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New York


We’re living in a vacation rental while we remodel Picadilly. We started in a rental 30 minutes from town. After only a few days of driving, driving, driving, we shopped around for other options. Rick found a rental only 15 minutes away from things. One caveat, though, was that they had already rented the place for Pennies State graduation weekend—May 5-10. Would we be willing to move out for those days? Sure, I guess we’d just go somewhere fun, right? Ricky and Andrew wanted to go to New York for their birthdays, but New York with a big crowd that includes little children can be tricky. So, since we have to get two hotel rooms everywhere we go anyway, we split up—I went to New York with the older children (minus Emily) and Rick took the little ones to Hershey Park. 

Both Rick and I had adventures, hangry moments, frustrations, and fun with our groups.

Here’s a brief summary of my side of the trip.

Lots of subway rides.






A few vintage stores and a flea market.








Walking, walking, walking. I didn’t mind being our navigator, but when I made a mistake and we had to retrace a block or two, it wasn’t just me paying for the mistake in sore feet. And setting the right pace was hard too. Some of us like to walk fast, and some don’t really like to walk.










We saw a lot of interesting people and situations. I didn’t take pictures of them. 

In the end, we learned cities are fun to visit but we’re not city people. We were surprised by the crowds and disappointed by rampant dishonesty, violence, and sadness. We experienced some kindness, but not much. Maybe it was because we were obvious tourists. We came home more grateful for our peaceful home surrounding by kind neighbors. 

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