Like I mentioned in my previous post, my wife is from a suburb of New York City. She first took me there before we were married, and we’ve been going back once a year since. That means I’ve been there 20 or so times.
When we first started going there, I was just simply overwhelmed and in awe of the city — scared of the subways, nervous about the buses, and enthralled with the sheer diversity and scope of the place. Most of that hasn’t changed in two decades, but city experience has dulled the intensity of those feelings.
For many years, I wanted to move to New York, particularly Manhattan. Of course, millions of others across this planet have the same thoughts, and which makes it one of the most expensive places to live on earth, so it never got further than the wishing phase.
But this trip things changed. I still loved going into the city, loved hiking in Hudson Valley, and even got a charge driving in traffic and catching the bus to and from The City. But I took a more critical view at living there.
Yes, traffic and bus catching is interesting if you’re visiting from Wausau, but would I want to deal with it every single day? Nope.
I also love to ride a bicycle for fun. There is plenty of biking in New York City, the suburbs are atrocious for the sport. The roads can be cool, up and down tree lined mountains, but there are no shoulders and the vehicles careen wildly around the corners. Basically, if you want to ride hard and fast for any length of time without having to stop at a light, you have to go to Central Park. That’s a cool place to ride, but I suspect it would grow too familiar after a week or so.
I love to run, too. New York has a great running culture, with the New York Marathon and all, but the problems are the same for running as they are for biking. Plus, getting in a quiet, cleansing run in fresh air is near impossible.
And I love to cross country ski. Well, fuhgetta bout it in New York. They rarely have snow that lasts for more than two days, and no ski trails that I know of.
So for me, New York is great place to visit. But Wausau is where I want to live.
