Long Weekend in NYC: Mary, Maggie, and R'el, and Peter, Xiomara, and Andrew

            For Christmas R’el gave me a long weekend in New York City. (I’m very proud of the bus tickets: roundtrip Boston to NYC for $12, reserved seat right above the driver on the double-decker for an additional $14. Love the view! I spent Thursday through Tuesday, 18 June to 23 June, in Manhattan with R’el; my sister Maggie flew in from L.A. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

            We went to STOMP, an Off-Broadway show that starts with a dust broom skit and goes from there. It’s wordless and expressive, percussively creative and energetic, funny and fun. Many years ago, back when I was lifeguard for our church Girls Camp, my friend Shelley taught some campers the dust broom skit for a talent show. I’ve always remembered that. We got half-price tickets when we didn’t win the ticket lottery for Wicked and headed downtown. Before the show we had hot dogs and delicious tropical fruit drinks at the Papaya King near the theater. (Maggie is the Hot Dog Queen of the West; I’m the Hot Dog Queen of the East. We prefer hot dogs to steak.)

After the show Maggie took my picture standing with two cast members, which I texted to my family. We also spent time with Peter, Xiomara, and Andrew, including a picnic under the pergola at the Conservatory in Central Park, where they took wedding pictures. There we spied a family of six raccoons climb up the thick vines and traverse overhead.

            I did a lot of walking, clocking over 18,000 steps (6 miles and more) on three different days. I walked from R’els apartment down to the 59^th St. Bridge (“Got no deeds to do, no promises to keep… all is groovy!”). The morning of Maggie’s return flight, she and I walked to Randall’s Island and to the top of the pedestrian bridge alongside I-278 that Matt told us about and enjoyed great views of the NYC skyline to the southwest and Long Island to the northeast.