Glad to say we made it to and from New York on Saturday with no major malfunctions. We were all pretty fried having gotten up at 5AM. And despite the fact that I smelled like a homeless person for the many pee stops I’d made without the benefit of a bathroom app, we enjoyed our sight-seeing gauntlet.
Although he puked on the bus going up after playing with the video game thing, the five-year son was fairly well-behaved. He stood perfectly still when told to “stay” in a loud commanding voice. We always had a hold of him. And when my husband put him up on his shoulders, he was safer and happier. He never really complained. And I held a pleasant temperament even though I saw my exhausted husband twitching now and again.
We saw the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center. We took three taxis. One took us west and south from mid-town to Ground Zero. And the next took us east and north to Bryant Park. I snapped pictures from the cab of the beautiful architecture of that old city. And we shopped. Husband and child were very patient for the shopping. I wanted to see windows and I did.
I have never visited NYC before. One trip to the Javitz Center doesn’t count. Thanks to my mother, I always thought I should be scared. But I grew up in Baltimore and have rolled around DC a little. And it felt the same to me. Yes the avenues stretch longer in front of you. But when you’re in the middle of the block, it’s all the same. It felt comfortable to me and I was surprised. And it was very clean. My mom still wanted to disagree with me when I told her this.
So thumbs up for the endeavor. Our 20-year-old charge turned 21 at midnight. Her present was the ticket to go, dinner there, and I took her for her first drink up the street at our pub after we arrived home. I was the photog to take the fateful picture. She chose an old-fashioned. The first one went down fine. The second was like battery acid in her stomach. But damn-it we did it.
And yes, we’re already figuring out what we’ll be doing the next time we go. My husband wanted to revisit the Carnegie Deli. I wanted to see Mr. Pink’s or the ABC store. And seeing play or a show would be stupendous. Or Central Park in spring. Yeah for me and my family and my children for seeing the broader world.
