1 October 2025
We arrived in
Tucson on 1 October, and couldn’t get the lock box open to get the keys. Ended up calling our landlady, who came over
with a spare key to let us in.
Apparently there’s a sequence to press one button, enter the secret
code, press another button, and presto, the box opens. I’ll remember that for next time! We unpacked the car, and I unpacked half my
stuff.
This blog is
going to seem really detailed, but it will be a crazy couple of weeks and it
seems helpful to do a day-by-day overview so you can understand just what life
on the road entails. Because in
practice, it really isn’t as easy nor romantic as it sounds in theory. (But it is fun!)
2 October –
Unpacked the rest of my stuff, and pack for 18 or 20 or so days on the east
coast. I managed to get everything I
thought I’d need in my medium rolling duffel for 
a total of 25.5 lbs, including
medications for that many days, plus a few extra just in case. Then I helped Richard pack his stuff, all
44.5 lbs worth – he’s a “just in case” kind of packer, while I’m more of a “I
can make it work” minimalist packer.
3 October –
Parked our car in our back yard, and called a taxi for the trip to the
airport. Our flights were relatively
normal, and everything went smoothly, 
for a change. We flew to Newark, arriving about 11 PM, and
went straight to a hotel I booked ahead of time. It was 8 PM our time, but after a day of
travel, we were ready to fall into bed.
4 October – Our car service
guy was late because he called last night to check in with me, but we were
still flying so the phone was off! It all worked out, he picked us up in Newark
and drove us out to Budd Lake, which is where everyone is staying for the
wedding 
tomorrow. Richard's brother and
wife came by to visit with us, and they drove us to the family and close
friends’ dinner. Always good to catch up with family – while somehow in-laws
never quite feel as close as one's own family, it's still wonderful to see
people and catch up. Richard and I are known as the travellers, so lots of
conversations about where we've been as well as where other people are planning
to go.
We met a new person, who is a
close friend of the bride's parents – and the reason we started talking to him
is that he looks remarkably like one of Richard's cousins! Several other people
came over, thinking he was the same cousin we thought he was – it really was
quite odd how many people thought this new friend and the cousin looked so
similar!
5 October – I went out to the wedding site with Richard’s brother and his wife, it’s an old village from the 1800s that is now a state park. The village is on a canal, used to ship coal and iron to the east coast. These materials helped build New York City! Anyway, it’s on a large property with interesting buildings, as well as three llamas, some ducks and geese, and lots of trees and flowers.
The wedding was in the late
afternoon/evening. The bride’s twin brother and the groom’s cousin
co-officiated, which made it very warm and family oriented, as well as being
amusing with the usual familial jests.
We sat outside, I sat next a young man who knows the bride from Broadway
- she's the musical director for the show "Suffs," and he was in
"Tootsie." We chatted a bit,
he and his partner were both very interesting and so very art scene New York –
I loved it! I forgot to tell him about
the time I accidentally played a teacher in an off-Broadway production – he’d
have enjoyed that!
Food was good, lots of
dancing and schmoozing with the family – but my favorite part was that the
table decorations included all eighteen different species of penguins, a
different penguin on each table! Each one was crocheted, and looked just
like the penguin it represented – of course, I had to go to each table and
check 
out the penguins, which meant I ended up talking to nearly everyone at
this wedding – almost all strangers to me! It turned out to be hilarious,
and I met all sorts of interesting people!
Our table was the Northern
Rockhopper penguin, which is one of the penguins that jumps from rock to rock,
rather than waddling – and they have huge yellow eyebrows (or really more of a
crest over each eye). People were
encouraged to take home a penguin, but in 
my table hopping (since I was a
Northern Rockhopper), I met a woman who had hidden the Little Blue because her
two children began fighting over who would have the penguin. Well, of course I gave her our Northern
Rockhopper, we have to have happy children, right? By the end of the night, I saw there was one
lone penguin still on its original table – so I went over and adopted it. I’m now the proud parent of an Adele penguin,
straight from Antarctica. (Adeles are
the 
very basic black and white penguin, no other distinctive markings. They do have rather googly eyes, though.)
