Manhattan Memories

Saturday was my sister-in-law Dana’s 30th birthday, and to celebrate some of our extended family took her to Manhattan for the weekend. We had an amazing time, thanks to a little planning, some great company, and in my case, heavy doses of Imitrex, Reglan, and Ben Gay. (I hate to think what the amount of Imitrex I took this weekend did to my body, but I was bound and determined to enjoy the time and I certainly don’t do this on a regular basis!)

John and Dana live near Atlantic City, about 3.5 hours away from us and 2.5 from NYC. We drove up there Friday night, and enjoyed a marvelous Dana-made meal of Coque-Au-Vin. Dana is such a great cook, and thankfully she enjoys doing it for us. My parents came too, and my cousin Elizabeth flew in from Ohio for the weekend, so we had 10 people altogether.



Saturday morning we drove to the Weehawken Ferry in New Jersey, and took the ferry to 39th Street in Manhattan. From there we took the free shuttle to 57th Street, near Central Park. We walked (LONG walk) up to 72nd Street and then cut across the park to Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial. 




We also saw the Dakota, which is the apartment building John Lennon lived in and where he was shot. It’s also the building in the time travel novel Time and Again, by Jack Finney. The main character in the book rents an apartment in the Dakota and hypnotizes himself back to the 19th century.


We had a great lunch at Dallas Barbecue, an ironic choice for a day in Manhattan.
The restaurant was decorated with murals of horses, eagles, etc. The food was great, cheap, and plentiful, so everyone was happy. They brought a unique dessert for Dana’s birthday: a piece of cornbread smothered in whipped cream and decorated with a cherry, jelly beans, and drizzles of strawberry syrup.

Then we took the subway to 50th Street, and walked to Rockefeller Center. The NBC Studio Tour was sold out for the day, but we shopped in their store. After that we split up. Doug and Carrie went to Nintendo World in Rock Center, David, Amy, Elizabeth and I went to FAO Schwarz, NYC World of Disney, and American Girl, and John, Dana, Mom and Dad rested and did other stuff. (Not sure what. :)

We all met up at the Empire State Building. David and the kids and I went up to the 82nd Floor Observation level, and the rest of the group waited for us on ground level. It took an hour to get through all the lines, but the view was definitely worth it.  It was starting to get dark while we were up there, and it was delightful watching the lights of the city begin to come on.



We walked from there back to the ferry (another LONG walk), sore and tired, but happy.

We stayed in a hotel on the New Jersey side. Sunday morning we split up again. Mom and Dad headed for home. John, Dana and Elizabeth met up with some of Elizabeth’s friends who live on Long Island. David and the kids and I took the ferry to Ellis Island, where we spent a fascinating hour, and then on to the Statue of Liberty where we climbed (huff, puff) to the observation platform and took tons of pictures.