First Day In New York

We began our first day in New York by walking to Central Park. Even though we've seen pictures and scenes on TV and in movies set in the park, it is hard to imagine what it is really like without being there. It is so calm and peaceful in contrast the busy, bustling streets. Little quiet corners, playgrounds, a carousel. At this time of year there is a stark beauty and it is easy to imagine how stunning it must be at other times of the year. The girls immediately began climbing on the giant rocks in the park. We meandered over to The Lake which Laura says should be called Duck Lake because of all the ducks. The girls were taking lots of pictures with their digital cameras, so it was a slow walk, but ultimately, we ended up at the American Museum of Natural History.

At the museum, we met up with my friend Joy and her daughter, Alana. After standing in 3 lines - we kept getting in the wrong line, we finally got tickets and got in. Since today was President's Day it was quite crowded and lots more people than we are used to. By the time we were inside, it was lunch time, so we went and found a good lunch and then headed to the dinosaurs. There were rooms and rooms of dinosaur fossils from tiny little hand sized fossils to giant ones. It was very cool.

After the dinosaurs, we worked our way slowly down through a lot of the other exhibits - mostly animals and ended up at the Sea Life section. By the time we'd worked down to the 2nd or 3rd floor, the girls had warmed up to each other and were having fun finding choice animals. Laura's focus was on seeing a polar bear because she's been studying them in school even though I told her I could take her to see live ones at Point Defiance.

They clearly heated the building today expecting cold weather instead of the balmy high 50s and low 60s that we had instead and we were all happy to get out in the cool, fresh air. We wandered through the park and the girls all climbed and played together. We said goodbye to Joy and Alana and walked through Strawberry Fields and saw the John Lennon memorial, past the ice rink and on back to our hotel.

We had dinner at a fun little Italian place right near the hotel and had excellent home made pasta and rested our weary feet because as Laura explains, "City sight-seeing is stressful on your feet!" We'd talked of a little exploring after dinner, but the girls were done, so we've just been enjoying some quite time in the hotel room.