adventure – Page 2 – hellomelissa.net

I fear that I have lost my mind.

Sean, Flora and I are traveling to New Brunswick on Friday for a week-long vacation. Sean’s extended family is down there and Flora and I have never been. I’m excited about the trip, but I am freaking out about the journey. We’ve never done this long a road trip with Flora before. Naturally, I haven’t even started packing yet. I’ve thought about what to pack, but I haven’t actually begun the act of packing those things into the various suitcases, totes and bags that we’ll need. I’ve been making lists (mental and written) and every time I say “we need to bring _____________”, Sean says “don’t forget, we’re renting a compact car”.

Sean is also one of those people who will drive non-stop until he has to get gas, coffee or go pee. He has been informed that he won’t be doing that with his wife or daughter in the car, but I fear that we will push the limits of our endurance.

I’ve done the things the interwebs tell me to do: we’ve bought a portable DVD player and loaded up on Dora, I bought some surprise toys for the car and I plan to bring out some old favourites. I will make sure to have the essentials in easy reach: snacks, drinks extra diapers/clothes and blankets. And garbage bags. And this. And that. And lots of other things.

(Pictured at right: the generic-brand MagnaDoodle the interwebs told me was good for the car. It was a hit when Flora tested in Monday night, so I hope it’ll still be good in the car.)

I know this is possible and I’m probably overthinking it to death, but I suspect that this is going to be less of a vacation and more of a test of my parenting and wife-ing skills.

Any tips on how to make this easier for all of us? Either way, if you could just send me some kind thoughts on Friday/Saturday and again on Canada Day (when we come home), I would be very grateful. In the meantime, I’ll try not to have a nervous breakdown packing and I’ll take some nice pictures of our trip for everyone.

Last night, I returned from an extra-long weekend in New York City. I went with my mother, sister and some friends (seven of us in total). It was my first visit there. We mostly stuck to tourist-type stuff (bus tours, Times Square, Manhattan shopping) but there’s a reason those things are done by tourists – they’ve never done them before! We did go slightly off the beaten path for a couple of meals, asking for recommendations from locals. We weren’t steered wrong – both our Italian and Greek meals were great.

Things I learned on our trip:

New Yorkers are incredibly passionate about their city. Anyone on the street we asked for help (directions, restaurant recommendations) were always willing to stop and help thoroughly. This went double for any tour guides we listened to. I know that is their trade, but the amount of knowledge that came out during the various tours we went on was amazing.
In spite of “America’s obesity crisis”, it was difficult to find larger-size souvenir t-shirts for both men and women.
Times Square zoning rules say that the buildings there must have a certain amount of advertising and lights. One Times Square (the building that the New Year’s Eve ball sits on) is actually mostly vacant except for the lower retail floors.

I felt very safe in all the areas we went to. Mind you, we didn’t stray too far from the beaten path. The subway, while more complicated than Toronto’s, was reasonably easy to navigate once we figured it out. It was cleaner and had better wayfinding signage too.

I took a lot of pictures from moving buses (and from a moving boat). I took a lot of pictures of buildings as they were either landmarks or samples of beautiful architecture. The problem is that I don’t remember the significance of some of the buildings I took pictures of.

Now that I’ve given my pictures such a ringing endorsement, here is a slideshow of the ones I posted to Flickr.