Sunday-Monday 27-28 April 2025 

New York

The only reason I have stopped in New York for two days is to visit my cousin Helen, who is in an Atria assisted-living facility in Riverdale, an upper-middle class enclave in the north Bronx. From my midtown hotel on Sunday it takes a little over one hour by subway (the northbound #1 local to the next-to-last stop) and bus (#7 Riverdale to the next-to-last stop), then a short walk to the facility.

I spend a couple of hours with Helen and then do the journey in reverse, continuing on to Penn Station at 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. When I was here two years ago I visited the new Moynihan Train Hall (link back to the blog from November 2023), and discovered a wonderful place for a real pastrami sandwich in the food hall. On my way there for lunch today I pass through the old Long Island Railroad terminal in the bowels of Penn Station and find that it too has been radically remodeled and modernized.

After my late lunch I return to the hotel to start rearranging my suitcase for tomorrow's flights to Tucson.

Monday

My flight today doesn't leave until 5:00pm from LaGuardia Airport. I have arranged for a car pickup at 2:00pm, but I need to vacate my room by noon (I am granted one extra hour past the regular check-out time). It is a beautifully warm day in Manhattan, with temperatures in the high 70s. I leave my luggage with the hotel and take a slow 20-minute walk to Herald Square and Macy's flagship store.

This week marks the start of Macy's annual flower show, as much a long-term tradition as its Thanksgiving Day parade. The ground floor is ablaze with both dried and live floral constructions.

On my walk back to the hotel I pass an older building I had never noticed before. It would make a great headquarters for the Trump Administration:

My driver picks me up on time for the 30-minute ride to LaGuardia, where I am amazed to be given a wheelchair ride immediately after I check in and drop off my luggage. These days there is usually a long wait for an available chair. My American Airlines flight to Dallas-Ft Worth is right on time and I enjoy an excellent chicken dinner as I travel.

I have a two and a half hour layover that gives me plenty of time to be taken by wheelchair and airport train from one farthest end of the airport to the other farthest end and to recharge my electronics as I wait. But, of course, my departure gate is changed back to the other end of the airport where I first landed. Luckily I find a young man with an empty wheelchair who cheerfully takes me all the way back again.

The flight is on time and uneventful. I arrive back in Tucson shortly after 10pm and Will is there waiting to drive me home to Mountain View Retirement Village.

And so ends another journey. I hope to be back soon with plans for a new adventure with Will in the Fall. Until then, LFLatSea will settle for some rest.