New York City // Adventures with MEH

New York City is so much fun! We flew in on Southwest Tuesday morning. We were on the same flight as LoCash, so we snagged a picture with them before we started our adventures. We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott New York Downtown Manhattan, and it did not disappoint. We had two queen beds, a living area with a sofa sleeper, a kitchen, and one large bathroom. It was so cute and cozy for the five of us.

After checking in to our hotel, our first stop was Starbucks, as always! On day 1, we visited China Town and Little Italy. In Little Italy, we had lunch at Caffe Napoli where we had some delicious alfredo and cannolis. After lunch, we took and uber to the 9/11 museum and memorial. On Tuesdays, admission is free after 5:00 p.m., so I definitely recommend working this into your day to save money. You cannot come to New York and not see the 9/11 museum. We did a self guided tour through the museum and memorial and it is one of the most humbling experiences of my life. After our tour, we went to the Empire State Building to see the sunset on the skyline, had dinner at Heartland Brewery, then took a limo to see the Statue of Liberty from the water and back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then made the morning trip to Starbucks. We walked to see the Bull and then on to Battery Park. From there, we hopped on a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We bought pedestal tickets in advance, which was really cool. We spent several hours exploring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We had lunch at Shake Shack, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, visited Grand Central Station, and then St. Patricks Cathedral. We did some shopping at, literally, the biggest Victorias Secret I have ever seen. While we were there, one of the sweet workers showed us the dressing room where all the angels try on their outfits. After exploring all three floors of VS, we stopped at Bill's Bar & Burgers for milkshakes. Then, it was on to Radio City and Rockefeller Center before ending our night.

Thursday morning came early! We woke up before the sun to hit up Starbucks before going to the live recording of Good Morning America. We applied for tickets weeks in advance and landed general admission tickets. The night before the show, our tickets were upgraded to priority!! We were front and center for most of the recording, and then we got to meet Robin Roberts. When our time on GMA ended, we stopped for breakfast at Brooklyn Diner. After breakfast, we picked up our rental car and drove to Hoboken, New Jersey. We spent the day walking around the area of Hoboken, seeing Carlo's Bake Shop, and munching on Insomnia Cookies. We had lunch at Grimaldi's, then went to explore Times Square. We spent awhile shopping around before seeing Aladdin on Broadway. And ya'll...Aladdin was AMAZING!!! I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a broadway show. After the show, we stopped for dinner at Carmine's where we all split the biggest bowl of lasagna.

Friday was our road trip day! We woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel before heading to New Haven, Connecticut. New Haven was about a two hour drive from our hotel. While in New Haven, we visited the Yale University campus which was historically beautiful. After spending about an hour touring the campus, we drove about two hours to Newport, Rhode Island where we had lunch at Anthony's Seafood. We walked along the (very chilly) beach for a little while and then spent the rest of out time in Newport driving around seeing all of the beautiful mansions. Our next stop was Salem, Massachusetts, the home of Hocus Pocus, which was another hour and forty five minute drive. We spent an hour driving around finding all of the houses from Hocus Pocus. We used a list that we found on Pinterest to find all of the houses and the cemetery. Then it was on to Boston, Massachusetts for dinner at the Cheers restaurant. We tried the clam chowder, which we did not love, and the Boston cream pie! Then we had a long four hour drive back to our hotel, which was an adventure in itself with Heather driving in NYC! (see video below)

On our last day in NYC, we had breakfast at Sarabeths. After breakfast, we rode in a cart and bike tour around Central Park. The weather was absolutely perfect!! Inside Central Park, we saw the fountain from Friends, the tunnel where Chuck and Blair got married in Gossip Girl, and Bethesda fountain. When our bike tour was over, we walked to the MET to sit on the steps and pretend to be Blair and Serena. We had lunch at Serendipity, then took the tram to Roosevelt Island. The tram ride over to Roosevelt Island had some of the most beautiful views of the city. After seeing Aladdin, we bought tickets to see Frozen on broadway, too! Our Disney-loving hearts enjoyed every minute of it!! (But Aladdin still is at the top of the list.) We ended our night having cheesecake at Juniors before heading to the hotel to pack up for our early flight home.

Our trip was one for the books! We got to see everything that we wanted to see and more, but mostly we enjoyed our time together making memories! Watch the video recap of our whole trip to get the full experience. If you have been to NYC, what are some of your favorite places to go, things to do, places to eat?