New York City Days 1 and 2

Once we checked out of our hotel in Hershey, we made the short 3 hour drive to NYC. We were not in a rush so we stopped in a little town in New Jersey called Sommerville and ate at a Filipino restaurant. It was a cute little town and the food was so good. We were all so excited when we finally arrived in the city. Robert was driving and it was madness. There is a ton of traffic and you can't go slow. We were following the gps to the hotel and we got stuck in the EZ Pass lane, which means Robert didn't pay the toll to go into the Lincoln Tunnel. We are still waiting on the ticket for that. Even though the drive from Hershey to NYC was short, it took us forever to get to the hotel. Traffic was a nightmare. The only good thing about sitting in traffic was looking at all the different places we wanted to go once we got settled in.

By the time we got settled into our rooms and rested, it was time for dinner. We decided to explore Times Square first because we wanted to show Bryson the huge Toys R Us that they had. Of course he loved looking at all the lights there but was amazed by Toys R Us. We spent so much time there which was fine because he was happy. It's so funny to look at pictures from his first time in Times Square compared to this time. He had the same reaction both times.

After Times Square, we headed back to the hotel. Bryson loved riding on the subway. On the way we stopped for our first slice of New York pizza for this trip. There's this small little pizza place right by our hotel called Empire Pizza. It's nice to just walk in and grab a quick slice and head back to the hotel. It was our go to place to eat on this trip.

The next day ((Wednesday) it rained and snowed the whole day. There wasn't much we could do in this weather so we spent the morning shopping. It was a yucky mess. We were not prepared for that weather at all so we had to stop and buy Bryson some rain boots and us a new umbrella. Once we had that, we were good to go. We mainly stayed around our hotel that morning. We stay by Herald Square so there is a ton of shopping to keep us occupied while we waited for the rain and snow to pass. Later that afternoon Lulu and Andrew came to visit. They are Robert's cousins that live in the city so they became our tour guides for the afternoon. They took us to a Korean restaurant on our street for a late lunch then we went to Rockefeller Center. Of course Bryson loved the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center. He loved the replica of Rockefeller Center made out of Legos. After the Lego store we went to a yummy chocolate store in 30 Rock to get some hot chocolate. It was probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had. It was so rich though that I couldn't finish the whole cup.

 After Rockefeller, we headed back to the hotel. It was a long day so we let Bryson stay at the hotel for the rest of the evening with Lola, Lisa and Eli. Me, Robert and Erin went out for dinner. We didn't know what we wanted so we just hopped a Subway and walked around Times Square. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe but changed our minds after we sat down. We witnessed the funniest fight ever when we were leaving so I'm glad we left when we did. We were all so hungry but had no idea what we wanted. We found the Cake Boss Cafe and decided to go in. I have always wanted to go to Carlo's Bakery in New Jersey on our trips and we have never made it there so I was so happy that they had built this in Times Square. It was crazy packed but they had a good system to get everybody served fast. Everything looked so good but we decided to get lobster tails, and cannolis for dinner. It was worth the wait! After that we headed back to the hotel because we had to get up early the next day for the parade. On the way back we stopped to look at the decorated windows at Macy's. Every year they have the amazing displays in their windows.

Hershey PA

About every other Thanksgiving, we take a family vacation to New York City to visit family. This year we decided to drive. We didn't drive straight through like we did the first time because I thought that would be too much time in the car for Bryson. We planned to take 3 days to get there and 2 days back. We left out on Saturday and drove about 8 hours to Virginia. Bryson did great in the car. We stopped a few times to eat and stretch our legs. We didn't spend much time in Virginia. We got there around dinner time and found a restaurant near our hotel to eat. After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening in the hotel room. We headed back out early the next morning. We made a short 5 hour drive to Hershey Pennsylvania where we planned to spend two days. We took our time on this trip and arrived late afternoon. The hotel we stayed in had a pool. Bryson loved it! We remembered to pack his swimsuit but forgot floaties. Thankfully the hotel had some.

 We ordered take out from Red Robin for dinner. Robert and his mom went to pick it up and they did a little exploring while they were out so we would know exactly where to go the next day. We headed out after breakfast to go to Hershey world. We drove around and looked at the city a little bit before we stopped. It was the cutest little town. The street lights were shaped like Hershey Kisses. It almost felt like we were in the movie Willy Wonka.

As soon as you walked into chocolate world you could smell all the yummy chocolate. We signed up make our own chocolate bar so while we waited for that, we did a little exploring. They had a gift shop and of course a ton of little shops to get food and of course sweets. Bryson was able to make his own Hershey Kisses to bring home. They had a few displays made out of chocolate that were so neat.

 

Then it was our turn to make our own chocolate bar. Each of us had our own ticket with our name on it. We went into a room where we designed our chocolate bar. We scanned our ticket and chose which type of chocolate we wanted and what toppings we wanted. You could chose white chocolate, dark chocolate or regular chocolate. I chose dark chocolate and Robert and Bryson chose white chocolate. For the toppings, I just chose butterscotch and chocolate chips. Bryson and Robert chose chocolate chips, cookie bites and rice krispies. Once we designed our candy bar, we entered the room where it was made. To start our chocolate bar, we scanned our ticket, We were able to follow the making of the chocolate bar down assembly line because our chocolate bar had our name under it. After it was made, all of them were covered in more chocolate then went through a cooling off process. While it was cooling off, we designed our own label and then were able to take them home. We wanted to wait until we got home to eat them but decided we wanted to see what fresh made chocolate tasted like. It was a million times better than store bought.

Once we made our chocolate bar, we wanted to take the tour of how chocolate was made. This was Brysons favorite part. He loved the song that was played the whole time and kept laughing at Eli trying to get all the chocolate. When we ask him his favorite part of this trip, that's what he will tell us.

 After the chocolate tour we grabbed a late lunch and did a little more sight seeing. There was more to do in Hershey but we wanted to save our money for NYC. We called it an early night and Bryson was able to enjoy a little more swimming. We took our time heading out the next morning since it's only a 3 hour drive from Hershey to NYC. It was nice to not be rushed out. Before we headed out, Bryson had to stop and play with the ducks. There was a little pond in front of the hotel with a ton of ducks you could feed. Bryson kept pretending to be a duck. It was hilarious!