NYC Images

On Saturday, first thing we did, (at 4 pm when we finally got into town) was check out the Guggenheim Museum. It was mostly a waste of time.

From there we walked through Central Park, but not the cool part. We did the sections that are never the backdrops for Romantic Comedy Movies. This is the reservoir:

Max wanted to walk all the way around it.

Clint did not.

We compromised by walking through the park longer than Clint would have liked. (He had shopping on his mind.)

This (above) is a protected area - for ducks. It was gross and slimy and thick and green.


Central Park was pretty and a change of pace from tall buildings and quiet museums, but Drew was bored and Clint was restless.

They did allow me to check out a castle in the park though...

... they gave me 10 minutes to look around.

I was thrilled to be able to watch this couple get married:

Not a happy looking bride, but still. A wedding! In Central Park! Beside the Castle! (Over looking the slough...)

I loved the old architecture. So beautiful compared to the skyscrapers.

Stately and elegant.

At one point in my life, I think I could have imagined living in style like this:

But after this trip, I realized I'm not much of a city girl.

I like houses with yards. I like driving a car. I like it to be quiet at night.
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From Central Park we went to Grand Central Station. I could have sat and people-watched for hours. My traveling companions had other plans. (On our way out we saw another wedding; 8 bridesmaids in black, 8 groomsmen in black. Striking.)

(By the way, Grand Central Station was HUGE with lots of wide underground hallways and many empty meeting rooms off the main hall. Quite somethin.)

At 9 pm I thought we'd head over to the Brooklyn Bridge to take some night shots, but Clint had other plans. He slipped away and left us standing at the edge of Times Square, confused.

After a few tears were shed (mine) and anger was expressed (Max) and a search of the area proved unsuccessful, Max and Drew concluded that he had ditched us and we should carry on without him.

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Max got us a cab and we walked across the Bridge:

It was fabulous. One of my favourite things we did.

I was expecting to walk on a sidewalk beside the traffic next to the edge of the bridge. I was totally not prepared for the awesome set up they have - we walked down the centre of the bridge on a pier-like structure ABOVE the traffic.

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It was so awesome. And warm. And beautiful. With a cool off-the-river breeze.

From up there we could see bridges in both directions as well as the New York skyline.

I really wished Clint could have walked across with us, as his pics would have been spectacular ...

From there we took a cab back to the bowels of Hell (Harlem) and waited for Clint to show up.

When he wasn't home by midnight, I started second-guessing our interpretation of earlier events... maybe we shouldn't have left the downtown core to go to the bridge. Maybe he had just gone to the bathroom - and when he came back, we were gone. What kind of person leaves her son in New York? We had his backpack... did he even have any money to get home? Was he mad at us for not waiting for him?

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At 1 am there were gunshots in our neighbourhood and I was getting a stomach ache from fear. By 2 am, Max and Drew were both watching the window for a taxi. (Above all else, I was praying that he had the sense to take cab back and NOT be some hard core idiot and ride the subway just so he'd have a story to tell afterwards.

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At 2:30 I was crying and fearing the worst, facebook chatting with Julie and Janice and praying that he'd come home safe.

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At 3 am, he got out of a taxi and walked into the suite saying "whaaaa?" as we all started yelling at him. He had watched us leave from across the intersection earlier in the evening and spent the rest of the night walking to the lower east side, checking out the 'scene'.

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He's 22.

And that was one of the worst nights of my life.

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On Sunday, we didn't get up til noon, and it took forever for us to get moving after that.

We made it into Manhattan in time for the matinee showing of The Lion King (our first Broadway musical) - which was all kinds of wonderful, and from there we went back to our place, packed up and headed to the airport.

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There were many, many high points to the trip, and in time, I'm sure I'll get over the whole mess of emotions I dealt with on the last night of our trip. It was a learning experience... New York isn't Disneyland and children that are 22, 18 and 14 don't want to spend their whole vacation at their mom's side.

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As I watched all those young moms with their babies and young children on the plane, I mourned the loss of having kids who looked at you with love and total dependence in their eyes. In the grand scheme of things, in the circle of life, if you will, children look elsewhere for their needs to be met. And I know in my brain that that's a good thing - for children to be independent. But during this transition stage, it's hard, you know?

(It's now almost 4 am and I'm tired of fighting with this laptop. It keeps shutting down on me... this entry has taken over 4 hours to post.) I will finish my thoughts later gators.

Shalom,