Still in America

So this is all being done about a month later because of inacess to computer and me being lazy. anyway...

We wake up early in the morning, bags already packed from the night before. The taxi comes and takes us to the train station. wha? train to china? Impossible! but wait and you will see. We have 14 bags, I think, and all of them have to be carried inside and until most of them are checked in. I listen to some music (ghettomusick by outkast, I remember). I read a magazine article on the tour de france. Even though everything we don't need on the train is checked, I'm still carrying my backpack, which contains 5 700+ page books and a bunch of 'essential' things, as well as another bag of food, or something. We all have a car together that seemed good enough. Of course the train is an hour behind schedule, so we arrive in chicago with less time than we had planned. In Chicago, Jack wants to buy computer games, so we randomly walk down a street. We pass through this park that had several cool sculptures in progress. Eventually we find a radio shack, but they have nothing. Then we go into another big music/electronics store that is sold out of what Jack wants. We keep walking, and hit an apple store, where they have some games for macs, so he buys warcraft III. We eat at a Chipotle-ish burrito place, and I have a burrito with feta cheese, pretty good. We catch a taxi back to the train station, and I have to carry heavy stuff way too far again. This time Jack and I have a room together. I drink a lot of complementary orange juice and read a people's history of the u.s., and wired magazine. I sleep on the top bunk. I wake up too late for breakfast, and we make the amazing discovery that people can fit in the luggage space above the seats. I have a veggie burger for lunch that turns out surprisingly good, and read some more people's history. Midafternoon we arrive in New York. We're staying in the Yale club, which is like a hotel, but cheaper and only for the family of yale alumni. I thought my grandfather went to yale, but it turns out to have been my dad. huh.
The place is all right, but they have some interesting ideas about dress code, aka they don't allow shorts practically anywhere. Too bad I really don't have any pants. I get rejected from breakfast, and have to change clothes. Second day in NY we go to the Museum of Modern Art, where I get to see all the paintings you see in books. Highlights are Dali, picasso, and diego rivera. We go eat at an au bon pain a block or so away. I go to a bookstore where I pick up Freakonomics and The O-zone CD (think dragonstea din te). We walk back, and look at interesting buildings.
At some point I get my hair cut, which feels good. My cousins come down from connecticut, my grandfather is there from new jersey, and my aunt is visiting him, so we all go out to dinner in rockefeller plaza, or whatever it's called. I mistake sugar for salt, and end up heavily sugaring my gazpacho. for dessert, I eat the least sweet sorbet ever, and heavily sugar that on purpose. good stuff.
Somehow the next day is the fourth of july, so we eat dinner in a posh restaurant and my mother and Jack leave before dessert to see the beginning of the fireworks. I stay for incredibly good lemon...something. I think I have a picture somewhere. My father, grandfather, and I take a taxi as far as we can, and then walk until we can see fireworks. all the newspapers said they were the best, or at least costliest in the world, but I wasn't too impressed. Apparently my brother and mother went somewhere where they coulden't see the fireworks. Should've eaten dessert...

Next day we get on the Queen Mary 2, which is this huge boat, the largest passenger liner in the world, I think. I don't have too much time to explore the boat, but we do an emergency drill. Jack gets sick somehow, and has to be quarantined for 24 hours (ouch). The boat leaves New york, so we go outside and watch. At dinner, I casually mention that the boat is full of old people, which my father quickly denies, even though I can see at least 15 people over the age of 60 within 20 feet. I guess old people have nothing better to do.

I'll continue later.