Friday, May 19, 2006

Greetings from New York City!

Hi everyone! Guess what? I am in New York City!! Can you believe it?

This morning Kristin woke me up VERY early and told me we were headed to the airport. I thought we were going back to Iowa but once we got to the airport Kristin told the check-in person that she and Keith we were going to New York City or NYC.

I was SO excited. I LOVE NYC!!!! Kristin and Keith are here today to talk with someone Keith met at a media conference. I didn't care why they were going. I was just really happy to be going back to New York!

I thought we would leave Detroit and fly to Chicago like Kristin normally does when she flies to New York. But today we flew to a place called Charlotte, North Carolina. See if you can find it on the map.

I didn't get to see much of North Carolina. We were only in the airport for about an hour. But, it was long enough for Keith to take a picture of Kristin holding me near a sign that proves I was in Charlotte.


This is great because now I can say I have been to North Carolina!. We switched planes in Charlotte and then we landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York. This is the same airport I've visited with Kristin on my two previous trips to New York.

Keith and Kristin are staying at the Crowne Plaza-United Nations in Manhattan. Guess where it is located? It's right near the United Nations....or UN. That's the place where important people from all over the world meet to solve big problems. Do you remember Keith and Kristin took me there on my first trip to NYC?

Keith and Kristin's rooms weren't ready when we arrived at the hotel. In fact, the person at the desk told Kristin that her room was changed to something called a "suite." I asked Kristin to write it down because the word sounds like "sweet."....which is another name for candy! I LOVE sweets! But Kristin told me that a "suite" is a special kind of hotel room.

I was worried this meant Kristin was going to have a bad room. But it turns out that Kristin has the BEST room in the hotel. It is like a mini-apartment with a small living room, a separate bedroom and the biggest bathroom I have ever seen! Kristin calls it a perfect NYC "penthouse." I have NO idea what a penthouse is but I think this is the best hotel room ever!

The best part is just outside of the bedroom. It is a place called a "terrace." It's an outside brick deck complete with a table and chairs. It's like the deck on the back of a house except this deck is 20 stories above the ground!

The terrace is SO COOL!!! It is REALLY high off the ground and it was kind of scary to look down. Here you can see the taxis on the street below.


It was kind of windy outside and I was afraid I might blow away since I am flat. But Kristin made sure I was safe. Here you can see me with Kristin at one edge of the terrace.


While I was looking around, I told Kristin that the building behind me in the picture above looked familiar. She told me that it should look familiar because it is one of the United Nations buildings. THAT'S the building Keith and Kristin took me to on my first trip to NYC. How cool is that? Here you can see an even better view of the UN from Kristin's "terrace."


And here I am sitting in one of the chairs.


Do you see the blue water behind me? Kristin says that's the East River. Kristin says there are two rivers that border Manhattan...the Hudson River and the East River. I saw the Hudson River during my first trip here. How awesome is that?! I can now say I've seen BOTH rivers in Manhattan.

Kristin says we are VERY lucky to have this room. Kristin said she didn't ask for a suite AND she says she isn't paying anything extra for this room. She thinks this is another one of those rewards she gets for traveling so much....except that it was a surprise reward. Well I think Kristin deserves this reward. She sure travels a lot!

I'm off now to spend some more time watching the taxis from the "terrace."

Until next time....