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Journal for 4 Jun 2010: NYC and Everything After

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Well, we had quite a week in New York. Despite the challenges of traveling with a three-year-old, we had a pretty good time, and Mathias seemed to get a kick out of our hotels, of all things. While we did make one brief trip into the city, for the most part we stayed up in Westchester and Connecticut, places we could, in theory, be living in a few years. Lisa has pretty much bought in on Westchester county, although depending on what we can find about air quality—a concern since we’re pretty confident at this point that Mathias has at least a mild form of asthma—I may make a push for Brooklyn at some point. Some of the communities we saw in Westchester and Connecticut were pretty nice, but in some ways I feel like moving there would be like running a marathon only to settle down one foot short of the finish line.

One area I may want to look into—and I’m kind of surprised I’m saying this—is Queens. I drove through it after dropping off Lisa and Mathias at JFK, and, you know, it didn’t look that bad. On the flip side, we are no longer considering Staten Island—it came somewhat recommended by someone who grew up there, which, in retrospect probably biased that person’s opinion. Lisa had some pretty grim comments on New Jersey that I generally agree with, but I may still be open to looking at some of the leafy areas to the north. Again, though, the end result would be the city taunting me every day on the commute home, but that’s life.

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Our travels between Minnesota and New York provided some of the most unexpected events of the trip. Lisa and Mathias went by air, which aside from Delta trying to put Mathias in a seat a number of rows away from his mom, generally went pretty well. The return trip, however, was kind of eventful. About 25 minutes into their trip they were pulled back to JFK, where they found the plane surrounded by cop cars, and, to the best Lisa could tell, someone was removed from the plane. They were then hit by a weather delay, and when all was said and done, they spent almost nine hours on a flight that should have taken less than three.

While me driving out by car saved us a fair amount of money, and give me the opportunity to visit friends in Ohio and Wisconsin, Indiana made my car pay for it. Not only did my air conditioning go out, but a dump truck launched a large rock at my windshield, putting an inch-and-a-half spider-web crack right in the middle of it. So, uh, time for me to call Progressive on that one.

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And with that, we’re off to central and northeastern Wisconsin for a visit with Lisa’s grandmother, a visit to Mathias’ grandmother (my mom), and a birthday party. Because, hey, what everyone wants to do after driving 3400 miles is drive 700 more.

Posted in Journal,Travelog at 5:31 pm

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