HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROY!! (New York style)

Last September, as we watched the US Open and Troy once again dreaming of being there in person...I decided that we were going to the 2010 tournament in New York, and that it would be a suprise for him. I began looking into hotels, tickets, flights, to get an idea of how much, and just what I was getting myself into. This honestly was the LONGEST year of my life!!  I guess it was all suppose to be...tennis tickets were amazingly cheaper than I expected, I got a great deal on flights, and found an awesome new hotel in lower Manhattan for a great deal by NY standards.
On Troy's birthday, I felt way guilty as I didn't really give him much, but told him the rest of his present was delayed by about a week.  I waited to give him his big surprise while camping with my family.  I sent him on a scavenger hunt to other campsites for things one would find in NY.  He of course didn't get it until he read his card with a poem and opened another envelope which were copies of our 2010 US Open tickets.  He was so suprised and of course I cried (we'll just chalk that up to hormones!) We spent the rest of the month planning the rest of our trip.

Opening his suprise!

welcome to NYC!                                                         

Meet Diane

Last Saturday FINALLY arrived and we left early for Vegas.  My cousin Emily was SO great to let us leave our car at her house for the week and also took us and picked us up from the airport. Thanks Em, we owe you big time at our time share!! The flights were great both ways, except we only got to sit by each other from Chicago to NY because of open seating, and full flights on SouthWest, and nobody was very willing to trade around with us. Our total flight time was about 6.5 hrs and with time changes we got in around 8 pm.  We were so caught up with getting our transportation and finding Metrocards (which all the stands and machines at the airport were out of) , that we were on the bus and headed into the city before I noticed my luggage said 'Diane Long', so we got to the nearest subway station bought our METRO passes and caught the next bus back to the airport to switch luggage. Our flight was apparently the last one for the night, and all the Southwest crew had left so the very helpful airport people just said to come back early the next morning. My phone had died, but we called my voicemail and luckily Southwest had left a message saying they had my bag and we had probably picked one up the wrong one by mistake.  Troy felt bad for grabbing the wrong suitcase, but it was all good and we laughed it off, he called me 'Diane' for the rest of the night. I said if that was the only thing that went wrong then we were in good shape, so we took our borrrowed suitcase which we affectionatley named 'Diane' to find our hotel.... read on... Our first subway experience was fun, yet CROWDED, & we both were nervous.  I wasn't sure my stomach could keep the smell of mixed body odors packed that close contained but I managed.  When we got to our hotel, they informed us that they didn't have a room for us, even tho we had called the night before to confirm our reservations, & everything was good to go.  They put us in a cab and sent us to the Carlton hotel a few blocks away for the night on them. The next morning we got up early took a cab back to our original hotel.  They were very appologetic, reimbursed us for the cab rides, gave us breakfast and kept our other luggage while we went to the aiport to exchange bags.

New York Yankees

After the whole suitcase drama and getting back and settled into our hotel early, we headed out to the Bronx to find Yankee Stadium for the game with the BlueJays.  The expression on Troy's face was priceless as we walked in and saw how close our seats were, he isn't a Yankees fan, but just being there and the whole game experiance was enough to maybe 'win him over' he says.  The Yankees lost, however, a BlueJays player who is from Utah hit a homerun so that was cool. After the game we toured the Empire State Bldg and met a couple from Idaho who had friends from Beaver. It is amazing to think that the bldg  was built in only 14 months!! We have never walked so much in our entire lives! We pretty much covered all of  Manhattan from Central Park to Wall Street which is as far as you can go before falling into the Hudson river! We also spent every night in Times Square, which was crazy anyway..I can't even being to imagine what it is like on New Year's Eve!!! We relied on the subway and walking to get around, honestly for the price of parking I can't imagine how anyone would drive, or put up with the hassel of traffic.  We rode at the very minimum 8 subways a day, on Thursday we counted around 16.  The $27.00 we each paid for a 7 day unlimited metrocard was worth every cent!

Here is the condensed version of the rest of the week:

* Monday:  Day session of US Open (major sunburned/blistered knees for Andrea, OUCH!), Times Square, Rockerfeller Plaza, took a ride in a PediCab & knew our lives were over...crazy drivers!!

