Once those tickets were purchased, we began to plan the trip and I quickly realized there were a few other stops we could make at places we were interested in visiting. Thus, it turned into a trip to both New York City and Boston!
Saturday, December 29
We left our house on early Saturday morning and drove to NYC. We found a parking garage, grabbed
some lunch, and then took an uber over to Central
Park because we'd never been there and I wanted to find the Balto statue. It was a beautiful day
and we just wandered around the park for a few hours, which made for a great
afternoon.
From Central Park, we took an uber over to Chelsea Market to try a donut place we'd read about before going to the Mickey: The True Original exhibit. I took a bunch of photos there that I put into a separate post you can find HERE.
After the Mickey Mouse exhibit, we took an uber over to the Empire State Building because we'd also
never been there and thankfully we'd paid extra for the express pass ahead of
time because the standby line extended more than halfway around the block and
the express pass easily saved us two-plus hours of standing in line. Worth
every penny!
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| Our first kiss was 30 years ago on this day! |
After the Empire State Building, we walked back to our car and left NYC because we had no interest in paying the peak holiday prices for a hotel there! We drove to White Plains for the night and stopped for a quick dinner before checking in to our hotel.
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| Impossible Burger |
Sunday, December 30
While I was checking the opening time for the Eric Carle Museum we planned on
visiting later in the day, I happen to come across information about the Dr. Seuss Museum, which was on our way!
I hadn't the foggiest idea about it, so I was pretty excited that I learned of
it when I did!
We drove to Springfield
to go to the Dr. Seuss Museum and it
was incredible. I cried and cried! There is also a sculpture garden outside the
museum and we lucked out because the weather was lovely! You can see all of the photos from the Dr. Seuss Museum in a separate post HERE.
Our next stop was about 30 minutes away in Amherst at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. I'd been wanting to go there
for quite a while, but obviously it was a little out of the way, so the Seth MacFarlane concert provided the
perfect opportunity! Although not as extensive as the Dr. Seuss Museum, it is a beautiful place! You can see those photos in a separate post HERE.
We stayed in Springfield
that night at a Tru Hotel, which is
a brand from Hilton. It was the
first time staying at this chain and it was very modern and well done!
Monday, December 31
We drove to Boston
and stopped at the first Dunkin' Donuts
(we'd previously gone to the first Tim
Hortons in Hamilton and the
first Starbucks in Seattle) before checking in to our hotel.
This hotel was awesome – a boutique hotel called Stay Pineapple and we loved it!
We spent the afternoon walking around Boston after grabbing lunch at a cool place called The Friendly Toast. We went to the Boston Public Library, which was stunning; we love to visit libraries whenever possible and this one was so great! We also walked through Boston Public Garden to find the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture and the ducks were decked out in hats and with the mother duck wearing 2019 New Year's Eve glasses. SO cute! Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at Blackbird Doughnuts to get a snack because we knew we'd be hungry went we got back from the concert later that night.
The Boston Pops concert didn't begin until 10:15, but the doors opened at 8:30, so we took an uber over there to admire Symphony Hall and get a drink before the show. As you can see, we had great balcony seats; on the orchestra level, tables and chairs took up about half of the space, while the other half was a dance floor.
The concert was phenomenal. That's the only word for it. Seth MacFarlane is soooooooooo
amazingly talented. His voice is incredible. He performed songs mainly from the
'30s, '40s, and '50s and provided witty banter between songs. He is extremely
intelligent, and also has a bit of an edge to him, which I love, making
comments like, "It's fun to offend people in person sometimes" and
"You know you're not at home, right?" when someone yelled something
to him. His knowledge of music is extensive and it was a very entertaining
show! It was amazing to hear Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops and they
lowered a screen for the final minute countdown to midnight, at which time they
dropped balloons everywhere. Such a great experience and at the end of the
show, the audience would not stop clapping, so even though much of the
orchestra left the stage, Keith Lockhart and Seth MacFarlane came back on stage
for an unexpected encore. Seth MacFarlane sang "Luck Be a Lady" while
Keith Lockhart sat with the brass section. Fabulous! He sang in several of his
characters' voices (Peter, Stewie, Quagmire, Stan, and Roger), which the
audience could not get enough of!
An unforgettable way to ring in 2019 and celebrate 24 years
of marriage!
Tuesday, January 1
Overall, an uneventful day with just a long drive home from Boston! A quick, super fun trip! We got
home around 5 pm, unpacked, did some laundry, and packed for Los Angeles. We left less than 12 hours
later for the airport!
Happy Tails to you!
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