New York City (Part One)

Happy Friday everyone!  Summer vacation has me dreaming of all kinds of amazing vacations I would like to take.  It occurred to me that back in October 2013, I went on a wonderful long weekend trip to the Big Apple with my mom, mother-in-law, and aunt-in-law and I forgot to share.  The four of us girls ate, laughed, and walked our way through the City That Never Sleeps.  The best part of this trip was that we coined it the "trip of firsts."  All four of us had been to the City before, so we wanted to make sure that we set out to do things that we had never done before.

My mom's first flight! So a selfie was a must!

Due to a very delayed flight we finally arrived in NYC after midnight on a Thursday.  After swooning over our lovely hotel we quickly jumped into our beds in order to get as much sleep as possible before hitting the ground running on Friday morning.

The next morning we were up bright and early ready to explore.  We started out the day at the world famous Carnegie Deli, with walls lined with the portraits and signatures of its famous customers throughout the years.  The rest of the day was relaxed and we strolled around the City.  Both my brother and my husband's cousins are firemen so we naturally had to take the moms to see some of the famous fire stations throughout NYC.  We stopped at the NY Fire Museum, where they have a wonderful 9/11 tribute and also the infamous Rescue 1, which is the elite of FDNY.  Hunky firemen... not too bad, but I'll take Mr. P any day!

We spent the afternoon strolling through Chelsea Market (an indoor marketplace with anything you can image including the offices of the Food Network and MLB.com) and down the Highline (an outdoor park/greenway).  The Highline is magnificent and it allows you to see the city from a different vantage point.  Once completed it will be over a mile and a half of outdoor space made from repurposed materials such as old railroad tracks.  All that walking makes you a little hungry so next on the agenda was Grand Central Station and the Magnolia Bakery kiosk.

You CANNOT goto NYC without a stop at one of Magnolia Bakery's shops.  Without a doubt they are hands down the best red velvet cupcakes I have EVER had!  Red velvet and an old fashion bottle Coke, I think I will!

An early dinner was on the books for our first night, because we had big plans later in the evening. After a lot of researching, we found what we think might be the best pizza in New York! Located in the infamous Hell's Kitchen district, Capizzi, had the most amazing pizza I have ever tasted.  Cooked on a real brick oven, their pizza has a gourmet touch to them without being so fancy that your questioning what you are eating.  We opted for a pepperoni, sausage, pepper, and onion pizza to share with a cannoli for dessert. The staff was incredibly attentive and gave all of us chef hats to wear while we took a photo in front of the brick oven.  Honorary pizza chefs!

We wrapped up our first real evening in New York in true Broadway fashion with the show Annie.  Absolutely precious!  I am amazed by the star power of those young little actors.  On a previous trip to NYC I saw Mamma Mia and I highly recommend that as well!  If your a North Carolinian, check out the DPAC for tons of amazing Broadway shows!

What is your favorite thing to see in New York City?

My personal favorite changes each time.  This time it was a tie (for very different reasons) between the 9/11 Memorial which is breathtaking and Central Park (specifically the Central Park carousel which is so much fun).  Details on both will be coming next week!  Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!