New York: Day Two

Day two started off slower than I'd have liked. We were up a little late, but of course we stayed out late the night before. We finally got going and headed to the subway to take the train to the Museum of Natural History. We got to the museum which I didn't realize had it's own entrance from the subway, gave our donation (which was significantly less than the suggested donation) and began looking around. We saw the Earth science section which unfortunately had its own section designed by an Al Gore acolyte, but had some really cool stuff otherwise. As Carmen and I were talking about it, some people were giving us strange looks. Oh well, liberals.

Next we went to the North American Mammals exhibit which had some impressive displays of caribou, moose, bears, mountain lions and any other wild animal you can think of in North America. The detail was fantastic, and having not been there since I was a kid it was a great experience seeing it again.
We also went to see the sea creatures, African Mammals and Dinosaur exhibits, and they were all done in spectacular fashion. About half-way through our museum tour we went outside to get some lunch and we had more hot dogs, again good, but no crunch and a pretzel and went across the street to the shade of Central Park. From there, and upon going back into the museum I got these pictures.

One of the TR quotes in the entrance hall didn't come out, but I love all of the quotes. I especially like the endings.

I'll write them out here. In speaking of manhood TR said: "Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die, and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life."

In speaking of the State TR said: "If I must choose between righteousness and peace, I choose righteousness."

On Nature he said: "Conservation means development as much as it does protection."

On Youth (the picture didn't come out right) he said: "Character in the long run is the deciding factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike."


After we left the museum we were waiting for Carmen's sister to come pick us up. Carmen hadn't seen her in about 12 years and even though they didn't grow up together, they have a lot in common. We hung out in Central Park until she got there, and we lied in the grass, (which you can't do most places in Texas right now) and watched the kids play.

After her sister picked us up, we made the drive out to Yonkers and hung out at their apartment for the afternoon. Isabella and her cousin Andrew hit it off and we talked to Carmen's sister and her husband for awhile. We took the kids to the playground down the street and hung out for awhile. Eventually we had to leave because they were going to Pennsylvania the next day and we had yet another busy day lined up. I paid excellent attention to the route Sasha (he's Russian) took back to Queens and we talked for awhile while Carmen and the kids watched a movie in the back of their 'fancy van'. The way to get to the part of Queens where Carmen's mom lives is different from
the parts of Queens I used to go to, and we were going to Connecticut the next day. But we finally got back home, went to bed and were getting ready for day three.