Apedaile 6: Empire State Building

The iconic Empire State Building. It was so much fun to go to the 86th floor observation deck of this beauty. We started off our day here and we found that was the perfect time to go. We had minimal lines to wait for our turn up, but it was easy to see that during peak season that could easily be a several hour wait.

It was amazing to see all of the photography of the building, photos depicting how it was built, the history and even an audio tour. Since the crowds hadn't really formed, we walked right through those areas, so my photos were limited.

As soon as you enter one of the most familiar walls of the Empire State building that has been featured in many movies.

John, Lindsay and myself immediately started quoting lines from Elf where Buddy was entering the building trying to reach his father. It was so cool to see in person scenes from some of the movies I've watched over and over.

Stunning medallion in the floor. The entire building looked to be in such great shape and so clean- doesn't look like 4 million people visit it every year.

We we arrived to the top it was just quiet, beautiful views of the city. Freedom tower and the Statue of Liberty on the right greeted us.

If we stuck our heads through the gate, there were some great views of the streets.

Like this

Just seeing the Freedom tower in the distance started to bring about emotions of the magnitude of what happened here nearly 15 years ago. We would be visiting the Memorial later that day.

The Hudson river

It was so peaceful just to look across the city.

Lindsay absolutely loved the Empire State building

John and I enjoying our time with the birthday girl

Daddy & daughter

The windy side of the building!

View towards Central Park

Chrysler building in the distance

Once again, the wind made for some fun moments with my hair,

Lindsay taking advantage of the birds eye view

Buildings for days

One of my favorite photos of Lindsay and I on the trip

We had fun exploring the shop after we descended from the observation deck. It was so cute listening to some of the staff telling children that they had gorilla souvenirs because one helped to build the Empire State Building. Seeing the little ones eyes get so big was priceless!