Also, no one likes getting sick a week or two before Christmas or during Chanukah.
So, we've decided to start scheduling a day trip in lieu of our weekend long camping trip - last year we walked the Cannonball Trail in Oakland, NJ, and this year (despite my better judgement of having us near "normal" people) we find ourselves wandering the urban canyons of the Big Apple.
Why the NYC? Well, first of all, in my 21 years with the troop, we have never been to the one city that is less than an hour from our homes. Second, NY is a pretty cool place in general, and even more so during the holiday season. With 3 story high Christmas trees, ornaments the size of mountains and Christmas lights the size of Fiats, why not go to the city that never sleeps?
Our day started in the parking lot of the Willowbrook Mall, waiting for a bus that wasn't packed with Santas who were heading in for the Santa Run... in the Village? (We never did bother to look into it). Between the Santas and the elves who were... let's just say that it wasn't proper cold weather clothing for female elves it took two buses before we found room, and after a brief ride into Port Authority, we headed down into the subway to catch a ride to the American Museum of Natural History.
Which was great, as the subway stop is underneath the museum at 81st.
We spent about 3 hours wandering the halls of the museum, learning about the history of both man and beast, and then had a lunch at the museum cafeteria. Hopefully, they learned something - you didn't expect me to wander into the city with the troop and not attempt to at least make them learn something, did you?
From the museum we hit the city streets, wandering through Central Park, southeast to 5th Avenue to see all the window displays and building decorated for the season. As expected, the streets were packed with tourists, but despite that, we got to see a lot, including St. Patrick's cathedral. We had intended to get close to the the tree in Rockefeller Center, but unless we knew someone in one of the office buildings, that just wasn't happening. The closest we got was two blocks away, packed in so tight that you couldn't raise your cell phone to your ear to answer it!
We worked our way down to the NYC Public Library (which was beautifully done itself) and said goodbye as one of our Scouts was picked up for dinner with his family in the city.
From there we made our way to Times Square, where we saw Spongebob, Dora, and several other characters wandering the streets. We spent time taking in all the sights and sounds of the center of the New Year's universe, then made our way back to Port Authority.
Where we spent an hour waiting to even get on a bus (I guess we deserve that for going in during the peak tourist season).
A very nice day wandering the city. (It isn't often I say that.) Pictures are here.
No comments:
Post a Comment