June 26, 2018 - Coast to Coast fun plans with the Travelin' Cousins

Elisa's Daily Scoop
Covering Long Island & NYC Boroughs 
NEXT EVENT IN: 1 DAYS: MEAN GIRLS ON BROADWAY

Fun in The Big Apple

Hey!  Another lovely day here on Long Island!  Sunshine, not to hot.  Lovin' it!!

Speaking of weather, tomorrow is supposed to be similar to today - mostly sunny, high of 75 and low of 68 degrees.  Why am I telling you this?

Well, as much as I love the rain, and specifically, the thunder and lightening, I'm not a big fan of walking around the city in it when our final destination is the theatre.

Yup - tomorrow, me and my girlies finally go to see Mean Girls on Broadway. 

My plan is to take the Long Island Rail Road into NYC and then, mosey on uptown towards the theatre district. 

It's been a while since we did the "tourist" thing in New York, but I figured since the weather is supposed to be so agreeable, why not arrive a few hours early into the city and see a few interesting points of interest.  ​

Times Square, NYC (c) travelincousins.com

Here's what's on my list:
​
Times Square
Considered the "crossroads of the world," Times Square has an abundance of things to keep us busy. From shopping, to street performers and places to sit and relax.  Best of all, it's FREE!!
We'll DEFINITELY be making a pit stop here!

(photo credit: triphobo.com)

Madame Tussauds   
234 West 42nd Street
(between 7th and 8th Avenues)
My girls have NEVER been to the world famous wax museum and I really think they'd get a kick out of it!

With over 200 wax figures of famous musicians, A-list stars, sports legends, world leaders and more, which includes a Marvel Super Hero 4D ultra-sensory superheroes film! 

Gianna is a HUGE fan of Marvel, so I'm going to let her be surprised by the film!  You can bet we will be taking lots of selfies, including ones with the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and Ironman! 
 
I decided to buy my tickets online to take advantage of a $6 savings per ticket, coming to $33 per adult (kids over 13 are considered adults). (Total with tax: $107.79) 

I chose the Gold Ticket which includes:
* Admission to the Madame Tussauds attraction * Marvel 4D Movie and Kong: Skull Island
* Access to wax figure exhibits

(photo credit: New York New York.com)

The M&M's World and Hershey Chocolate World
Corners of Broadway and 48 Street)
My kids are going to go crazy here!  Both stores contain three floors filled with chocolate goodness and fun merchandise!  

I'm planning to arrive in The Big Apple by around 2pm, so four hours should give us plenty of time before our dinner reservation at the Supernova at the Novotel Hotel, prior to seeing our show!!

Fun day ahead!

Well, folks, hope it's a good one for you!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop 
Covering the West Coast & the World
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 16 DAYS:
WASHINGTON DC/VIRGINIA

Hollywood here we come!

Hello again!

Did you take notice that we are already past the half-way mark to Christmas??? YUPPERS folks. Before ya know it, the holidays will be right around the corner!   But of course there is still plenty to look forward to before my favorite time of the year.

Let's take tonight for instance.
​Dave and I are heading back up to LA tonight with my friend Kathy and we'll be meeting up with my friend Jodie at the Hollywood Bowl for the Cyndi Lauper and Rod Stewart concert!!

Can you believe that this is the 7th time in 2.5 weeks that I've gone up to LA. That equates to enduring a whole lot of traffic! LOL

On June 9th - Our gang went to the JPL Open House

At JPL (c)travelincousins.com

On June 15th - I went up with Jodie to go see REO Speedwagon

Time for a concert (c)travelincousins.com

On June 16th - Dave and I went up to Agoura Hills to visit Dave's mom

Dave and his mom (c)travelincousins.com

On June 17th - It was Father's Day and we went to the Getty Center and the Pasadena Chalk Festival

At the Getty Center (c)travelincousins.com

At the Pasadena Chalk Festival (c)travelincousins.com

On June 21st - Cosette and I went with Kathy and Brianna to the Pantages Theatre to go see Cinderella

At Cinderella (c)travelincousins.com

On June 24th - Dave and I went to the Arroyo Seco Music Festival 

At Arroyo Seco (c)travelincousins.com

And now tonight we will be rocking out once again!

Yet this isn't even it for heading up to LA even for the week. On Saturday Dave and I will be heading back up to Beverly Hills to go see Long Day's Journey Into the Night. I still need to figure out where we should have dinner before the performance.

In Travel news, yesterday got a bit complicated with me trying to fit everything in. So as you know that when we take our trip back east it is mostly all about visiting and seeing family and friends. And there is a lot of them to see!!

On any given trip, there is no possible way of seeing all of them.
Heck there are some I haven't even met who are out there roaming the streets of New York!

But of course I try to fit in seeing all the ones who I am closest too.   Well I got a message from my Aunt yesterday asking if my dates are at all flexible. Sadly they really are not. We have a very packed full schedule.

It seems that one of my cousins found out that she wasn't going to be home as planned for our visit. Which of course saddened me, which then led to finding out that she was going down to Virginia to help her sister (who moved to Virginia and I haven't seen in 8 years!!!) 

The last time I saw my cousin Elizabeth was in 2010 at our Grandfather's funeral. Pic - meee, my mum, wee Dominic, Cosette half in the pic, my Aunt Michele, my Uncle Jim, and cousin Elizabeth (c)travelincousins.com

Of course knowing that we are heading back down to Virginia after visiting NY, I had inquired how far they are to where I will be. 
I then looked at the map and the calendar and figured that we can come and see both sisters on July 31st. The excitement was building between my cousin Elizabeth and I!!

But then she realized that she wasn't going to be home on the 31st. She would be in Tennessee.

I felt as though I was on an emotional roller coaster and as was she. Elizabeth had asked what day we are heading down to VA and then shared that she wouldn't be leaving for Tennessee until the 30th. So there was still a chance!

But considering that I wasn't leaving NY until July 28th, and Dave C's birthday is on July 29th, and with her leaving on July 30th. I still couldn't see it working out.

Then I decided that we will leave New York a day early and head down on the 27th, allowing me to go and see her on July 28th!!

Throughout all of this it still left me wondering if I would get to see  my cousin Sarah Grace??

Dominic, Meeee, Sarah Grace and Cosette in 2017 (c)travelincousins.com

And it turns out that Sarah Grace was given the wrong set of dates and so she will be home during our visit after-all! Whew! I love happy endings!

Other travel news, I booked out flights to Lake Tahoe for the Tour de Tahoe Bike Ride around the lake - which will be beautiful though exhausting!

And with music on my mind I am still trying to see if there are a few concerts that I can make happen for us...

​Greta Van Fleet - which is another crazy idea - because I fly back from Maui on September 26th, the night of their concert in Tempe (Phoenix) Arizona.    So pretty much I would have to return from the airport and jam out to Phoenix which is a good 6 hour drive without traffic - hoping to make the 7p concert!      Or I book another flight and land in SoCal from Maui, drop things off at home and then head back to the airport to catch a flight to Phoenix - only to return the next morning!

When asked why don't I just fly from Maui to Phoenix...it's not quite that easy when my non-changable flights have already been booked and I didn't realize this concert idea until a couple of days ago!!

The other concert is Florence and the Machine - but I'm not sure I can do anything about this one. I will keep trying though. Because that is what I do!

Anyhow it's time for me to go...I still don't know what I'm wearing tonight!
-Travelin' Tanya