My mama has always wanted to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. When my graduation trip got canceled, due to COVID, we ended up with flight credit. I decided to use that as an excuse to treat my mama to a “bucket list” trip. My mama always does everything for her kids and there is only so much I am capable of doing to repay her. Here is our 4-day trip.

1. Flew into JFK. We took a taxi to Times Square.
2. Check into Hotel. We stayed at the W in Times Square.
3. Eat some food. We started with dinner at Olive Garden, which is located across the street. We were hungry after a long flight. Typically, I only eat at local places while traveling. We then decided to walk around Times Square a little bit. One stop was made at Krispy Kreme. We tried the unique “Big Apple Donut”.
4. Walk Times Square. We decided to walk around Times Square after dinner. A trip is not complete without visiting the Hershey store and the M&M store. It is a must in New York, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, and Hershey, Pennsylvania. After Krispy Kreme, we went back to the hotel for the night.

Thursday

1. Statue of Liberty. You cannot come to New York without seeing the Statue of Liberty. If you come often, then I can understand skipping this icon. We took a tour in the late morning. One piece of advice…it is much colder on Liberty Island than you think it will be. My mama and I both had sweaters on but we were wishing for our winter coats. The ferry then stopped at Ellis Island.
2. (Ground Zero). We had to skip Ground Zero during this trip. I wanted to make a pit stop between the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Unfortunately, we ended up staying on Liberty Island longer than I thought and we had a set time for the Empire State Building.
3. Empire State Building. We then took an Uber to the Empire State Building. Well technically, we took the Uber to a McDonald’s that was less than a half mile away from the Empire State Building. We needed something after we froze our butts off.
4. Friends Museum. My mama and I are big suckers for the Friends tv show. I heard about this place and I knew that we needed to go. It was only a short walk from the ESB. You get to explore the apartments, see the classic props, and even buy a coffee in Central Perk.
5. Broadway. Lastly for the night, we took a short walk to one of the many auditoriums that feature Broadway plays. We saw The Book of Mormon. It was definitely interesting to see, since I am now living in Utah.

Friday

1. The Rockettes. Just like the Statue of Liberty, the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall is a must! The Christmas Spectacular was just that! Spectacular! Even my husband would have enjoyed the show.
2. Top of the Rock. The Rockefeller Center has an observation deck and the view is gorgeous.
3. Explore Rockefeller Center. The shops and the food. We ate lunch at Potbelly for lunch and then stopped across the hall for some ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s.
4. Short detour across to New Jersey. Aka, Carlos Bakery. It was early afternoon, a few hours before the Christmas tree lighting. We decided to get our fan-girling on. Cake Boss was fun to watch growing up so when we came this far, we knew we had to go. Now don’t get me wrong, we had been to the shop is Las Vegas and the cake is the same. We didn’t think we would see an actual Valastro, to be clear. There is just something about going to their hometown store.
5. Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. After a needed break, we walked back to the Center for the tree lighting. It is what my mama came to see. It is why we made this trip in December.
6. Times Square. It hits differently at night. Be careful though. Nighttime is when the craziness and the potheads come out.

Saturday

1. Early lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. All I remember from my New York trip at the young age of 11 is the Hard Rock Café. My extended family was visiting and so we took the train up from Maryland. I knew I had to visit this classic Times Square place.
2. Afternoon flight. We packed up, checked out of our hotel, and took an Uber ride to JFK. Grabbed some East Coast Dunkin before boarding our flight home.

I knew this trip was short and I wanted to get the most out of it. With only having 2.5 days and 3 nights, there was some stuff taken off the list. I’m thinking New Year’s for my next trip to NYC. I would love to see the ball drop at midnight.