We made a second trip to the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya. Ben got this colorful umbrella because once again it was pouring rain. Not the best weather for wandering leisurely on your last morning. I bought the Japanese version of this coloring book. I ordered it over a month ago and demand has been so high they hadn't shipped it yet. Of course when Ben logged in to cancel the order it was en route to Arvada. Durr! Well, now I have two. I also bought some colored pencils so I could dig in on the plane.
Leaving Bryant Park, we walked to Times Square to get some gifts for the boys.
We had out eye on City Kitchen for lunch. We saw it from the theater yesterday (you can see it out this window in the picture) but their gas burners were dead so we couldn't eat there. It's an upscale food court with great views of the street below. Ben had Ramen and I had a burger with crunchy fries and a blue cheese dipping sauce. We really enjoyed our meals and were surprised how un-busy it was.
Meanwhile, I got a message that our flight was already delayed two hours. Hmmm. We could easily fit in a trip to the Library or the Natural History Museum or another yarn shop. But we were kind of mentally checked out and the weather was poor for wandering. I got Mom's veteran traveler advice to get to the airport sooner than later in case things change.
But I had one more thing to do at City Kitchen:
Ho ho ha! Meet my new obsession - Taiwanese shaved ice. I had seen bloggers post similar treats from Hawaii and California. It's snow-like shaved ice topped with syrups or sweetened condensed milk, candies, and fruits. The pictures don't do it justice. This stuff is divine! We ran into the owner and chatted a little. He said this Taiwanese style is actually a little different in that the flavor is in the ice itself. They don't just shave water into ice. They make milky or fruity bases that get turned into the snow. Ours was their basic "Sea Salt Leche" flavor. The dish looks large enough to share, but we bought a second one after squabbling over the last bites. We hope this is the new Pinkberry - 7 years ago on our last trip we were obsessed with eating it in NYC and waiting for it to come to Denver. Now there's froyo on every corner. Please bring shaved snow to Denver!!
Before heading to the airport we went downstairs to the I (heart) NYC store. It was a large and clean shop that had everything you could want for at a souvenir shop, including lovable yet surly Russian cashiers (I recommend it for your students, Amanda).
A pleasant driver took us to La Guardia and that was the end of our trip. So sad. We both had so much fun and everything went so perfectly (except the weather). No one even got sick! It was a miracle!
The airport had to ruin it all, like usual. Ultimately our flight was 6 hours delayed. We totally could have played in New York longer! Blergh! We weren't even in the fun side of the airport that had Broadway performers stranded too. The worst part of all was at 6:45 (3.5 hours after our original flight) ANOTHER flight took off for Denver at the next gate. The WHAT? They didn't say anything to us about getting on that plane, or why we couldn't, or apologies for the ridiculous unfairness that we would wait another three hours to go to the same place when our flight was scheduled earlier than theirs. Our pilot even apologized on the plane and said he didn't think the ground crew were being entirely honest or fair to us. Ouch, that's pretty bad if the pilot says that publicly. He gave us all free TV and like a pacified toddler I watched cable reruns and used my coloring book the whole way home.
Airports suck. No news there. I hate that their putrid stink is how we had to end an otherwise lovely lovely vacation. I loved every moment of it, I was so happy to be there spending so much time with my husband, and I'm so grateful to the Masons for keeping our kids safe and happy at home.
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