I am not a city girl. We live 30 minutes from New York City (without traffic…). Our location is temporary, so it feels like we should “make the most” of our proximity. But after our third trip, I’m letting go of that mindset and giving myself permission to move on.
This trip was to the Museum of Natural History. A must-see, right? We were gone about six hours. Here’s how it broke down:
Drive there: 1 hour
Wait in line: 1 hour
Walk around museum: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Get mediocre food from food truck (because Shake Shack was too busy) and eat it in the lovely, but cold courtyard: 1 hour
Drive to Magnolia Bakery and get consolation treats: 20 minutes
Drive home: 1 hour
As we drove into the city, I reminded myself to breath. The city always makes me feel oppressed.
Waiting in line was not as bad as one might think. It did move fairly quickly, it was just a long line.
It was after, when the four year old and six year old vied for control of where to go, each pulling me or my husband in opposite directions, that felt more distressing.
(Have I mentioned yet that I’m not a museum person either?)
So when we were finally done and saw that our car (parked on the street because the garage was full) was still there (but with a ticket), we sighed a relief and heading toward Shake Shack, just to turn around and wait at a food truck while the littles bundled up in blankets on a bench. At least the little park was beautiful.
The kids enjoyed throwing fries for the pigeons. I joked with my husband that we didn’t even need to go to the museum. There was free entertainment right here.
I did enjoy going to Magnolia Bakery. It was hard to choose what to get, so I got a variety. And when we got home and I had a spoonful of my vanilla cheesecake, I thought, “Well, maybe it was worth it after all.”
(I am a bakery girl!)