NYC (Longest Day Ever Pt. 8)

Well, so much happened yesterday that I decided to blog about it simply so I'll remember all of it in the future. Most people don't go for just one day in New York City for the simple fact that there is so much to see, but me and my friend Gavin have taken at least 5 road trips together this year alone while i was in Texas, and while he is on my turf for a couple weeks it seemed only appropriate to do at least one. Neither of us had ever been to NYC before, so we came in with no expectations of pre-conceived ideas. We left at 5 A.M. and officially parked next to Central Park at 12. The park is amazing! I've wanted to go for so long and I was so glad that I finally got to. There was some filming going on for a movie and there was a violin player just playing her heart out on the side of the road. It was just a very entertaining, but relaxing place. First thing was first tho. We got some pizza from a hole in the wall pizza place. We figured if we were going to visit here we would eat places that we can't eat anywhere else. Then we decided to fit the stereotype of people who come to visit NYC and started heading for Times Square. I have never felt more like a country boy in my life! Everything was just so big! It's different when it's all tangibly surrounding you. We stopped at the majority of places we passed. M@M World, The Apple Store, Toys r Us, Carnegie Hall, Lego Land, BB Kings House of Blues, The Hershey Factory Ext. While we were in Times Square we saw the naked cowboy. Apparently that's a more rare thing than we thought it was. When my brother went for 4 days he still never saw him. He kinda looked like a jerk tho. Just sayin. At this point in the trip while we were in the thick of Times Square I realised that I forgot my memory card for my camera at home. So i was only able to take around 16 picture with my camera, but in all honesty it was ok. It was kind of nice just walking around not feeling obligated to shoot everything and simply enjoy the scenery and my friends company. We went to a Cold Stone ice cream place. It was my first time so seeing them make the combination in front of me on a literal stone was very impressive. Not to mention it was absolutely delicious! After that we started getting tired so we decided to take a rest and watch a movie in the Regal Theatre in Times Square. I know that no one ever goes there to watch a movie, but frankly we do what we want. :P After that we started heading for the Empire State Building, but on our way we ran into Radio City. This place has significant value to me because one of my favorite albums of all time "Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City" was recorded and performed there. Just being at the building where it all happened was one of the most memorable parts of the trip to me! I became so inspired in general when i saw it. :) When we finally got to the Empire State Building we were both very tired, although neither of us would admit it. So we took our pictures and started heading back. We each got a pretzel because Gavins' mom said that we had to get one for her. Those things are sooooo salty! They are designed to force you to get a drink or just die. Haha. So i got a peach tea Snapple and Gavin got a Mountain Dew. As we started making our way back to the general direction of the car we went a different way than we came. So we saw the Museum of Natural History, Julliard, this mall that i am having trouble remembering the name of. But it was the most high class mall i have ever been to. The majority of the stores i didn't even know the names of. And we saw Beacon Theatre where Adele was perfroming that night. As it got darker Gavin was looking for a souvenir shop, something you would figure would be easy to find. Well it is... If you look in the touristy places. We looked allll over in allll the wrong places for quite some time! So after awhile we just decided to go back to Times Square where we knew we would be guaranteed to find one. Gavin got stuff for his family while we were there, I had been doing the same for my family while we were walking around all day. We finally got back to the car and made it out of the city decently effortlessly, that has half to do with my friends outstanding navigating skills, and half to do with my considerable driving skills. Haha. It was a long drive back, but we took our time intentionally. So many people get to caught up in "the destination". Going somewhere specific to the point of the journey being nothing but stressful and considered almost a waste of time. The reason i love traveling with my friend Gavin is because our mentality is "We're here. This right here is our destination." It's such a simple consept, but when you decide that the journey IS a large portion of the destination, travel becomes a whole new experience. Started the day at around 4:30 A.M. May 19th, ended the day at 4:45. A.M. May 20th. Longest Day Ever Pt. 8. (Oh, and for those of you who actually read this whole thing, the entire time pretty much while we were there we were talking with Christopher Walken accents. Yes, we are those guys. Why this happened and when? Neither of us could tell you. :P)

Quote of the day: "Roads are made for journeys, not destinations". Anna and the King.
Scripture of the day: Psalms 119:105

It was so awesome seeing the building. :D