Start Spreading the Newsssss… Adventures in The Big Apple with my Big Sister

It’s been two weeks since Chris and I touched down in The Netherlands and three weeks since we packed up our lives and left home.

Here is, as promised, my blog! I’ll try to update it as often as possible to keep all my sweeties in Texas up to date on our adventures! #2015DOATHING!

Our first big big regret of the trip: purchasing tickets to fly from San Antonio to New York at 6 in the morning. We had our farewell Tex-Mex dinner complete with enchiladas, guac, queso and the world’s best margaritas at El Mirasol and I hadn’t even begun to pack! My mom and grandmother stayed up with me watching new episodes of OITNB while I packed away all my things. Meanwhile Chris was literally working on mixing and recording his new album up until 4 hours before we had to leave the airport and then spend the rest of the night moving things from our old house into my parent’s attic until 4 am! We left for the airport at 4:30…

After 2 different layovers and hours of going in and out of consciousness on a plane, I heard the captain say “we’re coming into New York City” and opened up my window to see the most gorgeous clouds swimming around our plane above the cloud deck. I may have been in a sleepless stupor, but I do consider myself a connoisseur of plane window views and this was breathtaking. I really wish I hadn’t packed away my phone and camera at that point.

First stop: Spend a week as New Yorkers. Chris and I faked a NY accent and walked walked walked till our feet fell off. We spent the week with my unbelievably wonderful hosts, my sister Molly and my brother-in-law Nathan. They have a super cozy flat on the Upper West side right by the park with our own little guest room up the stairs and a cubby hole for the dogs underneath. They have an adorable old man Pomeranian named Tristan (Chris is the president of his fan club) and a hyper little whippersnapper Shibu named Momoko.

With Chris heading the brigade, we clearly HAD to visit all of the Seinfeld spots on the UWS and then took a trip to Harlem to see the house from The Royal Tenenbaums. Pretty much every day, we walked the city, yelped and called around (utilizing various accents) to see who had the best Happy Hours. We had an amazing array of delicious local beers and delicious cocktails even on our baby budget. Macaroni & Cheese lunches and beer for dinner. And Pizza, so much pizza.

We went to see Jurassic World in an amazing theatre where every seat is like a lazy boy recliner (THIS IS A REAL THING AND IT IS AMAZING), enjoyed beer & pizza night at their friend Erin’s teeny apartment that she had somehow magically arranged to feel like a spacious cozy living room with the best snack spread ever. It was like one of those “tiny houses” that are super cool and in vogue right now, but no one ever talks about having an amazing party in a tiny house! How is it possible I don’t know, but I experienced it. I think Erin may be on to something.

We even had a Brooklyn brunch & bad movie day with their friends Anne & Ryan and watched D2: The Mighty Ducks! Ended off our time in New York with one of the most epic days of my life at Six Flags: Great Adventure in New Jersey. Even though Chris had to ride in the trunk because the SUV we rented was unexplicably smaller than a regular car (it’s like the exact opposite of Erin making her tiny house big, this car made a large car tiny somehow), we spent an entire day riding 13 rollercoasters (including the world’s TALLEST!) without ever waiting in line. It was a completely surreal experience. I know I shouldn’t put amazing tips like this out into the interweb, but apparently fathers day is the day to go to a theme park. It was EMPTY. The weather was originally forecasted to be rainy, but it cleared up before we arrived and was absolutely gorgeous the entire day. According to Molly’s fitbit, we walked ELEVEN miles that day. And ended it with a gigantic Taco Bell Feast and Chris scaring the hell out of Anne everytime he scooted around in the trunk on the ride home.

On our last day in New York, we had a lovely albeit accidentally epically long hike in Central Park complete with adorable raccoon mom and baby sightings and Popsicles! Then Chris took us on a Bob Dylans old haunts tour of Greenwich Village which was certainly a spiritual highlight of the trip. Good vibes, great stories and unusual cocktails filled the evening, we discovered an amazing hidden mid-century themed cocktail bar in the basement with Dylan and many of the beats before him got their start (and the place where snapping instead of clapping was started!) – finished off singing songs in Washington Square park before being chased off by the police.

Since this ended up being pretty long winded, which those who know me will be unsurprised by, I’m going to go and head and save the next post for tomorrow!