Day 50 July 15

We arranged for a walking tour of the 911 Memorial for 9:30 am. We boarded the water taxi at 8:30 and had a short walk to St Paul’s Church, the starting point for the tour. If you ever make the trip to NYC, please tour the memorial. The day that changed all our lives won’t be forgotten. No question. But to relive here is a reminder that the freedom we enjoy, and the evil we endure is not to be taken lightly. I appreciated watching the people from every political view, every nationality, every belief (or lack thereof) system, walking together, and sharing the experience. The museum has done an excellent job of re-communicating the events of that day. What has happened to us since then? Why aren’t our government leaders standing on the steps of the National Capitol now and praying and calling on our God to lead us and protect us, like they did then? I fear that the only time we will do that will be in the aftermath of another ruthless evil attack on the greatest place in the world to work and live and raise a family.

An hour and half walking tour and then 3 plus hours in the museum weighed heavily on us, physically and emotionally. This sobering tour is worth the time and effort.

After leaving the 911 Memorial, we hopped in a Lyft and went to DUMBO.

Don’t ask what this stands for, but it means something. Not very good marketing if you ask me. We inhaled a pizza at Juliana’s, walked around another neighborhood, got Amanda a chocolate fix, and then caught a cab back to the other side to meet Haley, our daughter’s friend from high school, who lives in NYC. We caught up with her life and then she showed us how to buy a subway ticket and put us on the right train, so we could find “home” before morning. It’s tough being a senior citizen in the city.

We made it back fine and even caught the water taxi before they closed down for the night. We packed in all we had energy for today and slept real well.