Friday, October 21, 2011

New York-Part 2, Lots of Pictures!

(We arrived on a Thursday evening.  Friday we hung out and saw STOMP (previous post).)  

Saturday was a long day of sight-seeing.  We first took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.

Some of the New York skyline
 Then we rode on the subway to Times Square
 Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.  YUM! 
(Like I said, it was AWESOME to have both my sisters there!)


The infamous NYPD...wanted to hug those guys!
 The New Year's ball
 Times Square is just like the Las Vegas Strip to me.  Sensory overload!  
So many sights, sounds, and smells.

 $2 to get a picture with this guy.  A very respectable way to make a living, right?
 Didn't want to pay for this one, but wanted to show McKenna I saw Minnie Mouse. :)
 Those blasted pigeons got the stroller... Yuck! At least it didn't land on Ben.
 I also have a sweet cousin who lives in NY and was kind enough to meet up with us at crazy Times Square on a Saturday.  Love you Kiel!
The last thing we did that day was the 9/11 Memorial.
Becca's apartment is about three blocks from the WTC site.  This is one of the new towers being built.  
 It was such a BEAUTIFUL memorial!  I especially loved that we went at night.  The lights made everything so stunning.  The whole atmosphere of the memorial is very peaceful and reverent.  

I LOVED looking at the thousands of names that were backlit.  Finding the names of everyone in my family made it very personal for me. 



 I know this one is difficult to read, but the bottom line says ..."And her unborn child."  So heartbreaking.
This is a diagram of what the memorial site looks like.  The outside borders of the pools are color-coded so it's easier for people to find their loved one's name.
 The South tower pool
 The North tower pool

 The Survivor Tree
Check out it's story here.
A map and picture of the old (right) and new (left) WTC site found in the Visitor's Center.
 The Visitor's Center also has this timeline displayed.

The whole experience of the memorial is quite humbling and inspiring.  

After SO MUCH walking and site seeing on Saturday, Sunday was spent chillin' at the apartment, eating too much junk food, and watching all the Twilight movies.  Yes, I know we're nerds.  But it was good times!  Stay tuned for one more NY post.

6 comments:

Alyson said...

Excellent! And so good of you to blog this so Mickelle doesn't have to! Emily can also almost just grab these entire posts and repost. ;)

ME Moon said...

i did a survivor tree lesson at C.A.R. in september. interesting to note that they do that kind of thing--oklahoma has one too.

i loved the 9/11 exhibit at the newseum in d.c. so interesting all of the memorials and how poignant they are.

Butler Family said...

LOVE this post. Fun girl weekend and happy that you got to go and spend time together with your friends!!

Mr and Mrs Smith and Co said...

Wow La! Good pictures! It is fun to relive the good times, however, seeing myself in pictures is always quite humbling. Yeesh. I wish I would have thought to find my family's name, but I was a bit worn out at that point. Good job :)

Becca said...

What great pictures!!!! It was really so much fun to play around the city with you guys, and I miss you already. :)

Casey Jensen said...

What a fun trip!