The Big Apple

I just got back from a trip to New York with my mom, sister, and sister-in-law. We had a BLAST! We actually had amazing luck too. You'll see why below. And to give fair warning...this post is huge. 42 pictures. Not even 1/10th of the pictures I took.


Day 1: Flew to New York

Day 2:
Arrived at 6:30 am, took the subway to the hotel, and left 15 minutes later. We went to the Today Show to see Kris Allen and Adam Lambert from American Idol, but we didn't get there in time. They had just left. So we decided to get in the Standby line at The View. A cop gives us horrible directions, and we went to the opposite end of town. Its ok though, because we ran into Tommy Hilfiger. (See celebrity sightings below for pics). Right after that we came across The Early Show and Kris Allen was there! We watched him perform. He was great. Once he finished, we decided to try again to find The View. Along the way, we found the Manhattan LDS Temple.


It was beautiful and so different from any other temple I'd been to. The Regis and Kelly show is filmed in the building next door.


We finally found The View and waited in line for almost an hour, and we got in! We were literally the last people to be let in. All five ladies were there and the guest was Kara DioGuardi from American Idol. (Again, see celebrity pics below.)


We were literally on the top row. But you can see Barbara and Whoopi behind us.


That night we just walked around Times Square. It was a little crowded.




We also entered the lottery for Wicked tickets. For those of you who don't know (and I didn't), they have a lottery for Wicked because its sold out for months. So you go to the theater at 5:30 and put your name in and at 6:00 they call out 13 names. Each person gets two tickets for $26/each and they are usually great seats. The problem is, there is usually about 300 people there.

We did this constantly. Waited (forever) for the subway.


Day 3:
The next morning we got up early for the Today show. Taylor Swift was performing. I never realized how tall she is! She was great to watch live. There were people who had been waiting since 7 am the day before, so we were way in the back. This was our view most of the time.




Then we headed to Canal Street for some great knock-off shopping. Let's just say we did some damage.


That night was got tickets for Mary Poppins on Broadway and it was fantastic!

We also put our names in the lottery for Wicked and didn't win. Again.

Day 4:
We slept in and then went down to Times Square.


We waited in the half-price ticket line to see what other Broadway show we could see.


We ended getting tickets for an off-Broadway musical called "The Marvelous Wonderettes". It was great, but not my favorite. This was definitely one you'd go see with the girls. Nate would have poked his eyes out.


Then we went to 5th Ave for some more shopping. We hit up my favorite store.

I must say I was a little disappointed in it. The one in Vegas was bigger and better.

Then we went to the Wicked lottery for our last chance at getting tickets. Guess what? WE WON! Not two tickets, but FOUR! My sister, Angie, and sister-in-law, E'Shell both won! The odds of two from our group winning when only 13 names are called out of over 300 people are incredible. We were beyond ecstatic!


But we were more ecstatic when we walked into the theater. Our tickets said row BB, so we thought we'd maybe in on the second row of the second level.
NO!
Row BB was THE FRONT ROW! Not only that, but our seats were directly in the middle. It was unbelieveable!


The show was so incredible. We could see every facial expression of the actors (even when they spit on each other). I think I have a new favorite musical.


Day 5:
We hit up a street fair on our way to church to get some yummy breakfast...apple crepes. Yum.

Church was great.


Then we walked over to Central Park and stopped at Tavern on the Green (where Nick Lachey proposed to Jessica Simpson).


That afternoon we took the subway to Ground Zero, where you couldn't see anything but cranes.


We relaxed the rest of the night. We needed it.

Day 6:
For our last day, my mom and I decided we wanted to wait in the Standby line for Regis and Kelly. Once again, we got in! And once again, we were almost the last people to be let in and sat on the back row. Regis wasn't there, so I was sad. I really wanted to see him. Pat Sajak was filling in. Pat Sajak, really?


He actually did a really good job. But my favorite was Kelly. She was so great with the audience. During every comercial break, she'd come out and take pictures, sign autographs, and tell us stories about her kids. The guests were John Goodman and Jillian Harris from The Bachelorette. John Goodman was weird. I loved Jillian.


My mom, Angie and I then met at Central Park (E'Shell had already gone home). We decided to rent bikes and ride them around the park. It was tougher than we thought. There are a lot of hills, but it was still fun.


Angie is in her third trimester and totally kept up with us!


Finally, we ended the day by walking over to FAO Schwartz to get something for the kids. Claire loves this picture of me and the soldiers.



CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS!
We had twenty-three and a half (count 'em - 23.5) celebrity sightings! Here they are (in order of appearance), at least the ones I could get pics of:

1. Tommy Hilfiger - he was standing outside of the Plaza Hotel talking on his phone. I had total eye contact with him and said, "That's Tommy Hilfiger!" Like an idiot. He kept watching us and by the time I talked my mom into taking his picture, he was walking across the street.


2. Kris Allen (winner of American Idol)


3. Maggie Rodriguez (host of The Early Show)


4. Jim Cantiello (MTV News reporter)


5. Barbara Walters
6. Elisabeth Hasselbeck
7. Sherri Shepherd
8. Joy Behar
9. Whoopi Goldberg


10. Kara DioGuardi (judge from American Idol)


11. Alicia Minshew ("Kendall" from All My Children)
12. Alexander Cambias, Jr ("Zach Slater" from All My Children)
13. Cameron Mathis (from All My Children and Dancing With the Stars)
14. Al Roker
15. Matt Lauer
16. Natalie Morales


17. Meredith Vieira
18. Taylor Swift


19. Michael Gelman (from Regis and Kelly)


20. Pat Sajak


21. Kelly Ripa


22. John Goodman


23. Jillian Harris (the Bachelorette!)


23.5. Nathaniel Marshall (who made it to the top 36 on American Idol, that's why he's only a 1/2 celebrity)


What an unforgettable trip! Can we please make this girls trip a yearly tradition?