Scattered Thoughts . . .

O n one of our mornings while in Manhattan with Kenzie and Lukey, we went to breakfast across the street from Grand Central Terminal at a place called Pershing Square.  This is perhaps our favorite breakfast spot and, as usual, we had an exceptional breakfast on this morning too.  Even Lukey and Kenzie were impressed with both the food and the service and that is saying something since we were there for perhaps the most informal meal of the day, breakfast.  After breakfast, we walked across 42nd Street and into Grand Central Terminal so I could show the kids one of my favorite train stations.  The kids enjoy visiting train stations so this was a good place for a short tour.   In the photo below, we are walking across 42nd Street to one of the entrances to Grand Central Terminal.  This is probably my favorite entrance because it leads directly into Vanderbilt Hall and then directly into the center of the Main Concourse.   Below, we are heading toward Vanderbilt Hall so this would be the

Since Sheila's latest bout with cancer, I've been doing all I can to keep her happy and keep her mind off the cancer as best as I can. She had already received a few gifts to lift her spirits throughout treatment but she also expressed that she would like to visit Manhattan for Christmas. Needless to say, we headed down to Manhattan earlier this week to spend some time there while the city is decorated for Christmas.  As usual, we traveled on Amtrak so we didn't need to worry about staying awake while driving nor did we need to worry about where to park the car once we arrived in Manhattan. Amtrak has proven to be a mostly trouble-free way to travel for us. I'll write more about our journey on Amtrak soon.  I picked out an historic hotel and we reserved a good-sized suite by Manhattan standards. The location of this hotel was perfect for our plans... mid-town Manhattan, near all the animated storefront windows decorated for Christmas, near the Empire State Building