To NYC with Dad- Empire State Building & Times Square (08.26.22)

We began our adventure with a very stressful (traffic-filled) drive to the Back Bay Amtrak station in downtown Boston. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10:26 am, and the kids and I leapt out the car and ran into the station at 10:18. It was very easy to find our departing platform, though, and we were all in position by 10:22. 

When the train arrived, we all hopped on and grabbed four seats on the left side of the train. We’d been told that the left side was the side with all the water views and boy howdy, whoever told us that was right. 

We spend a very pleasant trip into New York hanging out in the dining car getting snacks, playing card games, and watching movies

We arrived at Penn Station and then made our way over to our hotel a few blocks away (the Innside by Melia). The kids were all wearing their backpacks with all their belongings in them, but they were troopers as we walked the busy streets of Midtown.

One fun feature about the hotel was that they had “complimentary” sodas and water bottles in the room. In reality, there was a resort fee that the hotel charged on top of the booking fee. So I decided to ask for more sodas (get our money’s worth I guess?) and they delivered 18 bottles in a laundry bag to our room. Suffice it to say that as of the time of writing this post (September 11), we are still working through the last of the bottles.

The plan was to meet up with our friends Sarah and Ezra for dinner that night. But since it was only 3:00 PM, we decided to go check out the Empire State Building. We could actually see it from 7th Ave by our hotel! 

On our way over, we stopped and had pizza. Foldable New York style pizza. The kids are officially converted to the gospel of New York style pizza.

After we ate, we finished making our way over to the Empire state building

As we approached our destination, Logan suddenly said that he had to go to the bathroom worse than he’d ever had to go before in his life. As luck would have it, we had to walk along three sides of the block before we found the entrance and the bathrooms were PAST security. I may have sworn at a few workers on our way through the 17 mile-long queuing area (“Hey, do you have a bathroom?” “Yes sir, it’s up past the next security checkpoint, then around the corner and past the photo station and around another corner and against the far wall.” “FRICK.”).

We made it though, and I was reminded of an important lesson about traveling with smallish children: Whenever you see a bathroom, you stop. 

So this is why I have a picture of the Empire State Building model from beyond the security checkpoint instead of in front of the model itself. 

But it’s okay! Because there were many more photo opportunities to come. The Empire State Building has a whole bunch of exhibits as you wend your way towards the elevator and we had a great time learning about how the building was constructed, what movies it had been featured in, and how it continues to be used today (LinkedIn Headquarters is in the building, apparently). The kids liked the King Kong section and hearing about how workers used to throw red-hot rivets over 60 feet to each other. 

We then made our way to the elevator and up to the observation deck interior space where the kids got their first glimpse of just how high we were. Jonas was a little freaked out by the height at first, but he got used to it pretty fast. 

We then emerged into the open air and took in the incredible views. It really is an amazing sight. Also, I just got a new iPhone 13 and omymygoodness the camera systems on it are out of this world. 

We made a slow circuit of the observation deck and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. According to the workers, we timed our visit just right. We didn’t have to stand in any lines at all, but they said that around sunset, it gets really busy. 

We finished up taking pictures and looking around and then headed downstairs to the giftshop. 

While the kids were picking out souvenirs, Sarah texted me and said she and Ezra were outside whenever we were ready to meet up. Find My Friends is a convenient feature!

We met up outside and headed to the subway to go to Times Square. 

Our eventual goal was to go eat at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, but we had to walk through Times Square in order to get there. Times Square is an interesting place. The kids don’t have a ton of experience with crowds and street performers and naked people running around, but they did a pretty good job, all things considered. 

Ellen’s Stardust is an amazing place. It’s a diner that’s staffed by Broadway performers and all the tips raised go towards helping them land roles. They all take turns doing essentially the best karaoke you’ll ever experience. Our waitress had played Glinda in Wicked for two years and she reprised her role for a show-stopping rendition of Defying Gravity. 

Videos just don’t do it justice. 

We all had a great time singing along and eating our food and drinking our milkshakes.

After Ellen’s we headed back through Times Square, said farewell to Ezra and Sarah, and caught a subway back to our hotel. 

(pictures of Ellen’s exterior, Times Square night, and subway)

The kids immediately flopped into bed and said they’d never felt so tired in their life. 

Just you wait, kids. Just you wait.