NY, NY

Over a month later, I've finally found the time to post a few pictures of our trip to New York. Mom, Kim, and I spent 4 days in New York together to celebrate Mom's retirement. She taught in the same school system her entire life. I can't imagine the thousands of students who came through the Amherst County School system who had some exposure to my Mom. It would be so rare these days for someone to have the same job for a lifetime. I think I'm in my 4th already. I think retirement was bittersweet for my Mom. I can understand that. But I'll have to say that I'm very happy with the thought of not having to schedule visits, trips, and other things around a school calendar. And I think Mom is already enjoying the flexibility that retired life affords. The trip to New York was a nice beginning to what will hopefully be many more trips together.

Welcome to Time's Square!

Kim had never been to New York. In fact, I'm not sure Kim had ever been to a city. She was a little starstruck and I'm sure she was probably nervous about my ability to guide us around the city. I did fine, though. We got "lost" one time, but it was only when I had remember the wrong street address for our hotel. I did get us back to the exact address I had remembered - I had just remembered the wrong address. Other than that, though, no navigational problems.
Even though it was raining when we arrived at our hotel, we decided to brave the elements and went ahead and hopped on a tour bus. I had actually never done this. I've been all over New York, but always via the subway. After the tour I realized that while I knew bits of New York I never really had a good sense of how they all connected (since I normally traveled underground!). I really enjoyed getting the "big picture" of the city.

Flatiron District

Harlem

Our favorite restaurant of the trip:

Mom and Kim on the rooftop restaurant.

Dinner before a show.

We saw American Idiot first. Awesome if you like Green Day. Not your typical Broadway show, but I wasn't bored for a minute. Very high energy. Not particularly uplifting, but probably a very honest commentary on good chunk of today's twentysomethings.

We saw Memphis next. Great, traditional Broadway show. Good message. The main character was a little overacted, but otherwise phenomenal cast.

Kim wanted to see Good Morning America. Here's Kim getting a picture of the weather guy,I managed to snap Robin Roberts as she walked to her location on camera.
When we returned to our hotel one afternoon we saw squad cars and a crowd. Turns out Law and Order was filming a scene right across the street. (Not sure what that says about the location of our hotel!)

Overall a great trip! Good sightseeing, decent food, good shopping, great shows, and great company!