NEW YORK {part 1: Manhattan}

remember that one time I went to England? I did 4 separate posts for it and everything? Well, England was fun and I could do 5 more England posts, but for the sake of time, I will skip it. and I still haven't done 4th of July, more tennis update, and other things. but I leave again in 2 days, so I figured I'd at least start this one. and it will be done in......

different parts again. 

if you can't tell from the picture, or if you are too ignorant to read titles, I went to NEW YORK. and Palmyra to see some church history stuff. and Niagara Falls. and Philadelphia. and back to New York again. I've always wanted to go to New York City. Ever since I watched the Disney movie Enchanted, I put going to New York City on my bucketlist. the movie made it look so exciting, and then, my desire to go there just grew after seeing Elf  and Zoolander and several more movies and reading books. So, in the typical Castle family vacation style, I ask Dad if we can go there, and of course, he says, "not right now but we will consider it" and of course, i know that it's bullcrap. but then after we got home from Tokyo, my dad said we would take a low-budget vacation that summer (Moab, which was pretty fun), and that we would be able to do something fun the next summer! I asked if it would be another stupid hiking vacation (I still haven't forgiven him for promising me a trip to San Francisco but deciding to go to Yosemite instead), and he said, "No, I'm actually thinking of New York City, and Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls. Let's take a trip back East!" then, the whole London thing came up, and I briefly forgot about our plans for New York, but then my dad announced in February that he already bought our plane tickets, so I knew it was legit.

we left last Sunday. everyone went to church except me. well, I take that back. I did go to sacrament meeting, but I went to a different ward. my friend Matthew was giving his missionary farewell talk, and I really wanted to go, so I did. he gave an amazing talk, and I know he will bless the people of Taichung, Taiwan! they are lucky to have him, and he is a great person. I mean, he's my best friend's cousin and my British tennis coach's doubles partner! after his wonderful talk, I drove home, changed, grabbed a plate of Star Wars cookies that my mom made, and went to his celebration brunch. I saw my best friends and several tennis players, including my old tennis coach! he really loved my cookies and said, "i'm going to hoard these all for myself and hide them away from the rest of these people at this party because these are too great."

OK I hope you all remember that I do have ADD, and I tend to forget what I'm even talking about, so I obviously got distracted. back to New York. after I came back from the celebration brunch, we packed up and drove to the SLC Airport. Dang, it's been a long 3 months since I've been there! It's also my first time flying nonstop since....I was 3. so, I've decided that even though international flights are probably the longest, most painful things in the world, they have much better service than domestic flights because they provide movies, more food, and much better service. so, our flight to the JFK Airport in New York was about 4 1/2 hours, and if I flew it twice, it is about the equivalent to flying to England from Seattle once. but there were no movies and it was definitely not as exciting. but as soon as I saw the lights of the city below, I got so excited. we landed at about 11:30, took a shuttle to the Hampton Inn in Queens, and enjoyed a great night and ate a great breakfast. but even on the train from the airport, I loved watching all the interesting people. it was so exciting for me.

we took a shuttle back to the airport, rented a car, and drove into Manhattan! it was spectacular in real life. we started out our day by visiting the Empire State Building! we got tickets to go to the top of the observatory, and I was able to see how....huge the city was.

 I took the picture. yay booty. 

 we really do love New York. we just weren't ready for the picture.

we grabbed some bagels for lunch, and I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. my bagel was plain, with no cream cheese. in London, we would often stop at convenience stores to grab some British sandwiches, and I would always get a bagel with smoked salmon. it became a favorite of mine, and I expected New York bagels to be like that. but....I guess I'm not in London. I'm in New York. but oh well. Next, we took a walk on one of the coolest bridges ever, Brooklyn Bridge!

 some other cool bridge in the background 

 I do not actually have 2 piercings in my ear. I only have one. this pair of earrings just makes it look like it, because there's 2 pearls. 

next, we went to the 9-11 museum! it opened in May, so 2 months later, we are able to see it! I loved it. we were able to learn a lot more about 9-11 and the effects it had on the city. on 9-11, I was 3 years old and living in Irvine, California. I vaguely remember it. we were going to go to Disneyland that day, but I saw my mom on the phone with someone, and she started to cry. I was a silly little 3 year old, and didn't know that adults cried, so it kind of scared me. then, she hung up and turned on the TV, and I remember seeing it on the news and I asked, "what happened in New York? Why are we crying? is that President Bush?" and Mom said, "we can't go to Disneyland today." and then I started crying, of course. that's my 9-11 experience.
but here, at this museum, it was a lot different. it was kind of really depressing, actually. I had no idea how big the Twin Towers were. but it was pretty devastating. but I love how they made a museum to show respect to the city and pay tribute to those who lost loved ones. (and Justin got yelled at by a security guard at least twice. silly J.)

 a quilt made to honor those who died in 9-11

 wes loves his water. 

 I don't remember which tower stood here. but it was either the North or the South. gosh I feel so bad. whoever died in this tower, I respect them.

In typical Justin fashion, he started complaining after this picture and wanted to leave. so, we drove our rental car to New Jersey to stay with the Boyces, our friends from San Diego. we hadn't seen them in over.....13 years at least. I barely remember them from San Diego, but they babysat me a lot, and Chris Boyce worked with my dad, and they are still really nice and I probably grew a bit since I saw them! (even though they expected me to be much taller.) they made us pizza and other really good food. so nice of them! the next day, we woke up early to go on a church history trip!

stay tuned for part 2, coming in at least a week. I will be at Girls Camp for a week. so relaxing. I am home for one day and gone the next, pretty much.