Empire State of Mind, Baby!

Major adventure in our house this past week: Kurt and I went on vacation for five days sin niña. He turned 30 on January 17, and for his birthday, I surprised him with a trip to New York City (where he has always wanted to visit) with our dear friends, Nick and Beth Dekker from Columbus, Ohio. We've only been away from Madelyn one night at a time for three nights over the last 2 1/2 years, and all three times, we were no more than 15 miles away from her. So New York City was a disproportionately large step! I was SO anxious leading up to our departure. Our parents were going to tag-team caring for Maddie, so I knew she was going to be just fine, but being that far away from your child just feels biologically wrong somehow. But, thank God, we all did just fine. It helped that Nick and Beth were in exactly the same boat, having left their son, Will, with Beth's parents for the first time. We have vacationed several times with Nick and Beth, so we fell right in step and thoroughly enjoyed pretending we were young newlyweds with no responsibilities again.

Here are a few pictures of our New York adventure. Sorry none of them include Madelyn! She had an adventure of her own, but "what goes on at Grandma's house stays at Grandma's house!"

Nick, Beth, Me, and Kurt in Central Park. We barely put our toes in the park because we ran out of time and, well, it was January, but if I ever go back to New York (when it's not below freezing), this is where I want to spend the bulk of my time. It's just amazing to me that this incomprehensibly huge piece of nature lies in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world. And it's kind of cool knowing that one of Kurt's ancestors (Fredrick Law Olmsted "Uncle Freddy") designed the whole thing. I don't know the exact statistics, but it sure felt like the entirety of Portland could fit inside Central Park. They have a zoo. And a castle. And three lakes and, like, a dozen playgrounds. I'm sure it's absolutely beautiful when everything is green and in bloom.

Hot chocolate with a house-made marshmallow at the City Bakery. Decadent. It was more like syrup than chocolaty milk. I'm pretty sure the marshmallow alone cost five bucks, but what the hey. "When in Rome," right?

DIM SUM!! Holy business, this was the craziest experience of the whole trip. We got a recommendation from some friends of Nick and Beth's who live in New York to hit this place for some authentic dim sum, and while I've never had dim sum before, if this wasn't authentic, I'm not sure I want to know what is. We had to take an escalator to get to the main dining room on the second floor which stretched on and on and on. We couldn't believe that such a large dining room exists in Manhattan. We hadn't even sat down in our chairs or taken off our coats when three or four ladies scuttled over to our table pushing carts full of unidentifiable yumminess. They kept asking us questions in Chinese and we just kept saying "I don't know, I don't know" over and over until finally we were like, "What the heck! Sure! We'll take this one and that one and another one of this one." Oh. My. Goodness. I really don't know what I ate, but it was amazing. We ate and ate until we literally had no room left, and the final bill came to a whopping $44 for the four of us. Best deal ever.

This was our collective favorite. Pretty AND delectable.


The "Highline" reclamation project in Chelsea. The neighborhood rallied to turn an abandoned elevated train bridge (that was scheduled to be torn down) into a peaceful boardwalk with benches and trees and grasses. You can enter the Highline from a number of spots on the street level, one of which is just outside the amazing Chelsea Marketplace (think organic fruits and veggies, specialty cheese and wine, nuts and chocolate, and delicious bakeries). If I had to live in New York, I think I'd want to live in Chelsea.

The drink menu at Ninth Street Espresso in the Chelsea Marketplace. Those seven drinks are all they offer. No substitutions, additions, or amendments. Period. It was fantastic espresso, but the baristas seemed to know it.

Katz' Delicatessen. The table in the photo above is the table where Meg Ryan "thoroughly enjoyed" her meal in the movie "When Harry Met Sally." The sign reads "Where Harry met Sally. Hope you have what she had!" Fabulous sandwiches and fries.

The BEST pickles I've ever had. Less vinegary and more cucumbery but still crunchy, cold, and delicious. I ate seven and could've kept on going if someone would hurry up and invent an interchangable stomach.

The gents at Mecca.

A toy soldier made entirely of jelly beans at FAO Schwartz.

Never imagined that a subway tunnel could be pretty, but that's exactly what this one was. The whole thing was mosaiced in these beautiful tiles to appear like layers of earth, and there were also Mother Goose rhymes (randomly) etched around the top.

The foyer of the New York Public Library.


We didn't actually go to the top of the Empire State Building because, well, everything in New York costs an arm and a leg and we only had so many arms and legs. But the lobby was pretty enough.

Grand Central Station.

Wall Street. Ohmygoshcold!


This is the historic church that was within a stone's throw of the World Trade Towers and miraculously survived the 9/11 disaster. It became the hub for taking care of all of the relief workers in those awful weeks and is now a sort-of museum of artifacts, stories, video footage, etc. It was quite sobering to stand where there was once so much sorrow and grief, but it was heart-warming, too, reading about how much love was poured out on strangers in the largest and smallest of ways (endless food, cots on which to sleep, and grief counselors but also foot massagers and musicians providing live classical music).

They've left all of the pews with the scuffs and gouges incurred by the firemen's boots as a tribute to their bravery and selflessness.

Super cute little farm-chic diner called Kitchenette just around the corner from where we stayed in Tribeca. Delicious breakfast with the best apple-turkey sausage ever.

Times Square, as if there was any confusion.




We took a tour of the NBC studios which was totally fun! When we got to the SNL stage, Michael Buble was rehearsing for his gig as the musical guest on SNL that week, and he totally hammed it up for us and serenaded us with a song.

Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (Are you detecting a theme yet? We pretty much ate our way through New York with a special emphasis on bakeries :) For any of you who might be familiar with SNL's "Chronic(What?!)les of Narnia," this is the bakery at which they "mack on cupcakes."

30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In front of the famous Rockefeller Center ice rink.

I have a small crush on Matt Lauer and also love the Today Show. We stopped by the studio on Thursday morning and even though it was sleeting, we stood outside the window and became the idiots in the background smiling and waving like dopes because they're on TV. It was worth the humiliation. Matt and Meredith were gone already, but we saw Anne Curry and Natalie Morales and then, a bit later, Kathy Lee Gifford.