The Hickman's Trailer Trash American Tour: Was that a dream?

NYC in a little over 24 hours. Wow, what a whirlwind.

8/22, 8:30 AM: Got on the Bolt Bus in China Town in Washington D.C.

1PM: Arrive in NYC and take cab to St. Marks Hotel near Washington Square.

1:30PM: Walk to the Famous Katz's Deli for Pastrami on Rye: Best sandwich in the world

2:30 PM: Walk to Chinatown for some "underground shopping". Somer was able to update her wardrobe with 2 designer bags which she bought from a secret van down an alley street. Very interesting process. She totally paid full price, we promise.

4pm: Walked through Little Italy to find a Happy Hour/rest area. Stopped at Mulberry Street Bar for a beer. Gary swears he saw a rat run across the floor. We didn't care, it had AC and places to sit.

5pm: Matt Bado and Megan grab a slice of pizza from Frankie Cee's on Mulberry Street and Gary bought some handmade cigars.

5:15pm: Walked to Greenwich Village to stop in Peanut Butter & CO. A sandwich shop with only Peanut Butter sandwiches. Ex: PB&J, Fluffernutter and Peanut Butter Pie.

5:30PM: Returned to Wicked Willy's on Bleeker St, a bar we passed on the way to Peanut Butter & CO that said it had $5 pitchers. After ordering 2 pitchers, we discovered the $5 discount ended at 5pm. Oh well, we drank those 2 and moved on.

6pm: walk back to Hotel and on the way stopped at every flea market-esqe place on the way.

6:30-8pm: Cleaned up in Hotel; Pre-gamed for the night out.

8pm: Subway to Times Square. This is when the feeling of NYC really sunk in for us. It was amazing.

8:15: Found Irish place to eat down side street of Times Square.

10pm: Took Subway back to Greenwich Village and walked to The Bitter End where The Honors were playing at midnight. Many performers started their career there including Bob Dylan.

10:15pm: During walk from Subway station to The Bitter End, Somer's toes gave in too some pretty nasty blisters. We stopped at a drug store and dumped peroxide on her feet and taped up her blisters. She made it to the pub, but the tape wasn't working. Drug Store number 2 resulted in 2 pairs of thick house socks that would have to act as shoes until the end of the night. Very Stylish and anything goes in NYC right!?!

11PM: Entered The Bitter End just in time to finish listening to the band before The Honors. Can't remember who it was but they were pretty good. The Honors started around midnight and were fantastic!! The lead singer went to college with Matt Bado. They are unique and extremely talented and entertaining.

1:00am: Finished watching the band and headed back to the Hotel. Hung out at the Hotel and went to bed around 2:30am.

8/23, 9am: Woke up and focused on finding breakfast. Found a small Bagel shop called "Bagel Boss" on 3rd Ave.

11am: Took taxi too "Strawberry Fields" in Central Park. We saw the place where John Lennon was shot and the memorial that is in the park.

12pm: Taxi to Rockefeller Center. We took a tour of NBC studios and got to go into the studios for Brian Williams, Jimmy Fallon's Late Night and SNL. It was pretty incredible to actually be where the shows are filmed.

2pm: Taxi to Bleeker Street to eat at an open aired Italian restaurant called "Ciao". Everyone was satisfied and the food was, once again, amazing.

3:30pm: back to get our luggage at the hotel and taxi cab to Bus stop on 33rd and 7th near Madison Square Garden.

4:30pm: On the Bolt Bus and back to DC.

9pm: arrive in DC and late dinner at Busboys and Poets.

We were all so exhausted after the trip, we passed out when we got back to Matt and Bryan's. Yesterday we all had breakfast at Eggspectations and spent the rest of the afternoon at Fairfax Corner for Shopping and drinks. Several times we would all look at each other and wonder if the NYC trip really happened or if it was just a dream. We all had the best time. We think it was one of the best weekends of our lives.

The Banks and Colin left yesterday at 2:30. It was another emotional goodbye. We are ready to continue our journey now and are thinking of heading to Philly next. We want to see Gettysburg as well. After that we will most likely head up towards Maine before heading west.

Once again, it has been an amazing time so far. We feel like we have been gone forever and are missing everyone.

Arriving at St. Marks Hotel