Hurricane: Trapped in New York!

Jacqi, my mom, Echo, and I are in New York for some work I was doing at the Met, and while we planned for a lot for the trip, (plenty of cash on hand for all of the hot dog vendors I can’t pass up, plenty of Pepto for after all of the hot dog vendors I can’t pass up). even after this obviously intense planning the one thing we didn’t factor in was the largest hurricane to hit New York since the 30′s. If you have to be trapped by a hurricane anywhere there are certainly worse places than Manhattan. we are in a hotel near Central Park, the lowerpart of the city has been evacuated, but we were lucky to have a room just outside of this zone in a place where it is high enough so things will hopefully not be a problem. There is an interesting mix of both calmness and apprehension in the air right now. Most people, like the gentleman who owns Ray’s Pizza near our hotel who plans to keep his doors open all day and night and sleep when he can there at the restaurant, are unafraid of the storm, and are just making sure that they are prepared for anything. other people, like the lady that I met from Australia who has never seen a hurricane before is nervous about what the night may bring. there have already been over 60 MPH wind gusts, but very little rain so far, but of course the hurricane isn’t even supposed to hit until tonight. traveling with a guide dog always presents a few challenges, I had been walking Echo in Central Park, but that was closed last night, and is too far to walk with all of the wind. I have found a place very close that is sheltered where she can walk, there is no grass, but Echo is never one to complain. they are expecting the power to go out at some time, but if I can I will write more later. Oh, I should mention that the talk and workshop that I gave at the Metropolitan Museum of Art went great!