* Tuesday:  Statue of  Liberty/Ellis Island (met a couple from Hurricane there), Ground Zero tour, Wall Street/Financial district, Trinity Church, went to see the play 'Wicked'. David Letterman, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square. Took lots of pictures for my sister Stephanie of crazy busy NYC sidewalks.

* Wednesday: US open day session (only watched a doubles match). We were so excited to be able to watch Roger Federer play this day, but then totally bummed after realizing he was playing at night.   Since he was the big reason behind the trip I bought tickets for the evening session so we could go.  We melted during the day and froze our butts off in the crazy wind that night, but Troy was so excited and it was totally worth it.   We went back into the city for lunch at a cute corner deli and walked through Central Park, found the Manhattan temple, back out to the Open that night.

*Thursday: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!! Went to the TODAY show and made our television debut, met Merideth Viera & Ann Curi. I'm pretty sure we walked more this day than ever! Canal Street to bargin with the street vendors, Chinatown, found the only LDS church listed in lower Manhattan in a scary part of town on the 4th floor of an office bldg, walked over Brooklyn bridge, more Central Park, Carnegie Hall, St. Patricks Catherdral (2 hrs to find!) Rode bus out to check into new hotel by airport, rode bus/subway back into city for a session at Manhattan temple, dinner at Hard Rock in Times Square, subway to Grand Central Station for Cheesecake at Juniors.  Troy forgot the plan and thought we were headed back to Queens, I jumped up & said hey we need to get out here & so  we were slow getting out of the subway. I got out in time, & Troy stuck his hand out to stop the door like an elevator and about got it cut off.  We just laughed & waved bye to each other and off he went down the track. I just sat on a bench and waited alone in the subway, hoping he was coming back fairly quick since he had my bag with my wallet, phone, & Metrocard in it. Without my Metrocard, I was stuck right where I was!  Luckily another couple came and sat down by me and it only took about 10 mins for Troy to get back, of course the next stop was the furthest away from Grand Central, clear across the East River into Queens. We spotted each other as the train came cruising into the station and we were both glad to be back together.  We said had that happened on our first night in the city we would've both been paranoid, but by Thursday we were pretty comfortable with the whole subway thing and our surroundings.  Long story short, Juniors was closed and so we headed back out to our hotel in Queens without the very famous NY cheesecake.

* Friday: Off to the airport again (really who goes to the airport 4 times during a vacation!!) this time on our way home.  Plane was late getting in so we sat on the tarmack for an hour waiting to take off, which gave us exactly 10 mins to literally SPRINT from one end of the airport to the other terminal to catch our connecting flight in Chicago to Vegas.  All you mothers know how running with a full bladder goes...glad I had a jacket to tie around my waist!! We made it just in time and so did our luggage which we were sure wouldn't make it. Our flight to Vegas was interesting as it was filled with a big group of 'just turned 21' kids that were basically wasted before we even landed.  We were glad to land and find Emily & Easton waiting for us. We quickly headed home to Grandma and our kids.  They were all so excited to see us and Grandma had survived the week!

As Troy puts it, 'It was the best week of my entire life'.  We had a great time and hope to go back.  There is so much that I left out but this is long enough!  Oh there was a movie being filmed on the street in front of our hotel in Manhattan, it's called 'premiun rush' and will be out in 2012.  Kind of cool to see the set.  The dark hair kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun is the main character.

Thanks Nick and Paige for helping my mom with the kids and picking them up from daycare.  HUGE, HUGE THANK YOU to mom for staying the week while we were gone and even sacrificing her anniversary to be in St. George.  We were glad dad came down and you at least went to dinner...We love you and OWE you big time! Happy Birthday Troy, I love you and FYI,  it will be awhile before we make it to Wimbledon!! :)  Here are lots of pictures!!

First sesison of the US Open

Troy at Louis Armstrong stadium

Roger Federer on the JumboTron after his quarterfinal win

Federer in action

Me in the middle of the jumbotron in Times Square taking a picture of us (Troy is in the red hat behind me not paying attention)

Troy swiping his Metrocard to get on the 28th street subway

Troy holding up Manhattan!

9/11 memorial

Ground Zero

Me & the Egyptian hotdog man

Wall Street

"We're movin on up..."

Wicked

Manhattan temple

Meredith Viera - Today Show

Merideth out on the plaza- Rockerfeller plaza

View of lower Manahattan from Empire State Bldg 82 floor

Time Square

Our wild ride in the Pedicab