Statue of Liberty, but first, a side trip

A picture of the airport terminal when we exited. Its a little early.

We arrived at 5:20am New York time, or 2:20am San Diego time. The plan of sleeping over the course of the flight and waking up in NY refreshed was thought to be a good idea. However, the obvious lack of foresight was apparent as all of us arrived tired and cranky from a two to three hour night of sleep. Apparently, trying to sleep at 9:30pm San Diego time is difficult when you are used to sleeping at midnight or later.

We took the subway to our hotel and dropped off our luggage. We then reluctantly attacked the day, the ticks of the clock just arriving at 8am. We left for the Statue of Liberty, a site that all of us had not seen in over a decade, if at all.

Actually, hold on. I left out an important detail.

We left the hotel, stomachs grumbling. Debbie had repeatedly explained her desire for a good bagel with cream cheese, so we went looking for a store. After walking through Soho for around half an hour, it became apparent that this trip which was supposed to be a brief side trip was going to be a whole lot longer. All of us were under the assumption that bagel places were a dime a dozen in NY. This is partially the case, if one is willing to accept treet cart bagels (whose legitimacy is suspect). We nearly did, after passing by three of them and not finding a single store with bagels. Our journey seemed over. We stood on a street corner, exasperated, after a little over an hour of looking. A stranger saw the looks of distress on our faces and asked what we were looking for. We explained that we wanted - no, needed - bagels, and she directed us to a store. The next half hour was a quick and jovial walk filled with anticipation. We counted down the street numbers like how one would countdown the minutes to a hot date, and finally we arrived at Murray's Bagels. The place was packed (always a good sign), and the multitude of stickers and plaques indicated that we had indeed chosen the smart path. It was delicious, and with our stomachs full, we headed toward the Statue of Liberty.

Can you find 4 of the 5 of us? And Hiro = LOL.

The Statue of Liberty went by without incident. Perhaps the only surprise was the lack of lines to see it, after hearing stories of how some people had waited two hours or more on their trips. Our only obstacle was to maintain a high level of motivation despite a lack of sleep.

Oh, here we are.

Photography + Pilates = Pholates.


Some were tested.