Cousins trip to New York City — October 2019

From left, clockwise: 

Victor, Rodney, John, Marsha, Les, Joel, Joan, and Cherie 

(Judy and Steve were not at this lunch)

Two photo albums this time! Here's the usual one, with a selection of 15 of my photos: Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions. 

For those who love looking at travel and family photos, here is a link to a shared album of 85 photos, some by me and many by my cousins.

Last year, I learned that some of my cousins have traveled together several times, and in May I heard that they were going to New York City sometime this year. Since I wanted Victor to see New York, I asked to be included. The group included my brother Les and his wife Cherie, my cousin John and his wife Marsha, my cousin Joel and his wife Joan, and my cousin Judy and her husband Steve.

The plans evolved to a three-night stay with two plays and two group meals. We paid in advance for the (expensive!) hotel and plays. I was planning to not participate in one of the plays, but the tickets were purchased anyway, so we did both. We also had reservations for group meals before each play.

Despite a rainy forecast, the weather turned out fine. It never did rain, and the temperatures were mild. 

We arrived Thursday evening. After checking in, we had dinner in nearby Times Square. Friday morning, after a casual group breakfast, Les, Cherie, Victor and I went to the American Museum of Natural History. Afterwards, we walked through some of Central Park to join most of the others for lunch at Tavern on the Green.

That evening was our group dinner and To Kill a Mockingbird. Victor had read the book in Spanish (from the L.A. library) ahead of time, so he was able to follow some of the action. I enjoyed the performance a lot. Now I need to re-read the book.

Saturday we had our group brunch followed by a Hadestown matinee. Before we left L.A., Victor watched videos of more than half of the songs with Spanish subtitles. He loved the musical.

Joel, Joan, Victor and I then walked to and on the High Line. It was OK, but much of it was narrower than I expected. It was also pretty crowded.

Cousins started leaving early Sunday, but Victor and I were not flying out until 8pm. In the morning, we took the subway to go on a Staten Island Ferry round-trip for the boat ride and views of the city and the Statue of Liberty:

Afterwards, we took the subway again to Central Park, planning to see the zoo. But we stumbled upon the Hispanic Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, and watched that instead.