Off to Canada

My visiting family members are heading back to Florida today, after their whirlwind weekend in New York. Yesterday we went to Coney Island where we ate the obligatory Nathan's hot dog (even me, the sort-of-vegetarian) and walked on the boardwalk. We tried to go to the New York Aquarium but the lines were insane, and my nephew didn't indicate much interest, so we abandoned that idea.

I went walking alone yesterday morning in the East Village, taking some photos. It's the first opportunity I've had to just wander in several weeks, and I realized how much I miss it. I went down to Tompkins Square Park and got a cup of coffee at Cafe Pick Me Up, one of my favorite coffee spots, and then sat out on a bench enjoying the morning. (It was the same bench where Dave and I sat during our first date, in April!) Then I wandered down to the Lower East Side. It was fabulous. I have to schedule more wandering time into my life.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Montreal, where I'll be at a convention for a week. I'm psyched to spend some time in a place that's so culturally different, and I've never been to eastern Canada, so this will be a new experience. Are there blackflies there? Is it cold this time of year? So much I don't know..

I'm going to try to blog from there -- I'm taking my computer -- so we'll see how that goes.

(Photo: Kips Bay, Sept. 2009)