family, city, good food and piping plovers

outside penn station, nyc.

what a ride so far. we've been "on the road" for 17 days and we have already seen both coasts, a ton of family and friends, the rural backroads of georgia, the city streets of manhattan, the suburb of port washington and the beautiful coastline of the hamptons.

landing at jfk last week, we were greeted by one of the finest sights we could imagine, chris and nan. they picked  us up on a friday afternoon, no less, and took us to what seems to be our personal bed and breakfast. we haven't seen them in long time but we just picked up where we left off the last time. talk, talk, talk, hang out, hang out, hang out... fell right into rhythm.

classic, train into the city.

took the train into manhattan for the day to see even more family, including my twin sister who we don't see often enough. hi jan, jordan, jesse and will! great to connect with you guys and if we can recommend to anyone needing it, a great place to meet up with people coming into new york city through penn station would be this fine pub we found on 33rd st called "stout." considering jan's train was late, why not have a beer while we wait?

great to see jake and brandon over at "blockheads." these high school kids are spending three weeks going to art and design school, living in the dorms and skateboarding around nyc.

piping plover sanctuary in east hampton, ny. crazy/

next up, we drove to the hamptons! the storied hamptons. really great to drive out to the edge of long island and finally visit lynn and rich's house. thanks guys! there is nothing better in this world than spending time with family in an absolutely beautiful place. also learned a little bit about piping plovers and least terns. who knew? we went walking along the beach from the house to "three mile harbor" at around 5:00pm which just so happens to be the least terns' feeding time. hundreds of them swooping above the bay and harbor and then suddenly dive-bombing the water to feed. very cool. the sun came out, the breeze picked up, the birds were feeding, the boats were all returning to the marina... it's was nearly storybook.

yeah, they seem happy for a reason.

crying out for gin and tonics.

this is the last bit of the u.s. portion of our travels and we can't say enough about the people we love and how generous everyone's been with their homes, their time, their conversation and, well, all the other gushy stuff you like about your friends and family.












next stop, berlin! we'll be spending five nights in a fine apartment in mitte, east berlin, taking some time to acclimate, to drink beer (of course), do some museum walking, absorb german and eat as much currywurst as we can possibly handle. oh, and of course, combine two things and go to the currywurst museum. we've rented a car so we can take three days to drive from berlin to vienna at the beginning of august. should be a hell of a ride!

one last note, this post is dedicated to elwood, now a fifteen year old. chances are high, sadly, that she won't be around the next time we breeze through nyc.  chris and nan, not surprisingly, are doing everything, and i mean everything, in their capacity to keep her comfortable. we've known her since she was a puppy and even though we only see her every once in a while these days, we're going to miss her big time. bye ellie!