Back from the Anti-farm

So, if you've been wondering where we've been...we're just getting back from a stint in NYC.  Yeah, the anti-farm, as I like to call it.  The polar opposite of where I like to spend my days...no grass, no chickens (although PLENTY of pigeons), no sheep, lots of dirt (although not the kind you want to run your fingers through) and WAY too many people.

DH had a training gig (actually he's doing what I used to do, and training community social workers with the curriculum I wrote!) and we went along for the trip.

There was Times Square (hence the picture up top - which I thought would be a perfect memento for Madison to bring to her school to show them where she had been - she refused...)  Actually, due to election fever, Times Square was REALLY crowded, so I stole the stock photo because ours were so full of people, you could hardly see the Cowboy...

And we did the museum thing...

It's the Museum of Natural History, Central Park West @ 79th St, in case you don't recognize the bones...

And they had a reptile show:

(Which, BTW, was pretty much the same offering as was in the Berkshire Museum several years ago, so I feel very good about our local level of culture, if we are on par with NY)... 

...and there was lots of time lazing in the hotel with TV (don't tell my mother) and general walking about Manhattan (much to Madison's dismay) including a trip to FAO Schwartz, where Madison decided it was interesting but too juvenile for her tastes, a subsequent trip to ToysRUs that was somewhat more mature, but still not satisfying for the Princess of Lego, lots of restaurant food (including one breakfast out at a ridiculously expensive hotel restaurant where two pancakes cost more than I will admit to anyone, but Madison loved the decor and the lady sitting next to us with the $5,000 mink coat she shrugged off and left in a pile on the floor while she ate...) and lots of wandering around on Election night taking in the partying, dancing, and live broadcasts on practically every corner.  Here we are catching a quick rest somewhere around 52 st...

Madison's favorite part of the trip (besides the restaurants) was the Paley Center for Media on W 52nd St. which houses thousands of archived TV and radio shows from forever, and you can actually browse the collection and watch some on private viewers (we took in an X Files episode and a crime show from way back...).

But my favorite part (aside from the excellent knitting time on the train) was this:

I got to patronize my favorite salon (Joy Nails, 7th Ave, btwn. 30th and 31st).  Lest you think I've gone to fancy farming...this was for something that is coming up in three weeks.  Tell you later...