Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Saturday, April 5

Today our family was reunited, but only after the kids and I drove to Newark. I’m very glad that it was Saturday morning, because I can only imagine what the drive from the PA/NJ border into Newark would have been like on a workday morning! Plus, there are signs all over that say the speed limit is strictly enforced. The speed limit was usually 55 or 65, but if I drove 75 I was reminded of riding a bike with training wheels while the big kids flew by on their Schwinn Varsity 10-speeds, or even the younger ones on their banana seat bikes.

The only song that came on the Billy Joel channel that I could really relate to today was “Pressure.” And on a different note, it turns out there are limits to how much even a fan can tolerate listening to one song after another of the same person. When they announce a special “rare performance” and it turns out to be the same “Zanzibar” track that was on my record in the early 80s, it might just be time to change the station.

When we made it to our hotel, I was just getting my key when Brian walked in the lobby door, fresh from his flight. Yes, I know he had to get up at 4 am to make the plane, but still, he was travelling alone for the morning while I plunged into the heart of traffic darkness. Not that I’m jealous or anything. We unloaded, fitting our stuff for 5 people (including 3 coolers and a couple of boxes of groceries—stayin’ classy) into our 4 person room. By which I mean that Andrew’s days of having a real bed at a hotel have come to a prompt and unceremonious end.

After some quick consultation of travel guides (this trip came up on us while we were still ill-prepared), we were on our way into the Big Apple via New Jersey Transit. We got out at the NY Penn Station and could see the Empire State Building stretching into the sky. We walked until we got to it and joined the throngs at the top. It was sunny, but very windy, so it was a wild experience. If “An Affair to Remember” or “Sleepless in Seattle” were filmed there today, the lead actors leaning in for a kiss would have ended up with a mouthful of hair.

It was a pretty clear day, so we had some wonderful views of the city. Amazing how tiny the Statue of Liberty looks in comparison to the towers nearby, like the new World Trade Center. We learned that there was some competition between the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building as to which one would be taller. The Chrysler Building was the tallest for just 11 months before the Empire took the title. Isn’t that just like men with their towers, always wanting to be bigger.

Allison asked why they put such tall railings around the top of the building, taller than any person could possibly lean over. Brian said plainly that they wanted to prevent people from jumping off. This started a whole new series of questions. But when you realize that they were building this skyscraper in the middle of the Great Depression, it sort of makes sense that this became part of the history. A laid-off construction worker jumped before the building was even finished.

Allison wants to know, if someone really wants to do this, why do we think it’s so bad? Wow, these are big questions to answer at the end of a long day of sightseeing. But if we can explain the value of a human life, the image of God embedded in every one, then I guess we can’t ask for a whole lot more from an afternoon of being tourists.

The short walk to Times Square brought us to a heaving mass of humanity, including a whole lot of people dressed up in costumes—Mickey and Minnie, Batman, Mario, Dora, Hello Kitty, Spiderman, Ironman, Woody the Cowboy, Minions, etc. Plus we saw the famous Naked Cowboy, a rather buff man in tighty whities, a cowboy hat and a guitar. I would include a picture here but Allison was so horrified that we couldn’t take a photo. In fact, I wish I had a picture of her face when she saw him.

Our family of 5 represents different reactions to a large crowd of people. Some of us are thrilled by the diversity, the constant change, the people-watching opportunities presented. Others are disconcerted by having so many people so close together, not knowing what to expect from the strangers around them. It’s not a natural for everyone. But I can’t tell you how much I love to see the color and the movement.

At this point we were all fading fast, ready for some food. On the way to Rockefeller Center we passed a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, exactly what we needed to perk us up again. Nothing like trying to consume a slice that’s larger than your head. Mmmm. (Laura, you were right to suggest a cheaper pizza meal in this area!)

Well-fortified, we set out again, with a stop at the Nintendo World, a store dedicated to the glories of Nintendo. The fangirls among us had to ogle all the Zelda merchandise before we could move on. I have to tell you, whenever I find myself in some sort of transaction between a male clerk and my teenage daughter buying some geek-ware like this, I never fail to see the joy in their eyes to see that more young nerds are moving into the world. That’s all I have to say about that.

We moved on to Rockefeller Center, which is what Allison wanted to do. It turns out that she has paid more attention to the morning news than we thought. She wanted to be on the news, expecting that WOODTV8 would be filming at all hours in New York, because they are “24 Hour News 8.” When I explained that the Today Show is not WOODTV8, she was a bit disappointed but not to be discouraged. She was excited to see the desks through the window, and she ran ahead, coming back to let us know she had seen the Orange Room. So she probably doesn’t know anything about world events, but she probably has seen enough of the Orange Room on the Today Show to fill her in on the latest news about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Allison was quite desperate to get back to the hotel, for reasons I will explain to you shortly. But first we took the subway a ways so we could get close to Penn Station to catch our train. In the subway station smelling of eau-de-toilet, a middle-aged man played his violin beautifully against his taped soundtrack of recorded piano and symphony music. It really sounded like a symphony was playing down on the platform. People of every shade and background crowded around and enjoyed his gift. After disembarking again we ascended several levels of platforms and people on an escalator, and I felt like I was looking through the petals of a strange, urban flower in bloom.

But back to Allison’s desire to return to our hotel. The first hotel near Pittsburgh, she’d wanted to swim, but we got there just as the pool was closing. The second hotel, the MO-tel, did not have a pool. Tonight we were going to get back in time, AND there was a pool. We stopped to take a look at the pool before we went up to the room to get her changed. Bad news. The pool was closed for the evening unexpectedly.

It turns out that a little girl had come close to losing her life in the pool—she’d been swimming with a lot of kids, and no one noticed that she was floating for a little while. A hotel employee noticed her and pulled her out, and the resulting events closed the pool for the evening. She survived. My friend Beki reports on her mother’s illness and often ends with the advice to “go hug your moms.” I’m going to add, go hug the little ones in your life too.

Life can be hard, and life is fragile. We like to try to escape those facts in so many ways, especially on vacation, but even on a quick trip to the big city, you can’t help but be reminded. But at the same time, I find that the world is at its most interesting when we see as many representatives of it at one time as possible. I recently read a memoir that talked about the sacredness of walking home from the subway late at night, in both its filth and glory, and I can only nod my head in agreement.