In a New York State of Mind

Sooo... I already told you about our plans for the summer--spending time with family in Ohio and a week in the Smokies--but what I haven't mentioned is the best part of those plans!I am so-super-duper-excited to be taking a girl's trip to New York City with some of the ladies from our family!!My yiayia, mom, sister, aunt/godmother, cousin and I will be boarding a bus marked NYC for three and half wonderful days. I am beside myself with excitement. I have been wanting to go to NYC for so long but have never actually made plans and gone. The fact that I will be going with these five ladies is going to be awesome. My brother's wife, Sveta, was supposed to come too but with work and still nursing my littlest nephew, she decided it would be best to skip out this time. I'm really bummed she couldn't join us, but we're planning on making this an annual trip, so hopefully she'll be along for the ride next summer.All I can say is, somehow there is always an adventure with the five us. Now that we're all older, it doesn't feel like my mom and grandmother, it honestly feels like I am going with five of my best friends. And, I suppose that's because I am.Though, I'm really nervous about leaving the boys and every night when I lay down for bed and think about it, I am overcome with anxiety. What if Sprout tries climbing the stairs and nobody sees? What if Lucky chases a ball into the street? What if, what if, what if? This anxiety no doubt stems from the fact that, other than the 2 days I attended a writer's conference when I was pregnant with Sprout, I have NEVER left them. Like, ever. But I refuse to ruin my trip worrying, I know they'll be in the best hands and all the boys are already making plans filled with baseball mitts and campouts.I can go a little overboard when I get really excited, which explains the gazillion text messages I've sent everyone outlining the details of our trip. Everyone wrote down their top three "must-do's" while we're there and I organized them and created a mock itinerary.  Our routes are highlighted, sites bookmarked and coffee shops in every direction have been circled.   I think it's a good idea to have a tentative plan when there's a lot you want to do and not a whole lot of time.  It pays to be organized! I downloaded a really cool app called NYC on the Cheap, which really helped me get an idea of where exactly everything is.  I googled different fun facts about all the places we want to see and typed up our own personal little travel brochure.  :)Because, of course I believe the following to be true.

For every traveller who has any taste of his own, the only useful guidebook will be the one which he himself has written.  -Aldous Huxley

We all chose three things we really want to do and so, according to those choices, here's what we are not leaving without doing:

1. Visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty
2. Take a carriage ride through Central Park
3. Check out MoMa or The Met (MoMa has free admission every Friday from 4-8 p.m.)

Over the years, whenever I would see a place that looked really neat or someone told me about a fantastic spot they knew of, I scribbled the info down in my New York notebook (shown below), so my list of places to see and things to do has grown to be  p r e t t y  long.  There are at least a million little things I'd like to do.  Like.

• Ride the carousel in Central Park
• Be the proud owner of a Metro Card
• Find a favorite park bench
• Have tea at Podunk's
• Eat a burger from the infamous Shake Shack
• Run my fingers along the rows of books inside the New York Public Library
• Hail a cab with just a whistle
• Take home a couple books from The Strand, who are known for their $1 hardcovers
• Buy a new pen from Kate's Paperie
• Go to Books of Wonder & Cupcake Cafe
• Visit Astoria and get coffee in a Greek travel cup
• Whisper a prayer at Ground Zero
• and the list goes on and on

But as long as we visit Ellis Island and stop by the American Girl Place so Geri and I can get each other our dolls for this year, I'll leave a happy girl.Ellis Island holds a special spot in my heart because of my family's connection to it.  My great-grandmother and three of her children came through Ellis Island in December of 1935.  I actually just finished writing a young-adult historical fiction novel that was inspired by their journey.  My aunt has told me so many stories about their trip and the things she remembers, that I feel like I've been there a thousand times in my head. I cannot wait to actually walk through those halls and see it, smell it and touch it in real life.  There is bound to be lots of tears.

My great-grandmother's passport

There is so much I'm looking forward to.  I have been giddy since we officially booked our hotel and bus tickets two months ago.  Most of all, I am just looking forward to relaxing having a great time with my favorite girls in the world.

What are some of your favorite things to do in New York City?  Any must-sees?

I don't know how often I'll be able to post while I'm on vacation but I'll do my best to post photos of the highlights of our travels on my facebook pages.  You can find my facebook blog page here and my author page here.  But definitely check back here at the end of the month for a full report!

We've also been texting photos to each other of things that remind us of, or that we want to see, in New York.  When we get back, I'm going to take all of them and some of the other photos we take during our visit and make a Shutterfly book.  Can't wait to share it with you!