New York Day 8: Intrepid Air and Space Museum and Wicked

On day 8 my mom was feeling up to coming along with us to the museum. 

It still took a lot of gumption to get going and to the city. If we could do it again I would definitely find an airbnb that was close to a subway stop somewhere in the NYC subway system. But it all worked out. By the time we made it to the Intrepid it was time for lunch, and we found a nice picnic on the pier just south of the ship. It was a yummy lunch (although it was notable because Eliza ate every single cucumber stick that we brought, we can't quite let her live that down). There were even free bathrooms close by! This is unusual in NYC.

It was sunny again this day, which was too bad (we don't like the sun, as Holland will tell us regularly, ironic considering we live in the valley of the sun). Well, actually it was just sunny at mid-day. As the afternoon and evening progressed there was definitely rain.

John is cool and knows stuff about airplanes. He told us about this huge disc on top of  this older airplane. It is called a Radome, and it has a radar inside to sense things around it. John was involved with making one at Honeywell that was one foot across. Pretty cool!

After looking at all the airplanes out on the deck, we went up the tower to see the inside. The picture of Eliza, Miriam and me makes me think we all have the same color of hair.

We saw engineering and navigation rooms and even made it up to the bridge where they steer the ship. Kind of insane how huge the ship is compared to how little you can see from up there. How would you ever dock it safely??

Such a huge construction. Kind of amazing that it floats. In the background of this picture is the tallest apartment building ever built (the blueish tower, with the white and red on top).  It is still under construction, but apparently the luxury apartments are getting sold because it is just too high. I would imagine that the price point is also a factor. 

At the back of the ship is a structure that houses the Enterprise space shuttle. My inner Trekky loved the name. :P Apparently it never really went out into space, but went really really high up in the atmosphere.

This is a picture of it's launch in 1979. I think it was the first of the space shuttle program. Also, Eliza wanted to get a picture of the lego Intrepid.

At one point in the hanger deck there was a presentation of when the USS Intrepid was attacked actually it was attacked by missiles and Kamikaze attacks several time. This presentation was of the worst one. During action in the Philippines, tow kamikaze airplanes crashed in the the Intrepid within minutes of one another. on November 25, 1944. Sixty-nine men were killed. After WWII the Intrepid was put into the reserve fleet, but served during the Cold War, Space Race, and the Vietnam War. It was decommissioned in 1974 and later turned into this museum. 

Check out how huge the propeller is that moves this ship, Holland looks tiny next to it. It is a particularly massive ship. We didn't have the stroller, and Holland struggled to walk the entire visit.

One section of the hanger deck was a kid exploration area where they could try out, touch, play with different elements of the ship. This was fun for all except that they had special rides and attractions that were an additional cost (kind of an exorbitant price tag) that we didn't choose to do much to our children's disappointment.

They got to tryout the cockpit of an airplane and the bunks of the ship.

There was even a replica of how the astronauts sat in the first space launches. After we finished up there we went to the nearby USS Growler which was a submarine used during the Cold War era that actually held and could have launched nuclear missiles.

Apparently they went for 2.5 month long missions at a time and had no contact with home during that time. I can't imagine being confined for so long like that. Ideally they would shower once a month, but according to some accounts that were displayed, often these men wouldn't shower the entire mission. Yuck!

I guess the scariest experience for the crew on the USS Growler was when they received word that President Kennedy had been assassinated. They assumed that orders would follow to launch the missiles. I guess they still will not admit how close they would travel to the Russian border. They knew that if they launched it would reveal their location, and they would be sunk, literally.

It was a really interesting experience. I am so glad that neither John or I are not in the military.

After we finished up at the museum we wanted to go back to the apartment and quickly eat and change. We decided to get an Uber to get us over there and quickly back again. Haha, once we had scheduled it, we waited and waited and waited. It didn't come pick us up for more than 45 minutes. There was a massive traffic jam. It eventually came but by that time, we had to just go to the theater. We knew we wouldn't make it back on time. So we added a stop further in town. My mom and I got dropped off fairly quickly, but then the girls and John still had to make it back home. Unfortunately they were still in that huge traffic jam. It was a mess. It ended up being about a 3 hr Uber ride for them, and a huge price tag for us! I think it was approaching $300, which makes me a little sick. It's all fine though.

After my mom and I got dropped off, we went in search of a bathroom. We ended up finding a McDonalds not very far from the theater. Oh boy, that McD's was hopping! It was so busy! We actually had someone seat us. But it did have the bathroom, and we got some dinner. 

Afterwards we walked over to the theater and got the red carpet treatment. Because I was pushing Mom in the transport chair we got to bypass all of the lines and got escorted to our nice seats. The whole experience was amazing! The set was incredible. It was our first ever Broadway play and our first time seeing Wicked. Wow!!! The whole thing blew me away. The set, costumes, acting, singing, everything! I loved the story too! Our seats were so great. It was truly unforgettable. I really want to see more Broadway plays now. Too bad it costs so much.

After the play, we walked over to Times Square since we had a good chance. It is not the best place to take children, so since it was so close to the theater and the kids weren't with us, it was a good time to go. To make things better, it was kind of drizzling rain which meant that it wasn't too crowded. There is an insane amount of light coming off of those billboards. Talk about an electricity drain.

Under the umbrella at Times Square!

I am definitely glad we swung by though. It was an iconic experience.