New York City - Top of the Rock

We arrived in the city about 4:30 on Friday afternoon. After settling into the hotel and showering, we hit the ground running toward Rockefeller Center, stopping to gaze up at Trump Tower, stepping inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, and admiring the windows in the 5th Avenue shops along the way. I begged Darren to skate, but he thought it would be a bad idea to start off our vacation with a couple of broken legs. LOL!

We had planned on eating dinner at the rinkside cafe, but it was closed for a private event (HMPF!) so we hunted down another restaurant, then headed up to Top of the Rock (the top of Rockefeller Center) for a 360 view of the city.

It was 24 degrees at street level, and the wind was CRAZY strong up on top. It was so cold that Darren was getting brain freeze - the same feeling you get when you eat ice cream too fast. The view was amazing, but the wind made it impossible to get a clear photo. Even the tripod that the photographers use (you know, they take your photo and then try to charge you $22 for a copy of it) was shaking, so the photo of Darren and me was all blurry. (Good excuse not to buy it, at least!) This photo was taken with the camera sitting ON the top of the building. The shake is from the building itself. It's the clearest one we were able to get.

So, why did we need a shower upon arrival, you ask? It goes like this:

On Thursday night, we spent the night at my friend Sheri's house, 'cause she lives right outside of DFW airport, and with the forecasted winter storm, we thought it would be a good idea not to have to face rush hour the next morning on ice. When we woke up, Darren got online to check our gate info, and to make sure our flight wasn't delayed. He couldn't even FIND our flight. That's because it wasn't at DFW. Turns out, we were flying out of Love Field. So he ran upstairs, said, "Get up. We're in a huge hurry. We have to leave NOW." So we brushed our teeth and threw on clothes and ran out the door. Made it to Dallas and caught our flight, even through rush hour traffic. There was no ice, thank goodness! Just drizzle. So... we were all kinds of funky when we finally arrived at the hotel. LOL!