trees in North America.
September 25th:
Since Amy had to work this day and was only available to join me in NYC for the evening, I made plans to meet up with my friend, Blair, who was one of the directors of Northwest Theatre Lab in Puyallup where Lia spent many hours of her high school career. I took the train from Amy's town to Grand Central Station where I met Blair at noon. We then spent over five hours together exploring midtown. It was so fun to see him and get caught up on his life. He basically took me on a tour of the theater district and showed me so many cool things. Lia would have loved it! Here is a picture of the awesome drama book shop he brought me to that only sells theater-related books and scripts and is now owned by Lin-Manuel Miranda
After stopping for a pizza lunch, browsing in several cute shops, and looking at many theaters in the area, we ended up in a gay bar called Flaming Saddles for an afternoon drink. We even got to watch our bar tender do a dance on the bar!
Blair then walked me to Black Tap burgers where I was meeting Amy at 5:15 for dinner. We said our goodbyes and he went on his way. I was so grateful for this chance to spend the day with him.
Amy and I enjoyed dinner at Black Tap before heading off to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child that I had bought tickets for many months earlier.
Amy and I had to walk through Times Square on the way from the restaurant to the Lyric Theatre where the show was performing. We had to stop and get a picture of this iconic place that I have visited several times before.
Heading into the theater for the show!
The number one reason why I wanted to see this show was that Tom Felton was playing the role of the adult Draco Malfoy. Tom was the actor who played the child and teenage Draco in all eight of the movies. It was such an awesome experience to be able to see him act in person in such a creative and artistic play. I loved watching every minute!
A close-up of Tom Felton (on the far left) as he bows at the end of the show.
Since I was determined to get an autograph from Tom after the show was over, I waited outside the stage door of the Lyric Theatre while Amy ran to get our car. Since the storm had arrived while we were in the theater, I ended up waiting for 1 hour and 20 minutes in the rain for Tom to come out of the theater. Although it was a bit frustrating to wait that long, it was so cool to see him in person and get to briefly talk to him. After taking a picture with the group of people that I was standing with, he signed my program and called me "love" which I thought was hilarious!
September 26th:
After a late night the night before, we managed to get up and out the door by 9 o'clock the next morning so that we could make the hour drive to New York City to be there by 10 a.m. when the theater box office opened. While Amy waited in the car, I ran in and bought us tickets for the matinee show of MJ. We then drove to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to visit the Tenement Museum. After arriving, we learned that their daily tours were already booked out too late in the afternoon for us to make it back to MJ in time, so we just watched a 30 minute video instead. We then drove back to midtown so that I could make a quick return and purchase at the AG Doll store before eating a delicious NYC bagel lunch before the show.
Amy and I standing outside the MJ theatre before the show began at 2 p.m. We had an amazing time watching the show as it was basically a 3-hour long Michael Jackson concert with a story woven in between. It was so fun to see this show with Amy since we loved listening and dancing to Michael Jackson songs during our college years together.
Although it had rained in the morning while we were driving to NYC, we were blessed with a big break from the rain during our entire time walking around the city that day. After the show ended at 5 pm, it was just raining lightly, so we decided to drive downtown to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We had the best time walking across this bridge, taking in the amazing views of the city, the East River, and Brooklyn.
After crossing the bridge, we went to the Brooklyn Bridge park and took a few pictures with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
We then ate a delicious pizza dinner in Brooklyn.
Since the storm had really picked up while we were eating dinner, we then had to walk back over the bridge in a heavy wind and rainstorm. It ended up being a really fun experience to be on top of the bridge during a storm. It also was so cool to see the NYC skyline all lit up against the dark sky, so I am really glad that we ended up doing this activity at night instead of during the day.
September 27th:
After spending two days in a row in the city, it was nice to be able to finish off the last day of my trip in the country again. We started off by eating a delicious breakfast in Pleasantville with Amy's son, Clayton, who had stayed with his dad all weekend long.
After breakfast, we said goodbye to Clayton and drove to the neighboring town of Sleepy Hollow. Since I love the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I told Amy that I wanted to spend the morning exploring this darling town.
Since I was there during the Halloween season, it was so cool to see all of the decorations that this town had already put up!
Many of the stores on the main street of this town had elaborate decorations outside their buildings.
After wandering around downtown Sleepy Hollow, we then drove a few miles to visit Washington Irving's home, Sunnyside, that was built almost 200 years ago. Since I am such a fan of this story, it was so fascinating to be able to tour the house of the author who wrote it.
A close-up of Amy and I in front of the main entrance of Sunnyside.
A lot of the furniture in this home are original pieces from when Irving lived there. This is a picture of the chair that he loved to sit in while looking out on his backyard and the Hudson River.
A picture of Irving's bedroom. He actually died of a heart attach at the foot of his bed (on the left side of the picture) in 1859.
After touring Irving's house, walking around the grounds, and shopping in the darling gift shop, Amy and I drove back into Sleepy Hollow to eat a late lunch inside a really cozy pub downtown. It was the perfect way to finish off my NY trip with Amy. After lunch, we drove home for an hour so that I could pack up my suitcase before heading to the JFK airport to catch my evening flight. And although it felt so good to be back home, I am so grateful that I was able to go on this wonderful trip with my best friend to celebrate this milestone birthday in my life!
