So I can tick this off the bucket list.

One of my BFFs and I discovered that we had the same vacation time, so on a whim we decided to take off to NYC for a weekend. I had never been to the Big Apple; I drove past it, I traveled around New York State, but never went to the city proper. We wouldn't be staying long, so it was a cheap, power tourist holiday. We left Laval at 4:30am with a car full of candy and energy.

( Getting there, the hotel, the initial overload. )

Now, the morning before we left, my hair-dryer exploded. It started to smoke, and when I looked at it to see WTF, it sparked and died -- leaving me about to go on a road trip in the middle of a humid heat wave with wet hair. #firstworldproblems

So naturally I assumed this foretold disaster, and ( I was right. )

It wasn't really funny at the time, but twenty minutes later it was hilarious.

So we paid through the nose for dinner, went back to our room and collapsed for like 8 straight hours. We were up at 7 to head to the Uptown Loop tour bus. After that, we had breakfast and secured our bags and car past check-out so we could stay longer.

We walked around, checking out local shops and sights. We went to Sephora and Saks, mostly just to say we went inside the NYC shops -- though I did end up getting something on sale at Saks. Then we went walking through Central Park, had a snack at the zoo, and moseyed back to get the car.

I really wish I'd had my new feet (insoles) at the time. (Of course, they were ready the day after my return.) By the time we got back to the car, I was in agony. XD; Chris also has chronic back pain, so we made quite a pair.

More familiar with how things worked, we took the Palisades Parkway, the 6, and -- after getting turned around and lost and exploring many small towns -- the 90 back to I-87. We stopped numerous times on our way back, either to confirm we were going the right way, or just because the scenery was gorgeous:



The locals in Peekskill were especially friendly. We were getting conflicting directions, and while Chris was gassing up I said I was going inside to ask for clarification. I was overheard, and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by helpfuls: a young lad, a middle-aged woman who instantly got her trucker husband on the phone, and an SUV full of ridiculously good-looking boyfriends on their own road trip.

After a few hours, we wanted confirmation that we were still on the right track running parallel to I-87 (avoiding tolls) so we pulled off and stopped at this wonderfully perfect thing:



AMAZING!! Anyway, two guys (from MD and PA) were able to use their smartphones to show us that we were going the right way. So we stopped for nothing, basically, but the diner was worth it.

... So, that's pretty much it. Not terribly descriptive, but I imagine most of you have been to NYC at some point.

Here there be pictures!
For some reason, they went out of order during the upload. ~__~