Amtrak from Washingon DC to NYC

We started John on antibiotics and now he won’t even touch Oscar, so I’m truly on my own.  Trying to keep Oscar from touching

daddy and daddy from just dying in the bed with chills and fever, it’s starting to wear thin.  But we are up and at em for the train trip to NYC.  John and his crew take off on the metro and we leave 20 minutes later by taxi and arrive at roughly the same time at Union Station.  Here is where Oscar really has to start listening to me about when to stay with me and he chooses to have a meltdown over who gets to open the door at a busy train station.  A child’s screams really echo in the vaulted ceilings here.  We run into the group and John realizes that while he bought tickets

for me and Oscar, he didn’t print them out like he did the rest of the group’s tickets.  So, I go to the Amtrak counter and throw him under the bus, or the train in this case.  The ticket agent finds us quickly and prints out the tickets without a problem.  We get to go in a separate entrance as a group and Oscar gets to see lots of trains, go up and down escalators, and play with all the students on the train.  There were trips to the café car and learning to open the doors with your foot.  When we got to Penn Station in NYC, I finally figured out how to carry a diaper bag, my purse, Oscar’s backpack, the big suitcase and the stroller while keeping track of a

toddler who is easily distracted.  I made him hold my finger while helping me pull the luggage and when he let go, I knew to look for him.  There are so many exciting things, he stopped to dance for the guy that was singing in the train station, he stopped when he saw pictures of the New York Rangers on the walls of Madison Square Garden, but at least I knew when he was distracted.  We finally got into a taxi with all of this gear and actually arrived after the students and professors who had walked.  But I wouldn’t have made it with all my gear otherwise.  Had an extreme problem with the hotel, the Jolly Madison towers were not so Jolly after a

fire the night before and a group of 16 checking in when they didn’t have the rooms cleaned yet from the fire.  So, we got to sit in wait forever in their lobby with all of our luggage and Oscar just ran from group to group, stole raisins from Steven and sang songs, danced for all the students.  We’re obviously not napping  again today, but I figure it’s an early night anyway because of John’s illness.  We have a bare bones room with a full bed (definitely not a queen) and the cover is someone’s red snuggie at the end of the bed.  Oscar can stand in the windows and see every vehicle in all of his books pass by.  Rachel and I hit the street for some food and I find an artisanal kitchen down the street with a hot and cold bar with great looking fruit in it.  I will most likely be returning here a lot in the next few days.  We Hit the Park Avenue Liquor store to get John and Rachel some whiskey or scotch for planning the trip nights.  A whole row of Compass Box blends and I know that it would be detrimental to the bank accounts to let John see this place.  The group is going on a night tour bus of NYC and Rachel will lead them so that John can maybe get well enough to be working again tomorrow.  So, first night in New York is a tame one, but some rest is good for all of us.