So this is what spontaneity feels like

For those of you that have been following me for any period of time, you know I'm a planner.  I like the structure of an itinerary for a trip because it's important to maximize the time I have.  We don't always follow it to a tee like in the olden days but we've tried going sans itinerary and spent 45 minutes saying "where do you want to go?"  "I don't know, where do you want to go?"   Decide on something, then repeat for the next thing.  It just breeds frustration and irritation.

Part of the fun of last week's trip was we planned on paddling most of our indulgences off.  One of those trips may have been the night we got into Saratoga Springs just to knock the rust off of us from the car ride.  When we got there, we didn't have it in us and decided to skip it and walk the town.  Now that I know what was waiting for us, I'm glad we waited because it could've ruined my day at Beekman Farm given my pension for dwelling.

See that beautiful building in the background?  That's the Sagamore Hotel on Lake George in the Bolton Landing area.  I'd been dreaming about paddling around that with the Mr for 2 months.

See the Mr?  He's paddling that dream...while I take pics from the pier with tears streaming down my cheeks.  Why?  Because my delightful inflatable kayak decided to blow not one, but BOTH bladders.  The one was a complete rip that was not able to be patched.

The patch covered the initial leak but inflation to 1 PSI (half the normal) sent it busting at the seams...literally

The Mr said no way was he going without me and I insisted he go because one of us should be able to enjoy it.  Though it would've been nice if he hadn't gushed about how awesome the scenery was when he got back.  *flick to forehead*  It didn't help the restaurant we'd been looking forward to was the only one closed for the season.  Oh, did I mention we started off the day with a HORRIBLE breakfast experience and later that night some rowdy school kids made us get up and leave the theater before the movie even started with their antics?  So yeah, the 2nd half of our trip was nowhere near as good as the first half.

We were set to head for home the next morning.  I was bumming because Sleepy Hollow was only 3 hours away and I really missed it.  We joked about going that night and then decided against it.  Then next morning it was nagging at me and I felt I was owed an extra day to make up for the crap that was the day before.  It wasn't until we got in the car with it packed up that I said so where do I set the GPS for?  Sleepy Hollow it was.  Halfway there after constantly seeing signs for NYC and knowing that there was a train station in Tarrytown, the Mr and I both had the same thought.  He mentioned it first that we could take a train in and I laughed and said I thought the same thing.  I checked the departure times and started seeing what was close to Grand Central Terminal that we could cram in.  I knew we'd have to see things at break neck speed but we were on an adventure.

When we got to Tarrytown, I told the Mr to get the maximum amount allowed at the parking meter.  We had to be back at 9:21pm or I didn't know if we'd get a ticket or worse, they'd tow us and all of our clothes and possessions and we had nowhere to stay there locked down yet.  (I knew there were vacancies but didn't book anything yet)  So yeah, it was way out of our comfort zone.  The next thing we knew...

...we were in Grand Central Terminal.

Then Times Square.

Wandering the theater district

Enjoying some much needed sustenance at Angelo's pizza while watching the people waiting in line for the Colbert show.  We're more deep dish people but this was GOOD!

Making our way around Central Park was much more pleasant once we hopped in for a carriage ride, a dream of mine!

I was so glad we took this route over a pedicab.  If the building looks familiar, it's from Ghostbusters, Dana Barrett's apartment.

We enjoyed taking it all in.

Afterward, we wandered the park a bit more as I took mental notes on our ride and we returned to the Bethesda Terrace/fountain area.

Even though we're not Beatles fans, we swung by Strawberry Fields.

A part of me wishes we could've seen the Pope but we couldn't have seen about 90% of the things we did had we been there 4 days later.

As the sun began to dip into the sky, the neon lights of the city started to light our way back to the terminal.

Next time, Jimmy.

A quick photo of the Chrysler Building while we were waiting to cross the street.  No time to lollygag.

We were both broken by the time we reached the terminal and the following few days.  It was a whirlwind and we both feel like it happened to someone else because we only had 5 hours to take it all in.  But I think for having no itinerary I was able to find things concentrated in an area we could easily navigate and see some big landmarks.  It was a quick taste of midtown Manhattan and while we both agreed we don't feel the connection we feel to San Francisco or Chicago, we'd better plan a trip for the next few years because I'll be too old to keep that pace up!

When we got back to Sleepy Hollow after some uh..."issues" with the train, I started getting upset because I knew we were going to scrape back by the short hairs on the parking meter.  I told him to run ahead of me to get back to the car.  I don't think he was physically able to run at that point so I was only about 6 steps behind him.  We literally got in the car with ONE MINUTE to spare.

I got on a travel site and booked through them to get a better rate at a place we were looking at and we collapsed in bed.  Too bad the cement bed left me awake most of the night but I was just glad we weren't sleeping in the car evading the Headless Horseman all night!

We did go back to Sleepy Hollow cemetery and enjoyed our spot at the Headless Horseman Bridge, the lighthouse and enjoyed an afternoon tea in town.

(From last years trip)

I could so live there.  It's a beautiful town.

We left waaaay later than we should have if we wanted to get home at a decent hour but we were just enjoying it too much.  Mad props to the Mr because it was a long, arduous drive both ways but he tackled it like a champ.  I couldn't have driven half the places he did because I get so panicky when it's construction zones and it seems that's all we hit.

When we look back on the disappointment of the kayak issue, the last minute decision to stay in NY and then suddenly ending up in the biggest city in the world with no directions or plan, we can certainly say it was an interesting, whirlwind, unexpected trip and by far the most spontaneous thing we've ever done!

What is the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?

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