NYC Trip #1 - The Lay of the Land - September 2015

Whelp, it's been a while since I've been able to post. Long story short, we're back in SLO and working on catching up to, well, everything. If you follow me on Facebook, you will be happy to know that I did find the rest of my shoes. Still looking for my sketchbook and the bag of souvenirs.

I still have hopes to blog about the rest of our trip, though. So here is Part I of our New York Adventures.

One of the things on my bucket list while we were back East was to spend as much time as possible in New York City. I had only been there once 25 years ago when my college Art History class took a field trip to MOMA for a Cubism exhibition*.  Dan and the kids had never been there.

From our house in Connecticut it was about a 2.25-hour trip from our door to Grand Central Station, which meant that day trips were feasible, although they were certainly long days. It was about an hour drive to the Stamford, CT train station. From there it was only an hour train ride to Grand Central. The Metro North trains were nice so it made for a relaxing ride.

Upon entering Grand Central Station for the first time, we took in the beautiful sight of the main hall, with its magnificent constellation mural on the ceiling. We had arrived!

The Main Hall

"Ooooh!"

Our main goal for the day was to wander around Midtown, hitting Rockefeller Center, Central Park and Times Square. Our first stop was lunch, however. We happened upon a great little sandwich shop/ Asian buffet eatery, so even the picky eater** was happy. We then walked to Rockefeller Center. On our way we happened upon Nintendo World, which if you know my kids, you will understand why we couldn't pass by.

Dan and a Mushroom

We finally made it to Rockefeller Center and took some touristy pictures. I loved the Art Deco architecture. Requisite photo:

 "Smile, kids!"

The flags were so pretty.

The courtyard down below where the ice-skating rink is in the winter was a lot smaller than it looked on TV.

The Lego Store was in Rockefeller Center so we stopped in.

 SO. MANY. LEGOS.

Next stop: Central Park, which meant walking several blocks up 5th avenue. We passed the famous Atlas statue.

 Loved the statue and the panels above the doors. The Lego store had a Lego version of the Atlas statue.

The kids were flagging a bit by the time we reached Central Park, so we bought them some ice cream.

 Yum!

We also bought a map from one of the street vendors. The $3 was well spent, as there are a ton of winding paths and hidden gems in Central Park. Our first stop was Hecksher Playground near the south-west corner of the park. Fortunately it was a pleasant, slightly warm day, as Hecksher Playground turned out to be a water park. Which of course meant that after about 5 minutes, both kids were soaking wet. They had a great time though. Alice found a couple of cohorts and they spent a good while "defending" a portion of the play structure. That portion included some water jets that they could redirect to spray on the other kids. I think one of her cohorts also had a container to fill and dump on the other kids. Good times.

 Also, Central Park has lots of great climbing rocks. The park was on the other side of the rock.

The other side of the rock. The Beginning.

 Wet and having a great time.

 Alice and her partner-in-crime guarding their position by the spray jets.

Wet but happy.

We walked south to Times Square. The weather forecast had called for intermittent showers all day, and we finally got caught in one. We wandered into the M&M store to wait it out. Turned out to be an excellent choice as the kids needed a bit of a pick-me-up and some M&Ms were just the ticket.

Charlie and I also had our photo taken with Yellow:

After the rain let up, we walked to Times Square. It was really neat to be there in person. Times Square is a square in the sense of a New England-type Square, which is to say, the plaza formed by the intersecting streets was not square in the least (triangular instead).

After taking in Times Square we walked back to Grand Central and took the train back to Stamford.

Personally, I thought Manhattan was terrific. It has a great energy, and I loved the vibrancy and bustle of the city. While living in San Luis Obispo is fantastic, I admit to being a big city girl at heart, and I felt at home in NYC. If I ever get the chance, I'd love to live there someday. Maybe Dan's next sabbatical? Hmmmm.

So that ends part one of our New York Adventures. Join me next time for NYC Part II: Electric Boogaloo***


*In the hour of free time we had in Manhattan prior to viewing the exhibit, I happened to meet Issac Asimov at a book signing. But that's another story.

