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"Return to New York": Part Ten
8 years ago
Following the events of Monday, June 26, 2017 - http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8453054/ - I had taken the L.I.R.R. back to Wantagh, New York at a much earlier time, where my sister Rhonda was waiting for me at the train station in her SUV. We went back to her home - where her daughter Erica, and their three papillon dogs 'Zipper', 'Estrella', and 'Chewie' - but only for a short time.
Joined by my brother Glenn, and various other friends, neighbors, and relatives, we collectively went out (in several vehicle) to an ice cream parlor located in Massapequa, for one final blow-out on the penultimate day of my return to New York. (This place not only served ice cream, but also sell a variety of retro candies - such as Turkish Taffy, Walnettos, etc.). I had a two-scoop sundae with lots of nuts, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream... followed by sweet dreams I would have on that last night - finally sharing the living room sofa with Glenn (instead of sleeping on that inflatable mattress on the floor). Luckily, that piece of furniture was long enough to accommodate the two of us, without neither one of us touching each other...
The next morning, Rhonda prepared our last breakfast (coffee and bagels), as Glenn and I did some last-minute packing of our clothes, souvenirs, and other personal items. Joined by one of her neighbors, we began to leave for John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens... but not before stopping off at a nearby grassy area for one last 'photo-op' of all three Martinez siblings - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25275171/ - because we don't know when we'll be getting together again.
From there, we went west on the Southern State Parkway (which I used to take back in the 1970s and 1980s, when I had a car - and the roadway used to have a toll booth and a gas station along the way), followed by going south on the Cross Island Parkway, and then going west on the Belt Parkway, until we'd reached JFK Airport. Miraculously, we'd avoided the congestion of the early 'rush hour' traffic, but our sister - who hardly travels to said airport - missed the exit to our terminal... not once, not twice, but three times!!!
"Let me drive us to the terminal, Sis!" I'd said to Rhonda, during the second time she'd passed said exit.
"If you don't stop complaining," Rhonda said angrily, "I'm going to let you out here, and you can walk to the terminal!"
I refrained from any further backlashes.
Eventually, getting to the terminal, Glenn and I hugged and kissed our sister "good-bye", took our luggage, entered and approached the departure gate area. After the usual B.S. with Security (X-raying most of the stuff in our respective pants pockets, standing in a booth that scanned my body [from top to bottom], and pleading with one of the officials not to let my two disposable cameras going through any machinery [so as not to have all of my film get ruined]), we went to a 'waiting area'... not even for the plane, but for a shuttle bus, that would drive us to the exact site where our plane would arrive and allow us to board.
One bright moment occurred during the shuttle bus ride... I saw through the front window of the vehicle a 'double rainbow' in the eastern sky. Quickly whipping out one of my cameras, I took a picture of it! Then, I'd asked our bus driver if he ever gets to see sights like that...
"Sometimes," he said, "but not too often. Thanks for pointing that out to me!"
Eventually, we'd boarded the Delta passenger jet, placed our luggage in the overhead compartments, and sat down in our assigned seats. This time, I got the window seat, while Glenn sat in a middle area (unlike our trip to New York, when the roles were reversed).
During our flight, I'd kept myself occupied with some photocopied Isodoku (3-D Sudoku) puzzles, while Glenn used the video screen on the seat in front of him to follow the route we were taking, back to south Florida.
Once in a while, I would look beyond the seats in front of us, just to see what those passengers were watching on their video screens. As it turned out, they were viewing the same movie, "The Founder" (with Michael Keaton) - which was just as entertaining as the movie I'd witnessed the folks in front of us saw (on our trip to New York), "The Lego Batman Movie".
It was already past Sunset, halfway during our flight, when I began to look at Glenn's video screen, and counted down the number of hours and miles, before we finally arrived at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. We each ate a light nosh (of almonds and water), provided by our flight attendants, at the three-quarters mark...
Finally crossing the Atlantic Coast over Florida (going westward), I began to recognize some of the usual landmarks of Palm Beach and Broward Counties (even though it was nighttime, and all that we could see were numerous street lights). Once the plane turned around, and headed eastward towards said airport, I began to see the familiar sights (even though we were still thousand of feet in the air) - including the BB&T Center (where the NHL Florida Panthers play their home games), north-and-south routes like University Drive, Florida's Turnpike, State Road 7, and (finally) Interstate 95 - as our plane descended and came to a safe landing on the runway.
Waiting patiently for other passengers to retrieve their luggage, at long last, Glenn and I deplaned, entered the terminal, and waited for the arrival of one of Glenn's friends - who came in her car to pick us up and drive us back home to Margate (and to our respective Oriole Gardens condos).
Leaving my suitcase in the living room of my apartment, I got undressed, took a nice warm bath in the rear bathroom, and promptly fell asleep in the tub. It's been a very long (and somewhat eventful) week for me... and I'll never know when I'll experience something like this again, for the rest of my life!
