Headed to NY

So, we had such a good 2017 summer!  Andy's folks were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and took the family to England, via the transatlantic ocean liner The Queen Mary 2. What an amazing experience! Many, many thanks to John and Hope for sharing this trip with us!!  There were 10 of us in all: 2 grandparents, 1 son, 1 daughter, 2 daughters-in-law, and 4 grandchildren!

But first, we had to get to NYC. We also had to meet the 50 lb suitcase limit for the airlines. It was tricky! Our total time away from home varied from 3 weeks to 5 weeks. (Willow went directly to Space Camp when we got back, and Greydon went back with his grandparents and stayed in W. Virginia for a while.) The clothes needed for the ship were different than what was needed for England. There were 7 fancy dinners to plan for! (and bring shoes for...ha!)  Willow and I also had to keep in mind that on our return trip, the weight limit for our suitcase was 40 lbs. Bad planning to have the weight limit less on the way back than on the way there!

On our flight from Spokane, each seat had its own screen for watching videos, movies, music, games, or whatever. I was highly entertained by watching what everyone chose to watch, and how it seemed to relate to their personalities.  In our row, I chose the new live version of Beauty and the Beast (having been a fan of the animated version in the 90s, I wanted to see the new one!!),  Greydon decided to learn how to play poker (!), and Willow started watching Rogue 1. She didn't finish it because the sound wasn't that good and she couldn't concentrate, also related to her personality. :) The kids haven't flown for YEARS, so they were excited to fly again. Willow had just finished up an aeronautics class in school, so she was particularly excited, and kinda had a perma-grin on her face during take off.

We decided that since we were going to be in New York state anyway, we would do a college tour that we probably wouldn't get to otherwise. So we flew into Syracuse, rented a car and drove down to Cornell University. It was a gorgeous day on the beautiful campus. We were treated to a bell tower concert upon our arrival.

Their football stadium is quite notable because it has a very ancient Greek feel to it: big sweeping curves accented by columns. All seats were created equal and there didn't seem to be any big fancy box seats for special people, like we commonly see at our local universities. Being non-football fans, this made us happy. Ha!

Next we visited their arboretum and gardens. They were especially lovely. We spend a lot of time at our university's arboretum, so it was fun to see Cornell's version. They are very much known for their biology and nature programs, so it's a big part of the university.

We stayed with Andy's cousin that night in Syracuse. It was good to see Clover and Evan and their kids again, and amusingly, Evan's parents were there too. Amusing because, we've only been there once before, and his parents were there at that time too! So, we're pretty sure they are there all the time, even though they assure us they aren't. The White's have a lovely place, and it's a joy to be with them. Unfortunately, all I have is one lame picture of our time there...

We then hopped on a train to head into NYC. I was pretty nervous about navigating the train station once we got there, but my sister-in-law was kind enough to take the trip back down there to help us find our motel in Brooklyn. We were quite a sight - 5 of us traveling together with 3 large suitcases and assorted bags. As many of you know, traveling on the subway is usually a crowded affair with limited time to get on and off. So our entourage was pretty noticeable as we were trying to stick together and find room for all of us. After the subway rides, we jumped on a bus, with similar problems of crowding. We definitely didn't look like New Yorkers! One nice older guy, who has lived there for all his 70-80 years struck up a conversation starting with "you aren't from here, are you."  Ha! What was your first clue?!

We made it to our motel in one piece, and found it to be a very nice, modern place in the middle of the Brooklyn industrial/ship yard area. Notice the mermaids on the wallpaper.

The area was a fun mix of warehouses and industrial buildings, along with residences, shops and restaurants. And IKEA. It's a fun place for graffiti pictures! Here's the four Crites cousins together for the first time in a long while.

The obligatory NYC graffiti selfie:

Ironically, my first view of the Statue of Liberty ever was from the picture window in the dining room of IKEA. For some reason, this really cracks me up. You can see her tiny silhouette on the horizon:

We were also able to get a glimpse of the HUGE ship we would be boarding soon!

We then walked from our motel to board the ship, luggage in tow. It was warm and we were sweaty by the time we got there. Next time I think I'll take a taxi - ha!

There's quite a check-in process, as you can imagine. The ship holds just under 2700 passengers and 1250 crew members. This was a full capacity voyage. Everyone boards at different times throughout the day, in order to handle the crowds. But it's a pretty well-oiled machine and everyone is excited and happy, so the process isn't very painful!

Next up - boat tour!