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My Great New York City Adventure by Samantha Garwood (written April 5, 1997) I said good bye to my mom and got into the car with my dad. Then we started on our way to New York City. 8:45- It started to rain. At first it wasn’t too bad, but then it started to rain really hard. I was glad I was in my dad’s van. After awhile we passed lots of lakes and rivers. Between 9:00 and 10:00 we went over Pine River. The hours passed and we went through lots of little towns and cities. Sometime around 11:30 we went through Imlay City. We stopped to have lunch at, I think, McDonalds. Through the day we called home a lot. 1:10- We got to the Canadian Customs. 1:13- We drove onto the International Bridge and out of Port Huron. 1:14- We were in Canada. After awhile I fell asleep. Later on, dad woke me up because we were at a gas station. He told me that he was going to get a map because I begged him to. |
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| I was afraid he would get lost. I mean,
I’m in a different country, I don’t want to get
lost. Then I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t.
The rest of the way was boring. But finally, we got to
Hamilton. My dad said that once we got there, we would be
really close to Niagra. 5:45- We were in Niagra! Next, we needed to find Lendy Lane. Once we found it, we needed to find our hotel. Finally we found it. So we parked our car and walked through the puddle-filled parking lot to the hotel. The name of the hotel was the Howard Johnson Coral Suites. The building was so fancy! There was a huge chandelier in the middle of the lounge! Anyway, we went to the desk to check in, but they said nobody reserved a room for Jennifer Wikheart, my favorite aunt who I was visiting in New York City. So we had to go to the regular hotel. We checked in and waited for my aunt and uncle. Finally, they came. I was so excited! I hadn’t seen Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Doug in a long time. We went to our room and ate dinner. After that, we watched the movie Michael. When that was over, we went to sleep. April 6, 1997. When we woke up, we got dressed. Then we went to a restaurant to have breakfast. We then went down town. It was like a theme park! There were so many wax museums, such as "The World’s Greatest Criminals" etc. Then we saw the Niagra Falls, the Canadian side and maybe some of the US side, or maybe that’s the other way around. But anyway, it was SO COOL!!! But I forgot my camera! Oh no! We were going to see the tower, but we didn’t get around to it, it was time to go. I said bye to my dad and headed off to New York with my Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Doug. Then, finally, about two o’clock (we’ll just say that anyway) we got to New York (the state). But after awhile it got really hot and we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I tried to entertain myself by reading the script my uncle gave me for a movie that we were going to do when we got to New York. But finally, my uncle got to a rest stop. We went inside and got some ice cream (everyone but my aunt who was asleep in the back of the car. After awhile we got to the place where we would start making the movie. My aunt, who was filming this, got the camcorder. We had to start over a lot, but we finally got through and we were on our way. Next we needed to find a gas station for the next scene. When we found it, we were kind-of happy. It was good because it was closed, nobody to bother us! We got done sooner than the first scene, so we got packed up and then left. We drove for a while, then finally, at about 7:00,(ok, I’ll get to the point)we got to N.Y.C!!! But it was getting dark out, so we couldn’t go anywhere tonight, besides, I needed to get unpacked. So my uncle dropped my aunt and me off at the door and he went to go park the car in the garage. We went to my aunt and uncle’s apartment building that had about 31 floors! Then we went to their apartment house, 15 B and I looked around. They had a very nice apartment. I especially liked their couch. But it was getting late and we had to go to bed. April 7, 1997. I woke up to the sound of beeping horns and ambulance sirens. I got up and got dressed and had breakfast. Then my aunt and I started on our way through the city. We walked about a block, even only walking that much I almost got tired. This city is so big! Anyway, we went onto subway B-Downtown. We went into the tunnel and waited for the train. My aunt walked up so close to the edge, when the train finally did come it was so fast, I thought that I would blow away! We got on, but all the seats were taken, so I had to stand and hold onto the metal bar. But the subway train started so unexpectedly, I almost fell down! Luckily, the rest of the way was fine. When we got off, we went to Blooming Dales. We rode the escalator to the eighth floor-Girl’s Clothes. When we got there, I tried some clothes on. I decided to get a black suit, a flowered blouse, and a leopard-print swimsuit. When we were done shopping, we rode a subway back to Aunt Jennifer’s apartment to have lunch and take a break. Then we went back out again and went to a jewelry shop. I got a blue fake nose ring. It was magnetic, so I didn’t have to pierce my nose or anything! It is a little fake gem glued onto a magnet that put on your nose. There is another magnet that you put up your nose! We then went back to the apartment and ordered some nachos, ones that weren’t as good as the schools, and a few other things. But then it was time for bed. April 8, 1997. I woke up to the same sounds today(I can actually sleep with all that noise!) After we got dressed and had breakfast, we took a taxi to the docks where we would get onto a boat to the Statue of Liberty. When we got into the boat, we went to the top of the boat. But it was cold out, and my aunt made me put on a coat. As the statue slowly came closer, I took some pictures, this time I had my camera(my aunt brought it in her backpack.) It was so COOL!!! Then finally we got there. It was huge! It was bigger than my Uncle Doug and Mr. Thorr together! My Aunt Jennifer took some pictures of me by the statue, then I took some of her. We wanted to go to the top of the statue, but we would have to wait three hours just to get to the entrance!! So we decided to go back to the boat and leave. We waited for the boat to come back. When it did come, we didn’t go to the top because it was too cold. On the way back the boat stopped at Elise Island. We didn’t go because it was cold and I was getting sort-of tired. So we had