Back in 2014, I was fortunate enough to go with my parents on a trip to Washington DC, Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and New York City. I wrote a bunch of journals, and posts about it, but I wanted to repost some of those this year. It’s been a full decade since then, and it’s hard to believe.

My first impression, was wow this city is a lot to take in. However, I soon fell in love with people watching from our hotel room window. We stayed at the Double Tree Times Square, and we received 2 warm chocolate chip cookies upon check in. We made our way up through major lobby construction to settle in to our 2 bedroom suite. Our view overlooked the M&M Store & Olive Garden side of Times Square, and I loved watching the traffic on that corner. It was everything my New York City dreams were made of. Yellow taxis, mass crowds of people crossing chaotically, and siren sounds that never sleep.

The first night, tucked into a brand new “CSI New York -Crime Scene Investigator” T-shirt from a vendor down the street, I enjoyed an evening to myself in the hotel because my parents went out for a date night. I was lucky and gorged myself on Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream in bed. Even luckier, I watched an excessive amount of Supernatural and loved every moment.

Prior to my date night with Ben & Jerry, and Dean & Sam simultaneously, we tackled Rockefeller Center during the day. We climbed up to the Top of the Rockefeller Center and took great photos of us. We were lucky to have the Empire State Building as our background. While up top, I got a little nauseous and had to sit in their windowed modern sit room at the middle of the Center. Besides the Empire State Building, we also saw the new World Trade Center which is 1,776 feet tall in honor of the year we became a country.

On our way home to Double Tree we stopped at the Radio City Music Hall and that was amazing to see in person. Dad and I were long time watchers of America’s Got Talent which often took place at Radio City Music Hall.

This trip, we also visited the 9/11 memorial and saw a former Brentwood Tech worker there working the memorials line system. The memorial was beautifully done, it really captures the loss and makes you feel like you were affected directly. Seeing the location in person totally knocks the air out of you though.

On a brighter note, my parents hooked us up with tickets on a ferry to drive by the Statue of Liberty, and man is she pretty. I had a seagull encounter on the aft deck of the boat, and it wasn’t mean. Shocking enough after the killer seagull of Victoria Canada. Later that night my Dad and I saw a former America’s Got Talent group, Illuminate, Off Broadway. Being able to experience even a slice of Broadway was way cool for me an Honors Dance student at the time.

It wouldn’t be a real trip to New York if we didn’t use the trains, so we took them all the way to Washington DC to close our New York stop. From White Collar vibes to the hustle and bustle of the city, I grew to love and long for this city. I’m constantly finding myself saving photos of this city, blogging about it and dreaming about life there. Hoping still to one day to move there or the surrounding area.