The Best Laid Plans...

...the one in which I am clearly frustrated...but an unexpected bonus makes everything better....

Another leisurely morning...we sleep in a little, and then enjoy the free breakfast that the hotel provides. Our morning plan is to head to Times Square, and begin a fun, interactive "scavenger hunt" that I had found online by a company called Stray Boots.



As explained on their website, Stray Boots offers a phone application that allows participants to "embark on an urban adventure...by solving fun clues, discover cool spots, learn a thing or two." Each game runs approximately $12 a person, and after downloading the app on your phone, you can have fun by following the clues and learning some trivia along the way. It was ranked #49 out of 419 activities in NYC on TripAdvisor - so, what the heck? Why not have some fun, right?

Different cities are offered, including, obviously, New York City...and there are several different games to choose from within NYC. I had downloaded a couple, including one that was to take place near Times Square/Broadway...so that's where we headed on the subway.

Once we arrived at our starting point, I attempted to pull up the app on my cell phone:



...only to receive an error message.

Drat. So, I tried again - only to receive the same error message.

Well. This was frustrating. Especially when it's a very hot & humid morning...and we're standing on 42nd Street. Which is like the Tourist Magnet of the World when you're in the Times Square area...it's CRAZY busy this morning, and besides having to fight the barbarians, I'm now having to fight technology.

So, I googled "Stray Boots" on my phone, so that I could call them to see what was up. After several rings, I finally was talking to a live person...after telling him the problem, he said he'd send an update to the phone, and hopefully, this would work.

It didn't.

GAH.

We never could get the Times Square/Broadway game to work...but I don't want to give Stray Boots a bad review here, as we used them later in the week with great success, for a Scavenger Hunt at the Natural History Museum. It was just frustrating that we could never get this particular game to load up on my cell phone.

Well. You can see how much fun Daughter was having at this point:




We decided to improvise and explore Times Square on our own. We first found Lady Liberty, decorated in honor of the All Star Game that was coming later to NYC:




We then found one of the "Apples on Parade" - which are giant apples decorated in honor of the All Star Game, as well:



These apples are all over the city right now, and are pretty cool.

We visited the giant ferris wheel at Toys R Us, where we found another apple:



There is a website that shows the locations of ALL of the Apples - for each MLB team - and we learned that the Kansas City Royals, my home team - would be found near Rockefeller Center...we never found their apple, but I found an image online, and thought I would share it here:


Slugger, our mascot!!!



We then visited the Hard Rock Cafe, where I managed to snag a cool pin:



I had REALLY wanted this pin last winter, when I worked in Manhattan for Hurricane Sandy...but I had never made it to the store. So, this was an unexpected BONUS to be able to finally score this pin! 100% of the proceeds of this pin went to the American Red Cross...so, DOUBLE BONUS!!!!

We had fun on our own, and so who needs technology, anyway?! Soon, it was time to hop on the subway, check The Plan, and head down to Greenwich Village, for our next tour:



On to the Village....