Two Monkeys: Nicholas & Joshua Read

Our first full day in New York was a rainy one, but we didn't care. We heard that there was more snow coming down in Ottawa, so anywhere else that didn't have the white stuff coming down was pleasant. One of the best features that Nicholas loves about the hotel is the big screen TV that he can view from his top bunk. Since we don't have cable at home, nor does he have free access to watching TV, he was fascinated with watching the History Channel. After we woke up around 7 (we lost an hour because the daylight times savings meant we jumped ahead by an hour - so we really were up at 6 am) we quickly got ready and headed out to get some breakfast. Traveling with a picky 9 year old isn't fun - he is more amenable now than he was when he was 2,3,4,5, 6,7,8...after all these years, I've always hoped that he would snap out of it. Still picky after 9 years! We ended up at Tivoli Cafe for breakfast - bacon sandwich for him and oatmeal for me. Great start to the day. A

It's March Break 2019 and it's the first time I've taken a real vacation during spring break. Joshua doesn't like to walk and I've been itching to get back to NYC. It's probably been about 10+ years since I've come to the city. Nicholas is now 9 years old and growing up really fast. He's nearly as tall as I am and in Grade 4 this year. I decided it was a great time for him to learn more about the world, experience a big city, and explore the great city of NYC. He told me earlier this year that he had no desire to fly. My friend Lesley had always talked about driving to Poughkeepsie, parking and then taking the train into Grand Central Station. We started on the journey to New York on Saturday, March 9th - left at 8:30 am crossed the border at Gananoque, south to Utica, past Albany, then we got to the train station at Poughkeepsie. The journey wasn't too bad at all - Nicholas helped to navigate the whole way. Budget travel all the way: $20 for the