Thursday, December 9, 2010

Gosh darn east coast traffic! October 20th, 2010

Traffic! Yikes! How we hate thee!

I know, everyone does, but try dealing with it in a huge heavy trailer!  We totally sympathize with truck drivers now.  Totally.  And those people who try and shove right in front of you at the last minute?  Oooooo!!  They deserve to get squished!  I know, that's extreme, but really people!  What ARE you thinking????  These huge monstrosities are NOT easy to stop quickly!

From the start S was dreading coming east and dealing with not only the roads but the mass of cars and people.....and here we are, struggling through it as predicted.  All in the name of some history and seeing family. Both excellent reasons, but still, doesn't help our brakes much.......

To remind you (since I do go back and forth quite a bit) we left Plymouth, MA yesterday and were now driving south.  After sitting for an extra hour or so on I-95 in Connecticut, we finally crossed over into

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Again.

This time, we'd be exploring NY city, visiting and staying with my extremely gracious aunt and uncle, D&P, and we'd be catching up with my in-laws visiting from abroad.  We had about a day to catch up on some laundry, relax for an hour or two and explore S's old stomping grounds before we embarked on what would be a jammed packed two days of sightseeing in the city.

We parked ourselves and the RV (just barely) in D&P's driveway.  They live in an area that, let's just say, probably doesn't see too many RVs drive through, let alone parked in driveways.  Let me tell you, it was the talk of the neighborhood, what with comments being made via email and otherwise.  But all was good, everyone was just wondering whether or not my aunt and uncle had a sudden desire for a change in lifestyle :-).  To give credit where it's due (or not, depending on your perspective), my uncle has had the desire to take a significant RV trip for a while now, so the concept is not completely foreign, to him anyway.

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Anyway, our nostalgic day took us to an area in NJ where S first lived when he moved to the US.  He was pretty stunned to see how much it's been gentrified since he was last here almost 20 years ago.  That blue building is where he first lived, or so he thinks.  It's been a while after all.
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His favorite and highly frequented pizza place however has certainly NOT gone through the gentrification process.  Nonetheless, yes, we did eat there.  Yes, we ate pizza.  The real deal.  It's NY pizza after all (NJ if you want to get technical), the only kind worth falling off the wagon for and besides, he has been dreaming of taking me, and then the kids, to this place for FOREVA!  I've heard about Frank's PIzza since the first week I met him I believe.  It's that ingrained.

Yes, it was terrific pizza and we all enjoyed the eating process, though not the aftereffects so much.....

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Driving around one of his old neighborhoods we came acros this sign as we were stopped at a light.  Excitment rang out in the truck as we read it and realized the apparent historic significance of this area!  Very cool.  And unexpected.  I'm serious though, much hoopla was made by us all of the fact that here stood a home associated with the underground railroad.  Seriously.  We love us some good historical tidbits.

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How many people walk by this sign on a daily basis without even noticing it I wonder.  I'm certainly guilty of doing such things myself, especially given some of the extremely historically significant places I've lived in.  You live somewhere and you just don't do the touristy stuff and you probably don't think much about the history of the place, at least not on a daily, or even monthly, basis.  I'm just glad we've all now had this opportunity to learn to keep our eyes open for such things.

Moving on......

A drive by the place S began his academic career finished off the day for us.  This is where he convinced the administration that no, he really doesn't need to take an entrance exam, no, he really doesn't need to take the TOEFL (the English proficiency exam), and no, he really doesn't need to do this or that paperwork or preliminary coursework.  After all, just look at his GPA from these two or three courses he's already completed here.  And yes, it worked.  Only him...only him.....

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OK, tomorrow we were heading into the city, bright and early (on a 40 minute train ride) to meet up with S's parents and do some major sightseeing and have some extended family bonding time!  Nothing like major city crowds and rushing around like mad people to bring a family closer :-).

1 comment:

  1. I actually do think of the history of the city where I live - driving past the Old City walls, glancing at the hills across from my home - history is ingrained in every day life. great for realizing where we fit in.

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