New York - Day 7/8

Hayley is the Enrichment Leader in her ward, and had scheduled an Enrichment activity in Brooklyn that Saturday morning. We woke up and made our way over to Brooklyn (and I had Newsies songs running through my head the entire time). We helped weed this greenway along the river for a couple hours...

and then we headed over to Coney Island!

We ate lunch (I got a corn dog that was absolutely delicious) and then we walked up and down the boardwalk.

Don't worry, those people were pulling snakes out of that garbage bag and then wore them around their neck. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I don' think I would be able to do that...

We were trying to find the freak show, but apparently it wasn't set up. Sad.

Oh well. I walked down the beach and can officially say I've been to the Atlantic Ocean!

Picked up some seashells for my mom and then Hayley and I got funnel cake

and then went back to her apartment to get ready for the night: LION KING!

Oh yeah, on the way home, we stopped at a really yummy cookie place, and then a really yummy cupcake place. Ginormous cookie, and the most outrageous cupcake I've ever eaten. We then took a cab home (check) and then got ready.

We took the subway down to Times Square, found somewhere to eat, and then headed over to the theater.

Well, somehow Hayley got sent the wrong tickets for the show, so our tickets were for the matinee when we thought they were for the evening performance. Oops. So, we waited right until showtime, where we sat in the very back of the lower section, which was cool because we got to see the “animals” parade in for Circle of Life.

Can I just tell you how amazing Lion King is? Phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. I cried multiple times in the show. Pathetic? Maybe. But here's why:

First, when all the animals are parading in from the back of the theater, all the little kids turn around and look. They are all wide-eyed (kind of how I looked during Wicked) and the sight of that was emotional. I wasn't alone though. I saw tears glisten in the eyes of others.

The portrayal of the animals is amazing as well. The costuming and everything really makes you forget that there are people there most of the time. I was extremely surprised to find myself mouthing the words with the actors; it follows the movie exactly! Yes, they added songs for length, but they all followed the themes from the movie score. Awesome.

Cry number two: when Mufassa dies. Really? I knew it was coming! But seeing it on stage was totally different than watching the movie. I guess it was like when my dad was Tony in West Side Story and my grandma cried when Tony dies. You know its coming but its totally different...

Number three: you know in the movie when Simba cries, “You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not!” Well they turned that into a song for the show. So emotional.

Number four: the end when he claims his place as king. I dunno, just something about it brought on happy tears. And maybe kind of sad tears because I knew I was leaving the next day...

After the show we went home and I packed/organized.

Side note: if anyone wants to take me to see Lion King at the Capitol Theater in the next couple weeks, please do :)

Day 8, Sunday:

Got up for church at 9am. So cool, Hayley's ward meets in the Manhattan temple. There is a full church building on one of the floors. Awesome! I brought my luggage with me, and left after the meetings to head to the airport. Found my way (it was sorta scary!) and then waited for-e-ver to check my bag and get through security. The world cup was on while I was waiting, but some of the TV's at different restaurants were delayed, so I would hear people's reactions at different times. Funny. Got on the plane (full flight, unfortunately) and settled in. Watched more HGTV but switched back and forth between that and Food Network. There was a really cute flight attendant that totally started flirting with me. Too bad I'm not confident enough to slip him my number at the end of the flight. Oh well. Jen, you would have LOVED him. He was like 5'10” half black and seriously attractive.

Carly picked me up and after telling her all about the trip, I had started losing my voice. Which took about 4 days to come fully back.

All in all, successful vacation. People ask me who I went with, and are really surprised when I tell them I was by myself a lot of the trip. “Girls don't usually like to do that”; true, but it was an incredible experience that I'm so glad I took the opportunity to do. There was no one to argue with about what to do next, I could come and go as I pleased (well, once I figured out the subways), and could be as busy or lazy as I wanted without having to worry about anyone else. True, it is more fun traveling with someone (probably most fun with a spouse, but I don't have one yet) so I'll take my single vacations and have fun with them while I can.

Shout-out to Hayley: you are so wonderful for letting me stay with you and taking time off to show me around! It was so good to see you again and spend time with you! Love you girl!