Election Night in NYC

As you may recall, Eric and I had a great time in New York City on Election Night 2008. We spent some time at Rockefeller Center and Times Square and just really enjoyed all the festivities the city puts on for Election Night. So, this year, we decided we wanted to do it all again. Sure, we wouldn't be able to hang out until the race was called like we did last time (we have this baby now, you see, and she has a bed time), but we wanted to at least check it out. We have also been wanting to take Ellie to Top of the Rock on a night when the Empire State Building is lit in nice colors, and we figured the red, white and blue of election night was a perfect opportunity. We invited our friends Jess, Eric and Ada to join us, and a good time was had by all!

After Hurricane Sandy, the PATH train is working hard to get back on its feet, and so far there is only limited service on the Journal Square line (nothing out of Hoboken). So, we walked over to Newport to meet our friends at the PATH station there and made our way into the city.

Top of the Rock was our first stop, so we could check out the view with the last little bits of daylight left. (Did you know sunset is at 4:45 these days? WRONG.) When we purchased our tickets, the next available entry time was about 20 minutes away so we had some time to kill before actually heading up to the top. We walked through the underground concourse of Rockefeller Center and stumbled upon a photo op, and you know we are people who love a good photo op. Thus, I give you President Ellie (a very powerful orator) and her First Parents:

She's the first baby girl president! How historic!

Our presidential photo killed just the right amount of time, and we were able to head right up to Top of the Rock from there. Of course, we stopped for one more picture before making it into the elevators and up to the Observation Deck.

Oh no! Ellie overboard!

When we finally made it up and out, the view was just as beautiful as ever....

My beautiful, beautiful city

Looking north over Central Park

...and it did not get any worse as the sky darkened.

Patriotic Empire State Building in the foreground, with the new World Trade Center buildings off in the distance to the right

We spent some time enjoying the view from all angles.

Looking northeast towards Yankee Stadium

On the left, a look down towards Times Square. On the right, a look westward towards our old apartment.

The Chrysler Building

And of course, we took some pictures of ourselves!

Eric, Jess and adorable Ada

My Eric and my Ellie

My sweetheart

I know she won't remember it, but it really makes me happy that we were able to take Ellie up there to see that view. There's nothing like it.

Family photo!

It was pretty chilly up there, so when we had our fill of the view we made our way inside for a brief rest stop for the babies.

Mamas and baby girls

Then we went out to the Plaza, dubbed "Democracy Plaza" for the evening, to check out all the Election Festivities. Just as in 2008, they had a map of the United States painted on the ice skating rink, the buildings were illuminated in red and blue, and window-washer carts were adorned with each candidate's name, poised and ready to raise red and blue banners as the votes were tallied. There were also caricature stations, where you could have your caricature electronically drawn with one of the candidates (although the wait was over an hour, so we skipped this one), stations where you could "broadcast" your own newscast, and the MSNBC Experience setup in the NBC store.

Democracy Plaza 

Rockefeller Center lit in red and blue, with American flags lining the plaza

Map of the U.S. on the ice, ready to be filled in red and blue as the votes come in

Caricature artists

Carts and banners ready to be raised

We had a great time!

Our friends!

Us!

From there we walked over to Times Square to see what was going on. CNN had a big set up in Duffy Square, so we spent a couple of minutes there before beginning our walk back to the train to call it a night. The poor babies were so tired by this point. Of course, Ada dealt with this by falling asleep in her carrier. Ellie, on the other hand, chose a more open-eyed, vocal approach. It's just her style.

CNN setup in Times Square

Always a fun sight!

As soon as we got off the train in Newport, Ellie finally passed out. She's kind of a punk sometimes. (I kid, she's delightful, but really.)

We walked home from there and then spent the evening with a delicious pizza and election coverage before I passed out (I hung in long enough to be plenty sure that President Obama would be securing his second term, of course). And so, another NYC election night in the books!