Like I said before, while I had every good intention of "live blogging" about the trip to New York City for Good Morning America, I quickly came to the realization that there is just way to much to do in New York to fit into three days- two of which were traveling days. So here I sit on the flight with a little too much turbulence, heading back to Saint Paul trying to collect my thoughts.
What an incredible three days!
Aly movin' fast
We arrived in the city just before 11:00 on Wednesday, very excited about everything we were about to do. My daughter was particularly animated, walking at a pace a little quicker than we were accustomed to and had a giddy, radiating smile on her face. And we hadn't even reached baggage claim yet. She was going to meet Diane Sawyer!
"Car for Marty Johnson"
Good Morning America had arranged for a car to take us from the airport to our hotel and we found our driver Daniel waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator. As we waited for our luggage to come on the conveyor, we thought about the things we wanted to squeeze in on this very impromptu (for us at least) trip. I mean Good Morning America was cool and all, but we also had things we wanted and needed to do.
ABC Studios, Times Square
We were fortunate as we rode on the freeways that we were missing rush hour and got into the city pretty quickly. Through the tunnel under the East River past all the all the billboards lining the way into uptown, past the New York Public library and into Times Square. Left at the ABC News studio with the rolling news ticker signs, up a half a block, and we were there.
The good news- we were staying at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in the heart of Manhattan, one half block from the ABC studio in Times Square. Bad News- our room wasn't ready and wouldn't be for another couple of hours. We called our new friend Jason over at GQ and he invited us over to his office for a tour and some lunch in the Conde' Nast cafeteria. (Conde'Nast is the parent company of GQ, as well as Vanity Fair, Glamour, Vogue, and several other publications.)
Not quite ready...
The bell captain stored our luggage until we could check in and we ventured out into the heart of Manhattan. Conde' Nast was one half block down, take a left, two blocks, take another left, and five buildings up. On the way we marveled at where we were. We passed the ABC Studios where we needed to be in the morning. Across the street- MTV. To the right- Broadway. To the left- 42nd Street. subways, dozens of Jumbotrons, street vendors, cabbies, restaurants, stores, lights, and thousands and thousands of people everywhere. And it was surprisingly clean. MUCH different than when I was there in 1986.
In the Heart of the City
Our kids were in total awe as we walked the few short blocks to Jason's office. It was easy to tell we were tourists because we were constantly looking up at the sea of skyscrapers.
UPDATE: To be continued... (Thanks Jackie!)
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