BrandyRose Photography: NEW YORK CITY 2.19-2.21

Thanks to a very special person, my husband and I were given JetBlue plane tickets for Christmas and decided to spend them on a weekend get-a-way to one of our favorite cities, New York. Let me first say this was our first time on JetBlue and we were very impressed by them. Roomy seats, plenty of baggage allowance, in-flight entertainment and S&B service were all terrific and I highly reccomend flying with them when you book your next flight. If they're reading this (yeah right), they can mail me my complimentary tickets at their convenience.

Anyway, we landed early Thursday morning and boy was it brisk weather. These Southern kids were FREEZING but after checking into our fabulous hotel in Times Square we were ready to beat the streets. I'm telling you people, when we're there, we log 8-10 miles at least everyday just walking around and exploring the sights. Because we've been fortunate enough to travel here more than a few times, we decided to go outside the City and take a look around. Mitch talked me into traipsing around Brooklyn, namely the DUMBO area. For those of you who don't know what that is, DUMBO is a euphenism for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. It's a great little area with incredible skyline views of Manhattan and a dozen little galleries, shops and boutiques. Of course we had to see something on Broadway as no trip ever seems complete without, so after a game of rock/paper/scissors we chose Little Mermaid which was a great production. Our seats gave us a wonderful view of the entire stage and I found myself singing along to many of the songs just as if I were 12 years old again and watching the movie for the 100th time. We walked the Manhattan bridge which was incredibly scary as trains go flying by you and you feel the bridge sway under the weight or see grafitti in the strangest of places (one has to be high to get to where they do when painting) but the views are incomporable. Something else we enjoyed (but only reccomend in the daylight hours unless you're with a large group) was checking out Coney Island. After the subway leaves the underground rails you get to see parts of New York that you would typically never get a look at. Brighton Beach is beautiful and although cold, it was easy to imagine what it might be like on a hot summer day with the roller coaster and ferris wheels running as people skated the boardwalk and grubbed on Nathan's Famous hotdogs. The ride is a little long but if you enjoy "people-watching" I really think you ought to do this.

All in all, it was an awesome trip that ended far too soon. I love the Northeast. It has so much culture and yet, there are still parts of it where you can feel the community of it all. Enjoy some of my photos here. More will be posted on my facebook and myspace albums if you follow me there as well. Thanks for reading my "travel guide". LOL-Please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

This is for THE'BOTTLETREE // She knows who she is =)