Last week was my annual work powwow for my engineering group with United Rentals and I spent three (Bryan would say four) nights in NYC without the family and it wasn’t too shabby. Of course I missed the girls and Bryan dearly but it is always nice to get away for a bit, only be responsible for myself for a change, and of course being able to sight see and socialize in the Big Apple was equally cool.
I left very early in the morning on Wednesday as I had to get to New York in time to get to downtown Manhattan for a networking dinner with a geotech firm we have worked on some projects with in Manhattan. My flight was smooth (although bumpy with a lot of turbulence) and after over 5 hours I hit the JFK runway, used the AirTrain and subway to get to my hotel in Long Island City in Queens. I was starving and picked up a quick bite, even though I had dinner in only two hours, and checked into my hotel room to change before dinner. I set out solo with the Subway to Penn Station as our networking dinner was at Bourbon and Branch. When I first arrived I was a bit stunned because it was loud, hip and packed to the brim because a Knicks game was about to start and being right across the street a bunch of fans were pregaming there before heading to the actual game. It didn’t get much quieter though and it was difficult to have conversations with my coworkers or those from the other company. Our room wasn’t private but the drinks and the food was flowing. I was pretty eager to get out of there after dinner because it was so loud and I was tired. I headed back to the hotel for my first night’s sleep solo.
Thursday was our coworking day just in the hotel meeting space while our team members from the Greensboro office arrived. The day moved slowly without windows or fresh air but we all headed out for lunch at the market across the street for lunch and I got to stretch my legs again a bit for a post lunch coffee walk. We broke from work at 4 pm to have some time to change and recharge before heading to dinner at the nearby American Brass with its location along the river with views of Manhattan. I took this opportunity to walk through cute Long Island City, passing mostly those headed home from work and a surprising amount of parents pushing strollers. I enjoyed the walk and views along the river and made it to the restaurant with plenty of time. Fortunately on this night it was just our internal company and we had a semi-private room. The pre-ordered dinner was served family style which I greatly enjoyed but I think most of my male coworkers found strange. There was good conversation and great food. I would definitely come back to this restaurant in the future. We all headed back to the hotel via the subway to get ready for our site visit and tour the next day.
Friday was essentially our day off of work. We all boarded our private bus to head to our site visit at JFK. Unfortunately, the bus driver had no idea where we were going and we ended up headed to Wall Street before someone redirected him. This added about an hour to our ride on the bus and we were all ready to disembark when we finally did get there. The site visit was interesting, again seeing one of our larger projects using our Megabrace system. Back on the bus we were not much later and back to the hotel for a short one hour break to get lunch and change out of our steel-toed work boots. We were supposed to have a bus tour of Manhattan on our way to Rockefeller Center but our bus driver (don’t know what was up with this guy?) showed up way late so I opted to take the subway while I could to spend the sunny afternoon walking through Central Park first and still made it to my 2:30 pm time slot to ice skate at the Rink at Rockefeller. Skating was fun and I’m always surprised by how quickly comfortable I get on the ice after not having done it in forever. Only two other coworkers opted to ice skate instead of doing the Top of the Rock (which I’ve done twice before) and we had a good time.
After an hour of ice skating my feet were cramping and I was ready for a pick me up, which I got at the Epicerie Boulud café next to Union Station. A coworker and I rested and recharged here before heading into a few stores and then browsing all of the vendors at Bryant Park. I was in search of little gifts for the girls but nothing caught my eye so I left empty handed. We met up with the rest of our group at the Bryan Park Grill for our last group dinner at 6 pm. We again had a semi-private room and a pre-selected three course meal to choose from. Good conversation again and a really good but super filling meal. We all headed back to the hotel on the subway through Union Station and then said our goodbyes as everyone was leaving at different times on Saturday.
Saturday was my one day without any planned activities but logically I filled it up with my own personal interests and wants. My old friend Maria Strangas saw my post and where I was staying and she ironically only lives a quick 20 minute walk from my hotel so we opted to get coffee together and catch up at a neighborhood café at 9:30 am. This was super fun to catch up and great to hear how she’s been and how she likes New York. From there I got on the subway to Hudson Yards and hit the High Line. It was another sunny and warm day and walking amongst the crowds was actually super enjoyable. After about a mile I came to Chelsea Market and ventured in where I got two snacks including some delicious Turkish street eats from Miznon and a delicious fish taco from Los Mariscos.
I continued on Bleecher Street and browsed a few shops before arriving at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. Sarah had suggested this and their reviews were high plus there are one hour tours scheduled all of the time so I arrived and asked what available tour they had coming up and I got in on the 1:45 pm tour of After the Famine: 1869. The tour was interesting to hear about the Irish Moore family who resided in this tenement back during the 1870s and what their lifestyle and New York was like during that time. It was indeed a quick tour but I liked the history and glimpse into the city over 100 years ago. I stopped and got a coffee in the neighborhood to fuel me through a wait at Katz Deli. I ended up waiting about an hour, the entire time debating if I actually had the time to wait in this line to get a sandwich. Figured I did so I stuck it out. I finally got my hands on a pastrami sandwich and hurried to the subway to pick up my bags at the hotel and head to JFK for my 7 pm flight back to Seattle. Have no fear…I made my flight with time to spare. My 6+ hour flight back to Seattle was easy and I was home around 11 pm to catch up with Bryan and get ready to parent again.
Bryan and the girls held up exceptionally so. Bryan had the hard work of getting both girls to gymnastics on day one. They now each have gymnastics on Wednesdays starting at 3:45 so it meant leaving work early for Bryan. They had a normal day on Thursday and then were back at Reese’s gymnastics class on Friday before heading to the TOPS movie night at the TOPS gym. They did this last year and I took them and it was a lot of fun. Lots of kids, lots of chaos, lots of pizza and sweets and a little movie watching. On Saturday they all headed over to Phillip and Anne’s to watch the Texas game in the morning where the girls played with Reid and Rosalie before they headed back home to clean themselves and the house in anticipation for my arrival.
It’s been good to be back and back in my rhythm with the family and work. The girls and I went to the library and the park and Trader Joes on Sunday to get Bryan a small break. We finally got to watch the Seahawks win a game, and a close one to the 49ers at that. We’ve spent nearly every night playing the card game Sleeping Queens that my soccer friend gave us and Reese is obsessed with. We were back at gymnastics yesterday and have it again tomorrow. Bryan got dinner and drinks with Philipp on Wednesday night and is volunteering at the last Guest Chef Night (for us) for FareStart tonight. Brooke’s best buddy Madison is having her birthday party tomorrow and then we don’t have much going on for the weekend which should be nice.
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Chelsea
