Our last day in NYC

It was actually a really short day. We got up, finished packing, and headed out the door... it was that quick. One final look at my sisters room, where we slept for a week.

332 of 365: Some place cozy


One thing I haven't mentioned yet is menus in NYC. In the airport, I took a couple pictures of the menus. If a restaurant is a chain (more then 3 of it exist) they are required to put the calorie content with the name of the food item, and the font size must be the same as the font size of the price. I think it's ingenius, and wish they did that here in Ohio! It's incredible how many calories are in things!




And so, goodbye Jessica and New York City. It was amazing, and we loved it!

all about Rockerfeller

Friday was Rockerfeller day. Jessica has talked up going to the 'Top of the Rock' pretty much ever since she's moved to NYC. It's just like going to the top of the Empire State Building... except you can see the Empire State Building! I was sold. Like before, by this point in the trip, I had this feeling of if we didn't get to Rockerfeller, I wouldn't mind. And then after doing it, I couldn't imagine not doing it. It was that cool. You can buy one time visit passes, or you can get morning/evening passes, so that you can go up twice in one day. We went with the morning/evening.

The cool church from a few posts ago






The front desk people had warned us that it was overcast and cloudy, and might not be the best day for viewing. But I love how the clouds turned out in the pictures, so I was fine with it (though I agree that it was quite a bit hazy up there)

331 of 365: limitless


The Statue of Liberty looks so small from here!


The New Years ball never comes down (which I never knew) so I got a shot of the 2009






I loved the actual building facade of the Rockerfeller




I loved Rockerfeller Plaza, only because now I can say I stood where the Today Show does their outside segments, and where those wide shots for Saturday Night Live are taken. We didn't end up going to a Today Show airing (way early, plus the regulars weren't there) and we didn't ice skate (long long long long long lines) But it is so neat!








The Plaza is lined with Flags. I found Ohio!




These weren't at Rockerfeller, but how neat are they??


We went shopping after our trip in the sky. We spent more on this day then we did if you combined every other day on the trip. We went to Tims two favorite stores in NYC: The official NHL store, and the Nintendo Store. The NHL store was a bit of a bummer, only because there was very little Blue Jackets stuff. Though it's to be expected, given how bad of a team we are. I saw the cutest ornaments, and if they had had it in Blue Jacket, I would have gotten it in a heartbeat.


And there was a motorcycle in the front window. I took a picture of it so Tims dad could see.


After shopping, we headed back to the apartment to drop things off, eat, and rest. Well Tim rested. I photographed the apartment. And Pretzel. Pretzel is my sisters Chiuaua. He is the best dog. According to Jessica, he was an utter spaz for about 2 years, but he's great now. Tim adored Pretzel, which is something I never thought would happen. He's just not a little dog kind of guy. But he talked about stealing Pretzel away in our luggage many times on the trip.








Pretzel loved when Tim would nap on the couch


So we met up with my cousin Stephanie when we went back to the Top of the Rock at night. Even though she's been living in NYC for a few months now, she hadn't gone to the Top of the Rock either. I have to say, night time was really cool, but I honestly enjoyed day time better. Which is SO NOT what I predicted I would feel. But I didn't bring a tripod with me, so in the beginning, all of my shots were looking like this...


Oh, here's Steph and Me


I did finally wise up and started resting my camera on ledges. After the first shot, I realized I had my camera far to back on the ledge...


...so I pushed my camera right up to the very edge of the ledge, just holding on to the strap. It made both Stephanie and Tim very nervous. But I was confident my camera wouldn't fall.

Lets have a PARADE!

The whole purpose of going to NYC when we went to NYC was to see the Macy's Day Parade. Of all the fun/famousy things that happen in NYC (the Macy's Parade, lighting of the Rockerfeller Tree, the New Years ball, etc) this was the thing I WANTED to see! To warn in advance, this post is going to be FILLED with pictures!

So we got up early, and headed to Central Park West. We landed at 64th and Central Park West, which is closer to the start of the parade then the end.

