Indian in Underwear

On my List of Things to Do This Summer was a visit to NYC, with the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty at the top of our To See list.  Unfortunately, June just flew by, and then I blinked and July was over!  As we were driving home from Cape May last Saturday, I asked Dave if he had any open days in the two weeks before school started, but he didn’t, in fact he was traveling 8 out of 10 of those days.

Although I was a little nervous about it, I decided I would take the kids on my own, and with the help of my friend Sue, who knows the city well, I got the name of a train station in Summit, NJ, and then the names/numbers of the subways/ferries we would need to take, including information on how much I should tip taxi drivers, and the best New Yahk swear words to use for every occasion.

We left our house bright and early on Thursday and headed to Summit, where we caught the train.  All three kids were very excited about riding on the train, which was clean and nearly empty.  We watched the smaller, leafier towns of Maplewood and South Orange eventually change into the larger, dirtier cities of Newark and Seacaucus.  And then we went into a tunnel and when the train stopped, we were in Penn Station!

This was the boys’ first trip to the big city, and it was really fun to see them craning their necks and saying “Wow!” at all of the tall buildings.  Ben was very nervous about walking alone, so I had to hold both boys’ hands, which made maneuvering crowded sidewalks very tricky.  After a little bit, I handed Jack off to Maddie and she held his hand the rest of the day.

Penn Station is very close to the Empire State Building, so that’s where we headed first.   It was crowded with a Capital K! First we waited in a 15 minute line to go through security.  Then, luckily, we bypassed the very long ticket line because I had bought tickets online the night before.  The next line was for the elevators, and after about a 30 minute wait,we made it to the front of the line. And then we waited. And waited and waited and waited some more. People kept coming down and getting off the elevators, but the guides weren’t letting anyone new up, because apparently it had gotten too crowded up there. Just a feet from the elevators, and we stayed in one place and waited another half an hour!

Finally we were allowed up, and it was awesome (and fairly cleared out because of our wait)!

When we finally left the building (after a stop at the bathroom where Jack declared he had peed “at the top of the world!”and the gift shop), it was nearly 2:30, which was later than I had thought it would be. My original plans were to get something quick to eat at a deli, and then hightail it to the Statue of Liberty on the subway, ride the ferry to Liberty Island, ride back, and then take a train to Hoboken where we would go to Carlos’ Bakery (of Cake Boss fame).  But I was beginning to see that I was a little too ambitious with my planning.  Something needed to go.  After a chat with the kids, we decided to skip the Statue of Liberty, since it’s currently closed to visitors  anyway.  Instead we walked to Times Square and had a late lunch at Ellen’s Stardust Diner.

The waitstaff is what makes Ellen’s something special.  They’re all Broadway Star Wannabes (one of them at one point made the joke:  “Your waiters today all came to New York with the same dream in mind…to serve you people burgers and fries”) and there is always at least one waiter singing a song, often on top of the booths.  Our waitress’s name was Amy, and when it was her turn to sing, she came over and serenaded Ben (who wanted to just disappear down into his seat, but whatevs).

The food was very forgettable and expensive, but we all had a great time (except for Jack who said it was too loud, but whatevs).

After lunch, we walked around Times Square and visited M&M World and the most gigantic Toys R Us ever, which even had a ferris wheel inside.  Even though all we bought was some candy at the Candy Land section inside, we spent close to an hour in there, looking at every toy in the world, the amazing Lego creations, and the giant, animatronic dinosaur.

After Toys R Us we headed outside and we were so excited to find a Native American banging a drum in his underwear!  The kids could not believe this.  They were surprised by a lot of things that day:  homeless people, unusual hairdos and outfits, gum stuck to the sidewalks everywhere, skyscrapers, people carelessly tossing cigarettes on the ground, and noise noise noise, but this? This was the Cherry on the Sundae, people.

                           You can’t see it, but all he’s wearing is a pair of Tightie Whities.

And by then, believe it or not, it was about 5:00!  I didn’t want to be walking anywhere after dark, so we nixed Carlos’ Bakery too, boooo.

We walked back to Penn Station and bought Maddie some gelato along the way (the boys had bought candy back at Toys R Us), stopped in a little grocery store and bought drinks for the train ride home, and then purchased our train tickets.

The train was really full this time, but we managed to get 4 seats that faced each other so that worked out just fine.  The entire train was so quiet. People were exhausted from either a day at work or a day walking the streets of the city, and so were we, but we just had the nicest trip back to Summit.  All three kids were joking around, being silly, and that’s what I remember best and most dearly about our day.  Eventually we settled down too.

We had such a great day*.  I’m going to take them again next summer (hopefully with Dave, but at least I know I can do it myself!) and we’ll visit the Statue of Liberty first thing and then squeeze in what we can in lower Manhattan. 

But I’m not sure any future visit can top a Native American in his undies.

*except for Ben who is in no hurry to go back.  I think he was scared to death all day.  He held my hand and walked mostly with his head down.  At bedtime he told me he was in no hurry to go back because of all of the crime (cigarette/gum littering and occasional swearing) and the noise and traffic.