Faith, Football, and Fairy Tales: {NYC 2018: Days 1&2}

I figured if I didn't hurry & get my trip recap done - that I would forget what we did...you know - old age! =)

Brenda, Taurie & I used to travel quite frequently together a few years ago...but it had been 6 years since the 3 of us last went to NYC...needless to say - we were long overdue! The conversation came up this summer & before we knew it - we had a trip planned!

Our flight left at 6am on Tuesday so Brenda & I headed to Austin Monday night to stay with Taurie. After a 2:45am wake up call, we were on the road & checked in for our flight by 4:30.

We arrived in NYC around 10:30 & took the train into the city...definitely an experience in itself. We did try to pack lighter this time, taking my medium size luggage instead of the large one...but let me tell you - it was still a challenge to drag that thing up & down stairs and onto a train/subway!

We checked into our hotel & not going to lie - I was a little leery....we had the hardest time finding an affordable one this time so we booked on Hotwire. We ended up at The Skyline Hotel. Despite it's far distance from the subway, it was really nice! I was pleasantly surprised...and it had the best little Mexican food restaurant next to it that had a happy hour that we frequented often. =) And it had a fabulous "skyline" view!

We had decided that we weren't going to spend much time on this trip sight seeing, running from place to place trying to fit in as much as possible. We wanted it to be all about new experiences & doing things we hadn’t done before, to relax & enjoy our time there...and that's what we did! First up was lunch...pizza of course!

We headed to Macy's to see the holiday windows {which we were VERY disappointed in}. And while Taurie shopped, Brenda & I went to visit Santa...and I'm pretty sure we got the most UNHAPPY Santa ever. Seriously, it was ridiculous!

We headed back to the hotel to relax & hit up the first of many....

....Happy Hours!

That evening, we headed to Harlem to have supper at The Red Rooster. Seriously one of the best night's ever in NYC. We had a long wait, but there was a live jazz band & the food was delish! And we were even comped dessert! Definitely will go back there again.

We had big plans for that night, but after a walk through Times Square, we decided to head back to the hotel & called it a night.

We slept in a little the next morning {another thing we discussed...we were NOT setting the alarm for 6am every day} & then got up and headed down to Chelsea Market for breakfast. I had my first crepe & we had to try the mini donuts!

We then headed up to check out the Highline...it's a mile long elevated walkway near Chelsea that was once a train rail. I think it would be really neat in the spring or fall, but everything was dead & it was cold up there so we didn't stay long.

We took the subway to Union Square & did some shopping in one of the holiday markets and then came back to Chelsea Market for lunch & a little more shopping.

We couldn't let another day go by without seeing the tree so we headed up town to Rockefeller Center. FAO Schwartz {which had closed a few years ago} also reopened so we had to check that out. And we finally found a happy Santa!

A quick trip back to the hotel for a little r&r before supper...and a stop by the bar for happy hour! =) We also discovered that the restaurant had skee ball machines! Needless to say, Taurie & I had to play a few friendly games {which I won most...just sayin}.

For supper that night, we decided to head to Brooklyn to eat at the Circa Brewing Co. & have cheesecake at the original Junior's.

So we get to Junior's & I order the brownie explosion cheesecake for $8.25. The waiter comes out with this...

Ummm...not what I ordered cause clearly I knew that was more than $8.25! But, the place was a little sketchy & the waiter was not nice so I just sucked it up...it was good, but not worth the nearly $20!!! dollars that I paid for it. Oh well...we got LOTS of laughs out of it!

We got on the subway & headed back to the tree & Sak's 5th Avenue light show...we had to see it at night too! Let me tell you, going earlier in the month & during the week makes a HUGE difference when it comes to crowds. Last year, we could barely move but this year we could actually walk side by side without any pushing or shoving.