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Showing posts from July, 2014

About Last Night

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Pollen I have been making the trek to and from Washington DC since 2008 with a major league focus on issues related to health care and aging.  Some months there are more trips and other months there are no trips.  Sometimes I fly and other times I take the train with a very huge preference for the train. Aside from one trip in April 2009 that happened to coincide with prime cherry blossom viewing, I don’t often take long walks in DC.  This was as much about ability it was about having the time.  By ability I mean that I had a very arthritic left toe up until about 11 months ago that limited my walking.  I’ve blogged about the toe and my post-op recovery in a run of posts from last fall ( Wiggling My Toes ,  BendingMy Toes (and Assorted Random Thoughts) , First Steps and New Toys , and Rolling through My Toes ). Which brings me to last night.   Now I just know you were hoping for something salacious but I got nothing for you along those lines.   I just have a story of n

A Walk Across the Manhattan Bridge

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It's been just over a year since I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with my niece Julia ( A Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge ).  The Brooklyn Bridge is a great walk -- particularly if you get there early and start your jaunt on the Brooklyn side and walk towards Manhattan.  I've done it several times over the course of the past several months with various visitors from NYC.   I've also discovered the walk across the Manhattan Bridge -- a much less traveled route that boasts some amazing views of the Brooklyn Bridge against lower Manhattan.  The bridge is definitely a grittier cousin to the Brooklyn, sporting graffiti and subway tracks in addition to the obligatory car/truck/bus/pedestrian/bicycle traffic.  My favorite part of this walk is the view out over Chinatown and the graffiti that decorates the rooftops and walls that surround the bridge.  If you go, know that it can be a bit challenging when it comes to taking photos as there is a chain link fence that ru

Trip Planning

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Peony Bud, Conservatory Garden It seemed like a relatively simple assignment -- find hotels for a driving trip out West with the intrepid Nancy B (aka the B).  She is in charge of the car and the mapping and I am in charge of finding us places to sleep.  I thought I had it all figured out with the park lodges but these are booked, booked, booked.  Head slapping moment -- I know those park lodges book a year in advance.  On to web searches to figure out where to stay. Hmm, pretty much everything is booked, booked, booked.  Apparently, Zion, Bryce, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon are very popular in late September/early October!   Who knew?  We jiggered the timing a bit and we are almost finished with the hotel reservations.  None too soon because I am exhausted! Ethereal, Conservatory Garden You're probably thinking to yourself, what is she nattering on about with sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and kayak to do the searching and price-comparing.  And there i