to wait a long time before the boat would leave. I almost fell asleep! But then it finally started up again and we got back to main land. There, we took a taxi back to my aunt’s apartment. There we took a break and had lunch. Then we took a subway to the Empire State Building. When we got inside we had to wait awhile to get tickets. But once we got them, we had to wait in a long line to get to the elevator. But then we got on the elevator and went to the 84th floor. There you could go out onto a balcony and look down at the city. I took some pictures, but I ran out of film. We went inside to a small gift shop where I got my film. I almost got a paperweight of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty that was in there, but I decided not to. We went back outside again and I took some more pictures. To the left you could see the water. There was a lot of smoke over by the water and it looked like a large fire. I even thought I saw orange-red flames coming through all that pitch-black smoke. Then we went back inside and took the elevator to the 102nd floor, we weren’t aloud to go any higher. Up there was boring, you couldn’t go out on a balcony and the windows were over my head. Because it was so boring, we went back down to the 84th floor to take some more pictures. Then we went back to the 1st floor. As we left the building, I took some pictures of it at a distance. I also took some of the Iron Building. That is a really, I mean really flat building. We finally went back to my aunt’s apartment and had dinner. We also watched First Kid. Once that was over, we went to sleep. April 9, 1997. We rested most of the day. Then I went to my cousin’s house because my Aunt Jennifer was taking an art class. I had dinner with them and then it was time for my Aunt Jennifer and my Aunt Amy to go to their art class. I then played with my cousins Grete(Greta) and Silje(Seel-ya). But then it was time for them to go to bed, so my Uncle Eric let me go on their computer. On the computer I played Oregon Trail. My aunt took so long, she finally picked me up at about 10:20!! On the way back to my aunt’s apartment I fell asleep in the car because it was so late and there was a lot of traffic. My aunt had to wake me up when we got to her apartment. Right away when we got to 15 B, I went back to sleep. April 10, 1997. This day was a great day. Today I went to the Museum of Natural History. My aunt and I were looking for something that would help me with The American Girls Club. We hopped on a taxi and went through a lot of Manhattan. We went right through Central Park with me not even knowing it. It just isn’t that amazing if you live in Michigan. Finally, we got to the museum. There were a lot of classes in there. We looked around for awhile, but then it was time for lunch. Fortunately, there were two restaurants on the bottom floor. I ordered some chicken nuggets. We were getting tired; there was a big night ahead of us, so we went back to Aunt Jennifer’s apartment. We could have gone to Macey’s, but we were still too tired. We decided to go the next day. When we got back to her apartment, we took a small break and then got ready to go to the Broadway show The King and I, starring Lou Diamond Fillips and Faith Prince. I wore my hair down tonight, unlike my usual ponytail. I also wore my black suit that I bought from Blooming Dales and a black headband that I had bought at Fashion Bug back in Manistee. My aunt also let me wear some make-up to the show. Then it was time to go. We took a taxi down to Broadway. We waited awhile to get in, but then we did. We had very, very, good seats. We were sitting in the eighth row!!! How lucky can you get!! The scenery was beautiful! On the sides of the stage were huge red elephants with jewels on them. It was a fantastic, wonderful, great, spectacular play. In some parts of the play, the actors went into the boxes, or the little balcony like things on the sides of the stage. After the play, we went back to the apartment and went to sleep. We ate before the play, so we didn’t eat dinner afterwards. April 11, 1997. Today we went to Macey’s. I got this really neat dress. It has a flowered skirt and vest and a pink shirt. Then we went to another part of Macey’s to get my parents something. One cool thing was the old-fashioned escalator. That was still made of wood and made a lot of noise as we rode down. I got my mom a mug of the N.Y.C. skyline. I got my dad a N.Y.C. subway tee shirt. I also got him a joke present. That was a pair of "change daily" boxers. Then we had a very small break to have lunch and then we went to my cousin’s house. My aunts had another art class. Today we played in their backyard. We played circus(did I mention that Grete is five and Silje is three?). In the circus we each had special names. They were Grete the Great or something like that, Silje the I can’t remember, and Sam the Movie Star or the Spectacular or something like that. Today my aunt picked me up earlier. Then we went back to the city. Did I forget to mention that they don’t live in the city? But on Wednesday I had lost my fake nose ring, so we had to go look for a new one. We forgot where we got it, so we looked all around for one. But we finally found one and we went back to my aunt’s apartment. Once we go there we had dinner and went to sleep. April 12, 1997. Today I must leave New York City. We went to the airport in Newark, NJ. My flight had been canceled because of rain. So at 1:00, I said good bye to my Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Doug, for I might not see them again for years. I walked through the hall with the stewardess, looking back several times, looking back at my favorite aunt and uncle. Then, I got onto the plane. I sat by two other people, and I didn’t get the window seat. Shoot! Finally, after the long ride, I got to the O’Hara Airport in Chicago where my dad would pick me up. I surprised him by wearing my fake nose ring when he picked me up. We got my baggage and went to the garage to get the van. Then we started on our long way home to boring old Onekama. I am sorry to say that couldn’t write everything in such a long story because I did many more things in my N.Y.C. Adventure. You can rent the movie or see the play of The King and I. You could also buy the sound track. There are also books about Canada and New York that you could find at a library or a bookstore. There are also many books about the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. I think it would be great if everyone could have such a great adventure.
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