More of me attempting myspace-ish type pictures


Here at our spot was where we had our one and only encounter with a famous person. Randy, from Say Yes to the Dress, watched the parade from the ledge directly behind us. Of course, I took two not so flattering pictures of the guy.




I actually heard him before I saw him. He has the best voice ever. I didn't say anything to him, because I figured he just wanted to see the parade like me, and there was no reason to get all weird about it. I say this right after I show you guerrilla-style photos I took of him, so sure I am being a little hypocritical. Shoot me!

So when we first got to our spot, I thought it was crowded. We were in the back row of about 4 rows of people. But the start of the parade, we were pushed up to the second row of about 10 rows of people... sardines man! We knew the parade was starting because the tv helicopters started circling, and people started craning over to our left...




Okay the floats aren't going to be entirely in order... sorry about that! I do know that this one float had mirrors all along the side of it, and Tim poked me and said "You should try to get a shot of you in the mirror." The girl next to me (who I think was also a photographer like me, and was definitely not from New York) was trying to get the same shot too. Both of us were convinced we missed it, but upon further inspection when I got back to Ohio...

Full shot


Hey thats ME! Right in front! With my new Parade friend. And a guy looking at us like we're idiots....


My favorite people walking around were the ones on stilts. Love those guys!


The energizer bunny actually would stop and spin around periodically. Genius!






Hey there's Cyndi Lauper!


Jimmy Fallon




Some band... I think it was Boys like Girls? Something like that... I just liked that they were taking pictures of the crowd


Awwww Sesame Street


This confetti was all over EVERYTHING! We ended bringing it to Ohio with us!


Some random older ladies called the Ohio Purple Peddlers. I don't know of them, but apparently they peddle


DORA!!!!


The people holding down the balloons wear these smocks, and I loved the Dora handlers, because they had Backpack on their backs. So awesome! (a note on those people - they yell to the crowd too... we were chanting for Spongebob)


I think this guy in the fireman float had the BEST seat




Oh Gabba..... YO GABBA GABBA! I'm not going to lie, I got SO EXCITED when I saw their radio in the distance. And editting these pictures were hard, because the girls would get upset when I'd change to a picture that wasn't these guys...




330 of 365: Dj Lance Dj Lance DJ Lance ROCK!


So there were kids at the parade (not just me) and this one little boy... he was so cute! Blonde, blue eyed, sweet as can be. He just couldn't wait to see Buzz Lightyear. He had his Buzz Lightyear shirt on, and his Buzz Lightyear toy... his dad was worried he wouldn't stay awake long enough to see Buzz, but the kid made it.






I loved watching the balloons as they were leaving, since everyone's looking at whats coming ahead.


Loved this float too... it would rock every time she stopped


Papa Smurf, give me a "what what"






I love this santa balloon... I might print this up to use as a decoration at Christmas time




Awww its Santa! Which means its over! But how cool was his sleigh??


And now it's time for the masses.... the shear amount of people at the Parade is just staggering. The street is barracaded off, so you can't cross the street at any point. There are officials who follow he end of the parade, moving the barracades in so that people can move again. And its just a SEA of people.




Tim and I crossed into Central Park to sit for a minute, before heading off to China Town. The ultimate goal was to get to Little Italy, to see if anything was open to eat. We weren't going to have Thanksgiving dinner until late late into the evening, so we needed to eat a lunch now. In China town, we got lost. I mean LOST! Here's a couple random things I decided to photograph.




So, like I said, we got lost. Like super lost to the point of going home. Tim at one point said "Man if I only had a map." So there's a series of pictures like this one on my camera. I literally went down into the subway, and photographed small sections of the map from where we were to where we wanted to be. It actually worked out really well... I just looked like I was checking my camera constantly.


We found an open restaurant, had lunch, went back to Jessica's, slept, and got ready and went to her friend Johns house. She and John made a fantastic dinner, and there was just so much food!!




I didn't take many photos, because I wanted to actually be at the party, rather then photograph the party, but here's what I did get. I love how Tim looks bored to death - he wasn't, he actually enjoyed himself more then he thought he would. I thought it was fantastic, and was sad when it was all done. Definitely a great way to spend a holiday!






*phew* that was one heck of a post!