A couple months ago it looked like Andrew would be able to meet up with me when he would be on Long Island, NY for a job – I was jazzed! But his work schedule changed and it didn’t work out. I was bummed. Fast forward a couple months and he needed to come east, sadly, for a funeral. I would be a mere five hour drive from where he’d be in Fishkill, NY so naturally, I was all in. I could hardly believe that my fantastic time with Tracy in Maine would be followed by the joy of hanging out with my youngest son! I am fortunate indeed.
Andrew had gone for coffee and wasn’t at the hotel when I got there, so I got busy collecting the few things I’d need to take into the hotel. Soon he arrived and greeted me with a big hug, flowers and about the most moving mothers’ day card I’ve ever received. He also fixed my camp chair which had gotten stuck open and was causing me a big pain, taking up too much space. What a sweet kid!
After a good workout on the elliptical and stepping up to our ankles, then quickly stepping out of the too-cool pool, we went to the nearby town of Beacon and wandered aimlessly until we found a restaurant for dinner. For a Thursday night in a small town there was a lot going on. We went back the next day and wandered some more and got pedicures before we headed off to Newark, New Jersey where Andrew had an airbnb room. We had dinner at Valenca, a Portuguese restaurant, where the bar was raucous with fans watching a world cup game.
On Saturday we planned to go to the Big Apple; with a World Cup game happening in NJ and the Knicks – Spurs game that evening we knew there’d be a lot of energy. We had to be careful about timing our train ride as there was a window during which the cost would be $100 or they might not even let us on without a FIFA game ticket.
Our roughly 21,000 steps took us all over the place with a little help from the subway…we walked the High Line , enjoying kiwi and popsicles that were handed out as we walked by, and walked to Washington Square Park checking out the Stonewall memorial and bar on the way. Then I had the most delicious banh mi I think I’ve ever had at the Saigon Shack. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want another right now. The towns I’ve been in in the last few months have many fewer murals that I saw throughout the south, but there were a few in the city that caught my attention.
Central Park, a stop for Yemeni coffee and an early dinner at a sports bar a couple hours before the basketball game topped off our day and we made our way to the train station to make the 7:08 train. At this point police had barricaded streets in their effort to manage the crowds that would be over the moon after the Knicks won the game later that night. Although it would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be in the thick of the victorious crowd I was relieved that we’d be back home before the energy erupted. Behind the Airbnb house was a small field with a FIFA watch party happening…I was fifty feet away in the van and enjoyed the sounds of family and friends sharing the excitement of the big game.
Sunday Andrew would be headed back into the city while I headed to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut for some downtime before spending time visiting friends in New Hampshire and Woodstock. Getting out of New Jersey became a bit of a nightmare because of my lack of familiarity and google maps inserting the wrong destination sending me 15 minutes south when I should have been going north. Aaarrrggghhhhh! I swear it was the phone’s fault. As has happened most often when I arrive at my next campground, I was delighted with the scenery, the vibe, and the promise of time to do some writing, apply for some jobs, and tool around on my bike. It was a busy campground with wide open space between sites and lots of activity, so not a campground for respite, exactly, but I rode every day, saw a crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter visible and some spectabular sunsets, read a lot and applied for what could be my dream job. Keeping my fingers crossed for an interview.
Karen in the Gap 
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