Mt Rushmore

 The night before we stopped at Walmart for some car snacks and Kefford also bought an air mattress for me to use while we slept in the car. We drove until late and then stopped at a rest stop for some rest. The front seats of the car fold down flat and so we put mine down and then blew up the air mattress. It was a very tight fit and I was very close to the ceiling but it wasn't a bad spot for me. Kefford on the other hand tried sleeping in the drivers seat and it did not go so well for him. he could not get comfortable and my air mattress was severely invading his space. We decided that for night two we were going to get a hotel room. But in the meantime we found that by going a couple of hours out of our way we could go see Mt Rushmore which was exciting to both of us. First though we passed by Chicago and I took a picture of the skyline as we drove by on the freeway. It would have bene kind of cool to have stopped in the city but we had a destination and didn't want to spend the time stopping.

As we were getting closer to Mt Rushmore we kept seeing so many billboards advertising something called Wall Drug. We should have counted how many billboards we passed because it seriously was an insane amount and after seeing so many I looked it up and found that it was a pretty big tourist destination so we decided to make a stop there. It was basically a giant drug store with so many rooms and things to see. It had a restaurant and Kefford and I both got burgers and fries to go. There were some fun things to see and it was worth the quick stop.

Finally we made it to Mt Rushmore and it was the most beautiful and peaceful spot. I loved it and wished we could have spent more time exploring and seeing all the area had. it would be fun to do a family trip back some day and go camping. I loved seeing Mt Rushmore in person, it was smaller then expected but still majestic and impressive. One of the highlights of our trip.

As we were driving away Kefford had me take a picture of the backside of the monument.

That night we stayed at a motel in Casper Wyoming. It was not amazing but it was a place to sleep and we got free breakfast which is always a plus. We got our room key and went up to our room, upon opening the door we found it to be already occupied and had to go back down to tell the receptionist who apologized and gave us a new room. That could have been super awkward but luckily the guy in the room was just watching tv.

Niagra Falls

As we were starting our drive home Kefford mentioned that we could go a little out of our way and go to Niagara Falls. I thought we might as well since we are over here so we mapped it out and left Brooklyn heading to Niagara Falls. I got a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge and then thought I would try to get a "welcome to" picture of each state and after getting a few quickly realized it was not going to be possible to do that because of not seeing them or seeing them too late. It was fine, I was a little disappointed but fine.

While we were traveling Ryker and Anna dod some Bridal pictures and Aileen sent me a couple for a preview. They look super cute and I love that she took her pictures at South Carlsbad Beach.

We made it to Niagara in the early evening and it was pretty windy. It was worth it to go and see but I was a little underwhelmed with it. I know that there is a USA side and a Canada side and I liked being able to see across the border to Canada. I also noticed that on the USA tour boats the people were wearing blue raincoats while the Canadian tour boats they had on red raincoats. I really am glad that we took the time to go and see the Falls, it was windy and cold but it was a quick stop and I did like seeing it. 

I hadn't taken a picture of my nails yet and so I snapped one really quick when I thought of it. I love the dainty floral Brynn did. I had a broken nail on my left hand that had been hanging on but as we were exiting the subway on that last bday with our luggage I went to pick up my suitcase to go up the stairs and I hit it wrong with my finger and broke my fingernail off. A pice of my nail was left on the floor of the subway in New York City.

New York Day 4

Thursday was spent going all over the city. Kefford did in fact find a car to buy for Avynlea and so we took the Subway to Brooklyn then had an Uber driver pick us up to take us to the car dealership. After looking at the car, test driving it and lots of negotiations Kefford agreed to buy it and just like that we were canceling our return tickets and planning a long drive home. I do not like road trips but I was agreeable to it I told Kefford as long as he kept me well fed in snacks and bathroom breaks. But that wasn't going to happen until the next day so for today we just explored and went where we wanted. I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible everything we wanted to see was just by walking. We did a lot of walking and by the end of the day I had well over 20,000 steps but it was not hard and I enjoyed it especially since working out was not accessible to me on this trip. 

After getting all the car stuff sorted out we set out on exploring and went into the New York Public Library where they had a literary display going on. We saw the Winnie the Pooh toys, Charles Dickens writing desk and paper knife amongst other things and it really was fun to see. We went around the library and saw some cool things before setting out to find something else to explore. 

I love this window display we saw, it reminded me of a dress from the live action Cruella movie. I thought it was so cool and so creative.

Kefford and I wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building but it was a rainy, overcast day and the workers inside said the view was blocked by fog. By that time I had already bought tickets which were non refundable but transferable to a different time. Kefford and I thought that maybe we would wait it out to see if it cleared up at all so we left. After talking it over some more we decided it was not going to get any clearer and since we were here we might as well just go see what we can see. We saw some fun things on the way up and once we got to the viewing platform it was way better ten we expected and better then what they showed us. We couldn't see how it would be on a perfectly clear day but we saw enough and were quite satisfied with our experience. 

We wanted to see the New York City Temple but upon arriving found that it was closed and under reconstruction which was pretty disappointing.

We stopped at a Bagel place for authentic New York Bagels and they were worth the hype and so delicious. We each got a Bagel and had a Jalapeño cream cheese spread and a blueberry lemon cream cheese spread that we shared. They were both super yummy and we enjoyed our meal immensely. 

We found a Harry Potter store and the inside was pretty magical and fun to explore. Each section had different themes and magical elements which was cool.

We went inside one of th eCathedrals we walked past and it was beautiful and had some really interesting features. There were a lot of people inside sight seeing but there were also a lot of people inside praying. I saw one young man who was very intensely looking at a statue of Christ and was obviously praying. I was fascinated by his focus, there was so many people and chaos going on around him but he was honed in and not breaking his concentration at all. 

The Louis Vuitton Store was so pretty and cool, I loved seeing it and was really impressed by it.

Of course Kefford found a luxury car store to go in a look around. It was by appointment only but they let him come in to see the ones on display in the front.

The Lego store ws fun to see, we randomly happened upon it and took some time to go in and look around. I love Lego.

We saw a very fancy looking Home Depot

And we took a peek inside the museum of Living Art, neither of us cared enough about any of it to pay the admission fee so we just stepped inside for a few pictures and then left.

We wandered into Central Park again because there was a small castle I saw signs for and wanted to see. I went I and went to the top to lookout while Kefford stayed behind, it was too crowded for him and he did not have enough interest in it. I got a picture of him from above and he got a picture of me from below. 

A screenshot picture from the top of the castle :)

 I found the most beautiful spot that felt like walking through an English Garden. It was quite literally my dream backyard and one I can never achieve unless I hire a Gardner, I just do not have the green thumb unfortunately.

Rylee has been in Salt Lake with Kenedy and Ty and she got sick and sent me a picture to come and rescue her. She had a lot of fun being with Kenedy but when you are sick you just want to be in your home in your own bed.

Kefford and I found an empanada place for dinner, it was takeout only so we each picked out a couple empanadas and took them back to our hotel. Mallory recommended cookies from Levain bakery and earlier we stopped in there for some cookies which we ate for dessert. 

Josh Probert contacted Kefford about meeting up again and I told him to go ahead while I stayed in and went to bed. They went for more cheesecake and Kefford brought me back some carrot cake cheesecake they had leftovers of. Kefford made sure to let me know he ate off all of the parts where Josh ate from which made me feel better about eating it.