Our last day was pretty jammed packed but pretty laid back as well.
We started out with the tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I've been to both before, Liberty twice and Ellis Island once, but never with my dad which is always more fun. Dad definitely appreciates those types of things, especially Ellis Island.
I'm glad I had been up to the crown of Liberty before (pre-9/11) because the line to just get into the pedestal was insanely long.
We rounded the statue and took millions of pictures of ourselves, as well as others. We met this couple from Spain who were on their honeymoon. I mentioned to Mom how funny it was that we go over there for our honeymoons and they come over here. I guess it's just one of those funny things in life.
(Ellis Island)
After Ellis Island, we all met back at Battery Park to get ready for our afternoon of concerts. We sang three times in the park between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. It was actually pretty fun because the line for the Statue of Liberty ferry had grown very long so if people wanted to wait to see Liberty, they had to get past us first.
The first concert, I would say, was subpar. I just don't think we were pumped up yet. It took a while to get us going I guess. The second and third were much, much better and by the end, we had people singing and clapping and dancing along. We did a bunch of patriotic music with a couple of fun praise songs added onto the end of the set.
After we had sweated off a few pounds, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our night out to see Wicked!
My Dad and I took a nap while Mom milled around in the room but we woke up just in time to get all dolled up and meet our new addition to the family, Kumar (our MissionNYC tour guide). Kumar became part of the family on Sunday night when he joined us for dinner and and think he ate dinner with us for the rest of the week, including lunch on Tuesday.
Kumar is such a precious soul that I will never forget. He truly became my buddy on the trip and I think I was the only one that could actually keep up with him. Ha! Mom, Dad and I saw much more of NYC because of him than we would have ever dreamed. He such a sweet person and I can't wait to go back to NYC so he can show us more nor can I wait for him to visit Jackson or Birmingham so we can show him how boring it is down here.
We headed downtown to Times Square and Broadway and decided to eat at Bubba Gump's for our "last supper" as a family of four. And it was gooooood. Kumar asked us while we were there what we would take him to if he came to visit. The only thing we could think of was the BassPro Shop. Ha. Of course, there would be more to see in Birmingham but still not that much more.
After dinner, Kumar walked with us to the theater and we said our goodbyes. I'm not going to lie and tell you it was easy. It took all I had to not ugly cry right there in front of Broadway. But we all promised to keep in touch, the Waldens promised to continue to pray for Kumar's first self-led mission trip to Scotland in November, and I told him that if he was ever having withdrawls from hearing a Southern accent that I was always a phone call away and we could talk all about "swayt tay" and "bein' hongry".
Wicked was incredible. I didn't think that anything could top Titanic: A Broadway Musical after I saw it when I was 14. Then I didn't think anything could top The Lion King, even after I saw it the second time. Well, Lion King. Consider yourself topped. This was the most amazing show I've ever seen. Including Phantom of the Opera. Yes, Anna. You just read that correctly.
The leads could not have been more perfect and the girl who played Elphaba was amazing in her Broadway debut. I didn't think anyone would be as good as Idina Menzel, but this girl was as close as you can get without being better than the original. So good.
That is what we saw as we left the theatre. Ha. Good stuff.
We headed back to the hotel, but not before buying a couple of I Heart NY t-shirts and taking pictures with Elmo.
Who knew what the day ahead would bring!
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