Yeah, you can tell I had great fun!
6 October – Breakfast with
one of Richard’s cousins, the one the other guy somewhat resembled. We tried to get a taxi to the NJ transit
center just a couple of miles down the road, but the taxi wanted a crazy price
for under five 
miles. Well, our driver
from Newark to Budd Lake had quoted us a price that was very reasonable
compared to that, taking us to our hotel in mid-town Manhattan – I gave him a
call, and luckily he could pick us up an hour later. So we had a comfortable ride straight to our
hotel. After a certain age, convenience
takes precedence over saving money.
We’ve hit that age.
7 October – We wandered our
neighborhood a bit, and ended up having lunch at the Stardust 
Café. This café hires aspiring singers and actors,
so the waiters take turns waiting tables and singing on stage! Some were better than others, a few had star
quality voices – all we can do is wish them all success!
Richard had a burger, I had
scrambled eggs with a rainbow bagel.
Yes, different lumps of bagel dough are colored with food dye, and the
lumps are twisted together to make colorful bagels. My bagel was striped in the primary colors: 
red, yellow, and blue – although inside was really more like deep pink and blue
marbling. I didn’t have my camera with
me, otherwise I’d have a photo. It
tasted like a basic plain bagel, but it was decidedly more fun!
I had to buy a few items, so
Richard caught a taxi and I walked back to our hotel. I stumbled on a few statues in fountains, but
there were no information plaques nearby.
I asked the building guard, but 
he had no information either. He sent me to the counter inside what turned
out the be the Crédit Agricole building – French agriculture bank maybe? Anyway, that guy had no idea, sent me to the
Museum of Modern Art which was across the cross street. (They of course had no info either!)
I finally just looked online – three variations on the Venus de Milo in verdigris bronze. The artist is Jim Dine, and they are situated in two pools of water that may have fountains, it looked like there were either spouts or spotlights, it was hard to say since they were underwater.
Yes, I do have interesting quests.
In other news, there seemed
to be a pro-Palestinian march outside tonight – drums, 
hundreds of people with
Palestinian flags marching up Sixth Avenue, complete with one of those giant
flags that covers about one hundred people.
While I’m sympathetic to part of their cause, it’s a bit intimidating to
see a crowd like that, especially on 7 October!
8 October – I walked around
our neighborhood in the other direction, east of our hotel. As ever, I ended up turning in the wrong
direction a few times, 
heading south when I should have been going north. Eh, more buildings to look at, food trucks
and restaurants to ponder or memorize for future meals. I finally found the paper store I wanted, and
bought a card for the upcoming Bat Mitzvah, as well as a pocket-sized
sketchbook for myself. They only had
twelve-packs of pencils, but our hotel desk staff were wonderful and gave me a lovely
Warwick Hotel pencil for my sketching.
9 October – My destination
today was a bookstore about .6 miles away, so I could buy book gift cards for
the great nieces and nephews we’ll see next weekend. Of course, I was sidetracked by the Art Deco
embellishments on various buildings along my way. New York’s architecture reflects the art
style of the 1920s and 30s, when many of the major buildings were designed and
built. As an example, Rockefeller Center
has wonderful Deco mosaics 
and bas reliefs above every entrance. There are random little decorative images on
the sides of buildings all around Manhattan!
Of course, I became so
focused on photographing all these little decorative features, I sort of forgot
which avenue I was walking along on my way back to our hotel. At least I know this part of the grid, so
when I arrived at 55th and Madison Avenue, I knew how to get back to
our hotel and grab a quick lunch. (I
should assure 
people that I pay attention to my surroundings, including the
people around me. So I really am
safe. I just lose track of the address
where I’m actually walking.)
10 October – One of my usual things to do each visit to NYC is to ride the carousel in Central Park. This carousel has fifty-seven horses, and two chariots – and dates back to 1871, so this is over 150 years old! The original carousel was “fueled” by horses or mules (to move around the carved wood horses, a bit of irony).
