Day 7 - Touring NYC - Part VII (Central Park)

I was so excited for today's adventure.  When researching things to do in New York, one of the top things to do was to rent bikes and ride around Central Park.  We had a reservation for bike rentals for this morning, so we jumped on a subway, which we were pros at now, and headed toward Central Park. 

Let this be a lesson in picture-taking... ALWAYS look at
your background before you snap the pic!

Down in the subway station we spotted
these tables with Christian pamphlets in all kinds
of different languages..

We finally arrived at the bike rental shop, picked up our bikes, and started off toward Central Park.  I was ready to hop on mine and ride, but evidently that wasn't allowed until we got to the park, so we had to walk our bikes to the park... and the park was about 3 blocks away. By the time we got there, we were already hot and sweaty and were ready for some water.  Fortunately, my bike included a cute little basket to hold my purse, and then Scott grabbed us all a cold water bottle from a street vendor, and we tucked those into my basket too. 

Then we hopped on our bikes and took off.  Yes, this is me below snapping pictures with one hand while trying to pedal and steer with the other while watching for "serious" bicyclists all around me.

Hopped off our bikes for a photo opp.

 

 

 

Ashlee had to have her picture taken on the bridge
in Central Park from the movie "Enchanted."
Emilee was too tired to walk with us to get to it,
so she stayed with Daddy.

Riding bikes in Central Park was one of my favorite activities during the trip!  It was so hot, so so so hot, but it was so much fun!  We rode around the whole park, returned our bikes back to the shop, and went to grab some lunch at Subway. 

After lunch, we jumped back on the subway to go back to our hotel to get cleaned up.  As we rounded the corner to our hotel, we noticed vendors lining the street... lined up for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks... as far as we could see.  YES!  So off we went to find some goodies.  And, fortunately, we were able to find the tote bag Ashlee had been looking for at the price she wanted to pay!  We were also able to pick up some fun NYC tshirts for us and for the nieces/nephew! 

Daddy found a deal on men's dress socks!

Street fair!

Photo opp with a taxi!

As we were walking back to the hotel, we spotted
what appeared to be a photo shoot with a
Marilyn Monroe look-alike.

Emilee found a M.A.C. store!

The view from our hotel room.
Taxis lined up outside of Grand Central Station.

 

After we cleaned up and rested up a bit, we hit the streets again to find some dinner.  We were all still really hot so we decided to "check out" one of the hotels we passed.  We walked into their lobby, and the cool air-conditioning was too amazing to resist.  So we found a seating area by the window and took a load off... for about an hour!

Loved the hefty mosaic woman artwork!

We made it back to our hotel just before dark and started hearing some thunder.  We looked out the window and saw these ominous clouds blowing in.  It was pretty fun to watch.

This was the view from our room as a big
thunderstorm was blowing in.

Then it was time for a good night's sleep before our last day in The Big Apple!