Fabulous Financials

BabyGirl and I returned from our very first mother/daughter excursion and went straight into hibernation mode.  Now that we’ve emerged from the den like well rested mama and baby bears, I finally found the energy to blog about our trip.  In total, we spent about $650 (including hotel and transportation) over the course of four days.  While in NYC, we…

1.  Saw the Lion King on Broadway ($60+ each): Can you say fantabulous!?!  I’d recommend this show to everyone under the sun because it isn’t just for kids, it’s for anyone of any age.  The Lion King is already a classic and Disney did an awesome job transitioning it from the big screen to the stage.  From the cast selections and their acting skills to the set, costumes, music, and songs – everything was excellent!  I especially loved the lady from Ghana who played Rafiki (the baboon) and the kids who played young Simba and Nala.  They even added parts of their own that were not in the movie.  It was a nice little surprise.

After the show, we bought a poster that was autographed by all the cast members.  We were told all proceeds are donated to various causes in South Africa.  Nice.

2.  Visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ($12+ each):  I’m not really a museum person but I went along with the program for BabyGirl.  After hanging out until the wee hours on the previous night, I don’t know what possessed me to buy SOL tix with reservations for 8am.  We struggled getting out of bed and starting the day so friggin early.  Half alert, I tried to find our way to Battery Park.

My Google directions told me to walk up to 42nd street and hop on the NY 1 towards the Ferry (or something like that).  Not realizing the “1″ was a train, I was reading a bus stop sign when a bus pulled up in front of us.  I told the driver I was just reading the sign, but he asked where we were going.  Pleased with his desire to help, I told him we were trying to get to the Ferry.

This is when things got strange and I was reminded that I was really in NYC.

“Come here” he waived and asked me.

Being the bus driver with other passengers in plain view, I didn’t see the harm, so I hopped on.  BabyGirl was still standing near the curb so he told her to come on too.  Obviously the smarter of us two, she hesitated until I waived her on and said it was ok.

Then I asked “Will this bus take us to the Ferry?”  I don’t remember his answer, but when BabyGirl got on the bus, he pulled off!

I was like “WTF, where are you going if this isn’t my bus!”

He goes “I’m taking you to Atlantic City with me.”

I immediately switched to panic mode and yelled “No the hell you aint!  Let me off this bus!”

He began to laugh and flashed two gold teeth.  I rolled my eyes.  Then he said “I’ll drop you off on 2nd St, then you can take the M15 (or was it M13?) to the Ferry.”

Skeptical, I looked to see what street we were on, then I looked around at the people on the bus.  Then I heard someone say “Man, you taking her all out the way, she could’ve taken the 1 where you just picked her up and it would have dropped her off right there!”

When the bus made its next stop, he turned to the passenger and said “Why you blocking?”

Completing oblivious to the exchange and making mental notes of my environment, I realized he didn’t make us pay.  So I asked “how much does it cost to ride this bus?” with all the ‘tude I could muster.  And this fool goes “don’t worry, I’ll get you where you need to be.”  Acting as if he didn’t notice the irritation written all over my face, he asked “So why are you going to the Ferry?  You from Staten Island?”

If I were in my own element or with my girlfriends, I would have played along.  But in a strange place and with my CHILD?  Oh Hellz Naw!  Besides, your game is whack, you have gold teeth, and you’re a MF BUS DRIVER!  Then my Brick City survival skills returned.  I told BabyGirl to go sit down so I could flip the script.  My name was Natasha, I was from NJ, had 3 kids, and my “sister” and I were meeting our boyfriends at the Ferry.  I told him he didn’t want to fugg with me because my man was “crazy” and my life was already “complicated.”  I couldn’t have written a better script because he stopped trying to holla and immediately dropped us off on 2nd St with two free transfer tickets. LOL!

That was 15 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back and I wanted to cuss him the fugg out.  Mean, I know, but I was pissed!

The next bus took 10 minutes and only went as far as Houston St.  So we had to wait for another one that went all the way down to the Ferry.  By then, it was 8:30 and I was steaming!  When we finally arrived at the Ferry, we were almost an hour late. *sigh*

Thankfully, we were able to skip the ticket line.  But we had to stand in another “ticket check” line AND go through a “security check” that was worse than TSA before boarding the ferry.  Then, we got to Liberty Island and had to stand in another friggin line AND go through another friggin security check!  Sheesh!

By the time we entered the SOL, we were told that visitors were only allowed to tour the museum and the observation deck.  Visitors haven’t been allowed inside the statue since 9/11.  Despite that, it was still interesting to read about the history of the statue, the designer, how she was constructed, delivered from France to the US, and repaired over the years.  Then we went to the observation deck, which was a bunch of nothing and a huge disappointment after climbing over ONE HUNDRED stairs!  About an hour later, we were standing in yet another line to board the ferry for Ellis Island.

I felt like a herd of cows.  A bird stole my hot dog.  Security made me discard my soda.  I was hungry, thirsty, tired, still mad about the bus driver fiasco, and my feet were hurting!  When we returned to Battery Park, I just wanted to sit and enjoy the scenery.  BabyGirl ran off to check out the street vendors while I sat and enjoyed another hot dog.

3 – Browsed the Ground Zero Visitor’s Center: We didn’t stay here long, but it was an experience being in the vicinity of where our nation’s history took place.  It was eerie reading about the events of September 11th and seeing the current plans to rebuild.  On one hand, I was sad to see that life can so easily go on for some people, but happy to know that all Americans are resilient and we bounce back, regardless of the circumstances.  Take that you coward azz te.rro.rists!

