NYC Birthday Celebration!

For the past now six years I've celebrated my birthday at the Great New York State Fair with the wonderful staff I have the pleasure of working with.  I always go out and celebrate with my friends Mike and Lyndsy prior to the start of the fair.  This year, since it will be the big 3-0 I decided I wanted to do something a little different.  I normally have the Monday between the Iowa State Fair and my trip to Syracuse that I take to sleep in and work on phone calls and paperwork for NYSF.  This year we made plans to meet in NYC.  I was able to get the majority of my work knocked out prior to the trip but then also once I arrived at the hotel.  After being at the Iowa State Fair until 2:30a on Sunday/Monday, then having to return to the hotel to pack, I was taken to the airport at 5:30a for a 7a flight.  CRAZY!!  I arrived in NYC with no problem, cabbed to the hotel and wasn't able to check in.  I attempted to walk around for a few minutes but there wasn't much going on around our hotel.  I went back to the hotel to wait for my friends and ended up getting a lot of work done.  They had driven down to Albany and taken the train over.  They were running late so I got checked into the hotel and took a nap.  I'm glad I did!  As soon as they arrived we hit the town.  I have a friend from high school and a friend from college that now live in NYC.  I ended up touching base with them and they were the best tour leaders. :)  We made it to Time Square.  For some reason it's a lot smaller and less enjoyable then it was when I was there several years ago.  

Time Square

Lyndsy and I

Carnagie Deli.  Didn't stop but stopped for a pic

We ate at Vinny's BBQ which had some great BBQ! It was time to find out way to the Hudson Bar for drinks with Martha and Erin.  After several detours, passing the bar twice because the signage was hidden, we arrived.  

Literally, the sign was about this big.

They had this great outdoor bar that had couches, seats and just perfect for a small gathering.  

Erin (college friend) and I

Martha (high school friend) and I

Martha was then invited to a party a couple miles away.  We hopped in a cab and went down to the Local bar.  After making it through security we found that it was a press conference to announce a large tennis event that is going to be hosted at Madison Square Garden.  Someone was pointing out the celebrity athletes...I was lost.  They just looked like any other guy.  Apparently there were several tennis players, Jaba from the Yankees and more.  

View of crazy NYC traffic from Local Bar rooftop

We decided to head down to the West Village and visit a bar that was just a local hangout.  We hopped on the subway this time.  Two locals, Two NYers and one southern girl making their way through a subway station and figuring out directions.  It was comical!  We stopped at John's Pizza...amazing!  Then found ourselves at a great karaoke bar.  It was an amazing night.  We had so much fun!! I was happy to see my friends.  

Which way do we go? 

Subway fun

Erin and I with our bartender Tina

Lyndsy, Mike and I woke up and headed to the train station.  Riding a train has been on my bucket list for a while.  I've wanted to just on a train and ride across the country.  This was a good test.  First we fought the battle of moving my two huge suitcases around Penn Station through the lines of people.  The escalator was out so we had to take two separate banks of elevators.

Penn Station

Finally getting seated we found two sets of seats across from each other.  They sat next to each other and I had one seat for me, one for my purse. :)  I managed to fall right to sleep.  I think I ended up curled up in a ball trying to get comfortable.  The kids behind me whined every half hour about their trip being 8+ hours.  Ours was only two thank goodness!  As we're all resting, we make a stop a pick up a family of 5.  One of the ladies traveling with kids comes up and down the aisle screaming trying to find seats together or nearby for all of them.  She didn't have an inside voice.  As we get off the train in Syracuse it came to me that I was just able to go through a public venue with a large amount of people, get on a way of large public transportation and make it to my destination without my bags being checked or my ID.  While I'm used to the traveling process of the air this just creeped me out.  They didn't even check my ticket until we were a half hour away from the city.  I think I'm going to stick to flying.  Unless there's a train out there like the Hogwart's train....then I'm game. :)  We were able to use every type of local transportation and 'see the city' in less than 13 hours.  Awesome trip!