. . . and away we go!
For those of you of don't know, Steve and I are on extended leave from Seattle to catch up with a few far-flung friends and family and to discover what kind of promise France may hold for us.
Because I abandoned social media years ago, I converted The Limber Yard's briefly-lived website (designed by my talented friend and former co-worker Eli Brownell) into this here travel blog. My goal with this little online project is to share photos of our adventures in case you want to follow along. Trouble was, since we left Seattle on September 8th, I hadn't either the time or internet to draft a post until today, September 22nd. Whoops! So, without further ado, here is the inaugural post:
After several months of yards sales and prepping the house for house/cat-sitters (Hi Hannah & Andrew! 👋😉), we'd spent departure-eve packing our bags and forgot to properly set the alarm for 5 a.m. So, rather than catch Sound Transit's Link Light Rail to Sea-Tac as planned, our dear pal Rebecca rode to the rescue and got us there with perfect timing. Her reward: getting to babysit the car while we're away.
Four and a half hours later, we landed in Newark.
And that's when we began to regret our two new big-ass suitcases. We crammed 'em onto a rush-hour commuter city bus, then onto a train from Newark Penn Station to New York Penn Station, then up and down a few stairways of various platforms to catch the correct subway to Brooklyn. Whotta couple of bumpkins.
It might not have been the most convenient or efficient way to get from Seattle to Brooklyn, but it seemed the least costly. And most character-building.
Our stay in Brooklyn was a dream, with special thanks to the generous hospitality of my writing mentor Elizabeth Gaffney and her sweet husband Alex Boro. We also got to meet up with two more of my literary comrades from The 24-Hour Writing Room, Nancy Williard and Sadie Horton. My heart sings with affection for these wonderful people.
Funnily enough, my iPhone's battery stopped retaining a charge mid-way through our stay, so mostly you'll have to take my word for it: we had fabulous food, saw fabulous views, and went on fabulous walks. No exaggeration. Off the top of my head highlights included: The Brooklyn Promenade, Inga's Bar, The Brooklyn's Women's Exchange. I'm sure more will occur to me after I hit "publish."
Twice we ripped around Manhattan, after mastering the subway system sans suitcases: once to stroll around Central Park, MOMA, and ditch my phone at The Mother of all Apple stores, and later - on 9/11, of all days - to retrieve the revived phone and venture to The High Line.
Of course, our time in New York blazed fast as could be and we departed wanting to do more stuff, see more things, and visit more people. So, we hope to return.
Stay tuned for a recap of the next leg of our grand adventure: our seven-day transatlantic-crossing aboard Queen Mary 2. 🌊😱🚢
I will be stalking! Love all of this and recognize many of those places!