Post 60: Recap of Empty Nest Road Trip

Okay, here are the statistics of the trip:

9,823 miles traveled
58 days traveled in total
29 separate States visited (doesn't count seeing some of them twice!)
30 nights in hotels/motels/bed & breakfasts
28 nights in homes (just doing the math!)
20 stops for fuel, approximately 250 gallons of diesel used
98 meals in restaurants (includes hotel breakfasts)
76 meals eaten in homes/or not
38 stops for points of interest (museums, parks, shopping, historical sites)
Too many memories to count!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement, your checking in to make sure that I was okay as I wandered through this great country of ours, your emails, calls, texts, comments on my blog, and your overall loving encouragement and support for my taking this trip in the first place...I couldn't have done it without all of this!  I love you all and hope that some day, I can return the favor when you take a trip of this magnitude with all the support that I felt while I was doing it (or whatever endeavor you wish to take on-go for it!).

I am really blessed to have such a great group of family and friends; supporting and encouraging me to "go for it"!

Thank you for everything!

Love you,

Nancy (mom, sister, daughter, friend, and the list goes on...)

Slideshow Re-cap

Ok, So I've prepared a slideshow that I'm pretty proud of.  Check it out and let me know if you have problems accessing it or if you have any comments.  Yes, there are typo's in the headings (thanks, Aurora, for pointing these out!).  Though it has been suggested that calling it Empty Next instead of Nest means that I'm already planning my next trip....

I'll do a re-cap of statistics this weekend for the math geeks among us (me included)....

Day 58: Back in Hopkinton!

Arrived safely back home, after 9823 miles to snow in October-what is going on???

Day 57: Monuments in NYC

Visited Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty on her 125th birthday.  Turkey Hill celebrated by providing free Liberty Island ice cream.  Steph loved it!

Then visited Ellis Island.  It was powerful to be in the actual building where many of our ancestors entered the country.

A beautiful day!

Day 56: Museum Day

First I visited the New York Historical Society Museum, where I saw an exhibit on the impact of 9/11, ten years later.  Personal and professional photos were collected and displayed along with letters to firefighters and other service personnel.   It was very moving.
I then met Steph at the New Museum for a different experience, specifically Carsten Holler's "Experience".  This included sliding down from the 4th floor to the 2nd floor, through a cylindrical slide.  Weird, but sort of cool.  We also viewed a fish tank (with live fish), from underneath, listened to real songbirds in birdcages, and experienced the sensory experience of phenylethylamine (the mood-enhancing chemical found in chocolate, also known as the love drug).   Again, weird but sort of cool!
I then headed over to Brooklyn for a cooking class, where I learned the advantages of using farro, an Italian grain, in everything from soup to salad to dessert.  I had a blast, enjoying some delicious and healthy food and meeting some interesting people, including the instructor, who grew up in southwestern Virginia (Roanoke).   Small world, eh?

Day 55: Shopping in the Big Apple!

Checked out a new store called Uniqlo, described as a Japanese version of the Gap store.  Just launched here in the city.  Cool, trendy, clothing.  Steph made out well and will be sporting some new togs.  Wandered in and out of ABC Home but there were way too many zeros on the prices!
Also had a bit of a spa day and met some very interesting women, including one who is moving to Florida to launch her second CD of folk ballads.  Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly?

Day 54: High Line

A beautiful fall day in the Big Apple.  A new bike share program is being introduced to New York, and I tried it out!  Turns out it is run by the same group that does the program in Boston, so I rode a Hubway bike along the Hudson for 40 blocks or so.  Fun!

I then strolled along the High Line, an elevated park along an abandoned railway line.  Beautiful art and plantings.  You almost feel like you're not in the busiest city in the world:

This poster that Steph is contemplating is a photo taken at night, during a full moon.  The shutter was left open for 15 minutes.  Very cool!  The cars parked in the lot provided juxtaposition (to quote my articulate daughter!).