High Line

New York City. "The City" as we referred to it growing up across the Hudson in North Bergen. For us, "the city" was Manhattan, though we knew other parts, "the boroughs" existed. The city is a stop on the latest iteration of our east coast tour....the journey from seeing Ingrid and family in Providence to seeing Jose and the family in Maryland. The thread of transit that we use to hold the larger Werge-Miller-Canas family together in our minds.



We stayed at a hotel close to Penn Station. And also close to the High Line, that elevated rail line which, over the past decade, has been transformed into a park. And, which, in turn has helped to turn Manhattan's west side into a huge construction zone for luxury apartment houses, boutiques, and restaurants.






It offers an unobstructed walkway of about 1.5 miles above the city's traffic...if not an "oasis," a stretch of trees, tall grasses, flowering plants above the clamor of the streets. The steel rails of the old railroad flow along the walkway like a quiet brook. Benches, small theater spaces, lookouts, art and sculpture form eddies to entice walkers to slow down and drink in the atmosphere.

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But what "the city" is about is people. Probably someone from Mumbai or Shanghai would not be impressed. But the sheer rush of people, morning and evening, hustling, moving with some internal energy...for someone living in a smallish town in Colorado...well, that is the real astonishment of being in New York.







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Location:New York

Flying

We waited for the plane to arrive...taking us on the final trip from Chicago to Providence...each person in his own world. I thought of the "Humans of New York" series in which interviews with people on the street reveals and shares a bit of that inner, own world. Each person with his own story...or part of a story. Yet, here, waiting at boarding gate A18, the stories are untold. How much richer it would be if we knew them all.


And, then, off we go into the "wild, blue yonder"....well, not so blue. And how so many of us view it as an annoyance when the first sustained, heavier than air flight took place in 1903...113 years ago. And now it is such a commonplace. On the other hand, as a species, humans are so adaptable...alas if the earth itself does not prove to be quite so adaptable.




On the plane, I take in the cloud and land formations (the city of Chicago...adapted to the urban grid) but mainly bury myself in the story of Alexander von Hunboldt...the first person to explore, understand, and, then, popularize the concept of nature as an interconnected whole in which all of the parts relate.


And whose diagrams showed, for the first time, ecological zones in which plants, animals, soils, insects, rainfall or lack thereof were interrelated. And, for the first time, wrote of how poor land use results in the depletion of the natural resources that make human life possible.



So reading about the earth while flying over it at 30,000 feet. A wonder, it is, quite worth the wait at A18 Midway Airport.




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Location:In the air

The airport?

OK...another east coast tour. But having an early flight, we decided to shuttle from Fort Collins to the airport but stay at the new W hotel at the airport. In short, we started the trip without leaving Denver.


What was so stunning was to see the classic roofs on the airport from the top instead of from underneath.

And, then, the pool and fitness center on the 11th floor. As the sun went down, the image of this vast industrial transport system, thousands of automobiles and planes, soon to be joined by the Denver light rail system, all merging into a collage of the pool reflected in the curved windows.



Tom, Halie and Miles came out for a swim...then dinner...and now that they have left, sitting in the lounge which reminded them of a certain tv program, and writing this up. On the road again...and maybe will have some ideas to share as the miles pass.



But this evening has certainly changed my whole idea of what it means to go to the airport. And "hanging out" at the airport now takes on a whole new meaning.

Location:Denver international airport