Day 1, Continued

Our driver dropped us off right in front of the hotel.  I’d agonized over what to pack and had done my best to pack lighter.  We had one 28” and one 24” suitcase plus a carry on to lug up to the room.  It was late enough in the day that our room was ready.  We were all the way up on the 25th floor, the girl at the counter telling us she found a room with a view.  At 25 floors up, I’d think any room would have a view.

Looking toward Times Square

Hell's Kitchen

The room was good sized with a king bed and a kitchenette. The pillows on the bed were un-squishable, which left both Grant and I waking up with aching necks. The kitchenette had a coffee maker and only one packet of coffee, so I spent time each day trying to track down a housekeeper to grab more coffee packets.

The front entrance of the Staybridge

We didn’t unpack, instead living out of the suitcase, which proved more annoying than usual.  The weather was cool and I needed to layer my clothes, so digging through the suitcase without making a mess, and having cross-packed some of my things into Grant’s suitcase, caused both delays in dressing and me panicking that I’d forgotten to pack a particular shirt or pair of pants.  I found, too, that the handle on my suitcase had broken loose.  At least one of the wheels hadn’t fallen off. That would have been disastrous.

Once we got settled, we grabbed our cameras and my fully charged phone, with map and restaurant apps installed, and went looking for something to eat. We walked just around the corner to Heartland Brewery, which sits next to a bus depot and a taxi stand, for some really good food.  Grant had mac and cheese  with a side of veggies and I had lemon-garlic chicken.  Both were excellent and proved we were in for some very good food during our stay in New York City.

After dinner we walked north toward Times Square, which is not far at all from the hotel.  I was astounded!  I was mesmerized!  I felt like such a turnip seed in this world of concrete, architecture and humanity.  We spent the next hour simply soaking in all that is Times Square before going back to the hotel and turning in early.  We had a whole lot of walking to do the next day and wanted to get an early start.

Hey, that's me

These two had liberty off the USS Iwo Jima. Nice kids.

Grant had drawn a map of the area that would come in handy should my phone lose its charge, which never happened.