Fresh Air! Times Square!

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There's nothing you can't do

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Hear it from New York, New York, New York!

- Alicia Keys, New York

Cook Family Road Trip 2016, and the first stop had us taking a bite out of the Big Apple.

Turns out we landed a penthouse room with a view, with the Empire State Building serving as our backdrop from the Westin, located just a block outside of Times Square.

(It gets eight thumbs up from Clan Cook.)

And it's true what they say - the view is even better when you're bedecked in one of the hotel's complimentary robes

My Uptown Girl

Judy and Marc Burke are our New York aficionados.

Frequent show-stoppers on Broadway, the trendy couple knows the best hotels and restaurants to take in if you're doing a whirlwind tour of Gotham.  In this case, it was Orso, on West 46th St., where the Burkes have done some serious star-spotting in years past.

This night, this girl was the It Girl.

About as close as we would come to Broadway's latest blockbuster.

"There's a million things I haven't done.  Just you wait."

Speaking of which, snapped a quick pic at Radio City, future home to my dancing godchild, Sarah, the best damn dancer 'round these parts.  She can kick it with the best of them and will always be a Rockette in my book.

Passing through Rockefeller Center, stopped to pause with my favorite New York super-model. (Sorry, Bern!)

And then, in a New York Minute, there's the celebrity sighting you hear so much of.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell from Modern Family) just wrapped up his one-man tour-de-force of Fully Committed at the Lyceum Theater.

Mitchell gave our Modern Family the thumbs up! 

Time Square, the brightest place around, features a Disney Store, so natch, we had to stop and check out the latest Disney swag

Which in this case, turned out to be Civil War, allowing Andrew and I to face off along with Team Cap and Team Iron Man

And upstairs, the Star Wars section featured some nifty merchandise (though the following day would yield some SERIOUS Star Wars sightings)

The lights were still brights and the city certainly wasn't sleeping, but it was time for us to catch 40 winks and rest up for a Big Day in the Big Apple.

Big because it was a special day for a member of this traveling troupe, but more on that in a subsequent post.