NYC!

As a follow up to Riley's grad, we all jumped on an Amtrak train bound for New York City!

First class all the way!

It was a wonderful experience to be able to hang out with the fam for a few extra days in the hustle and bustle of the big city.  Soooooo happy it worked out.

View from the 32nd floor of the hotel.

So many good times were had, right from the start.  Such as at this Mexican restaurant we stumbled upon.

Supersweet bottomless tortilla chips n' salsa.  

Mexican brings out all the smiles!

Or, perhaps it was the ice cold beer...

Or the fancy-schmancy ginormo cocktails :).

Great restaurant, check it out if you're in town!

After a good wander, Dad took us to his favourite local hockey bar.

Which, naturally, was a little piece of Canada in NY.

Woot, woot woot!

Epic discussion time.

Awwwww, family :D.

The next day, in the blistering heat, we went a wanderin'.

The search began for a coffee, and we ended up at Union Station.

A big chunk of old world beauty amongst the glassy modernism.

Immense and gorgeous on the inside.  More of a cathedral than a train station.  

Of course there were these GI dudes on security patrol, and they were being cool and taking pictures with tourists.  They put their serious Team America World Police faces on for us.

Busy, bustling, and beautiful.

Of course, a trip to NY isn't complete without a sojourn to NHL headquarters and the NHL store!

Canadian mecca, sort of.

I mean really, a chandelier made of hockey sticks and TVs showing playoffs coverage?  AS IF that's not awesome.

And after collecting a few souvenirs, back to the wandering.

Radio City needs a good neon specialist to fix those lights!  C'mon people!

NBC Studios at Rockefeller Centre.

View of Central Park the top of The Rock.

Hullloooooo dowwwnnnn theerrrrrrrre!

My mom, not the greatest fan of heights, stayed firmly planted in the middle of the building.  She's somewhat blended into the shiny wall back there giving us a wave.

The City that just keeps on going.

Bro pic and the Empire State.

Looking down sans hats.  Whoa moment.

The steward told us that this is the part of the Hudson in which the plane was landed a few years ago. 

'MERICA!

Love the decor.

After a day of sight seeing and a chill out in Central Park, we headed over to Broadway for The Book of Mormon!  This was pretty much the entire reason we all ended up in NY in the first place.  Ever since we heard this show was coming out, my brothers and I have been trying to come up with reasons to justify the trip.  Well, thank you Riley's grad!

Huzzah, BROADWAY!

It was all I imagined it to be and more. Haven't laughed that much in so long.

Inside of the theatre.  So pretty.

The set was really neat.  There was even a Tim Hortons painted into the Salt Lake City scene :).

Very happy (and warm) Broadway attendees.  Super lucky to have been able to see this show in its first run and with its original cast.  Hope to see it again when it comes to London's West End this spring!

The next day, more sightseeing :).

Heading down into the subway underworld.

Been in many a subway in my life, but have never encountered prison-style security bars before... One fare payer goes through the turnstile and then opens the emergency gates to let all of their buddies in anyway.  Seems rather unnecessary, but it does add to the charm.  

Land of the free!  

Law and Order!

Me n' Riley just chillin' on the steps of the Court House.  DUN DUN dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnn.

Yeah, investigate it!  Lol.

Progress of One World Trade.

Then we went to Ellis Island!

Seeya in a bit Manhattan!

Me n' Lady Liberty.

I'm not really a fan of boats, but I totally didn't yak.  Proud of myself,  lol.

America was built by the immigrants that passed through this space.  Amazing.

The photographs showed unreal farm animal style stockades in which people would be filtered through once they were offloaded from their vessels.  In many instances people would be stuck in immigration limbo for weeks, and were required to sleep in concentration camp-like quarters, separated from the rest of their family members. Life back in the home country must have been pretty dismal to undertake the ship conditions and then the immigration process here at Ellis Island.

Plus, once you got past the gates, the locals were none too happy to have you around.

This is a sketch of the Aquitania.  My grandmother came to Halifax on that ship from Manchester, UK as a war bride.  Then she got aboard a passenger train and rode it for a week until she arrived in rural Alberta.  Quite the experience I imagine, but I'm glad she did it!

Beautiful building in a somewhat bleak spot.

Chrysler Building and pretty sky.

Prerequisite cab ride, complete with crazy traffic and honking.

Supersweet open top tour bus thingy.

Hearst Building, designed by Norman Foster, who also build the Reichstag dome in Berlin and the Gherkin in London.  He's famed for the ecofriendliness of his buildings, and this one was built on top of an unfinished earlier work.

Shiny.

Midtown Apple Store Cube.

Church that's still not done.  I love that.

Apollo Theatre.

My brother wearing a ball cap backwards and using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.  Ivy League graduate...  

Love the pigeons camping out on the light pole.  So cute.  I imagine them commenting on the tour bus patrons - "Hey, check out the hair on that one!" - lol.

EAT! EAT! EAT!

BUY! BUY! BUY!

MSG.  The Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs a few days before we got to NY.  Kind of a bummer.  Was hoping to catch a game!

Flatiron Building.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  So incredibly interesting.

The insanity that happens when you get stuck on the lower level of an unairconditioned tour bus.

The United Nations.  No flags were up though because there were no meetings going on.

Entryway to the UN.

The ever beautiful Waldorf Astoria.

On the last day, after we saw my family off back to Rhode Island to pick up Riley's stuff before they made the trek to Edmonton at Penn Station, we found a REAL Tim Horton's!!!  Lemme tell you, that coffee was savoured, despite the heat.

Booyah, Timbits!  Even the lady behind the counter was like, "Are you Canadian?"  She figured it out based on the fact that we ordered double doubles.  Apparently the locals haven't quite figured out the Timmy's lingo.

Oldentimey wooden escalator at Macy's.

Pretty freakin' neat considering that modern escalators break down so often.

Last tour bus ride before the long trip back to Edinburgh.  Man I look tired.  The  T-Ho's mustn't have kicked in yet...

All in all, it was a wonderful family trip, and I'm SO GLAD we were able to partake.  Getting our family in one a single city at once is getting increasingly difficult, so it was a real treat to get to explore one of the coolest cities in the world with them (and B, or course!).