NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 7: Torrential Rains, I Am Groot.

Very rain. Much wet. Saw Guardians  of the Galaxy at a theater in Woburn; hung out with Rondo, Snacks and Lucy; played Maui.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 6: Good Harbor Beach

It was a late night and late getting going in the morning. 11:30 by th time we returned the car at Bedford's Hanscom airport and 12:30 by the time we hit Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester.

Good Harbor came as a recommendation from our Lexington hosts, the family with whom we were exchanging homes, and it was a good one. The waves were mild but we played in the water a bit. Rowan wanted to swim out to the nearby island, but I wasn't up for it. Pam, Griffin and I walked to the nearby Stop & Shop for lunch fixins while Berit napped and sunburned and Rowan read her book.

We all enjoyed lunch very much, particularly the seagulls. One of them snagged what remained of our chips from behind our chairs and a short seagull chip melee ensued. It was rather awesome.

We drove back down 95 from Cape Ann in time to hit the Lexington farmer's market where we bought corn and chicken. That night, after dinner, Berit taught us Maui, a card game a lot like Uno.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 5: The Lost Day

We can call Monday "the lost day" since it was spent largely threading our way from New York City to Lexington, Massachusetts.

Actually, we did hang around with Drew and Fiona for much of the morning. Or at least, everyone else did while I made my way up to the Brooklyn Avis at 211 Atlantic Avenue. By the time I got our Ford Fusion back to Drew and Patty's place, it was nearly noon. We said our goodbyes, stopped at the local grocery for food and drinks and headed into the labyrinth that was our escape from New York, laughing out loud at jokes about the seven dwarves.

Dirty, Stinky, Ugly, Wingnut, Blanket, Dish Rag…

Up I-95 through Connecticut where a big accident held us hostage outside of Milford for hours. And so it was late, late, late - maybe 8 pm - when we finally landed at the 1860s Homestead House in Lexington where we would make our home for the next ten days.

Pam and I brought pizza and ice cream back from the nearby Stop & Shop and we all had a relaxing evening.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 4: West Village, Berit! , Biking Central Park, Sea Shanties and Times Square

Back to the West Village! We rode the R  and F trains to 3rd Street at 6th Avenue (the Avenue of the Americas) so that we could reinsert ourselves firmly into the West Village.

There, we found the Scandinavian Sweet Shop, a vast expanse of clean white space lined with bins and bins of exotic, eclectic candy.

With unparalleled restraint, the four of us purchased small amounts of assorted Scandinavian candies - I really liked the salted black licorice and Rowan enjoyed something called an Energy Shot. Griffin however proved the sweetest of all by running back in and buying us all additional pieces of our favorites.

I descended back into the subway for my long journey through Manhattan, through Queens to JFK airport to meet Berit who is flying in by herself today. It's Sunday, and she's been on her own since Thursday - sitting Payton's dog and house and participating as a leader in the group that welcomes the incoming Freshman to her high school.

Berit and I rode the E train back into Manhattan and got burgers at Five Guys before finding ourselves smack in the midst of the residual pedestrian traffic of the annual Dominican Republic parade. Bazillions of people, many of the clothed in the DR flag, and we even saw a man with a giant boa constrictor wrapped around his shoulders.

We dropped Berit's luggage off and headed North to rendezvous with Pam, Rowan and Griffin to rent bikes and ride in Central Park. Pam, Berit and Rowan took a left turn down a one way street and we were separated for the rest of the ride. Berit and I had a nice time though, and we stopped to take a photo of the Manhattan skyline across this lake, both on the phone and with her Polaroid.

We caught a ride with a Turkish cabbie down to the East Village where we watched a short performance by buddy Scott's puppet theater troupe in a bar called Jimmy's 43. It was just a snippet of a show that they are working on for next year and was an utterly unique blend of pirates, shadow puppetry and sea shanties.

The kids got gipped on dinner, having had pizza before the show, because Pam and I held out and grabbed the best barbecue down there at a place that was as delicious as it was affordable.

Another cab ride landed us in Times Square, where we did not provoke the people dressed as superheroes. We took a picture for a nice Japanese girl who took ours in return before we departed to grab Berit's bags and head back to Brooklyn for our final night at Patty and Drew's.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 3: Summer Streets, Lower East Side, St. Vincent

This morning we are up and out late. It's already 10:50 and we're on the 4 train to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge where the New York Summer Streets festivus takes place. I think we expected a lot of a festival in which the New York Streets were closed off, but there wasn't really much to it. There was a climbing wall.

The last bit of the festival involved the Park Avenue tunnel that had been closed to traffic so that pedestrians could walk through it and experience the sounds of the ocean, accompanied by eerie subterranean lighting.

We had hurried to make it, to be able to enter the tunnel and experience this before it closed, but the experience didn't rise to the hoopla made of it.  Some liked it though.

We visited Grand Central Station, and lunch happened at the food court in the lower level where it was every man, woman and child for themselves.



Followed by a visit to the New York Public Library where there was a children's book exhibit comprising everything from Good Night Moon to Marvel Comics.

Extracting Rowan from the building took some time so we waited in the courtyard outside the library where Griffin vaulted the chairs and tables.

