Kristan's Birthday

What a beautiful sunrise this morning! Kristan would've turned 64 today. I didn't plan any kind of memorial dinner or other get-together this year - not because I didn't want to, but mostly just because I'm feeling overwhelmed by current events. So, I'll just take a moment now, to celebrate the day she was born. She packed so much into her unexpectedly short life. I will always be thankful we found each other.

East Coast Adventure

I flew into Baltimore on Friday, to keep my brother-in-law Bob company over the weekend, after his business trip. The plan was to rent a car, drive to and explore Philadelphia for a day, then drive to New York City to see a musical. It all went swimmingly well!

We found a few nice restaurants in Philadelphia, explored the City Center, peeked in at the Liberty Bell, toured the Ben Franklin Museum, and scored some tickets for a guided tour of Independence Hall, where our country was formed! 

In New York City, we went for a few walks through Central Park - what a gorgeous and well-designed park, with so many interest areas! The park was very quiet in the evening, during our first exploratory walk. I kept remembering scary scenes from various movies, especially poor George Segal in "Where's Poppa?" that I saw so many years ago! But we had no such adventures, thankfully.

We toured the American Museum of Natural History, and walked to Times Square - twice, once with Alicia Keyes singing live, while walking home from seeing The Book of Mormon at the O'Neill theater.

Back in Baltimore before our flights out, we stopped by the Inner Harbor for a couple of hours, and enjoyed the local waterfront points of interest, including a very special short visit on board The Pride of Baltimore II, and a pleasant chat with one of the crew members. One thing I miss about the years I lived in San Diego, was all the sailing I did - crewing, teaching, racing, and day sailing.

We had a lot of fun in a short time. Hurricane Matthew brought us a lot of rain, but we didn't mind much. We had a few driving adventures on and off I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike, and around New York City in the rain the night we arrived - with the many car, truck, bus, taxi, and pedicab drivers and bicycles, all juggling for position, around the many construction projects, and the many pedestrians!

Places we liked in Philly:
Davios Northern Italian Steakhouse on South 17th St
Green Eggs Cafe on South 13th St

Places we liked in NYC:
Angelo's Pizza on 57th St
Park Cafe on 8th Ave
Amy's Bread on 9th Ave
Applejack Diner on Broadway