Thank God I'm a Country (Girl)

Today was a very special day for my eldest daughter Sarah. A day trip into manhattan to meet up with her Favorite Aunt Stephanie to have lunch and see Mary Poppins on Broadway.

Being a white knuckler in the congested streets of manhattan, I was none too pleased with the alternate train schedule for track construction which featured missing routes at exactly the times we needed Midtown Direct to be there for us.

Neither Jeff nor I favor the joy of NYC driving, but after much research into alternate routes, we determined the best and most direct bet was a drive through the Lincoln Tunnel, which links up directly with the Port Authority parking deck.

Now if you know Jeff and I, then you know that the best laid plans are almost always waylaid by some comical force to ensure a grand "adventure" (AKA getting lost or misdirected at the very end). In this case, thankfully, there was no construction, closure, or filled lot awaiting us.

In fact, this may be our new favorite way to get into the city.

So, we arrived at the Port Authority parking deck, unloaded and off we went, and it was all amazingly simple.

Once in Times Square, we encountered the usual suspects, transgendered and proud, rastafarian preachers expounding upon the eternal damnation that awaits us, and all sorts of slippery street vendors (though surely they must realize that most of us already know Canal Street is the place to shop for knockoffs?). I was a little surprised that the Naked Cowboy neglected to show, considering the milder weather. Perhaps he was concerned about "shrinkage" and how it would affect his image. Frankly I am relieved that I did not have to explain that one to the girls today, and that Sarah forgot him from our last trip into New York.

Interestingly, my girls did not take much note of the folks we encountered who were talking, dancing, and singing to themselves, and simply assumed that they had earpieces in and were on their cell phones. The sweet and roasty smell of Halal food and roasted nut stands combined with the waft of toilet odor from the sewers to make NYC, at it's most simple description (the one I used to prepare my daughter) "a city with lots of everything beautiful and ugly at once". This microcosm of the globe, only less spread out, is, in my opinion, a good place to show your children - if for nothing else - a perspective from the larger world that we live in.

The girls were well behaved and made me proud; holding our hands and staying safe, but smiling kindly where appropriate at the mix of characters we encountered.

After we lunched, we waved Sarah off with Steph, and then we enjoyed our share of all that Times Square has to offer with a 4 year old in tow. And M&M World was the overall winner. When Rachel finally lost her steam, we headed back to our trusty parking deck and drove back home to Randolph.

I always feel a sense of comfort driving up the hill towards home on sussex turnpike, and this afternoon was no exception, with the sun still shining and crimson leaves cascading down as we neared our turnoff.

Once back home we three (sans Sarah who would arrive home later) found that we wanted to relax and be quiet together.

Not a surprising end to our day in the big city.