Not that we weren't planning on spending most of the day in the city, but it was pretty impressive what we managed to fit in before we had to get on the road. First up, we had to check out of our hotel. We loved being in such a beautiful, historic building! Just look at that view! ;)
Look! Blue skies and sunshine! It was going to be a good day.
Back into the subway we went. By this point we kind of knew what we were doing!
We never did manage to get all six of us through the turnstiles on the first swipe, but we got pretty close!
Tired eyes.... but there was still so much to see!
Our first stop for the day was a beautiful one- the Manhattan temple!
Two cute sister missionaries were headed into the temple right as we were looking for someone to take our picture. We love missionaries!
The temple itself was closed but we were able to go into the meetinghouse part of the building.
We loved seeing all of the pampered and puffy dogs around the city.
I wasn't sure how we would do and feel as a family of obvious tourists in the city, but the kids are all old enough to stay alert and smart and safe, and we were very careful about where we chose to go in the city. And having a big man leading us everywhere definitely helped with the comfort factor too. Thanks Daddy!
The sun was out with a vengeance around noon and we didn't mind one bit!
I can't say that everyone was all that impressed with Grand Central Station.... we did a lot of walking leading up to getting there and somehow it seemed to fall a little lower on the wow scale for the kids.
Not for me though! Such a romantic glimpse into a bygone era. I can't get enough of all of the history in NYC.
But the revolving doors were a hit! (buy the toy and they play with the box...)
We saw Dunkin Donuts all over New England, especially in New Hampshire, but we never stopped for one. For some reason on the last day of our trip we decided to go on a wild goose chase to track down some donuts that yes, we can get in Iowa.
We found them eventually, and they were completely sub-par, just as we expected.
Funny little story- Noah ordered a raspberry jam filled donut, thinking the label was for the donuts above, not below, but what he really wanted was the strawberry sprinkles (the classic Homer Simpson donut). So we bought an extra and the kids actually enjoyed the jam donut too. It reminded me of the pretty but yucky Little Mermaid cookie that five year old Leah ordered from Disney World. We replaced that cookie with a much tastier treat. At home, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit, but when on vacation, enjoy the food you want to enjoy!
After that we all voted and the winning next stop was the Harry Potter store.
Weren't we just in HP World in January, you ask? Why yes we were, but the butterbeer alone was enough to lure us over to the store. And it was pretty awesome! Insanely crowded, but awesome!
No rides, of course, but there were so many magical elements to the store that we took a good long time discovering.
Like Harry's actual Nimbus 2000!
And how big Hagrid really is.
And, yes the butterbeer was just as delicious as we remembered.
We also tried butterbeer ice cream, which we skipped over in HP World, and oh boy was it a tasty treat.
And it was right there, 9 and a half days into our epic road trip, that I felt the shift. It comes on every trip at some point (the better the trip, the closer to the end), but the point always comes when I am over the crowds, the schedule, the keeping an eagle eye watch and constant head count, running on just a little too little sleep, and the cost of everything. That shift means it's time to head home. But we had one more major to-do on our list, and it was one of the most incredible moments of the whole trip!