Worn out from playing tour guides, Patty, Drew and Fiona left us to our own recognizance and off we went to find Manhattan's Lower East Side and Chinatown.

On the Lower East Side, a group of people opening a restaurant had a table set out where passersby could sample their wares, or at least what their wares might be in the future. Griffin had a slider and we all had shrimp. I also had a crab cake, washed down with lemonade.

We went into the Essex Market where I bought a Kombucha from the Japanese stall called Ni. Everyone was pretty unimpressed with the Essex Market. I think they were expecting something more than a grocery. We also went to Economy Candy, which was a bit more of a hit.

We took the 6:30 pm F train from Essex and Delancey Streets into Brooklyn, to the Prospect Park Bandshell where St. Vincent is giving a free concert in the park.

Once on the train, Pam asks me repeatedly who we are going to see perform, and its like Abbot and Costello's Who's on first?

"St. Vincent," I reply.

"Who?"

"St. Vincent."

"Not where. WHO?"

Sigh. It's St. Vincent.

Drew brought blankets from the house and we set up on the lawn across the street from the fenced off bandshell area. We had long since given up on standing in the miles long line to enter the bandshell area proper and anyway, this was a more laid back spot from which to enjoy the music and the food that Drew and I grabbed at the local market. We also played the guessing game that Rowan had learned while working as a Junior Ranger this summer which was so much fun, it continued into the walk home to Drew and Patty's.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 2: Greenwich Village, The High Line, Matilda

The cab driver from Pakistan took us through the West Village to The High Line, a service for which we paid him. Pam of course decides at this point is that what she wants to do is walk around the West Village. We don't do that, but it becomes a sticking point which will arise later in our visit.

We'd trained in earlier from Brooklyn to Union Square, where we enjoyed the farmer's market in Union Square Park. We bought apples and peaches and assorted other delicacies before heading southwest on Broadway towards the National Debt Clock. We coursed south through Greenwich Village, landing briefly in Washington Square Park to find this amazing garage percussionist with dancing accompaniment.

At 1 min 15 sec he sends the dancing kid away - big mistake as the kid, who left with his parents, was half the act. It occurred to me too late that I should have tipped the kid as well as the drummer.

The High Line is an elevated public park that winds through Chelsea on the West side of Manhattan. Great views of the area abound, as do rail-mounted lounge chairs, foot fountains, popsicles and benches over which Griffin flies.

We walked its length from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 11th Aves.

Once back on the ground, we happened upon the filming of an episode of The Blacklist - camera crews, actors, extras filled this side street, and we stopped for a bit to watch. The crew moved us out of the shot, but Pam surreptitiously stayed perched on a high step. Rowan, armed with her book waited patiently for her gawking family on a stoop down the street. I didn't see James Spader.

We met up with Patty, Drew and Fia and communed for food at the Chelsea Market smorgasbord - Griffin and Rowan had Nam Pang BBQ sandwiches and Drew and I both had Ramen from the Japanese place, which was really really good.

From there we grabbed a cab over to the teeter district. Matilda is playing at the Shubert Theater, between 7th and 8th avenues on 44th street. It's a good time to mention here that Berit's not with us yet. She's active in a leadership opportunity at her high school for which she ended up staying in Colorado. She'll fly out on Sunday, and I'm really sad that she's not here for Matilda.

Patty accompanied us in Berit's stead; the show was amazing, and we were in the front row. Pam was actually dodging spit from the Trunchbull's exhortations, and I'm pretty sure I could have reached out and touched a couple of the characters as they knelt by the edge of the stage. Here is a great bit from Harry Wormwood, Matilda's father, during intermission:

After the show our route back to the train takes us through Times Square and Bryant Park.

NYC⇢MA Adventure, Day 1: Travel, DUMBO, Brooklyn Bridge Park

Our 8 am flight from Denver to JFK is three and a half hours, getting us into New York at 1:30 pm.

Our Bangladeshi taxi driver regales us with the virtues of living in Jamaica, Queens but I'm drifting off, having awoken at 5 am after staying up too late helping to finish preparations for our house exchange.

We arrive in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Patty is still at work, so after we get settled in, we all head out with Drew and Fiona. Fiona (Fia) is four years old now, cute, precocious. As we walk through the Brooklyn streets, she's trying to imitate Griffin, who is parkouring the street lamps and various sidewalk obstacles. This involves us occasionally lifting her up onto and taking her down off of things.

After a stop at Grumpy Coffee, we grab a train to to the DUMBO area of Brooklyn, Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

We walk down to the East River, Brooklyn Bridge Park which is beneath the Brooklyn Bridge (as in, "If you believe that...") where Rowan rides the carousel with Fia.

Patty meets us there, and we all get burritos at a nearby food truck. After food in the park, we grab cabs to Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.

There, the great, young Brooklynite ice cream baristas - the one with the long green hair and the other with the cap and Fidel Castro beard are playing one of my favorite albums of all time, The Kinks "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround," on an actual turntable. They also serve us delicious ice cream.

Back at their apartment, we lay around talking with Drew and Patty late into the night. Actually, we do this every night during our visit. We can't help it.