New York Trips

I made two trips to NYC in June for clients meetings.   I've been trying to schedule a little personal time into my work trips when I can, and for the first trip I was able to meet Ryan and Tarek for dinner at a delightful Indian restaurant in their neighborhood on the evening I arrived.   And on my departure day, I took two hours before heading to the airport to tour the 9/11 Museum at the site of the Twin Towers.

I planned to give myself 90 minutes to explore because I knew my heart couldn't take any more.  I was right.  It was moving and horrible all at once.  Being a frequent traveler and wife and mother just really made the horror of that day all too real.  The Deloitte offices in Manhattan at the time we in 2 World Financial Center, which is across the street from where World Trade Center 1 and World Trade Center 2 (the Twin Towers) stood.   One of the photos that impacted me the most was the lobby of 2 WFC to see the floating debris and scattered papers blown everywhere and know that people whom I work with today were in that building and had to fight their way home that day through the dust clouds and fear.

My second trip was less eventful, once I finally got there.  I was flying out Sunday night for a Monday meeting so packed a second work suitcase and took it along on our weekend roadtrip through Illinois.  Luckily we made good time in traffic on our way back, so I had time to stop at home for a shower and clean clothes before ubering to the airport.   Six hours later I ubered back home when my delayed flight was cancelled.  There is actually a benefit to having O'Hare as your home airport, because I slept in my own bed and was on another flight (granted, to a different airport) first thing Monday morning and still made it with plenty of time to spare for my meeting.   I was rebooked into White Plains instead of LaGuardia because that's what was available.  I love flying into little White Plains airport because it's so easy to navigate and because it's 10 minutes from one of my clients, but it's usually more expensive than LaGuardia.  Ironically, this trip wasn't to visit that client!  But the distance to the client I was visiting was equidistant between the two airports.  

For personal time, I got to enjoy a beautiful summer evening in the city after my meetings and happy hour in Rockefeller Center were done.  I started walking back to my hotel to stretch my legs and see the city without realizing it was more than 4 miles and would take me over 2 hours (I hit every single stoplight.).  Along the way I enjoyed shopping (literal, I swung through Sephora to get some foundation, and window) and people watching.  I got an ice cream cone for dinner from an ice cream truck and ate it while I walked.  The only scary part it that it was finally dark once I got to Soho and then in the mostly deserted Financial District.  I contemplated taking a cab the last mile but kept walking. 

Arriving back at my hotel after dark.   I slept well before my alarm clock rudely woke me up at 3:30 a.m. for a 4 a.m. cab to the airport.  I've taken to the early flights home; I can head to the office straight from the airport and get in before most of my commuting colleagues! 

Illinois Roadtrip

We had an invitation to my partner's alpaca farm for Sunday, so decided to turn the whole weekend into a roadtrip!   First stop was Dixon, IL, about an hour west of us, to tour Ronald Reagan's boyhood home.   William and I have talked about a stop here for over a year, since it was his 2nd grade president presentation.  But they're only open seasonally, but it didn't work out before now.   It was a fun stop - around 45 minutes to see the video, tour the house and poke around the yard - before heading to the local pizza buffet for lunch.  A friend of mine grew up in this town and her parents still live there so she gave me the scoop!

 

 

Not sure why I needed to post every picture I took!  The house reminded me a lot of my grandparents' farm house - just smaller.  Although when Reagan visited he said the house had shrunk!  I'm sure it (just like my grandparents' house) looked bigger when he (I) was 10!

We drove through rural Illinois another hour or so to get to Starved Rock State Park.   It was a beautiful Saturday so there were a lot of people there.  It rained so much the week before that the main parking lot was flooded and out of commission.  That meant when we first drove through the overflow lots were also full from early arrivals and we didn't find a spot to park.   Instead we drove to our hotel to check in and rest for a little bit before trying again.  William was very John-like on our hike.   I've gotten to the point in the last 20 years where I understand that John is not going to stay with the group and will wonder off to explore cooler things than the path provides. . . .but Mama Bear still worries about the kiddo doing it.   Luckily except for spiders and maybe some poison ivy, I didn't think too much trouble could befall him and I tried to chill out!

 

After our hiking and exploring, we swam in the hotel pool and relaxed our muscles in the hot tub.  Then we had our second restaurant recommendation for the day and enjoyed dinner at Tangles Roots Brewery in Ottawa, IL,  which I keep telling everyone considering a roadtrip is a legitimate brewpub.  The whole downtown Ottawa area was actually really nice; sometime we'll have to explore it in the daylight instead of just rushing for dinner before collapsing back in our beds.

Sunday morning we were on a bit of a schedule to drive the last hour to my partner's farm.  But first we had to enjoy our Hampton Inn waffles!  There wasn't much need to eat at the hotel since of course there was a ton of food at the farm.   But of course William was so busy exploring there that he didn't want to stop to eat either!  This is his third or fourth trip to Bob's farm so he acts like he owns the place!   The fishing this year was non-existent.  Well, unless you ask the kids because they caught dozen of minnows!  Not sure if it was the same one over and over......I tried hooking one for bait for a bigger fish but the ponds appeared to be empty.

 

 

Around 175 alpacas are permanent residents of the farm (along with many chicken, geese, some turkeys, a few little sheep and a farm dog.   For Deloitte Day at the Farm, Bob also brings in two ponies for pony rides, gets baby chicks and baby ducklings, and sometimes (not this year!) stocks the pond.   For the last few years this event has fallen near his birthday so I bring a cake. This year I passed that baton on to the manager on our joint engagement.  He and his wife really delivered!