Planes, Trains and Automobiles - IV Day 3

Day 3-New York

Wow...well where to begin. Although, we seem to sleep in late each day, we pack a lot in. Leah and Noah have an abundance of energy and a willingness to put up with our free spirited journey. (The consistent sprinkling resulted in some adjustments as we went a long too!) First, we decided not to even try for a "real" breakfast, and journeyed out for a true New York Bagel for breakfast. We found Leo's Bagels, they were delicious...but SOOO busy! Not a good place to think you could actually sit down and enjoy your breakfast.

After breakfast we headed a couple of blocks over to the Stanten Island Ferry, so that we could catch a glimpse of the Statute of Liberty. (The statute is being restored so there was very limited access to the statute on the island). The kids enjoyed the ride and couldn't believe it was FREE! Yes, it is true--FREE! The view of the Statute of Liberty, the city and the harbor were amazing and brought back memories from our trip to Seattle a couple of years ago.

There appeared to be a break in the weather so we decided to head uptown and catch a glimpse from the top of the Empire State Building (Leah & Noah were excited to see it, as ELF was filmed here-their favorite movie)! In the end, we (Guy and I) thought it was really a rip off/tourist trap, where you really need to drop almost $100 just to get to the top...then they want to sell you more junk. Cool view, gotta do it once, but overrated! After all of this and only a bagel, we had to grab some lunch and figured we should head toward Central Park. Leah was getting tired of walking so she actually convinced Noah to give her a ride on his back to the restaurant. We ended up at Mickey Mantle's Sports Bar. It was ok food, but a typical sports bar, but Noah LOVED the sports memorabilia. We even got to sit in Mickey's personal booth. Afterward, we intended to walk across to stroll through Central Park, but it started to sprinkle again--so Dad splurged! We ended up getting a covered horse and carriage ride through Central Park. It was amazing, by far my favorite treat so far. The kids loved it as well-I think Dad did too! Our driver even dropped us back down near Time Square. We did some last minute shopping for treats and had a picture or two taken to prove we were in Time Square. Then another subway ride, back down to Wall Street! Back to rest up for another day...