Springtime in the Big Apple

Alison and I spent a very fun weekend in NYC. Originally we were planning to visit New York with some friends, but they couldn’t make it work this time. We didn’t mind. We will use any excuse to take a trip to New York. 

We left on Friday night after work and arrived at JFK around midnight. We took a very expensive cab to midtown to our hotel. We spent our first night at the Conrad Midtown. This is our current favorite NYC hotel. It is really nice and is in a great location. 

We slept in a little bit on Saturday morning trying to recover from our late arrival. We couldn’t sleep too late though because we had plans. We woke up, grabbed breakfast at a nearby deli, and checked into the hotel for the rest of our stay. We are staying at one of the Hilton Grand Vacations properties in NYC for the next three nights. More on that later. Then we caught a D train to Yankee Stadium.

We arrived at the Yankees game right as the gates to the stadium opened. We had a reason to arrive early today. This year the Yankees launched some new food options including the 99 burger. This is a burger with two Wagyu beef patties, American cheese, dill pickles, caramelized onions, and special sauce on a brioche bun. The burger is dedicated to the Yankee Captain Aaron Judge. One of the things that is special about this burger is that initially, they would only sell 99 of these burgers each game. It was so popular that they increased it to 199 burgers per game. Naturally, I wanted to try one. Alison is morally opposed to their attempts to create artificial scarcity. I didn’t care. I got my 99 burger and I very much enjoyed it. It was delicious and worth the hype. 

Since we had time we decided to visit Monument Park. We love this area of Yankees stadium memorializing the greatest players to wear pinstripes. We found the plaques for all of our favorites and talked about some of our favorite baseball memories. 

After visiting Monument Park we found our seats. We were sitting in section 107. We were field level right down the right field line. These were great seats. We got them for quite a deal. In the off-season, after the Yankees resigned Judge they ran a promotion where you could buy two field-level seats for $99. I was all about that deal. 

It was quite the game. It was Jackie Robinson Day. All of the players wore number 42 to commemorate the day when Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut and broke the color barrier in baseball (April 15, 1947). Having every player wear number 42 made Alison’s scorekeeping a little more difficult, but it was a really special day to be at the ballpark. Today we celebrated the life and legacy of a truly remarkable human being. 

The Yankees were hosting the Twins. Domingo German pitched for the Yankees against Tyler Mahle. The story of this game would be the gem German would twirl. He stuck out a career-high 11 Twins over 6.1 innings. It wasn’t without controversy. Between innings, the umpires check pitchers for illegal substances to enhance their grip. In the third, the umpire noticed something but determined it was legal rosin. However, they warned German to go easier in the rosin. In the next inning, the rosin was still on his hands. After some discussion, the umpires allowed him to stay in the game, much to the chagrin of the Twins manager who got tossed for arguing. All of this controversy didn’t shake German as he was brilliant. 

The Yankee's offense gave him plenty of support. Alison’s least favorite Yankee, Kyle Higashioka, hit a two-run home run. Our first baseman Anthony Rizzo added another home run. The ball was right down the right field line and landed a few rows in front of us. It was pretty fun to watch the ball sail right toward us. LeMahieu would tack on a run with a well-timed single. The Yankees would score two more on a booming Giancarlo Stanton double off the left-field wall. It looked and sounded like a home run, but narrowly missed going out (it would have been a home run in 26 of the 30 ballparks). All told the Yankees scored 6 runs to win 6-1. It was a great Yankees win!

After the game, we headed downtown to visit the Jackie Robinson Museum. We thought it was a good way to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day. This is a relatively new museum, having opened last year. It celebrates the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson. It focuses on many aspects of his life - baseball player, family man, activist, soldier, citizen, and more. It was easy to see Jackie Robinson embodies the words of his famous epitaph, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." The museum also had some cool memorabilia, including Jackie’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. We were somewhat surprised more people weren’t at the museum, although we were there at the end of the day. In fact, we were the last people at the museum and they kicked us out at closing but gifted us a couple of t-shirts commemorating Jackie Robinson Day on our way out. 