In the event that you might have missed any of my ten-part journal "Return to New York", here are the links to each one of them:
Part One: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8287821
Part Two: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8290561
Part Three: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8294880
Part Four: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8298255
Part Five: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8313786
Part Six: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8316848
Part Seven: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8325704
Part Eight: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8446571
Part Nine: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8453054
Part Ten: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8473972
Joined by my brother Glenn, and various other friends, neighbors, and relatives, we collectively went out (in several vehicle) to an ice cream parlor located in Massapequa, for one final blow-out on the penultimate day of my return to New York. (This place not only served ice cream, but also sell a variety of retro candies - such as Turkish Taffy, Walnettos, etc.). I had a two-scoop sundae with lots of nuts, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream... followed by sweet dreams I would have on that last night - finally sharing the living room sofa with Glenn (instead of sleeping on that inflatable mattress on the floor). Luckily, that piece of furniture was long enough to accommodate the two of us, without neither one of us touching each other...
The next morning, Rhonda prepared our last breakfast (coffee and bagels), as Glenn and I did some last-minute packing of our clothes, souvenirs, and other personal items. Joined by one of her neighbors, we began to leave for John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens... but not before stopping off at a nearby grassy area for one last 'photo-op' of all three Martinez siblings - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25275171/ - because we don't know when we'll be getting together again.
From there, we went west on the Southern State Parkway (which I used to take back in the 1970s and 1980s, when I had a car - and the roadway used to have a toll booth and a gas station along the way), followed by going south on the Cross Island Parkway, and then going west on the Belt Parkway, until we'd reached JFK Airport. Miraculously, we'd avoided the congestion of the early 'rush hour' traffic, but our sister - who hardly travels to said airport - missed the exit to our terminal... not once, not twice, but three times!!!
"Let me drive us to the terminal, Sis!" I'd said to Rhonda, during the second time she'd passed said exit.
"If you don't stop complaining," Rhonda said angrily, "I'm going to let you out here, and you can walk to the terminal!"
I refrained from any further backlashes.
Eventually, getting to the terminal, Glenn and I hugged and kissed our sister "good-bye", took our luggage, entered and approached the departure gate area. After the usual B.S. with Security (X-raying most of the stuff in our respective pants pockets, standing in a booth that scanned my body [from top to bottom], and pleading with one of the officials not to let my two disposable cameras going through any machinery [so as not to have all of my film get ruined]), we went to a 'waiting area'... not even for the plane, but for a shuttle bus, that would drive us to the exact site where our plane would arrive and allow us to board.
One bright moment occurred during the shuttle bus ride... I saw through the front window of the vehicle a 'double rainbow' in the eastern sky. Quickly whipping out one of my cameras, I took a picture of it! Then, I'd asked our bus driver if he ever gets to see sights like that...
"Sometimes," he said, "but not too often. Thanks for pointing that out to me!"
Eventually, we'd boarded the Delta passenger jet, placed our luggage in the overhead compartments, and sat down in our assigned seats. This time, I got the window seat, while Glenn sat in a middle area (unlike our trip to New York, when the roles were reversed).
During our flight, I'd kept myself occupied with some photocopied Isodoku (3-D Sudoku) puzzles, while Glenn used the video screen on the seat in front of him to follow the route we were taking, back to south Florida.
Once in a while, I would look beyond the seats in front of us, just to see what those passengers were watching on their video screens. As it turned out, they were viewing the same movie, "The Founder" (with Michael Keaton) - which was just as entertaining as the movie I'd witnessed the folks in front of us saw (on our trip to New York), "The Lego Batman Movie".
It was already past Sunset, halfway during our flight, when I began to look at Glenn's video screen, and counted down the number of hours and miles, before we finally arrived at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. We each ate a light nosh (of almonds and water), provided by our flight attendants, at the three-quarters mark...
Finally crossing the Atlantic Coast over Florida (going westward), I began to recognize some of the usual landmarks of Palm Beach and Broward Counties (even though it was nighttime, and all that we could see were numerous street lights). Once the plane turned around, and headed eastward towards said airport, I began to see the familiar sights (even though we were still thousand of feet in the air) - including the BB&T Center (where the NHL Florida Panthers play their home games), north-and-south routes like University Drive, Florida's Turnpike, State Road 7, and (finally) Interstate 95 - as our plane descended and came to a safe landing on the runway.
Waiting patiently for other passengers to retrieve their luggage, at long last, Glenn and I deplaned, entered the terminal, and waited for the arrival of one of Glenn's friends - who came in her car to pick us up and drive us back home to Margate (and to our respective Oriole Gardens condos).
Leaving my suitcase in the living room of my apartment, I got undressed, took a nice warm bath in the rear bathroom, and promptly fell asleep in the tub. It's been a very long (and somewhat eventful) week for me... and I'll never know when I'll experience something like this again, for the rest of my life!
- - - - - - - - - - In the event that you might have missed any of my ten-part journal "Return to New York", here are the links to each one of them:
Part One: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8287821
Part Two: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8290561
Part Three: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8294880
Part Four: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8298255
Part Five: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8313786
Part Six: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8316848
Part Seven: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8325704
Part Eight: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8446571
Part Nine: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8453054
Part Ten: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8473972
