Brittany Does New York City! (And Tyson does too) - Day 1

We saw Phantom of the Opera! Tyson's favorite event in NYC!
We sat front row of the first balcony!

Bobby Flay's restaurant

Me, hoping to meet Bobby Flay at his restaurant

Just over a year ago, I reconnected with my childhood best friend Gabi Birkner. In fact, most of my memories of my childhood include her in them. We met in fourth grade and remained good friends until she moved back east with her mom after 8th grade. We lost touch until she found me just after Connor was born. She came down from L.A. with her dad and had dinner with us; we swore to keep in contact but again, we lost contact and Tyson and I moved to San Diego to start medical school. She found me again just after Jack was born to let me know her exciting news of getting engaged! She invited me to her wedding that day and I told her I would come. So, that's when my trip to NYC was in the works! It was also convenient that I turned 30 this year and so the trip was justified! We took the redeye from San Diego and arrived in New York at 2am (California time). We took a shuttle to our 5 star hotel on 7th Avenue across the street from Penn Station. We checked in our luggage and headed out to the streets. It was pouring rain that day but that didn't stop us walking for miles to see all the sights of the city. We walked all the way up to the Manhattan Temple where we met Gabi for breakfast at a french cafe. We had a good time catching up and then we went to see her cute apartment by Central Park. Then, we went to the Museum of Natural History which was enormous! We saw an IMAX film about dinosaurs, which was pretty good, but we had a hard time keeping our eyes open at that point. We took the subway back to the hotel to take a nap before our night out for dinner and a show. If you know me at all, you know what a fanatic I am about Food Network. It is my favorite channel. And I love Bobby Flay. My favorite show is Throwdown with Bobby Flay. So naturally, when I knew we were going to New York, I had to eat at his restaurant Mesa Grill. Honestly, it was the best meal I have ever eaten. We bought a shrimp tamale appetizer which was so unique but fantastic, and I ordered the filet mignon with some super yummy mushroom sauce, a side of basil pesto mashed potatoes and for dessert we had some pineapple upside down cake which actually one a throwdown! After dinner, we went to see Phantom of the Opera at Majestic Theatre. This was the highlight of Tyson's trip. The music was amazing and our seats were even more amazing. If you haven't seen Phantom, you really should. It was awesome. We went home to catch some shuteye after a long, long day.