the ferry

The nice Hispanic gentleman that took this picture didn't tell us if he had taken the picture or not, hence the confused look on my face.

This was one of the last things we did in the big city of New York. It was fun to see New York from the outside looking in and of course to see Lady Liberty herself. I know we gave the idea to most that we didn't love New York. While we know we don't want to live there we did have good times there and made memories to last forever.

good eats

I dream about this food. My mouth is watering this moment. La Esquina in SoHo. Life changing.

Katz's Deli. Over priced and too much meat, but still tasty.

Rice to Riches. One of the only two places we ate twice. Rice pudding, any flavor. So amazingly delicious.

Community Food and Juice in Harlem. Loved so much. The other place that we ate at twice.

Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar and Restaurant. The most delicious chocolate goodness I have ever eaten.

brooklyn bridge

We lived in the gh-etto part of Brooklyn for awhile so we were excited when we saw other parts of it. Like this day for example, we ate at Grimaldi's Pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge, where we enjoyed an incredibly large pizza sitting next to a nice Asian couple. Then we took a nice slow walk across the bridge. It was nothing short of amazing. I think I like Brooklyn better than Manhattan.

p.s. the other day a lady came into j.crew and she had a NY accent, so I asked her where she was from, she of course replied NY. I told her I had recently been there. She asked what part and when I replied Manhattan she said "ugho, no we're from upstate NY, NOT the city".
Isn't funny all the different opinions and thoughts about NY?

the fog of new york

 One rainy night in New York we did nothing but walk the streets and enjoy the city for what it is. I will admit that the big city is pretty spectacular looking when surrounded by fog. We eventually made our way to 5th ave and happened upon a Sprinkles. I can't walk by one and not buy one four. They were worth every calorie.

oh, cool

This was the day that we ate the most delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup at Founding Farmers. After we headed to the White House to gawk with the other tourists. As we were walking up there was a little family in front of us. I honestly thought to myself, "that lady walks just like Carrie in Sex in the City". It was then that I realized that Matthew Broderick was in front of us, and yes indeed Carrie Bradshaw was. She was just as lovely in real life. She wanted nothing to do with us, her fans, but she was very cordial in letting us know that. A good day in DC.

p.s. this was also the day that I saw the mr. of rockstar diaries walking down the street. I didn't say anything to him, I have some dignity...

the temples

We saw the DC Temple and the New York City Temple while we were away. Both were so beautiful, as every temple is. The DC Temple was enormous. When we came out it was night time and it was incredible lit up against the dark night sky.
There is nothing like the New York City Temple. It is a little piece of heaven right in the middle of the city. When we went we were stressing about what we should do with our lives for the next few months. The city was loud and chaotic and adding to our stress. It was the most wonderful and the most needed thing when we walked into the calm of the temple/church meeting house. We like to think that it was the peacefulness of being there, and then stayed with us that helped us know what we should do.

oh the places you'll see

The door to our place was just to the right of this. Please notice the cockroach friend on the wall.

This was the entrance. See cockroach friend #2? This was after all the trash was cleaned out.

Door into one of the room mates bedrooms. Cockroach friend #3. I didn't get the roaches in our room. I was too disgusted.

So tired, but still so handsome.

When we first got to New York we had a place to stay. The brother of a friend had an apartment and said we could stay there. However, when we got there it was tiny, smelled awful, dirty, had cockroaches (both dead and alive) and was altogether unlivable. Also, later we found out there was a rat problem. I was told that if I didn't like cockroaches that I wouldn't like New York. I refused to believe it. I know so many women that live in New York, who love it and there is now way they are chill-laxin with the roaches. No way. No how. While it was so nice of them to offer this place, I just wasn't willing to stay there.

So we started the search for a new place. It was so hard. We found nothing. So we hiked our luggage across Manhattan and into Brooklyn to stay at a hostel. We were so happy when we got there to see that it was clean and that there weren't any cockroaches or rats. Just a wacky guy from Wyoming. I'm okay with wacky. As long as you don't have a shell and antennas.

The next morning we were so exhausted that we stayed in bed til almost noon. We headed into the city and the first place we went was to Shake Shack. We needed a good burger and a shake to lift our spirits. The line was an hour long, but we didn't care. The food was so delicious and the park it is in was so pleasant. It really did lift our spirits and gave us hope that we could find a place in NY and that everything would be a-okay.

on Broadway

David and I, well mostly I, know the entire soundtrack to Wicked but neither of us have ever seen it. So when we found out that we were going to New York we both knew we would spend the big bucks to go see the real deal. You know on Broadway and all. And let me tell you what, it was worth it! David and I had chills for most of the show. Not because of the delightfully chilly theater, but because the amount of talent that was up on stage was unreal. Elphaba stole the show. It was all I had hoped it would be and more.

Then one night we stopped at the TKTS booth to get some discounted tickets. Sadly Lion King doesn't discount (which was the other show we wanted to see), but Davie has always really wanted to see Phantom, so that is what we were in line for. Then as we were waiting in the rain, in the really long line, one of the employees somehow talked us into seeing Spider Man. He convinced us that since we were from Utah we should see something you can only see in New York, like the amazing Spider Man! Well now we know why he got us to go. Because it is awful. What? you might ask yourself, that doesn't make sense... Why would they convince you to go see an awful show? oh, because that is the only way they sell tickets. Even at a discounted price. Ok, so it wasn't all that bad. The set was cool. And the high flying characters were pretty neat. Everything else? crap. pure crap. The music? garbage. The acting? pitiful. I have seen high school performances that were better. Now, I am not saying I could do better, because I most certainly could not. But this is Broadway people! Come on! So if you are headed to New York this summer and you want to see a show you can only see in New York, don't make it Spider Man. You will want the two and half hours of your life back.