The Garden of the Blind

Two weeks ago, I went on what was almost my first solo business trip in about a year and a half. I’ve been traveling in groups, except for an 8 month stretch when I didn’t travel at all. The thing with this trip was that I was going to the same place as two other guys from my office, but I was doing different things there, including a side trip to the next state over. The funny thing about the other two guys is that I didn’t see them at all outside of the base where we were working, and we were even staying in the same hotel.

Being on my own gave me the freedom to get thoroughly lost, which I did as often as possible. On my way back to the hotel after the first day of work, I took a side trip looking for a store and ended up driving several miles through the greater Scranton metropolitan area. I really only made about three wrong turns, and I learned where I was going. When I revisited the same places (from a different direction) the next day, I recognized them and could find my way out from there. I ended up visiting a ski resort (it’s just above my hotel, which is funny because I didn’t see it on either of my first two visits to the area).

On the last full day of my trip, I went from Scranton to New York City (okay, I went to a place in Jersey that’s a few miles shy of the Big Apple, but you get the idea). One of the downsides to visiting a company by yourself is that you have to pay attention the whole time you’re there. If you sleep, then there’s no point in them talking, you know. Anyway, after work, their government rep took me across the river on a driving tour of Manhattan. It was my first time visiting the city (I drove through the Bronx and part of Queens on my last trip to the area, but that doesn’t count) and I was impressed. The city is very large and teeming with people. It also has almost every inch of land as fully utilized as possible. It’s another world, that’s for sure.

While I was gone, my son started eating three new kinds of food. It’s hard to leave him when he’s so young, and it’s good to be home. With any luck, I’ll have a while before I can get lost in a strange town again.