NYC Trip #2 this year

I had talked so much to my friends about how much I loved Newsies back in April that we decided to take another trip to NYC in August.  We wanted to make sure we saw the original Broadway cast for Newsies since Jeremy Jordan was so awesome as Jack.

Sadly for me I didn't have any vacation time yet that I could spare an extra day so I flew out on Friday night and back on Sunday night.  We still seemed to fit a lot in for just 2 days.  I was also extra proud of myself for getting to the hotel all by myself on the Subway at 10pm at night.  I even had 4 people ask me for directions (I couldn't help), but I must have looked like I knew what I was doing.

I got there pretty late so we went to get a treat and then to sleep.  First things first the next morning we got ourselves a delicious toasted marshmallow milkshake.

And then headed to Times Square to check out the Wonka store (Kim was dying to go there since she had seen my pictures from my earlier trip this year).

While in Times Square we saw this advertisement for Newsies (we were seeing later that night).

We also ran into the Naked Cowboy.  He was a little snugly for this photo than I wanted

  He didn't get a tip.

We then headed to see our matinee of this years Tony winner for best musical (called Once).  Connie, Kristan and Nicole had seen it the night before and were raving about it so we got tickets (barely) for the matinee.  We had been warned there was some language in it, but seriously it was SO good. The music was fantastic and it was not at all like a Broadway musical normally is.  All of the music was acoustic and the actors/actresses played while they acted.  It was mesmerizing!

After the show we walked out the door and the cast was coming out to sign playbills and take pictures.  We patiently waited our turn for the main star, Guy (aka Steve Kazee) to come out.  He is this years Tony Winner for Best Lead Actor in a Musical and we all had significant crushes on him by the end of the show.  As you can see we make a perfect couple in this picture (that maybe Kim was cut out of) but he was so nice to everyone.  I later found out that we share the exact same birthday (year and everything) so there is obviously a special bond since we left heaven on the same day....LOL!  We were near the very end of the waiting period so it was funny to see him walk behind the waiting crowd, put his sunglasses on and disappear into the crowd without anyone really noticing.  

After some more celebrity stalking of John Stamos (he was playing in a musical next door to Once) Kim, Camille and I met up with Nicole, Kristan, and Connie (finally!) to grab dinner. We went to this place called Vynl.  A friend of mine had recommended it for the fun atmosphere.  It had good food, but we also happened to be there at happy hour for those individuals "batting for the other team" if you know what I mean.  Made it entertaining.  The bathrooms were also very interested. They were dedicated to musicians and Elvis or Cher (or others) would sing to you while you did your business depending on which bathroom you chose.  Interesting.

After dinner we headed to see Newsies.  I was super excited since I loved it the first time (especially the dancing).  I loved it again the second time.  Such a fabulous show.

Since we had so much success with our autograph sessions and photos at Once we stuck around for the Newsies cast.  It was definitely a more crowded experience but we got to take pictures of the cast that we wanted.

I took this picture with me and Jeremy Jordan (aka Jack) with my phone.  Wish I had the flash on.

Thankfully Camille to this picture of us as it happened.  Yep I'm basically 15 years old :)

On Sunday we headed to church and then ate brunch at a yummy cafe near church (I forgot what it was called).  Then we headed to the Ground Zero Memorial.  Here are all of us at the survivor tree.  This is one of the trees that survived the September 11th attacks.

Me and Camille looking at one of the reflecting pools. They were really neat and had the water flowing through them so you couldn't see the bottom.  All of the names of those killed were placed on the sides and they were carefully grouped by friends, family acquaintances. 

After Ground Zero we needed some cookies :)

And then we walked around Wall Street (even though it was much less normal than a weekday).

Then we all caught our various flights home.  It was a fabulous trip and I have to say I have had the best luck with NYC weather.  It was August and we had 72 degrees with a slight breeze.  No sweating, no freezing, just perfect weather.