Ten reasons I [remembered] why I love New York

Ahhh, the chaos

I hadn’t spent time in New York City recently and it took me more than a New York Minute to remember all the reasons I love it. Here are some.

They walk at my pace

The density of primo people watching

Someone on the subway can yell “Shut the F Up” and no one does

Cousin Fred lives there and he is funny. Together we are hilarious. At least we think so.

Cousin Fred

You can measure your morning run by blocks

The US Open is there;  tennis has the respect it deserves

Arthur Ashe stadium

A band of mariachis may appear on your subway car

A crew in your hotel is shooting The Good Wife, you see Julianna walk by

There is often a visiting relative or a friend in town whom you encounter unexpectedly

With California Beisers Frank, Jane and grandson Dean
30 Rock

Frank Sinatra is played loud and often in public spaces

Transit-ions

I’ve been on the road since August 20 and traveled more than 2000 miles in 10 days.

Rhodes College--Franky picked a beauty and so did they

College Drop Off--A 15-hour drive to Memphis  (878 miles) 

Tennessee is one long state. It's a good thing the Mississippi River is there to bring it to a halt. The bridge over it goes to Arkansas, I was told, a different state. The long drive had a happy ending for the weary travelers. (Weary except for Franky, who true to form, slept most of the day.) We arrived at the soothing Peabody Hotel and were eating ribs at the Rendezvous by 8.

Next was move-in day for Rhodes College. There was a great deal more spirit about this process than we found at Skidmore. On the long stretch of road waiting to get in the main gate there were several groups of kids jumping up and down with glee, shrieking and holding signs that said "Honk if you love Rhodes."

Well, we don't know yet. But we hope so.

Franky's dorm

Franky's dorm room pre-decor

Post decor

My son is in a triple with roommates from Arlington, VA and suburban Memphis. One bathroom adjoins another triple where we met a couple of nice guys from Atlanta. The only thing that makes dropping your child off bearable is the desire to get away from stressed out parents sometimes 10-12 deep in a room designed for three.

He's officially convocated

Trip from Memphis to Louisville (429 miles)

With Carolyn and Paul Williams

I only agreed to drive to Memphis if we could stop and see our friends who live in Louisville “on the way” home.  Was it on the way? Not exactly. Was it worth it? A thousand times. We met these friends who were in the TV news business in Tucson in the 80s. The media in Tucson were tight. We bonded with Paul and Carolyn  immediately and spent a couple of lovely years together during the pre-kids, early-career nonsense days. But then they started moving up the media market ladder, had three children, while we moved to DC and had two. And suddenly 20 years flew by while they lived in the fly-over states. And we hadn't seen each other.  

Together again

Thanks to Joe Rhodes...

1. 

,,,Who uses this as his profile photo with me cut out

and Facebook we felt that this reunion was possible after the last child was dropped at college. But we knew we could pick up where we laughed off and we did for two fabulous days. I demanded a tour around Louisville because I had never been there.

And found this important intersection

Trip from Louisville to Bethesda (601 miles)

Let’s skip this 11 and a half hour drive. Let’s just say that about an hour outside of Washington, with the end in sight, the highway was closed, which I referred to on Facebook as a blocked party, and we lost 90 minutes.

Then round trip on Vamoose to New York City to the US Open (464 miles)

So if I did my math right, and I rarely do, so check it, I have traveled 2,334 miles in 10 days. Maybe the nest will launch a travel blog after all, if the first 10 days are any indication.

(US Open deserves its own blog post, look for that later.)