23
Apr
2010
“well… I’m back.”
The road goes ever on and on, but damned if I’m gonna walk another step for a while. Dani and I did a whole lotta walkin’ this week. That’s why I’ve missed so many daily doodles, and this week’s update! That’s right, New York City!
We took an Amtrak train from Boston to NYC, and met my brother and his fiancee at their lovely abode. We gladly took the shelter they offered, and broke bread with them… in this case, pizza crust with onions and sausage!
Traveling is hungry work! Dani and I shuttled across Massachusetts and ate at every stop! A coffee here, a sandwich there, splitting a turkey flatbread melt. Our fellow travelers whisk by, contained in electronic bubbles – phones, laptops, e-readers and headphones close them off from us the way newspapers and novels used to. Not Dani and I. For once, neither of us is driving. Danielle points windows and shows me people playing with dogs.
After crashing at Kevin’s, we set off at 9 AM for our Big New York Tourist Thing: The American Museum of Natural History!
I realize too late I look very different from the ID taken four years ago. My hair is cropped, I’m clean shaven. Thankfully, nothing comes of it.
The museum is awesome in the true definition of the word. It inspires awe that people created such a large monument to knowledge and history! Seeing it for the first time since I was a child was transporting. I thought it was my childhood memory exaggerating the size of the place, but it’s enormous! (TWSS) As Danielle and I enter the third floor Allosaur and Apatosaur diorama, she sighs heavily and turns to me with sparkling, grateful but tired eyes.
“That was really fun! I’m glad we made it all the way to the dinosaurs!”
I nod in agreement. “Of course, most of the fossils are above us, on the fourth floor.”
Her mouth hangs open for a moment. “There’s a FOURTH FLOOR?”
I guess the Museum of Science in Boston doesn’t compare.
By now a dull burn had soaked into my legs, up through the street and feet and creeping its way to my knees. Throbbing aches remind me I’m way out of shape, that carrying four days’ worth of clothing and gear is not something I often do. My eyelids are heavy, my ears are clogged and sinus pressure grows in my skull. I hurt. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
