‘Cool Stuff’

July has been full of joy and ‘cool stuff!’ 

In 1973 I earned my undergraduate degree in elementary education  from James Madison University (right) and began teaching in Rockingham County, Virginia. Just as toddler years are formative in a baby’s growth, so were the first years of my teaching experience. For the third, fourth and fifth years (1976-1979) of teaching, I carpooled with the lovely ladies in the photo above to and from Plains Elementary (left). Let’s do the math. One hour a day, 200 school days a year for three years equals a whole lotta’ problem solving, griping and wonder! Our lives were a cacophony of moments that we have picked right up again. After  35 years the beautiful experiences we shared keep us glued together – almost trapped in a past time. Cheers!

In addition to a Virginia home visit savoring house and family (left), we took a few days to visit Gotham!

 

“Manhattan is basically this island in New York, where all the cool stuff is located.”         ― Jason Medina, The Diary of Audrey Malone Frayer

Located in the Financial District, our hotel, the Millenium Hilton, looked directly over the South Pool and Freedom Tower. So many times I gasped, gazed and remembered that day from 9/11/01. The place is buzzing with reverent tourists and parents trying to explain it to children.

I am not yet smart enough to figure out the Subway System on my own, so walking and cabs were my way around. While John brushed up on his Tax Law skills in a seminar, I got to eat Katz’s Deli pastrami, get my hair braided, shop, scream with the audience in a live THE VIEW television show and of course hit Broadway.

Here’s where we had our photo taken because it was where we wanted to be! (left-HAMILTON) We just glared at the lucky (and broke) people standing in line and ‘shuffled along’ to where we had tickets. The show closed the next day. (That’s a topic for a whole other blog. ALL that AMAZING tap dancing, singing, acting and talent gone dark.) There is a lot of construction in Times Square right now and triple the number of people from the Financial District, so wear tennis shoes and grit your teeth.

Here is what we did and will not do again. Stand in line with other herded tourists in blazing, sweltering sun for an hour waiting to ride a water taxi out to Lady Liberty. While she is worth the wait, we stayed on the boat and rode back to avoid more hot lines. The cab driver taking us to the airport to go home gave us a tip. I share it with you since it is too late for us. Take a train or water taxi to the Jersey side of the Hudson River, and take the water taxi from there to visit Ellis Island and the Statue. In his words, “There’s enough room on boats from that side to play soccer on board.”

Home to pack for the next Brown-Crawford Escapade: ALASKA!