goodbye, new york

our final day in new york city was a park and museum day. we took the subway up to 59th at the very bottom of central park, and walked into the park through those beautiful gates. man, they don't make parks like central park anymore. 

once inside, we found tree lined paths and ponds, rocks and grassy meadows, benches, boulevards, statues, fountains, carousels, playgrounds, even a castle. this place is amazing. job number one was to find the balto statue, which we discovered after watching a pretty amazing movie about a pretty scrappy sled dog, who happens to be immortalized in the park. 

but we also spent some time at fountains,

climbing on the big rocks,


taking in the view from some sweet playgrounds,


hanging out by a bridge,


and crossing bridges.


we worked our way up through the park to get to the natural history museum. i loved it. it's like the field museum on steroids.

lobby dinosaurs in a fossilized fight.


herd 'o elephants


 buffalos (seriously, the hall of african mammals is real crowd pleaser)


dragons,


walruses,


the hall of biodiversity,


and the big blue whale.


we weren't there long enough, or even a fraction of long enough, but the few hours we did have there were a real gift (and frankly a bit of a miracle, considering james' emotional reaction and outright refusal to enter when he learned they had a special mummy exhibit going on).

hot deli sandwiches on a park bench across from the museum were a perfect way to end the visit. i may have still had reuben sauce smeared on my chin when i boarded the plane a few hours later.


boarding crew, with serious carry-on luggage.


good bye, new york. it was a total treat.


oh! hello madison, you beauty!