SUMMARY
Friday August 15th, 2025
The morning of the big 45th birthday calls for shorts.
I never wear shorts.
I am told it will be necessary for one of the birthday events.
We shall see. 👀
Big morning smiles as we head out for breakfast!
This picture makes me look tall.
Comfortland breakfast selfie!
Evidence of life birthday.
We’re taking the subway to the next surprise.
I’m pretty sure we’re going to the Met Cloisters.
These legs haven’t seen the sun since the 1900s.
We are here for the garden tour.
Look.
If you ever take a garden tour, there is a good chance they will offer you plants to eat.
Eat the plants.
Do not eat the bees.
Spanish coffins.
Fancy and macabre.
The lady standing on the left here is the tour guide and she’s fantastic.
Oh, it looks like the pale-legged bald guy just asked an important question.
It’s probably something about these vines.
I did mention eating the plants, but I really do only mean to eat the plants offered by the tour guide.
HOPS!
There were a handful of people here dressed up.
I don’t want to say “in costumes” because I don’t know why they were dressed up, but you can see one of these folks in the background of the picture above.
It caught me by surprise.
I think it caught Jesus by surprise, too.
A fantastic tour.
Highly suggest.
Time for the next adventure!
We’re running low on time, so we find a shortcut back to the subway station.
We must lunch.
This place is famous for their frozen hot chocolate.
They offer to sing happy birthday for me.
I accept.
It’s a little embarassing.
The mac & cheese is really great.
I put ketchup on my mac & cheese, though.
Please do not judge me too harshly.
This restaurant location is right by Times Square.
Now for the place that requires shorts.
Oh! It’s by the water!
We’ll probably get wet, or something.
It’s The Beast!
Lauri says “This is fine.”
Passing strangers think to themselves “You’re all fools for putting yourself at the mercy of The Beast!”
Or I accidentally took this picture as I was putting away my phone.
It was definitely one of those two things.
The dread on pool Lauri’s face…
Oh man, that kid in front of me is getting comforted and holding on for dear life.
I don’t have pictures during the ride because it was wild, bumpy, wet, loud and amazing.
At one point we were splashing around near other tour boats and one guy on the other boat saw us and bowed to our bravery.
We then went to a couple’s massage.
No pictures here since we were, y’know…
Naked.
Also face down on a table.
I have no idea what our masseuses looked like.
I’ll be honest…
I left my underwear on.
I wouldn’t do that again, but I was nervous. First time, and all.
Time for Dirt Candy.
A vegetarian restaurant with a Michelin star.
This place is amazing.
Everything, and I mean everything is truly fantastic.
Easily one of the top ten meals I’ve ever eaten.
Also of note, this restaurant has a no-tipping policy.
All of the workers are paid a living wage.
It’s interesting because everyone was helping our table rather than a single server working for a tip.
You can feel the difference that this place has without the pressure of tipping.
But the day is now over.
We must rest because there is more birthday things to do tomorrow.
Saturday August 16th, 2025
Time for Saturday morning cartoons.
I grew up Seventh Day Adventist, so I never really got to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons.
This was truly a fun event.
Cartoons, sugar cereal and cartoons at a theater.
Also a picture of someone taking a picture is art.
I’m sure Lauri agrees.
This really is tons of fun.
The cereal really pulls it together.
The cartoons are wild.
The hosts have games and interesting topics to discuss.
What a lovely time.
It’s in Brooklyn though, which is long way to travel.
Birthdaying successful.
Oh, we also run to my favorite pen and paper RPG bookstore which is in Brooklyn while we are here.
I love Twenty Sided.
Sunday August 17th, 2025
Sunday I have mostly to myself and so I’ll be heading to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
First a bus, then a New York subway, then a New Jersey train.
If you have tickets to Amtrak or the New Jersey train, you can sit at the nice waiting area, rather than by the train tracks where everyone is nervously pushing through.
This place is chill.
Just remember to show your ticket on the way in.
On the train to New Jersey, I will write some postcards to friends.
First up, is my friend Tony in Michigan.
I make a lot of my own postcards out of advertisements that I find around town.
The tabletop game stores are a great place to pick up ads that can be converted into postcards.
This one got a 4×6 shipping label sticker on the reverse side as well as a nice message for Tony.
The trains are relaxing so long as you’re not near a loud group.
I was not near a loud group.
Is that a train-powered catapult?
It looks like a train-powered catapult.
This is a double-decker train.
I think most people go to the top for the view, but I’m most interested in relaxing, so I went to the bottom level.
It feels like I’m under the tracks when we pull into a station.
Another advertisement card converted into a postcard and sent to Jerry in Nebraska.
We have landed.
It’s New Jersying time!
*cue Magnum P.I. theme song*
We made it!
Nice archway, bro.
I didn’t want to bring my giant national park passport stamp book, so I got my stamps on small stickers.
I came for the tour, but according to the website the tour tickets can only be purchased in-person.
Unfortunately what the website did not say is that I should arrive at the park opening time to do this.
Also the availability is based on staffing, which isn’t at its highest right now.
Neat place.
Sciency.
Clocking in time.
Remember these?
I used one of these at my first job.
Whoa!
Check out the show-off room!
I would absolutely love to explore the second and third level of this place, but all of the ways up are blocked.
There are other talks which aren’t the same as the tour, but very similar.
I attend one in the musical room where they talk about the invention of the record and other similar technologies of the time.
Spooky staircase and elevator room added to the end of the building.
The statue of Thomas Edison is on the map, but there was no picture, so I added this one.
Check out the old chemistry room!
I am told that the radioactive chemicals were removed in the mid-1980s.
Everything else is left here as it was found at the time of Edison’s passing.
This is from a time when Edison was attempting to create rubber tires for automobiles using Goldenrod flowers.
Oh, on the conversation about the music room.
The Phonograph is on display here.
The term “Stuff a sock in it!” comes from the Phonograph.
When first invented, there was no way to control the volume, except for to stuff a sock into it.
Let’s send a quick postcard to my pal Dan in Texas while we’re here.
^Either Star Trek or Edison.
Even though I missed out on the tour, I still took a walk down to the house and garage.
Which, by the way, is in the first U.S. gated community.
I show the guard my ticket as I walk in and he tells me how to get to the house.
The garage.
The house.
Also, someone in the neighborhood threw away part of a piano.
I attempted to grab a table at Belmont Tavern in New Jersey, but it turns out you have to have all of your guests with you before you can get a table.
The place filled up just before my friends got there.
Pretty sure the Jonas Brothers have an album cover from this place.
We eat at Walia Ethiopian Restaurant rather than waiting for a table to open up.
A fantastic meal eaten with hands.
Well, “hand.”
Singular.
You’re not supposed to use your left hand for eating.
Oh no! The train back to New York is about to arrive!
If we miss it, we’ll have to wait another hour for the next one!
Whew!
We made it on time.
I keep a wall of stickers on paper on the side of my bookshelf, by the way.
I use leftover stickers as the background and I put event and location stickers on top of them.
Thomas Edison National Historical Park is now added to the collection.
Thank you for joining me on my birthday adventure.
To another year of adventure!
Cheers.
Oh, and if I didn’t say it, the birthday plans were finely crafted by my beautiful partner in marriage and crime, Lauri.
Double cheers.
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