A part of my extended birthday celebration, sprite and I went on a overnight trip to New York City to see a Broadway show. It was a quick trip – we were there and back within 36 hours – but worth going.

We flew up and back on Independence Air, a new, low-frills airline that is based at Dulles Int’l Airport. It’s a schlep to Dulles from Dupont, but we made it there in time for our mid-morning flight. After arriving at JFK airport, we used the new, all-automatic AirTrain to get to the A train to NYC.

Once in Manhattan, we got off the train near the WTC crater to find TKTS at South Street Seaport. We passed the Strand Books Annex, which sucked us in with its bargain-priced books, then continued to the Seaport. I told sprite that she should surprise me with the show choice (though I had given her a list of shows I wanted to see, just so she wouldn’t get something totally out of my interests), and she bought tickets. After a quick trip to the Gap (yes, we have ’em in the District, too), where we bought a shirt (me) and a belt (sprite), we made our way to SoHo and Greenwich Village to find some lunch and do a little more shopping.

In the Village, we stopped for lunch at Les Quinze, a Belgian/Francophone bistro on Houston. We ate in the sun, munching on croque monsieur, grilld baguette with brie, and some wonderful, thin frites. After enjoying our late lunch, we then strolled to Purl, a yarn shop in SoHo. After that, we called our friend Erik to see if he could meet up with us. After arranging to meet him at Union Square, we stopped by Porto Rico to get some fresh coffee beans, Classic Toys to seek out some new additions to the desk toy armada, and Generation Records to scope out some cheap tunes.

Erik arrived at Union Square about 10 minutes early, so we hoofed it up to meet him. From there, we walked to our hotel so we could drop off our bags and change for the evening’s doings. We stayed at the Marcel Hotel, a very chic hotel in Gramercy Park. It was very nice, though a bit pricey, and we couldn’t find a truly recednt elevator inspection certificate. But the room was nice, with an earthy color scheme and a soft bed. If we could get the room for cheaper, we’d stay there again.

sprite called Erica, her college roommate, to see if she could meet up with us before our show. She works close to Madison Square Park, so we met her a few blocks up from the hotel. Erica, Erik, sprite and I spent a lovely half-hour chatting and people watching at Madison Square Park, enjoying the late-afternoon sun, before we had to hit the subway to Times Square for our show.

sprite had kept the show’s identity a secret until we walked up to the theatre – we were going to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, one of my top choices! And it was most enjoyable! The movie version, released in 1988, is a sly comedy, and it translates beautifully to the stage. I can completely understand why John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara were all nominated for Tonys: they all work well together, and the songs are a creative blend of farce and satire. sprite also had a great time, though we both thought the intermission was hurried, as we had to guzzle our extremely hot drinks, burning our palates in the process.

We had a late dinner at the Sunflower Diner on 3rd Avenue, which was decent (Tuesday nights are not the best for finding great eats in NYC after 10 pm). We headed back to the hotel for a short night’s sleep, and nearly missed our return flight due to the s-l-o-w subway on the J line. It made both of us long for the clean, fast Metro trains.

But we’re back, we had a great time, and I thank sprite for the wonderful birthday trip!