by Paige Walton

The date: December 15, 2006. The occasion: a girls’ weekend to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. The destination: New York City. It was six in the morning and none of us are normally kind until noon, but on this day we were animated and happy and we hadn’t even consumed our caffeine yet. After an hour-long inspection at the San Antonio airport, we were finally on our way. Upon arrival, we jumped into the shuttle with other tourists and began our journey. It took two split-seconds for our fight-or-flight reflexes to kick in as our driver zoomed through the tunnels at an alarming rate. This guy swerved and honked and laughed at the terror he saw plastered on our frightened faces. Our version of traffic is a sporadic trip through Dallas, not a free-for-all on an underground Autobahn for heaven’s sake! Checking into the hotel was a much calmer experience and then we headed to our second destination, of which we were most apprehensive: the dreaded New York subway. Everyone always says that Manhattan subways are frightening, so that is exactly what we expected. Well, everyone is wrong. People were extremely nice; even when I gave the wrong address to a local, she kindly put us on the correct path – after laughing at our “ya’ll’s” and “ma’am’s”, of course. Like many tourists, one of my favorite places to visit was the Statue of Liberty. We arrived early, stood in serpent-shaped lines, and were some of the lucky few who procured tickets to enter the statue for the day. We spent hours going through the screening process: taking off our boots and belts; emptying handbags; having our hair blown to bits with bomb-detecting machinery; mingling with people from all over the globe. As we entered the sacred structure, our guide gave us an invaluable education on the precious gift from the French and sent us off to roam the museum-like halls. We watched history come alive as we read about those who created and assembled Lady Liberty. We saw children compare their bodies to the size of her toe. We read stories and noted brilliant architecture. Then, we made our one dismal decision of the trip: do we take the elevator up or climb the stairs? “We can climb those stairs,” my friend Meagan said. “It can’t be that bad,” Michelle agreed. “We’re still young,” Kellye added. “We can do it!” “Let’s go!” I decided. The rest is a New York nightmare. We began the climb at a fast pace. We started at the bottom and headed quickly up the structure, noting the spiral staircase and the sections of the statue that are no longer permissible. We climbed and climbed and climbed. We huffed and we puffed. And then we got the giggles. “We are idiots!” Kellye cackled. “Why didn’t we take the elevator?” Michelle guffawed. Meagan and I were laughing so hard that we couldn’t continue climbing and inhale vital oxygen at the same time. We had to sit down. We had to catch our breath. We had to stop the fits of hysterics. We had to wipe the tears from our faces. We had to move over and make room for the smarter people who were walking down the stairs after their elevator ride up. Note to future vacationers: when asked by Statue of Liberty officials if you would rather take the elevator than the stairs – do the intelligent thing: TAKE THE ELEVATOR! Although I’d do it again tomorrow, laughing our heads off in the Stature of Liberty simply because of a dumb staircase was something that made our trip all the more memorable. The three-day adventure was the most amazing thing I’ve experienced to date. I’ve always done something fun for my birthday but this trip took the cake! We ate pizza and splurged on scrumptious cheesecake. We visited the obvious tourist sights: Fifth Avenue, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Macy’s, Tiffany’s, and many other fabulous places. What we saw in three days should be more like a two-week vacation. Our feet were tired, our minds were overwhelmed, and our bank accounts screamed, but we reveled in the entertainment of it all. Christmas in New York is something that everyone should experience. I regret that we didn’t go ice skating, nor did we take in the views from atop the Empire State Building. But I’m definitely headed back. It’s not a question; it’s just another trip that I’ll soon never forget. Next time though…I’ll take the elevator.