I had the great privilege of being selected to carry out my bucket list wish, sponsored by ATKG, this past March. My number one bucket list item was to take my husband (SAFD Firefighter), Logan, to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. With the nature of his job, September 11th is always very near and dear to our hearts.
Neither of us had ever explored NYC but we could not have had a better time, with more enjoyable weather (We snuck in right between all the snow storms). We decided to do things a little differently and stayed in an AirBNB apartment in Brooklyn rather than a hotel. I cannot recommend this enough! Here are a few highlights from our experience in New York:
Day 1:
- Bay Ridge area in Brooklyn
- Staten Island Bridge
- First subway ride for the both of us
- The Original Grimaldi’s Pizzeria
- The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory – yes we had ice cream in 40 degree weather
- The Brooklyn Bridge
- The Manhattan Bridge
Day 2:
- Local bagel shops are the BEST!
- Time Square
- Central Park
- Rescue 1 fire station – this was the first rescue squad to arrive to the towers on 9/11
- The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum
- We walked over 10 miles this day!
Day 3:
This day deserves it’s very own couple of paragraphs. This is the day we finally got to carry out my bucket list wish. We scheduled a tour for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum as well as One World Trade Center. I highly suggest doing something like this to get all the history and timeline of that day before you actually see the memorial and museum.
When we got to the memorial, it was nothing that I could have prepared myself for. I knew it would be an emotional moment for the both of us, but watching my husband run his hand over every single Firefighter’s name on the memorial was more than I could handle. The waterfall of the memorial blocked out all the city sounds around us, so we were able to have this really special moment of remembrance.
After the memorial, we went on our tour of One World Trade Observatory. Make sure to have your camera ready when you take the elevator up! And if you’re afraid of heights…you may not enjoy this very much. The observatory made the Statue of Liberty look like one of those little toy army men. It was such an impressive building.
Lastly, we spent the next 4+ hours at the museum, and if we had any more energy we would have spent even more time. We would love to go back to the museum and see it again because your mind can’t possibly comprehend it all in a day! I won’t spoil the experience by telling you about all the exhibits, but be prepared to be in a place of complete somberness for the time you are there.
Logan and I would like to thank ATKG for this amazing experience. We will never forget this trip and the time spent together.
The ATKG Bucket List Program
The ATKG Bucket List program was designed to enhance the experience of being an ATKGer. Intended to help realize some of our ATKGer’s wildest, most “out there,” and “if only” dreams, the firm dedicates resources to helping our team fulfill these lifelong goals. At random times throughout the year, the partners will draw a card from the bucket identifying an ATKGer and his or her bucket list item!
