Betsy Jo "SweetRowles": 2017 East Coast Vaca

(These posts are to record details, events, and memories of our Rowles family 2017 East Coast vacation for the benefit of our family. Apparently I can't post photos from this app which I am REALLY bummed about because the post is not complete without them and even some of the random stories I mention have photos to go along. Oh well. I will try to add them via computer when I get home, I guess.)

Day One, Friday June 23

Kyndell showed up promptly at 12:15 and we were on the road headed to the airport by 12:25! The only scare there was when I jokingly said to Layth halfway there, "do you have your wallet?" And I heard a couple minutes of scramble. Things quieted down and I knew all was good.

It was Keitons first plane ride since a baby so the airport was all new for him. As we sat at the gate i asked him if it was anything like he imagined and he said, "not at all!".

The plane was delayed due to weather in New York, although in the end not as long as they had originally anticipated which was nice.

Once on the plane Keiton was quite nervous about take off. He gripped the seat and squeezed his eyes shut. Soren encouraged him that it would be just fine. An uneventful flight.

Landed after midnight. By the time we disembarked and got our checked luggage, it was after 1am. Had to stand in a long line for a cab! Even at that time of night. Crazy.

Got a cab, who had never heard of our hotel (that made me nervous!) and we headed out for a 35 minute cab ride through NYC (Brooklyn) in the middle of the night... in the rain. Not very good first impressions of New York given these factors! We reached our hotel and the check in clock said 1:42am. My boys joked with the check in guy that it was much earlier and he commented that no, it most definitely felt like 1:45am!!

Our hotel, The Box House Hotel is one of a kind. Unique, cool, boutique-y. We love it. Not in the heart of any tourist area, but worth it. It hardly feels like a hotel.

We settled in as quick as we could and by a little after 2am were all asleep.

Day Two, Saturday June 24

Slept in until close to 9 am and then settled into the room, packed our bags for the day and headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast about 10:30.

After breakfast, we took the free hotel shuttle... to the wrong train station! It was my fault, I asked him to take us to the wrong place. I was realizing it as we were driving, but I didn't know how to correct it so we got dropped off in the wrong place in New York and didn't have any clue where to go from there. A few tense moments of conversation and we hopped on a train to get to Manhattan. Got off someplace and started looking for the Big Bus Tour stops. Found one with a sign and hopped on the first bus when it came (driver said he would take us to where we could pay) and as I'm sitting there, on this red, double-decker bus I realize that nowhere does it say "Big Bus Tours" and in fact, another bus company logo is plastered all over. We had hopped on the wrong bus!! Felt like we went "forever" until it finally stopped. And when it did, we hopped off and tried to figure out where to go from there!

I'm not sure I have ever appreciated my very "smart" phone more. We did finally get where we needed to be and we did finally get on the right bus and enjoyed touring New York via the top of it. We hopped off at one point for Starbucks and to change to a different route which was refreshing. It was hot sitting up there in the sun!

We ended with the bus that drove right through Times Square. It was about dinner time and the place was PACKED! What an crazy, unique place. We got off the bus, decided to eat a quick dinner at Shake Shack and then explored Times Square on foot. It was a fascinating place that for some could probably be overload. Keiton made a comment, "mom, there is some inappropriate stuff". Yes, yes there was. And i was hoping he hadn't noticed! Sigh...

We didn't make it to the Doughnut Project which has been on our itinerary and both boys knew it. So, we ended up at Dunkin Doughnuts, which are a dime a dozen here.

We got lost down IN the Times Square subway station looking for our train. We knew which train to take and where we wanted to get off, we just couldn't find where to catch it! Did not feel (still do not feel) that it makes any sense!! It was crazy hot down there, and the place was huge with many floors and dozens of trains coming and going. I finally asked for help and got some very vague directions which didn't make sense given what I was looking for, but they helped and we found what we were looking for.

Got off in Brooklyn and walked over the bridge to our hotel (beautiful views from the bridge!) and past our hotel to find a store where we could buy breakfast food. By this time it was after 8 and the kids were dragging. Wish I could say it was all fun and an adventure, but that hour or so wasn't much fun! Finally found what we were looking for after a local spoke up as we walked past and said, "I think you're going the wrong way, there's nothing down there". She was right. We had turned the wrong direction for the store. Her "it's another block that way" was in actuality, another 3 or 4 blocks that way!

Got back to hotel a little after 9 and after showers and some down time and we were a happy bunch again!