New York City, Come Hell or High Water!
The editor of the Unconscionable Objector, along with my indulgent and long suffering wife, have just returned from the Big Apple. That’s right: New York City, which would be in the general vicinity of where I grew up before moving to the Burgh.*
I'm sure I won't disappoint anyone by changing the subject away from political blather for a few posts.
It was a short trip. We were really there for only two and half days, but we packed a lot in and we had a great time. I feel like I've been gone for a week. This is good. I needed a vacation.
We were lucky we made it at all. We were supposed to leave Thursday morning and we were supposed to be staying at the New York Athletic Club, a very posh private club located at 59th and 7th - Central Park South. My dad knows someone who is a member and we were able to book rooms. The idea was to meet my parents, stay the club and enjoy the city. Unfortunately, my mom got sick and my parents decided to go back to Florida early(she's fine). My dad, who is well meaning but kind of dense sometimes, made an assumption that because they were leaving we would not be coming. After all, this wasn't our vacation that we'd been planning for six months, and there wouldn’t be any reason we’d ever want to go to New York City other than to see my parents...... nooooo. So anyway, along with canceling the remainder of his own reservation he also cancelled ours. This would be Wednesday and we're supposed to arrive on Thursday around noon.
Did I mention that we'd been planning this trip for six months?
This week was also the tail end of fashion week AND the United Nations summit. Lots of reasonably priced hotel rooms to be had in mid-town. Noooo problem.
We were forced to compromise, and I do mean compromise.
We wound up at the La Quinta Inn in Secaucus NJ. Yes folks: Secaucus. If you're not familiar with Secaucus let me give you a little background. The town is essentially re-claimed swampland that for a hundred years was used a land fill. Lotsa garbage. Panoramic shots of this general area appear in the opening credits of the Sopranos. About fifteen years ago someone got the bright idea to take the wetlands that were not already burried in garbage and fill them in to build a few office buildings and some big-box retail. It has since grown to become an ocean of asphalt that rivals New York City, but with absolutely none of the city's finer amenities. In the midst of this sea of tranquility is where we stayed, in a hotel that was a little worn and at a location that had all the charm of a Walmart parking lot. It was, however, clean and very convenient to Manhattan with a bus leaving every ten minutes from the front door. We didn't spend much time there in any case and it did not ruin our trip by any means.
The next few posts will be the highlights.
(*I actually grew up in New Jersey, but only ten miles from mid-town and I never owned and IROC. All my family was from the city and that's how I identified. This may also explain why I never fully warmed up to the Boss.)
I'm sure I won't disappoint anyone by changing the subject away from political blather for a few posts.
It was a short trip. We were really there for only two and half days, but we packed a lot in and we had a great time. I feel like I've been gone for a week. This is good. I needed a vacation.
We were lucky we made it at all. We were supposed to leave Thursday morning and we were supposed to be staying at the New York Athletic Club, a very posh private club located at 59th and 7th - Central Park South. My dad knows someone who is a member and we were able to book rooms. The idea was to meet my parents, stay the club and enjoy the city. Unfortunately, my mom got sick and my parents decided to go back to Florida early(she's fine). My dad, who is well meaning but kind of dense sometimes, made an assumption that because they were leaving we would not be coming. After all, this wasn't our vacation that we'd been planning for six months, and there wouldn’t be any reason we’d ever want to go to New York City other than to see my parents...... nooooo. So anyway, along with canceling the remainder of his own reservation he also cancelled ours. This would be Wednesday and we're supposed to arrive on Thursday around noon.
Did I mention that we'd been planning this trip for six months?
This week was also the tail end of fashion week AND the United Nations summit. Lots of reasonably priced hotel rooms to be had in mid-town. Noooo problem.
We were forced to compromise, and I do mean compromise.
We wound up at the La Quinta Inn in Secaucus NJ. Yes folks: Secaucus. If you're not familiar with Secaucus let me give you a little background. The town is essentially re-claimed swampland that for a hundred years was used a land fill. Lotsa garbage. Panoramic shots of this general area appear in the opening credits of the Sopranos. About fifteen years ago someone got the bright idea to take the wetlands that were not already burried in garbage and fill them in to build a few office buildings and some big-box retail. It has since grown to become an ocean of asphalt that rivals New York City, but with absolutely none of the city's finer amenities. In the midst of this sea of tranquility is where we stayed, in a hotel that was a little worn and at a location that had all the charm of a Walmart parking lot. It was, however, clean and very convenient to Manhattan with a bus leaving every ten minutes from the front door. We didn't spend much time there in any case and it did not ruin our trip by any means.
The next few posts will be the highlights.
(*I actually grew up in New Jersey, but only ten miles from mid-town and I never owned and IROC. All my family was from the city and that's how I identified. This may also explain why I never fully warmed up to the Boss.)
posted by Unconscionable at 8:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home