New York part 2

 

 

Since Rainey decided to wear her Friday night dress on Thursday night I told her I would go to Macy's on Friday afternoon to pick out a different "fancy" dress for Friday night. We were up on 53rd street and Macy's was down on 34tth (of course) and so I got in a cab outside the hotel. It was pretty cool having the doorman blow is whistle and wave down a cab for me. It ended up being 14.00 dollars to ride down there and took forever since we went through Times Square but I got a great view in an air conditioned car. On the way back it was 4:30 pm and no cabs available in that area so I ended up walking the 20 blocks as fast as I could go because I still had to get  Rainey and myself ready and be downstairs ready to walk the red carpet at 5:50 pm.  I made it in 22 minutes. Pretty good timing considering all the crowds of people to get through.

 

The American Girl Doll store. On Thursday morning Rainey and I had some free time after one competition so we went to MOMA and then we decided to go find the Build A Bear store but it was not there anymore where the GPS said it was so we ended up walking past this store and Rainey wanted to go in. Tom and I had decided before that she would start the American Girl stuff at 8 years old but as I looked around I was swayed. I did not buy her anything that day  but told her that I had to talk it over with Papa and we would make  a decision on going back to get a doll. On Friday we had about 2 hours extra time which is when I went to Macy's and Tom took Rainey to the American Doll store to buy her first American Girl Doll. She picked out Kit Kitteredge.

 

 

The Hilton Midtown in Manhattan is where we stayed for 6 nights. It was nice but crowded with all the people from the competition and the elevators where a nightmare. At first everyone was all polite but after a few days of waiting 10 or more minutes it ended up a free for all crowding as many as possible into each elevator. I actually had 4 times where I stared at the lobby and made it up to the 10th floor without stopping once.

 

 

This is one of the smaller ballrooms where competitions where held. Rainey had her first one in this  room on Monday night at 7 pm.

 

This is the Grand Ballroom. She walked the runway in here for jeans, swimwear and theatrical headshot and fashion. We also had the banquet dinner in this room.

 Saks 5th Avenue. Wow this was such a treat. The children's store was on the 9th floor and we got Rainey that cute black vest you see her in one of the pictures in against the hotel room door with jeans and the clear sandals. And then the black and white dress by Milly is in one of the pictures as well. I was surprised that they did not have as much clothing for kids as I thought they would but we liked the items that we bought. She actually did not have a chance to wear the dress but she did wear the vest in the overview on the runway of all the people on Wed night.

 

 Whew!!! back on the airline we know and love. We did get to ride the Disney plane from Seattle to Anchorage. It was a 5.5 hour flight from Newark to Seattle and the bumps where incredible. It was actually pretty scary at some points. We were thrilled to be back in Alaska. There is actually a funny story associated to this: My plan was to leave the hotel at 4:20 am to make sure we made our 7 am flight home. Tom set the alarm clock for 2 am so I would have plenty of time to get ready and get the bags packed etc. We went to sleep and Tom woke me up saying Brenda we over slept and I asked what time it was and he said 3:45 and asked what our options where like should we take a later flight etc and I jumped out of bed and said no way... we are going home..... just open the suitcases and throw everything in them and if they are over weight we will just pay and so we did and by golly we were in that cab at 4:20 am and ready to go home. Two off the suitcases were crazy over weight but they did not charge us which was awesome since everything in NY is so expensive and it was nice not to have to dole out more money.

 

We flew out of Newark early Saturday morning the 25th. The cab ride was 90 dollars from the hotel but that included 16.00 for one toll and 4.00 for another toll. When I told the check  in person that we took a cab he was surprised and I asked how else where we supposed to get here and he answered with mass transit or the bus. I thought that was funny. I could see us on a bus with 5 giant suitcases trying to get to New Jersey at 5 in the morning. :)

 We went from Anchorage to Minneapolis and then into JFK on our way to NYC. We flew in on Sun Country because they were half the price as Alaska Airlines for the same trip. Go figure!!! We took a cab to the hotel and it was the mother of all cab rides and I was really glad I could not see through the glass at what was going on because it sounded scary. Horns blaring, changing lanes, coming up on people on the sides, barely getting through ... holy smokes I was so happy to get to the hotel. I think the cab ride from JFK was 60.00 vs the 90 to go to Newark. Alaska only flies in and out of Newark but starting on September 15 they will be flying into JFK as well. I hope we do not have to go to New York that often but at least I am a bit familiar with everything at this point.

 We rode this bicycle cab to the restaurant on Sunday evening the first night we were there and I gave him 20.00 which I thought was a great tip for just taking us a few blocks. We ate at a Bobby Flay restaurant... I cannot remember the name but it was delicious. Rainey actually slept the whole time with her head on the table. She was worn out .. so.... a few days later Rainey and I are at the American Girl Store and as we walk out there is a bicycle cab and Rainey asks If we can ride in it back to the hotel and I said sure. So on the way I am thinking it will most likely be 10.00 but I could not find a 10 bill in my purse so I decided to go ahead and give him a 20.00 just because I am a generous tipper :) and then thought well that might be too much of a tip but by the time we got to the hotel I decided the 20 was fine. So we get out and I  hand him the 20 and say keep the change....  he looks at the 20.00 and says... oh we do this by time and shows me a timer that says 8 minutes and I say ok that is fine you can keep the change and then he says that it is 3.00 a minute per person so that is 6.00 a minute and since it was 8 minutes it would be 48.00 dollars. 48.00 DOLLARS!!! are you kidding me.... I could not believe it... I was just floored that I had to pay 48 dollars for an 8 minute ride in a bicycle cab... Needless to say that was the last bicycle cab that we took. :)

 These are everywhere. The one by the hotel was always this busy with such a long line. It is called Halefel? anyway one night I decided to wait in the line and buy one and it looked just like the picture below... Pretty delicious.

Rainey and I went here for about an hour. She likes to pretty much walk through and look at everything without really stopping :) I am ok with that although we stopped at a few of my favorites to enjoy.