I’ve “graduated” from the
outermost circle of horses, which are the biggest and feel like they move the
fastest. After knocking off my Birks on
their tails during my dismount, I learned that the next horses in are a bit
smaller, and yes, easier to climb on and get back 
down. Especially since I’m willing to admit I’m in
my active senior years.
And I buy two tickets so I can ride two rounds – my big splurge!
11 October – I met a friend for a late brunch at a delightful restaurant. And didn’t even get lost getting there! (Okay, it was straight uptown on Sixth, turn right on 59th, and it was a few doors down. The doorman at the Ritz told me to look for the place with the blue awning – my kind of directions! Impossible to get lost!)
We’re preparing for the
nor’easter heading our way. We stopped
at the local market and bought things like peanut butter, bread, black truffle
cheese, and yogurt. All the essentials
for a day or two in 
our hotel, if the weather forecasts hold true.
12 October – We met up with my two nephews and niece-in-law, at the Guggenheim Museum. It was rainy, and we’re expecting a major storm, so I left my camera in the hotel. But the Guggenheim is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last buildings, and some people argue it is one of his most important. The building is built in one continuous spiral, which makes it rather fun to walk down (but for older visitors, not as easy to walk up). Fascinating building, and the exhibit we saw was predominantly art by Rashid Johnson, varying from sculpture to mosaic to painting to film. As with all art, some made more sense to us, some was more confusing. But it all was interesting.
There were two side galleries we visited – one featured works by Robert Rauschenberg, the other a variety of
French Impressionists and post-Impressionists.
Those are the ones with which I was most familiar, but the others were
more in keeping with the modern art vibe of the Guggenheim itself.
We had a lovely lunch (complete with babka muffins, because they were out of real babka), and spent hours talking and laughing, the way family members tend to do. All in all, a lovely day!
13 October – The region was
in the height of the nor’easter, so we stayed in. Yesterday the umbrella from a food cart went
flying down the street, where it was finally caught and wrangled back by a
policeman. Today, I saw that one of the
flags on the hotel 
across the street was flying crazily because one corner
became detached, and it was only holding on to the pole by one thin tie. (I called that hotel and reported it.) So, yeah, we opted to stay in and be cozy,
warm, and dry.
14 October – I needed a USB
drive to get some documents printed, so walked up to a store nearby. On my way back toward our hotel, I passed the
hop-on-hop-off bus, and thought, I always thought it might be fun to do
that. So I 
did – negotiated an
affordable senior discount for a three hour ride, though I only needed two
hours. I found a seat up on the upper
level in the fresh air, and we set off from Broadway and 50th. We went down Broadway, eventually past the
Empire State Building (though I did catch a great view of the classic Deco
Chrysler, my favorite). We drove by
Trinity Church, built in 1697 and where Alexander Hamilton is buried. On past all the old government buildings, and
down to the Battery, the southernmost region of Manhattan.
We headed back north along
West Street, which runs along the Hudson River.
Brrr, it was extra cold there, but sitting on the upper deck is so much
better than downstairs. Eventually we
arrived back at our starting point, so it was a 
fairly short walk back to our
hotel where I could warm up again!
Fun spur of the moment day!
15 October – Our hotel is
around the block from MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. That was my destination for today, and this
museum never disappoints. There are
rotating exhibits as well as their permanent collection – and while new artists
are always 
interesting, it’s the permanent collection that somehow always draws
me in. My personal highlights are the
several Piet Mondrians, the artist who was so emotionally drained after the
major wars in Europe he felt defeated, he couldn’t even express his emotions in
images. So he just created paintings
solely using color, line, and a few geometric shapes.
Then the room of Claude
Monet’s “Waterlilies” – basically two multi-panel “Waterlilies,” one a diptych
(two panels) and 
on an opposite wall, a triptych (three panels). With round seating areas, so people could sit
and contemplate these huge paintings, so serene and seemingly placid, but truly
full of movement, color, and action as the clouds drift across the water, and
the waterlilies grow and move with the gentle waves.
