Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Some Tidbits From NYC

I'm at my friends, Cheryl and Jeff in the Bronx right now but had the opportunity to shoot off a quick blog. I went to High School with Cheryl and both she and Jeff went to the University of Illinois. It was great to stay with them and today Cheryl and I will do Central Park and High Line Park in the city. New York has been a great experience thus far and is a truly vibrant city. As I walked about 10 miles each day thru gardens and neighborhoods, I felt like the lost Midwestern boy but has some urban experience in Chicago in my earlier years. I'll blog in detail about each destination when I get back next week. In a nutshell, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (seen in the first four photos) was very impressive but had suffered a devastating hail storm the night previous and the damage was unbelievable; roses with no leaves, annuals pulverized, perennials flattened, etc. I still enjoyed the gardens and oddly enough, ran in to a woman I went to school with (UofI) 17 years ago and we both remembered each other! She is their funds development person. Small world. New York Botanic Garden was awesome (no hail damage) and will rank in my top 5 favorites. Meticulous grounds, cool rock garden, awesome Children's adventure garden, lots to see and my six hours there didn't do it justice. Top notch. The bottom photo is of Central Park which is enormous by the way. More details soon. Back to NJ tonight to spend more time with my brother and his family and then back home. Would love to spend more time in NYC though in the future and thankful for the opportunity provided by my Chanticleer scholarship. The subway was sure interesting....

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