Places to see before you die: Reasons to add New York City to the list – Part 26

I’ve gasped as a glacier split and slowly fell into THE Gastineau Channel; sipped mocha from a bathtub sized coffee cup while watching herds of walrus lounge on a beach of the Pacific; relaxed with the sun setting over the Appalachians; watched the fireworks explode from atop the Federal Building in the District of Columbia. I could try to remember all the amazing places I’ve seen, but it is surprisingly difficult considering the time it took to write the first sentence. Traveling, when you get to a certain point, seems to blend itself all together into an indecipherable blur. Suddenly, I cannot remember if I ate strip steak at the Hard Rock Caf in Myrtle Beach or Boston. Or was that DC? I can, however, remember the name of the song that played while I drank whiskey sours with my younger brother in a cramped caf in Lower East Side of New York Cityit was “Is You Is, Or Is You Ain’t, My Baby?” by the way.

If Las Vegas is America’s playground, then New York is the world’s. There are simply too many sites that cannot be ignored. Their names are infamous and bound to be frequented by any tourist and suggested by any native. Any single attraction is more than enough reason to visit New York. Avoid the runners, rollerbladers and skateboarders in Central Park. Bump elbows on the L. Stare at the Cup of Noodles advertisement at Times Square. Resist throwing a penny off the top of the Empire State Building. Pretend to be able to afford the showpiece hanging in the window of Gianni Versace. Do all that and go home happy. Or stay a bit longer and see what New York really has to offer.

Just walk outside. Quench all different types of thirsts in a nightclub on a Monday night. Become metaphorically lost in any hands-on toy store. Even I found myself gawking at an oversized floor-step piano. See Strawberry Fields, and then look up to see where Lennon slept. Walk a bit closer to see where he was murdered. Stand in place too long and be engaged in a random conversation you neither started nor necessarily agreed to. Sites. Food. Culture. Diversity. Entertainment.

New York is not only always changing, but depending upon how serious or relaxed the trip may be, the Big Apple always pushes back. And I, after sitting atop a mountain during an aura borealis or driving down the strip in Myrtle Beach during Bike Week, still found myself thinking but one thing. There is only on reason not to see New Yorkfear that wherever home may be, the volume may be turned down, the colors may appear gray, the food may taste bland and you, like me, may be thinking that same one thought, “I wish I were in New York.”