My single favorite, though,
is Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – and while most everyone has seen
pictures of 
this painting, seeing it in person is different. It just glows, and those swirling air
currents move and undulate in front of your eyes. Plus van Gogh used very thick paint
(impasto), so each brush stroke captures light individually, causing the
painting to somehow look more alive as well as look different depending on the
angle from which you view it.
A very satisfying afternoon at the museum!
16 October - I woke up a bit
early, and realized I was 
stressing about taking the subway to meet a friend to
go gallery hopping today. It involved switching subway lines, and at the end
walking in the right direction to get to our meeting spot. I vaguely thought
about contacting her and claiming illness or something. And then I thought,
this is stupid, you two enjoy hanging out and talking art - just take a taxi
and don't worry about it. And that's exactly what I did!
We visited about eight
galleries in the Chelsea area, close to the Hudson so windier and 
colder than
our midtown hotel area. Some of the art was great, some was just strange, and
one gallery we walked in, looked at three pieces, looked at each other, and
agreed to leave. Nothing we wanted to see.
My favorite was the gallery with maybe six or eight huge Keith Haring canvases - even when he's dealing with life and death issues, his style and colors still are joyous!
I found a taxi back, my
driver was an older man from Ghana! He had been taxi driver in Accra during the
most recent war in Liberia, and he said there were a lot of Liberian refugees
who were living in Accra, especially college students. He told me about the
parties they used to invite him to, and he went on and on about how 
Liberians
love to party! It really was one of the
more fun cab rides I've had!
17 October – Taxi to Penn Station, and a train to Philadelphia. We travelled through wooded areas that looked like Impressionist paintings, just dots of greens interspersed with dots of vivid yellows, oranges, flaming reds – all the colors of autumn leaves! Met Richard’s brother and sister-in-law at the station, to catch a ride with them to Lancaster for our great niece’s Bat Mitzvah.
18 October – The Bat Mitzvah! What can I say, the Bat Mitzvah girl did a beautiful job reading the first passage of the Torah! Lots of family involved, a great lunch at a pizza place afterwards where we caught up with the two younger generations. (And it is SO weird being the older generation!) A huge party with adolescent girls jumping up and down dancing, and screaming words to songs we don’t know. It was wonderfully high energy and fun, and some of us of that older generation got up and danced even if we didn’t know the music.
As my parents and grandparents would say, we were kvelling nachas – sort of loosely translated, overflowing with happiness and pride! It was a wonderful finale to our celebrations that began with a wedding, and ended with this coming-of-age rite!
19 October – Caught a ride with the brother- and sister-in-law back to Philadelphia. We had a nice train ride back to the Newark airport with even more autumn-leafed trees, and settled in at our airport hotel for the night.
20 October – All of our travel had gone fairly smoothly for our seventeen or so days of travel. Very unusual for a Richard and Phebe trip. We have often had flights delayed or cancelled, and had to spend a night at some random airport hotel around the world.
Well, that smooth travel spell was over, and we were back to our more usual chaotic travel mode. Not our faults, at all!
There was some computer or internet platform glitch that caused problems across the country on Monday. It affected airlines and airports, as well as many other businesses. The problem was apparently fixed by the time we boarded our flight, and we had no idea there was, indeed, a major problem. But all the flights prior to ours were out on the approach to the runways, waiting for take off or something, and the air traffic controllers couldn’t do anything because there was this computer glitch thing going on. Our airport, like many others, was one giant traffic jam!
Our flight was nearly an hour late taking off from Newark. We had a tight connection in Phoenix, and by the time we were landing, our connecting flight was taking off. We had a wonderful wheelchair guy who hailed one of the airport cart drivers, and he raced us through the airport as if we were in the Grand Prix or something! Seriously, I’ve never been on such a speedy ride in an airport!
Of course, we were rerouted, as was our luggage. We arrived in Tucson about two hours late. It happens. But yes, that was the end of our wonderful eighteen day adventure!
