When I asked Mom if there was anything she wanted to do while she was staying with us, she casually mentioned a trip to New York City “might be fun.” She should know by now that NYC with Meghan is never a “casual” ordeal (remember my psycho one-day-trip with Robyn? When we strapped Axton in the stroller and hiked around all of Manhattan while I was 30 weeks pregnant??). Well, I schemed and we decided to go for it! Luckily, we didn’t have to drag my kids around with us this time. We dropped the boys off with my sister-in-law in Philadelphia and went off on an adventure of our own.

We always park on the Jersey side at Liberty State Park. It costs $7 to park for the day, and then we took the Statue of Liberty ferry over to Ellis Island.

I only brought my 50mm lens with me, since it is the smallest and lightest. We quickly learned that it was just a tad toooo tight for selfies, so we used Mom’s camera for all future selfies (Mom had asked me if we should bring her Selfie Stick and I was much too embarrassed to allow that to happen!)

We toured Ellis Island and climbed up onto the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. We weren’t able to get tickets into Lady Liberty’s crown since they are booked a couple months out, but Adam and I have done that before in the past and it was really neat! So if you are headed to NYC in a few months, I would definitely look into it…just be warned, there are TONS of stairs. You will be buff!!

After the Statue of Liberty, we headed straight to… Broadway!! We treated ourselves to tickets to Finding Neverland. The show was – of course – incredible! I had seen the movie a long time ago and so had completely forgotten the story line. It ended up being a good thing that I couldn’t remember much about it because (SPOILER ALERT)…..the lead actress ends up dying in the end, and if I had remembered that happening in the movie, I totally would NOT have gotten tickets and if I hadn’t gotten tickets, then I would have been missing out. I actually felt that the way they portrayed her death was the most beautiful moment of the entire show. I was definitely crying, but for some reason, it wasn’t a totally sad cry…if that makes sense.

After the show, I had to get my usual burger at Shake Shack – the Smoke Shack (covered in cherry peppers!!! So yummy!) My mom has visited NYC before, but it’s been a long time of living in Small Town, Idaho since then. She was so cute, taking video of how many people were crowded in the subway or all the billboards in Time Square so she could show her husband when she got home. I was quite proud of myself, navigating the subway like no big deal. I actually really love using the subway system – except, I kept calling it the metro (which is what it’s called in DC) and everyone would wrinkle their eyes at me until I figured out that no one there calls it the metro.

We ended our trip with a stroll along the boardwalk in Battery Park. We talked as the sun went down over the water; we talked about loving everyone, my business decisions, and just life in general. It felt so good to have her friendship so close to me again, especially without any kids screaming or countless other distractions we usually have going on.

We asked a woman to take our picture. She said yes, and did a fine job, but then two seemingly-grumpy old men said, “Ah naw, you gotta do that again. Here comes a boat. You gotta have the boat in the background.” One of them took the camera from us and proceeded to take about 7 more shots in 3 different locations just to catch that boat trailing behind us – all while dangling a cigar out of his mouth. He was a local NYC guy, and he was the perfect end to our day. He made us laugh, with his thick accent and jolly attitude. But the icing on the cake was when he handed the camera back to my mom, and she automatically blurted out, “Gracias!” I was really confused for a moment, and as we walked away, I said, “Did you just tell him Gracias? I mean, you know he’s not Mexican, right? Like, that accent is clearly a New Yorker accent?” Neither of us could barely talk we were laughing so hard. Tears rolled down our faces as we hopped on our Water Taxi back to the Jersey side.

I ended up getting really sick on the car ride home, and had to pull over so Mom could drive us back. I felt like I was back in high school then, on our way back from a road trip, just her and I. I was curled up on the seat next to her, halfway sleeping, halfway listening to her singing along to the radio. I thought to myself, “She’s the only reason I’d ever want a daughter.”