How many of these did I write up and then forget to post?

Well, this one was written after the weekend of 10/11-10/13 of this year, so that’s the weekend I’m referring to. 

🚌

I went to NYC this weekend!

And I got sick.

I also got lost!

Okay, let’s start at the beginning.

I have been to NYC once before in my life, and that time, the marvelous B (from Brasilia) very nearly literally held my hand through the whole thing.

Yes, I grew up in upstate*/North Coast**/above-thruway NY State, but I grew up on my grandfather’s farm, in an area that I have to describe as outside of Churchville*** to be most accurate in location.

From where I grew up, NYC is 6+ hours by driving, more by bus, not notably shorter by plane when you consider check in time.

Anyway!

My impressions of Manhattan: tall, loud, and inexplicably confusing to navigate. And everywhere are these construction tunnels. Construction everywhere!

So many taxis! More taxis than cars by far, honking and more honking and… three flocks of geese flying overhead at the same time do not make that much honking.

And the part of Manhattan I was in (Lexington and 50th, approximately) had absolutely gorgeous architecture. It was hard, despite the fact that I was there for work and spending most of the weekend working, not to tourist all over the place.

I mean, I love the countryside. I love the view, the “quiet” (I mean, foxes, coyotes, geese…), the air, the space. Manhattan was nice (if expensive (tho on the company dime)) to visit. It was nice to photograph (mostly out of windows), super pretty. I’m glad I saw it.

I’m also glad to be home.

Oh, the getting lost! So the campus to campus (super swank!) bus dropped me off what should be about 9 blocks from where I was going — our NYC offices. I looked at Google Maps on my phone and… followed the arrow.

The phone kept telling me “yeah, you’re going in the right direction, ” but the time to destination kept going up and up and up and up and….

Eventually I asked for directions, turned around, and headed 8 blocks back in the proper direction.

*mutter mutter* stupid phone.

But that wasn’t all that bad, honestly!  It was the only time I got lost, I got some steps in, and I got to the office safe and sound.  Although way over-peopled even before I went to lunch. And I got to see our NYC office – there’s these cute little “phone booth” mini-offices for making phone calls, and the desks they have for guests from Ithaca have the fully-adjustable sit-stand buttons, which was pretty awesome.

And the hotel room, while kinda small by upstate (ha) standards, was quite nice.   So many pillows. So many towels. Rainfall showerhead.

Sunday afternoon, I took another Campus-to-Campus back home (this bus has a coffee maker, soda and water, snacks, a lap tray for your computer, outlets for your computer and phone, cupholders, and pillows!  It’s pretty swank, indeed), made my way back to my house, and crawled in bed with my cats.

NYC is nice.  But I like my farmland.

* I’m sure I’m mentioned this before.  I don’t think you run into any two people who share a definition of Upstate. I grew up with, loosely, “above the Finger Lakes.”

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/04/10/11-maps-upstate-new-york-make-you-mad/502540002/ – this one’s fun.

** There was a North Coast radio when I was a teen, and I liked the concept.  It sort of gets across how big the Great Lakes are, compared to, say, the Finger Lakes, and in addition, it’s less of a hotly-debated term than Upstate

“Over the thruway” is a weather line more than a political one, but it’s descriptive if you look at a map (that’s interstate 90).

*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchville,_New_York

Churchville is a village in Monroe County, New York. According to the 2010 census, the population is 1,961. The village is named after Samuel Church, an early settler