Luckiest Day!

Man oh man do we love going into the city! It's such a neat place, with never ending sights and experiences! We got to go there two times very recently, and are hoping to go back once more before the Christmas holiday season picks up.

We recently went to the Brooklyn Bridge, the crown of the Statue of Liberty, and saw the show Wicked! I highly recommend doing all of these things :)

Brooklyn Bridge! We walked across it with my parents and Aunt Shauna in late October. It was really neat and so awesome to see Manhattan from that point of view. The architecture of the bridge was also really beautiful.

Our 'luckiest day' was back on the first week in November when Josh and Mattie and Daniel and I headed into the city for a fun day centered around a trip to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. We reserved the tickets all the back in July! - and had to wait until fall before any were available! We were so relieved the weather was perfect! We were bracing for the worst!  On the ferry over to Liberty Island and inside the museum. The torch is the original torch that was replaced after eventually becoming too damaged to repair.

Climbing inside Lady Liberty up the 300 gamillion stairs to check out the view from the crown. Can you tell that the stairs were itsy-bitsy? I'd even go so far as to say they are teeny-weeny!

 Success! We made it to the top and enjoyed the indescribable views in the smaller than expected crown. 

Our great day turned into the luckiest day ever when we won front row 'lottery' tickets to the show Wicked. It was beyond amazing. The second it was over I wanted to see it again! Here's how it all happened...

We all entered our names into the lottery - each name drawn recieves 2 tickets to that nights show. Out of 5 of us, Daniel's name was drawn, and he opted to let Mattie and I see it while him and Josh went to watch their undergrad college football teams play each other at a sports bar. We had about 2 hours before the show and football games began, so we went to dinner at a Thai place right nextdoor to the theater. The food was awesome, and so inexpensive - we were thrilled at the find. Our dinner conversation revolved around our uncontainable excitement about Daniel's lottery win and the chance to see the show. Our excitment was overheard by the table behind us, and as they walked past us to leave they came over and asked "Did you guys win tickets to the Wicked lottery?!!" It was two nice girls, and one was in the chorus of the show! She told us she'd find us on the front row and sing to us during the show! Wow! How fun right?! Well, it doesn't end there! 

She came back in shortly, and offered to give all of us a backstage tour after the show!!!! It was so generous and thoughtful and kind! We couldn't believe it! So sure enough, she'd look at us during the show, and we'd try to spot her in every scene and costume change. I'm pretty sure we were smiling from ear to ear the entire time. And, I should mention that not only were we in the front row, but we were dead center!!!! It was so lucky! Literally the center of the entire theater was the arm rest that Mattie and I shared. One foot in front of us was the orchestra director, who we chatted with before the show began :) 

So we watched the wonderful/amazing/most-awesomest show, enjoyed everyone's amazing talent (especially Elphaba's - don't even get me started!), got to peak down at the orchestra at watch them play live....it was just awesome! We ran out of the theater a few seconds before the cast was done taking bow's and headed over to the cast entrance door. Tiffany came out and took us all on a backstage tour - even the boys came! We met the people who played the Wizard of Oz, Boc, and the head mistress of the University of Shiz. We went up on stage and saw the trap doors, smoke vents, props, ect. We also went under the stage to see all the intense mechanical devises, and the orchestra pit. We roamed the halls where the dressing rooms were, but didn't go inside any. We couldn't really take pictures inside the theater, but snapped a few, one of the Wizard of Oz face, one of a backstage bulletin, and a couple of us with Tiffany our lovely tour guide and new best friend. We also met her husband, who plays in the orchestra of the show.

It was an experience I'll never forget! My adrenaline is pumping just thinking about it all! It was officially the luckiest day ever!