We stopped for some pizza before heading to Broadway for a show. Tonight we saw Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This show is not the type of musical we typically choose, but Josh Groban was playing Sweeney Todd. That intrigued us enough to give it a try. We are so glad we did. While we were nervous we wouldn’t enjoy this show, we couldn’t have been more wrong. This show was a masterpiece. Josh Groban gorgeously sings the haunting, twisted, mad role of Sweeney Todd. He brought down the house. Annaleigh Ashford was a revelation with her hilarious and evil Mrs. Lovett. Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things) sings a particularly haunting duet of “Not While I’m Around” with Ashford. This was easily my favorite moment in the show. The ending blew Alison’s mind. This show is truly Sondheim’s masterpiece. I am so glad we stepped outside of our comfort zone to see this remarkable piece of musical theater. 

Sweeney Todd is a long show. We didn’t get back to our hotel and into bed until nearly midnight. We did have the foresight to pick up a slice of birthday cake from Milkbar and stash it in our hotel fridge to enjoy after the show.

We had a busy morning on Sunday so I could not sleep in. I was up at 6:45am to go for a run. This was my last long run before the Broad Street run in a couple of weeks so I really needed to get it in, even if it cost me a little bit of sleep. Our hotel is a block away from Central Park so I did my run in the park. During my run, I had all of the feels. The last time I ran in Central Park was during the New York City Marathon. As I ran I had a rush of marathon memories. Those last painful hilly miles, pushing myself to the limit, crossing the finish line. All of that is such a core memory for me and I got to relive a little bit of it today. I love running in NYC. It was a beautiful spring day. I ran a little over 9 miles today. It felt good. I am ready for Broadstreet. 

After my run, I headed back to the hotel. Alison and I had to attend a Hilton timeshare presentation this morning at 9 am. We are staying at West 57th. It is a great Hilton timeshare property. We loved the location and we got quite a deal staying here. It was ~$200 total for 3 nights and all we had to do was sit through an hour-long timeshare presentation. We already own a Hilton Grand Vacation timeshare, but they always want to try to upsell us. They made us an offer, but we weren’t looking to buy anything today, so we were in and out in less than an hour. This was one of the least painful head-in-the-vice presentations we have attended. 

After the presentation, we grabbed breakfast at a deli and then headed to Grand Central Station. This is a must-visit spot every time we come to New York. We love the grandness of Grand Central station. From Grand Central, we caught a subway to Yankees Stadium for another game. 

Lunch today: Mac and Cheese with Buffalo Chicken

Today the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole faced off with Twins ace Pablo Lopez. This game promised to showcase great pitching and we were not disappointed. Gerrit Cole was masterful pitching a complete game two-hit shutout and striking out 10. Pablo Lopez wasn’t as sharp as Cole but was pretty good. LeMahieu proved to be the offensive catalyst on Sunday afternoon. In the third inning Judge walked, Rizzo was clipped in the toe with an errant pitch, and then both Judge and Rizzo were attempting a double steal when LeMahieu laced a single to score Judge. Then in the 6th inning LeMahieu hit a short-porch special (which would only be a home run in Yankee Stadium) to score a second run. That would be all Cole needed to seal the 2-0 Yankee victory. 

This game was fast. It finished in around 2 hours and 15 minutes. MLB instituted a pitch clock this year and we are big fans. It kept the pace of play brisk and didn’t detract from the game at all. We noticed fewer people left in the late innings than in previous years. It seemed like the crowd as a whole was more engaged and invested in the game. 

We stuck around the stadium to listen to “New York, New York”. That song hits perfectly after a Yankee win. 

After the game we caught a subway downtown. We walked around Battery Park and enjoyed views of Lady Liberty before walking to Little Italy. It has been years since we visited Little Italy. We found a nice place, La Mela, to enjoy some delicious pasta for dinner. After dinner, we headed uptown to our hotel and called it a night. 

