New York City/Bette Midler

At the beginning of fall break, I flew out solo, straight from school to meet my mom, Denise and Gary in NYC to see Bette Midler in Hello Dolly.

We stayed at the Lucerne Hotel on the upper west side and it was lovely. The first night, I got in very late and just fell asleep. The next day we walked all over New York City. We walked through Central Park and down to Rockefeller Center where we ate a lovely lunch and saw a car show. We walked down the Times Square and up through Lincoln Center and stopped for dessert before making our way back to our hotel for a good rest before the show.

That evening we made our way to the theater and saw the most amazing production of Hello Dolly. Bette Midler has always been a true idol of mine. I remember lying in bed during my angsty teen years with my stereo blaring her albums. I love her so much and have always wanted to see her live. This was such a dream come true.
After the show, we went on to Don't Tell Mama, which was so fun. I could have stayed there all night.

The next day we walked the Highline and through the village and all the way into Chinatown where we waited over an hour for dim sum at Nom Wah, my favorite restaurant there. It was worth it! We came back up through an October fest near Penn Station and then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Prune.

We met in the bar for cocktails at our hotel and then took a long Lyft ride down to the west village to have dinner at Prune. Mom and I had been there before on a previous trip after reading the book, "Blood, Bones and Butter", which was written by the chef there. We loved it and were excited to visit again. Our food was absolutely delicious and we were so happy. We saw at the open window and drank wine and ate bites and laughed and teased. It was great.
The next morning was rainy, but we ran across the street for bagels and coffee before heading to the airport to fly on to Texas. It was a quick trip, but so fun. New York is my favorite place on earth.