Just the Right Amount of Crazy

Oh, dear . . . so sorry I've been MIA, my friends. I've been on another amazing adventure last week, and have just now recovered enough to write about it. This one was completely spontaneous . . . probably, the most spontaneous thing I've ever done. And boy-oh-boy, it took a LOT out of me.

If you follow me on facebook, you probably already know what I am talking about.

If you don't, allow me to tell you my story.

One of the things PG and I enjoyed most about our single, childless days, was living life off the cuff. To wing it, go with the flow, see where life takes us. Often we found ourselves hopping in the car and heading out for a ride, all ready to explore someplace new . . . it would be nothing for us to realize we had a day off together and end up in St. Louis, or Cleveland, or anywhere imaginable, actually. Life is an adventure, after all.

Well, last Monday night . . . we went on the biggest adventure of our life . . . to New York City.

Yes, we've been to New York before. But most of our prior trips were planned with scheduled days off and hotel accommodations arranged prior to our departure.

This time, we did it a little differently.

We had no intention on going during dinner Monday night. With fresh salmon on the grill and a yummy veggie and couscous medley on the stove, we were settling down for a nice quiet night at home. After dinner, I called my niece and nephew to finalize our plans for the next day (we had planned on getting together with them on Tuesday), and that seems to be where the story really starts.

"What should we do tomorrow?" I asked. We originally thought about going to a water park, but the hot weather was taking a break from us and we knew we'd be cold in the 80 degree expected temp.

"We could go bowling," I suggested.

"No, no bowling," they said.

"We could go to Space Golf," I said. Space Golf is a near by indoor miniature golf place that is all space themed and lit by funky fluorescent lights.

"Yeah, Space Golf is fun," they said. "We could do breakfast first," they suggested.

"Yes, breakfast would be good," I agreed. "Where should we go for breakfast?"

"You know who has good breakfast??!" yelled Phil, who was laying nice and cozy on the couch watching T.V., "New York has REALLY GREAT breakfast!"

And there we go.

Yes, there was a little bit more discussion . . . a great deal of "No! We can NOT do this!" from me, and a great deal of "COME ON!!!! YES WE CAN!!!" from everyone else. Katie and Ella had their bags packed while I was still on the telephone with my sister-in-law, and before you know it, we had made the decision to DO IT. It was 7 o'clock at night, and somehow . . . 2 1/2 hours later (at approximately 9:30 p.m.)  . . . we pulled into my brother and sister-in-laws drive way with our bags packed and a zest for adventure in our souls. We were driving to New York . . . for breakfast.

We drove through the night, and all I can tell you is that about 3:00 a.m., I was beginning to think that this was a TERRIBLE idea. Well . . . maybe not a terrible idea . . . but I sure was exhausted, and had no idea how we were going to make it through the next two days.

As my nephew reminded us many times during the trip . . . YOLO (You Only Live Once) . . . so we lived the next 56 hours to the fullest.

Here are just a few photos from our trip . . .


Here we all are, waiting patiently for our hotel room to be ready.
We were . . . exhausted . . . having just spent the past 16 hours in the car.

But . . . WE MADE IT!
I couldn't have been prouder of Ella and Katie.
They truly are wonderful world travelers and completely went with the flow the whole trip.

Phil was able to get us two rooms at the Warwick Hotel in New York City.
Thank Goodness for the iPad and 3G service.
He secured our rooms through priceline.com as I drove us through Ohio.
We were really happy with the room and hotel!
Totally recommend it if you find yourself traveling to NYC!

After a quick shower and a moment to stop and catch our breath, we were famished and found our way to one of PG's favorite New York Deli's for matzo ball soup, and corned beef sandwiches.
Soooo soooo good!

Seriously . . . . delish!

We were on a tight schedule and only had time to visit a few places.
Since my sister-in-law and niece had never been to New York before,
we wanted to make sure they saw the sight of the World Trade Center.
The area changes so much each and every time we are in New York,
and while we weren't able to get in to see the memorial, we did see the new building that is in construction.
It is almost complete, and is quite stunning.
We also visited Station 10, the fire house directly across from the WTC.
Nothing can prepare you for the poster of the fire fighters who perished that day.

Time Square at night . . . amazing.

A quick visit with Auntie Ria at her office in Manhattan on Wednesday.
WONDERFUL!

And of course, a little bit of shopping for more NYC souvenirs.

Yes, I do!

We were back in our car by 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and drove straight through the night, again. My nephew, Brandon, had his first day of his Senior year of high school on Thursday (not to mention Phil and my sister-in-law both had to work on Thursday), so we HAD to get home. After a long long long long drive (I swear Pennsylvania takes FOREVER to drive through), we pulled into their drive way at 3:30 a.m., and into ours 10 minutes later.

Our adventure . . . was over.

We slept a few hours, then started our day. I am fairly sure we all were in a fog for the next few days. Only now do I feel like I am back in the land of the living.

But I will tell you this . . . it was the best adventure I had ever been on. Our girls had a WONDERFUL time and were so great through the trip. And I am so glad we did it.

Will we do it again?

It's HIGHLY unlikely.

But, do I regret it?

Not for a second!

Yep, You Only Live Once!

And last week, I think I lived enough to last me a long long time!

;)