After a few late nights and a couple of early mornings, we finally got to sleep in on Monday. When we woke up we found breakfast at a nearby deli. Then we headed to SoHo to visit Burrow. Alison and I have already been thinking about furniture in our new home. One of the couch brands we are interested in is Burrow because it is pet friendly. The thing is there is no Burrow showroom in Utah (they are primarily an online retailer). Since they do have a showroom in New York we wanted to check it out while we were here to see if we liked the feel of their couches as much as we thought we would. We spent a good amount of time at Burrow sitting on their couches and really trying to get a feel for them. We did really like their couches and will probably buy one for our new home. Nearby there was a Crate and Barrel so we stopped there as well. Their couches are one of the other options we are considering. They do have locations in Utah but we wanted to stop by and test some couches while our experience with the Burrow couches was fresh in our minds. We were glad we did - we have a lot ideas now for our new house. 

After our shopping, we stopped by Levain Bakery to get our favorite cookies. There was a new flavor - Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip. Alison was excited to try it (I don’t care for coconut so I got my own chocolate peanut butter cookie - which is the best flavor anyway). Levain cookies are amazing. 

We continued walking through New York and ended up at Washington Square Park. It wasn't a particularly busy day at the park so we hung out for a bit. The. We headed to Chelsea Market to explore and find some lunch (we split a grilled cheese). Chelsea Market is a fun place to do some shopping and get some food. 

By the time we finished at Chelsea Market, the sun had come out. It was a beautiful spring day. We walked from Chelsea Market to the Little Island. The Little Island is a public park built on a pier in the Hudson River. It is a really unique park and we enjoyed exploring it. 

We continued over to the High Line and walked uptown to the Hudson Yards. It was such a nice day we decided to continue walking back to our hotel. We stopped along our way to pick up a slice of Milk Bar cake. After a pit stop at your hotel, we continued over to Rockefeller Center. We bought some Halal food from a street cart for dinner. Then we stopped by the Lego store, where we bought a couple of small NYC-themed Lego sets for Skylee and Anna Holly. We also swung by St. Pats, which was all decked out with beautiful flowers for spring. 

Alison loves Milkbar ice cream, myself - not as much

Then we went to Six. We were excited to see this Broadway show about the six wives of Henry VII. It is one of the more popular new shows on Broadway right now. The show was alright, it was fun and high energy. We didn't love it as much as we hoped. We went in with high expectations and it came a little short. The songs were catchy and the overall theme of deconstructing patriarchal power structures is very relevant today. It just wasn't one of our favorite shows. 

We had one more day in NYC. Tuesday was a little bit cloudy and a little bit chilly. We had a couple of final things we wanted to do before we headed home. We started out in the morning walking through Central Park. Even with the less-than-ideal weather, it was still very pleasant to be out and about in the park. It was peak cherry blossom season which meant there were beautiful trees all over the park and lots of tulips too. It felt like spring. We loved it. 

After our walk through the park, we made one final stop at Levain Bakery to share a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. We will never tire of Levain Bakery cookies. Then we headed to the MOMA. It has been a few years since we last visited the MOMA and after our experience at the Pablo Picasso Museum, we wanted to visit the MOMA again. It is a great museum. We took our time walking through each exhibit. Some of the highlights were Pablo Picasso's art and other cubist art on display, as well as, Starry Night (which is always mind-blowing) and the Jackson Pollock paintings.  

This is one of Alison's favorite works by Picasso

We had a couple of last food-related stops on the itinerary. We grabbed a late lunch at Los Tacos No. 1. This place is all the rage in NYC right now and rightfully so. They have some of the best street tacos I have ever had. So delicious. On our way back to the hotel we passed by Magnolia Bakery and tried some of their famous banana pudding. It was quite good. I have never tried it before. 

Then it was time to head home. We were flying out of Newark. So we took a subway to Penn Station where we grabbed a train to the Newark airport. It took ~90 minutes from our hotel to the airport. Which wasn't bad at all. We bid NYC farewell and headed home. 

Anna Holly was excited about her Lego taxi. She roped me into helping her build it.  I was happy to oblige.