From the Air. .to the Sea. .

. .and everything in between!! That's what we did on Saturday.  We started with the Empire State Building.

We rode the New York City Skyride on the 2nd floor first. I generally don't get motion sick. .but after several alcoholic beverages the day before and less than my normal quota of water. .it wasn't a good experience for me. I happened to be sitting in the middle on the bench of about 6 people. Then they put a bar across your lap so you couldn't get out if you wanted too! Then some crazy voice starts talking about seeing the city from some airborne vector. And the seats start moving in a chaotic and spastic fashion. It was the first time in my entire life of loving IMAX productions and roller coasters that I seriously was sure that I was going to barf on my own shoes. Needless to say. .my eyes were shut the entire time. .cause the one time I opened them, I began to sweat and my mouth started watering. Thank the good Lord I was able to choke it back. .I'm sure they have wiped puke off the floor before! But I was really glad it wasn't mine!!

The view from the 102nd floor is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! You can see forever. .

. .and it encompasses buildings, water, and more buildings as far as the eye can see!!

While the view was great. .the LOOOOONG lines were not! And Jeremy lost about all of his good humor in them. He doesn't like people. .or crowds. .This was the first time in the City where we had to remove coats and belts. .and open our bags as they went through the scanner. We also walked through metal detectors. Lane has a new knee. .and he beeped everywhere we went!!

For my gardening friends. .a different perspective on "city" gardening. .I can totally NOT imagine having my garden confined to the top of the building. I have some photos of trees being grown on the building tops. .I don't think I included them in any of these posts. .but may have to do so later. .cause I was really intrigued by them!

Here is the overhead view of Central Park. You can tell that they had gorgeous fall colors there!! What an odd little piece of country in the city. We were able to get a quick run around the edge of the park Sunday. .and I'll have some photos of the ground level next time!

After we finally got released from the Empire State Building, we hit the hop-on busses again.

We stopped off and ran around in Chinatown. .

. .where they sell lots of seafood on the corner sidewalks and medicinal remedies for any ailment. .

And Little Italy. .

. .where we ate Cannoli (Check. .for my bucket list of things I needed to do) and browsed their shops. I think the sausages hanging around were awesome! Definitely not something you could find in the Midwest.

We got off at Battery Park later in the afternoon to catch the New York Water Taxi.

We had enough time left to catch the cruise around the Statue of Liberty and around the harbors a bit.

It was THE best time to be at the Statue for photographing!! We had the opportunity to see everything by day, at sunset, and by night. .all in a matter of a couple of hours!

WOW!!

The Statue was closed for renovations. .so we elected not to go to the island and stand in more security lines. .I went to the island the last time I was in NYC. .and our photo ops turned out to be much better this way!!

Here is some skyline at dusk.

The boys were enjoying the cruise. It was pretty chilly on the water, since the wind was blowing too!! There was some indoor seating there, but the view just wasn't the same!

The Brooklyn bridge. There were about 3 other bridges right around the river there too. .they are fantastic to look at in their own rights. Fantastic structures!

We were leaving from the Pier 81 stopoff. This taxi actually lets you hop off and onto it too. We were late enough in the day though, that we had to stay on or get left behind. Pier 81 will be on my next NYC trip agenda. There looked to be some really cool and original shopping and dining opportunities in that area.

Did I not have some great photo ops here with the lighting? I must have come home with 100 pictures of Lady Liberty! She is ABSOLUTELY as majestic as she seems!

There were lots of boats. .and even a cruise ship running through the Hudson River. There is the New York City Skyline. Breathtaking!! The photos just don't do it justice at ALL!

The taxi drove back by the statue in the dark. .and this turned out to be one of my favorite photos. I already had a million sunset sillouttes. .so when our side of the boat got our turn to snap photos, I messed with some close ups. I'll bet it is too grainy to blow up. .but I may have to try it anyway!

I also came home with another 100 photos of the Empire State Building at night. I couldn't ever quite get it in the frame like I wanted it. .and it was dark enough by then that I really had to wait for a momentary lull in the rough water to snap one still enough to be un-blurry. The city lights were absolutely phenomenal. .and this seemed to be a little quieter way to enjoy them!

After the boat ride, we ended up back at Times Square. I wanted to take a few pictures inside the HUGE Toys R Us store to show Devin and Cami. There is a ferris wheel INSIDE the store!

And this photo was taken only to demonstrate how many stinking people were in the store!! You could barely move. .really!

I have no idea who the giraffe is. .but I was sure Cami would be tickled with it. She wasn't. "Mama, WHY are you standing by a GIRAFFE??"

We enjoyed supper at Bubba Gumps Seafood place on Times Square. Jeremy ordered some big bucket of shellfish. .oysters, mussels, clams, crab legs, and even a lobster tail in there. After supper, we went down to a comedy club called Ha right off the square. They had some super funny comedians, with clean jokes, and nice language! It was also our lucky night, in that, the club also had a dueling piano show that night (CHECK. .right off my bucket list. .I have always wanted to go to one). Those guys were incredible!! They could play and sing anything. For those that haven't ever been, people sign slips of paper with songs they want to hear, and attach some money to entice them to play their choices. .and the guys perform the show based on the requests! Crazy fun!!

On the way back to the Square to catch a cab to go home. .we saw a spray paint artist. I have only seen them on youtube after my father in law talked about seeing them in Vegas. I got online and ordered him a print for Christmas a few years back. .and was intrigued to watch the artists work via youtube.

They use spray paint cans. .and in this print above. .he used a hubcap, a lid, and a bottle cap to block off the three spheres. Then he used a putty knife to etch out the rest of the picture through his layer of colors. He also used a stencil he put down to spray Lady Liberty on. My mouth moved the fastest in the crowd as he asked if anyone wanted to purchase his print. YEAH ME!! This was MY souvenier!! Now I just need someone to frame it for me! By the time I got my print paid for, Lane had hailed a horse and buggy to take us back to our hotel (CHECK). What a perfect ending to a great day!

We are gradually getting rested up this week. .and the two little ones have been a little clingy. .I have one more day's worth of photos to share!! As much fun as we had though. .

There is NOOO place like home!!

Enjoy your Sunday!!