4 – Shopped…but not much (~$130):  Believe it or not, we didn’t shop that much.  It wasn’t planned that way, but a combination of limited time and endless walking put a wrench in our plans.  My idea of shopping all day means being able to drop off my bags at the car when my arms get tired, then proceeding to the next store for more damage.  In NYC, not so much.  But we did hit up Century 21, Macy’s, Conway, Dr. Jay’s, a few other stores around 6th and 7th Aves, and of course, the street vendors on Canal St.  We also did a little shopping at a mall in Brooklyn.

BabyGirl bought some colorful Nikes, jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts, and Juicy Couture jewelry.  I bought a long purple necklace, 3 pashminas, and a T-shirt that says “Do I Look Like a FUCKING People Person?”  It is so me, I love it!  I started to buy a knock off Coach bag that would have been cute for the spring but decided against it.

5 – Ate (really unhealthy food…a lot): Right now, I feel like a big glob of fat.  I’m thinking about going to CVS for some colon cleanser or something. LOL!  There was a 24-hour Deli right across the street from our hotel so we had our fill of sandwiches, bagels, croissants, and junk food.  But let’s not forget the pizza (lots of it!), Chinese food in Chinatown (Dim Sum experience was BabyGirl’s special request), hot dogs (everywhere!), white castle burgers, wings at BBQs, etc, etc.  I feel sick just thinking about it all, but it was GOOD!

6 – Walked until our feet were sore: We walked the midtown perimeter from 31st to 55th St – east and west.  We also walked the entire downtown area from Battery Park to Chinatown.  With the exception of taking the bus downtown to the ferry and the 6 train uptown to 42nd street, I think we hit all the hot spots by foot – 34th St, Park Ave, 5th Ave, Madison Ave, Times Square, NYC Public Library, Grand Central Terminal, Radio City, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, Bryant Park, Battery Park, Wall St and the financial district, WTC, City Hall, Tribeca, Chinatown, Little Italy, and SoHo.

Unfortunately, we intended but were unable to:

Visit the Museum of Modern Art: We saw it, walked past it, and decided against it when another sight caught our attention.  I was so happy when BabyGirl changed her mind.  I didn’t want to do another museum anyway.

Visit the Empire State Building: This was on our list of things to do.  Considering it was only a few blocks from our hotel, it should have been easy enough.  But the day we planned to visit the ESB, we were both exhausted and couldn’t move another inch.

Visit Central Park: This was also on our list of things to do.  But when I told BabyGirl about the horses and the funky manure, she quickly changed her mind.  I was so grateful.

Visit Harlem, the Apollo Theater, and lunch at Rosco’s Chicken n’ Waffles: We were supposed to do this when one of my girlfriends picked us up, but we decided to go shopping in BK instead.  BabyGirl was a little disappointed with the mall, but I guess that’s what happens when you live near one of the largest malls on the east coast.  At the end of the day, she still wanted to go to Harlem, but it was late and my friends’ small children were tired.  By then, I was not hopping a bus/train by ourselves after dark.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Take Pictures: I know this post sucks without pictures, but I blame this 100% on my genius offspring.  As you know, my digital camera broke over the holidays.  The last week before my trip was extremely hectic so I didn’t have time to shop for a new one.  However, all was not lost because BabyGirl remembered to bring her digital camera.  After a full day in the city, I didn’t think of taking pictures until we got in front of the Minskoff theater.  Fifteen minutes before the show was scheduled to begin, I asked her to pose in front of the Lion King poster for a picture.  This chic pulls the camera out of her pocket and hands it to me.  Mind you, I’ve never used her camera before, but I thought it felt kinda light.  I go to turn the thing on and that’s when I discovered that THERE WERE NO FRIGGIN BATTERIES IN IT!!! I gave BabyGirl the most evil look and said “Great Genius!”  She took her little camera back and cracked up laughing.  Only my child. *smh*

You would think we eventually bought batteries, right?  Of course not!  That would be common sense.  I didn’t even THINK of needing batteries UNTIL there was something I wanted to take a picture of – then I resorted to my camera phone (still don’t know how to get pics off my phone LOL).  After the second time, she goes “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”  That went all over my head until about 10 minutes later.  When I realized what she’d said, I threated to leave her in NY until she admitted it was all her fault. Ha!

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After four days in the city that never sleeps (or is that Vegas?), we were both ready to return home.  NYC is a wonderful place to visit, but I could never live there.  There’s too much noise, too many people, too many cars, and not enough space!  I asked BabyGirl if she’d consider going to college in NY and she quickly nixed that idea.  Ha!  I think we both have a whole new respect for tourists who visit DC.

I guess you can say we love the city, but we’re country mid-Atlantic girls at heart.  I missed the trees, and the grass, and the flowers, and the fresh air, and the DC beltway, and my own car, and my apartment, and my bed, and…I can’t believe I’m about to say this…my health and fitness routine.  I’m a creature of habit, so any change of routine throws me off kilter.  I haven’t worked out since last Wednesday, and right now, my body feels like crap.  I’m sure I burned a gazillion calories with all the speed walking through the city streets, but there’s nothing like good ole’ cardio and strength training to get your adrenaline going.  I’m re-introducing myself to the gym this morning…and all weekend.

Overall, we had a fabulous time and BabyGirl fulfilled her desire to experience the real city life.  But we’re both glad to be back home.