Heritage Trail: Summit to The Hemlocks: Part 1 New York City

 Fort Lee, New Jersey

George Washington Bridge...definitely a city walk!

1.  The trip started with a redeye flight that landed me in Newark at 6:30 AM. on August 20^th. John was there in the baggage claim when I arrived and before I knew it I was nestled into his condo doing what I came for…catching up with him and Charlie. That afternoon we walked three miles across the George Washington Bridge and back, took naps, and ended up at a great restaurant in Soho.

Me'nJohn

**********

Bronxville and Manhattan

 2.   This trip was not about place, it was about connecting. Phone calls, e-mails, and letters help, but there comes a time when my psyche screams for physical contact with my nearest and dearest. In seventeen nights I slept in five different places between Fort Lee, New Jersey and Ogden, Quebec. Before the trip began, I wasn’t sure how I would get from one place to the next or what I would be doing while there; I just knew there were certain people I had a yearning to spend time with and the rest didn’t matter. As it turned out the trip far exceeded all expectations! The pictures will not do it justice and some people are left out, but it will give you a sense of the journey. It's amazing how familiar places I hadn't seen in 50 years looked and felt. As for the people...they never change and it's always great to be with them! I wish we lived closer, but the visits are sweeter because we don't.

Dizzy's Dinner and Jazz at Time Warner Center Overlooking Central Park

John and Charlie shuttled me across the Hudson to Pat Cook’s house in Bronxville where four Wheelock women convened for  what turned out to be one of the most fun-filled weekends of my life. It became apparent very quickly that Pat loves to organize action packed, culturally rich weekends and she really did herself proud with this one. Aside from sleeping, we didn’t stop for forty-eight hours! 

Lovely Ladies!

Ruth, Maddi, Jackie, and Pat

In line for "Motown on Broadway"
What a time it was! We couldn't keep from singing with the cast
and dancing in our seats!

Church Sunday morning: Abyssinian Baptist Church
(home church of Martin Luther King jr)
Reverend Butts111 and his gospel choir were a treat! I would like to listen to them every Sunday!
"We are the sum of our reality and our dreams and our beliefs."
"Don't define yourself  by words. Don't tell about it! Be about it!"
"It's one thing to not know something, but its another to be aggressively ignorant." Oh Yeah, Brother!

Church over, we head for Blue Smoke for great barbecue !
Pat, always cool under pressure...even skidding on gravel in the church parking lot,
was a fabulous chauffeur !

Maddi and Pat went their way, Jackie headed to the train back to Boston, and I  was
swept up by Mike and Sally, and we headed out to Long Island.