New York City

Over Fourth of July weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend 4 days in New York City with a few of my friends from here in North Carolina. We had a blast and packed in a bunch of site over the four days. A friend is doing a rotation in Connecticut so we stayed with her each night and traveled into the city via the train. I meant to take a picture of my luggage - a backpack. I think that may the be lightest I have ever packed for a trip. We got to attend a Mets Baseball game, walk around Central Park, see Ground Zero, ride the Staten Island Ferry, walk around Little Italy and China Town, see NYU and Columbia, Times Square, watch a fireworks show over the Hudson River on the 4th of July, see some art at the Metropolitan Museum, and visit several different national monuments/parks in the city.

I recently purchased a book that tells you about all the national parks/monuments across the United States. There happens to be 11 in Manhattan and we got to visit 6 of them - African Burial Ground National Monument (an estimated 15,000 African Americans are buried in a 6 acre area in Manhattan), Castle Clinton National Monument (originally a fort to protect the southern tip of the island), Federal Hall National Memorial (the location of George Washington's inaugural speech) , General Grant National Memorial (largest mausoleum in the United States), Hamilton Grange National Memorial, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. The sites were all very interesting. It was tons of fun and I look forward to my next NYC trip!! =)

Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace

Lacee and I standing with an estimated 3 million people waiting for the fireworks show to begin!

Enjoying our deli sandwich at Carnegie Deli

Cannoli in Little Italy - so so so good!

I decided to be a little daring and wade out into a public fountain - I know, I am so rebellious!

James, Lacee and me riding the metro - my hair is out of control.

Our view of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry - I liked the red tug boat.

Ground Zero under construction.

View of the Mets/Yankee's game. The Yankees won.

Central Park - I really enjoyed walking around the grounds. It is huge!

James, Tom, and me in Times Square. So Fun!Hopefully you can get a small idea of the fireworks show from the video. It lasted about 30 minutes and was a great way to celebrate the day. We then made our trek back to Grand Central Station with millions of other people. This was probably the largest crowd I have ever been in!