The Secret Unveiled...

We decided to take our first venture down to New York City together.  After hitting some major construction resulting in major traffic, we parked the car in the parking garage and set off on our bikes to explore The City.

The first notable site we passed was the Juilliard School, followed by the LDS Manhattan Temple.

LDS temple

We went upstairs to purchase some clothing from the distribution center before heading on our way...we were off to Central Park!

Central Park (the next several pictures were all taken in Central Park) 

Central Park was beautiful : people were out running, biking, taking carriage rides, and children were playing on the grass.  We stopped to enjoy a live band on some lovely park benches.

Michael enjoying the music

We continued our bike tour around the park observing a restaurant protest and visiting the Belvedere Castle on our way to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

Belvedere Castle, Central Park

Me and junior at The Reservoir

A smaller lake in Central Park

The park was bigger and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.  I know what you are thinking, "With the many dozens of movie scenes shot in The Great Central Park, how could you not know how beautiful it is?"  Well, call me naive I supposed.  Regardless, I loved Central Park and can't wait to go back.

We grabbed a late lunch from a Deli and continued biking the streets of NY.  We tried to squeeze in some more of the classics, visiting the Rockerfeller Center and Time Square.

Time Square

(Some cool building) 

Hehe.  They need lots of these signs around BYU.

Me and the babe at Time Square

Time Square 

The Empire State Building from Time Square

Ok, so here is a little secret.  I have been wanting to know the sex of baby Escalante, and therefore had devised a plan to open "The Envelope" (concealing a sonogram picture of the baby announcing it's sex) from the top of the Empire State Building.  I thought that would be a cool place to find out what we are having.  However, Michael was still unsure if he wanted to know or if he wanted to try and keep it a surprise until the birthday.  So, take a look at some of our pictures below from atop the Empire State Building.

(Note the Statue of Liberty in the background)

Well, turns out we forgot the envelope in the car so we just enjoyed the view!  Talk about anti-climactic, I know.  But we still had a great time photographing the city from above.

We spent the rest of the evening doing a little shopping and continued sight seeing.  We rode past Union Square which was bustling with street dancers, musicians, chess players, etc.  Here is a clip that I captured of a duo rockin' out, fantastic percussion:

I wish I had taken video of the break dancers, but I was too enthralled to pull out the camera.

We stopped by a nice Italian place for dinner (Thanks to Lisa for the recommendation).  The evening had grown late (11:30-ish) and we were exhausted from a long day of exploration.  With the drive home lurking before us, we made our way back to the car some 20+blocks away.  But the adventure was not over.  The valet went to retrieve our car, and after waiting for what felt like too long, he returned informing us that the car would not start.  Another employee went to get the lot's jumper cables, and after what seemed like entirely too long, returned to inform us that the cables could not be found.  It was now well after midnight with a nearly 2 hour drive ahead of us.  Fortunately, some other customers waiting for their car tuned into the predicament and offered the use of their jumper cables.

Before long, we had the bikes loaded on top of the car and we were on our way home.  

So what of the envelope you ask?

Despite my disappointment, Michael seemed slightly relieved.  However, with a long drive ahead of us, I couldn't help but think about the envelope laying on the back seat.  I guess you'll have to stay tuned to see if we ever peeked.

To Be Continued...