It's funny how in the span of a couple of days one can go from this:
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| Central Park, Across the Reservoir |
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| Central Park West |
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| Strawberry Fields in the morning. |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sackler Room |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sackler Room |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sackler Room |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| She was so close she could see each of Van Gogh's brushstrokes. Quiet squeals of joy. |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, Picasso. |
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monet's Rouen Series |
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| Near the end of the trip. You can tell, right? |
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And bam! We're back. Sophie is back to school today and I'm back to this.
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| Except she looks much better than I do while I'm doing chores. |
From magical adventure to loading the dishwasher, scooping the litterboxes and wondering how much fiber can be counted in all that cat hair you inadvertently consume. This is life, isn't it? If it weren't for the dreary days of the mundane, I suppose we wouldn't appreciate the little sidetrips into fun and whimsy.
And still, I titled this one
I know how she feels......
Thank you for the well wishes. We had a great time. It's something we wouldn't have done if we'd thought it through properly because there were definitely a couple of times where I fretted about the details, but there was no turning back. We tossed a few clothes and toiletries in a bag and left our comfort zone. We were rewarded for it by learning that we can manage a trip like this on very little money and have lots of fun together on our own. And that's the lesson I'm sure Sophie and I will take from this. Oh, and that the Cuban food at Sophie's rocks. Right,
GMB? (Thanks for lunch!)
What's the most spontaneous trip you've ever taken?
And all I can think is "wow"! Visiting New York is something I've always wanted to do - one day, maybe :-)
ReplyDeletePhil, if the opportunity ever arises, take it! It was a great trip to a great city.
ReplyDeleteTo the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteI SO wish I could spontaneously go to NYC. I miss it so much sometimes I search out old episodes of Sex and the City.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home to the glamour of regular life. For me, it's always the horror in exactly how many handfuls of cat hair I pull from the lint trap after I wash the sheets. Maybe the cats and I are a little too close.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see that Monet Rouen series I break out in a cold sweat. My art history final had 3 of them on it and we had to pick the right one for the right season and year and they can bite me!
ReplyDeleteThe Met is so expensive. I used to donate a dollar to get in but I've heard they cut out that practice? Yes, no?
What a great trip. I love New York. And spontaneous is good, especially when you get to have an adventure with your daughter.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I went on a spontaneous trip I was single and just drove up to Mendocino in hopes of finding a place to stay - and I did. I enjoyed it so much I did it a few more times.
ReplyDeleteI think you may be on to something when you say that dreary mundane makes us appreciate fun whimsy.
ReplyDeleteHere's to more whimsy for all.
Did you see the Vermeers?
ReplyDeleteThis was a very good thing and I'm delighted it all turned out as it did. Acts of kindness often have such surprising results, don't they? You both got to see MOMA as well.. I may be a little envious about that particular bit but thanks for the pictures. I've seen the brush strokes already but it's always a thrill.
ReplyDeleteOnce I went to England on less than a week's notice. About 3 days actually.
ReplyDeleteThere was one time in college that my roommate and I drove from Oswego NY to Niagara Falls, Canada... in a day, because we could. Then the next day we drove the other way from Oswego and went to Gananoque, Ontario! Neither day was planned prior to about 5 minutes before we got in the car.
I am *so* glad that you did this!! And you met GMB, isn't she great?
NYC is a blast, went with my son when the orange flags were in Central Park. an excellent decision on your part.
ReplyDeleteAfter we parted, I thought about how lucky Sophie was. I mean you ran with the opportunity instead of overthinking it. It was spontaneous and you both enjoyed yourself. I hope that Sophie had a world of fun and always remembers your adventure. I thought it was very cool.
ReplyDeleteI took a trip like that with Slim once, I didn't realize it was a holiday. Hotels and campgrounds were booked. We cooked dinner at a roadside stop, I drove and drove, trying to hide my anxiety about finding a place to sleep. Shit like that usually has a way of working itself out, you know what I mean? Looks like you had a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool how you just up and went. I could totally see the "before kids" me doing that but as a parent, it's an impossible vision. You've given me something to aspire to. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI took a high speed ferry from Malta to Sicily for a day because I was already in Malta for a user conference and had a spare day tacked on the end of the trip (because my itinerary was screwed up) but that was back during the road warrior days and things like that just sort of seemed so normal and now? Oh hell, I spontaneously went grocery shopping at lunch last week. It was nearly too much too much.
ReplyDeleteA friend and I once took a drive out to the lake, ended up picking up a couple of hitchhikers and driving them all the way to the Grand Canyon.
ReplyDeleteOverloaded with brains, that's me.
A group of us girls cut our last class on a Friday, jumped in the car, and drove to Mystic Connecticut because we wanted to go to Mystic Pizza. We did, and the pizza was fantastic, the people, not so friendly, crashed in a cozy hotel overnight and then ventured on to Narragansett, Rhode Island, where we stayed in a rooming-house type hotel with a huge porch and I sat on the seawall in the morning watching the water. I was very happy to see my Narragansett on the Weather Channel last week during the hurricane, and that it fared well with minimal damage. That town and that trip will always remind me of that intense, aching longing of being twenty and in love with the wrong person.
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