Whew!

Clouds wrapped around the skyscrapers on Thursday afternoon.

Saturday morning we rose, cleaned the apartments, gathered our luggage, chatted with the landlady, and sallied forth for brekkie.

Then the group split into three. My colleague led some people down to the Brooklyn Bridge while I peeled off two students for a walk to the Museum of Natural History. We trekked across the Park to Strawberry Fields and the Dakota, turned right up Central Park West, and popped into the darkest, coolest part of the trip. At some point, one student wondered about the A/C bill - it must be a whopper.

We enjoyed a planetarium show, toured the mineral exhibit and giggled at the fattie walrus in the room devoted to sea life. The Museum of Natural History is a bizarre place. Half of it appears to have been preserved in amber: placards under the minerals identified origins such as "USSR" and "West Germany." Uh...

But other parts (the planetarium, for instance) look brand-new. So maybe they're preserving the older exhibits for retro fun. In any case, it was great fun and (most importantly) very, very cool.

After that we caught a cab over to Butterfield's, bought snacks, and returned to the apartment to catch the Supershuttle.

JFK. All I have to say about that is that it will haunt my dreams until I die. The end.

But we made it back in one piece, sent all our charges home to a warm welcome from Mom and Dad, swam home through the rain, and collapsed into bed. It was a great trip, but of course I'm glad to be home.