**Charlie

***There was no actual Electric Boolagooing during part two, but I never pass up the opportunity to use the phrase "Electric Boogaloo".

Connecticut: The List Edition

This past Friday marked our 8th full week in Connecticut! We have been trying to make good use of our time here, as the weather will no doubt limit our tourist options in November and December. So far we have (in no particular order):


1. Visited Mystic, CT and the Mystic Seaport Museum of America and the Sea. We did not make it to Mystic Pizza. Next trip!

 Aboard the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship

2. Taken the train to NYC, and visited Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Times Square

 Times Square

3. Visited Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA

 Trying out the hoops

4. Red Sox game at Fenway Park (vs. Orioles!)

 Alice got a free Red Sox cap!

5. Quinnipiac Men’s Hockey Game
6. Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, VT. Yum!
7.  Spent 2 days in Montreal, QC.

 Atop Mont Royal

8. Visited the Pez Factory in Orange, CT
9.  Walked across the Hudson River on the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge in Poughkeepise, NY

10. Visited the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY
11. Taken the ferry to Block Island, RI

 At the Mohegan Bluffs

12. Visited the Yale Planetarium in New Haven, CT.
13. Visited the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, CT

After 8 weeks in Connecticut, here is my current assessment:

Stuff I Like About Living in Connecticut

1. Good bagels. Now I remember why I stopped eating bagels after we moved to CA.
2. Fall foliage
3. Apple picking in proper apple picking weather (i.e. not 80 degrees and dusty with bees everywhere)
4. Apple cider donuts
5. New York City is a day trip
6. Lots and lots of trees. If it’s not developed, then it’s forest.
7. Small class sizes in the schools
8. Lots of “extras” in the schools like fully funded art and music programs
9. School district has a gifted program
10. Free bus to school
11. Most streets are only two-lane so easy driving
12. Great town library with tons of books, activities and parking. Cheshire is smaller than SLO and their library is about twice as big. Plus, the library is only a 10 minute walk away!
13. Squirrels
14. The nearest Mall is only 15 minutes away
15. Chik-Fil-A
16. Cheap seltzer water
17. Self-checkout at the local supermarket and Costco (and the cool hand-held scanners at the supermarket.
18. Low gas prices ($2.20/gal or so recently)
19. Nearby gymnastics center offers a Ninja Warrior class with an actual American Ninja Warrior finalist (kids are loving it!)
20. Year-round indoor ice skating rinks
21. Local indoor trampoline jump zone
22. Nearby multi-use path at least 20 miles long. Also it's flat!
23. Huge Lands’ End section in the local Sears store.
24. Crunching through leaves while walking
25. Nearby IKEA

It's not all a bed of roses though:

 Stuff I Don't Like About Living Connecticut

1. Street lanes that suddenly appear and then just as suddenly disappear
2. Jerky drivers (Among other observed jerky behaviors, there seems to be a rule that you should never be the first to stop when a light turns red.)
3. Tailgaters (I’m looking at you, New York license plates)
4. People who smoke (too many)
5. People who litter (too many)
6. No street signs for major roads. Not that it really matters because the street name will change in a mile or two anyway so why bother to learn the name.
7. People are generally unwelcoming of outsiders (the kids have noticed this at school too)
8. Kids at school are generally noisy and not well behaved (or so my kids say).
9. Not much physical activity at school. They get about 15 minutes of recess at lunch and P.E once a week. Morning snack is eaten at their desk.
10. Cold weather. It’s not even that cold yet and I’m over it.
11. Kids have lots of homework
12. The school start times are staggered and the kids have a long bus ride in the afternoon so they don’t get home until 4:20. Really puts a dent in the afternoon.
13. The construction next door. Fortunately they mostly seem to be over the noisy part by now.

I think that sums up our first 8 weeks pretty well! Looking forward to seeing what the next 9-ish weeks hold. Hopefully snow at some point! (But not too much snow.)