Evening with Cody in NYC

Saturday, January 19, 2019  Travel to NYC

Here we are following our musical comedy show with Cody and Morgan. After traveling via Chicago to LaGuardia and finding our Airbnb, we had dinner with Cody and Morgan (Reilly) and then enjoyed "A Spirited History of Drinking." What a fun evening!

This is our Airbnb room on the 2nd floor of an old apartment building in Hell's Kitchen, at 50th and 10th Ave. It was pretty basic, but created a comical memory.

We departed Monroe just as a cold front and rain were arriving, but we got out of town before anything hit. We flew Southwest, so we got to check in our suitcases for free. We flew first to Chicago Midway, and then arrived at LaGuardia at 3:15. It had worried us that Cody had not responded to any of my communiques for several days, as I had wanted to confirm our evening for dinner and the show. In Chicago, I finally texted Janet M to ask for Morgan's phone number. She passed my message on to Morgan, who had texted me and I saw it once we landed in NYC.

Morgan indicated that Cody was asleep, but that everything was "on" and she looked forward to meeting us. Whew! Then, Janet A worked to figure out Uber, which she did, and we had our first-ever Uber ride into Manhattan. The Uber pick-ups were a bit of a walk to a parking garage, but we got directions after asking a few people.

This shows where we obtained the key to our Airbnb. Once we arrived at the airport, we were texting with the host to learn where the apartment was (I had forgotten to bring the address) and how we would get in. We didn't yet know that she would not be there to let us in. She texted to tell us where to find the key "on the tree outside", and we finally realized she meant the lock boxes on the fence you see in the picture. Her text gave the code to open the box.

The entrance was next to this Waylon Saloon, just below those American flags. It was pretty creepy going inside and exploring to find where our room was. The host had sent some photos to help us find it, which was under a stairway.

As you can see, it was pretty rough around the edges. Also, there was some guy who came downstairs asking if he could use our key to get into his own room. I went upstairs to the 4th floor with him to see, but of course our key did not fit his room. I called the host on my phone and handed it to him so he could speak with her, but he had to just leave a message. We didn't see him again.

The bathroom was shared with the entire apartment, and it was off the shared kitchen on our floor. At least we didn't need to go up or down stairs to use the bathroom. But wow, was it tiny, and the shower also was tiny and looked quite messy with lots of people's junk sitting around. We immediately decided that we would not try to shower the next morning, and just do it once onboard our ship. (That turned out not to work so well, as we shall see!)

Once we could actually reach Cody, we planned where to have dinner and what time. He chose his favorite Thai restaurant, not far from the theater, which also was not far from our Airbnb. With an hour or so to wait, Janet and I decided to take a walk to see where both the restaurant and theater were.

As we set off on our walk, we passed this community garden on 50th Street. We marveled again at what we had remembered from previous visits to NYC - all the trash piled up on the sidewalks. Just two long blocks down 50th St., we arrived at the New World Stages and picked up our show tickets at the box office. We continued to 8th Ave and headed south to 45th St, since Cody had said that the restaurant, called Room Service, was at 45th and 9th Ave.

Once we reached that intersection, however, we could not see a Room Service restaurant anywhere. So Janet looked it up on her phone, and it turned out it was at 48th St. We got there early, so we just waited inside, people watching, until Cody and Morgan showed up, about 10 minutes late. We enjoyed our food and had a lively conversation about their careers and Cody's becoming a Union Member the night before. And, Cody was flying to SLC the very next morning for a month, to star in ONCE, the same play he had already been in in Miami, NYC, and Vermont.

After dinner, we all walked the short distance to the theater, with a little rain starting. We loved the show, which was full of factual information about the history of alcoholic beverages and social drinking. The four stars sang and provided a funny look at the topic. They also provided everyone in the small audience with three drinks. I had about five, and Janet four, since Cody was not drinking and Morgan didn't like one of hers. The final drink they gave everyone was a gin and tonic, and Janet loved it, so much so that it became her favorite during the next two weeks on the cruise.

We said our goodbyes and walked home, in just a light rain. We were looking forward to getting to the ship early and begin enjoying all those luxuries, including a shower and a late breakfast.