Dan Antion

Missing the City

I was going to return to my normal blogging schedule this week, but Linda G. Hill used my prompt for Just Jot January, and I’d feel bad if I ignored it. She wrote a short story from my prompt. Her prompt is “City” and I can make this short and sweet. I miss visiting two cities and I hope to return to each of them this year. Go on, you can guess.

A New York frame of mind this week. Wednesday at Maddie’s, this was the random cup I was given.
New York City at night always feels special.
I always try to stop here when in New York.
New York Public Library
Pan fried dumplings from Mee’s Noodle shop in New York.
Won Ton soup from Mee’s Noodle shop in New York.
I attend a lot of conferences in the Javits Center in New York and I never leave without snapping a few photos of the glass and grid.
It’s hard to see, but there’s an S-shaped divider in the dog park.
In late June, our daughter Faith and I walked the New York High Line. They have a number of pollinator gardens along the way. We spent some time here watching these guys and some bees. Faith managed to capture both in a photo that became a Christmas gift to my wife.
One of the boats in the Gateway Clipper fleet, heading under the 6th Street bridge in Pittsburgh. I like the lines in this image.
The fountain at Point State Park in Pittsburgh. At this location in the water, it’s hard to know what river you are in.
TKennywood is a Pittsburgh area amusement park. This was a Pittsburgh standard way of telling you that your zipper was unzipped.
Pittsburgh Baseball Club
Good night Pittsburgh
Faith snagged this image of the Commons from thr 2nd floor study area.
I used to ride the trolley into Pittsburgh with my mother. This is at the Heinz History Museum
If you’re near Pittsburgh, you have to stop at Eat’n Park
Pittsburgh renamed the 6th St bridge after fallen baseball hero Roberto Clemente. This bridge is closed to traffic on game days so fans can walk across to PNC Park.
That’s the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. Home to The Graduate School of Business in 1977.

72 comments

  2. I love knowing that big cities are nearby. I love the hustle and bustle but only vicariously. I have lost my desire for crowds. Although, I have great memories of walking through Toronto at night. It was magical.

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  4. Maybe I am just getting old in my retirement years as I do miss the big city of Atlanta. The hustle and the bustle, loud horns honking all hours of the night. BUT I do miss the food. There is nothing like the food of the big cities.

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  5. I have only been to New York once and Pittsburgh – it was a lifetime ago it seems. The night photos of Pittsburgh are beautiful – worth framing I think. And that wonton soup – well, we don’t get dumplings like that around here.

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  6. Kennywood! We took our kids there when they were little and He-Man’s parents were living. They got such a thrill of hanging out with the kids. I miss them! Things are going to start opening up again soon and hopefully, you’ll get to NYC, and Pittsburg and the rest of us can travel to the cities we’ve been missing too.

    I took He-Man to Reno last week to walk along the Truckee River and he wanted to follow the path all the way to downtown Reno. UGH! We went, but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He’s happy he went to see it since it’s been decades since he’d last been to downtown Reno. Neither of us misses living in a large city at all. We hope it stays smallish where we are now or we’ll seriously be looking to move again.

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    • That’s cool that you took your kids to Kennywood. We used to go every year for some occasion (town or church) where my father’s mother would go with us. She sat on the bench or spent time with friends and relatives, but she always wanted me to ride the train with her. It’s the only ride she ever went on. Those are very good memories.

      I don’t think I’d want to live in a big city again, but I do enjoy visiting some of them. I drove up to Boston (well, Cambridge) to visit a friend who was visiting his son, but that’s as close to visiting a city I’ve come in 10 months. I do hope your area stays on the small side. I wouldn’t want those trails getting too crowded.

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      • I like visiting them too, big cities, but I wouldn’t want to live in one again. There’s several new housing developments being built around here that we’re dreading already. More traffic, and more crowds in the stores and parking lots are not what we’re looking forward too. I had a horrible thought yesterday that when all those houses are filled will a Mall be too far behind?! I hope NOT! It’s not why we moved here!

        Kennywood was huge hit with the kids they had a blast there. I loved the drive. It was gorgeous countryside out there!

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  7. It’s been a long while since I was in Pittsburgh, but I travel to NYC a couple of times a year to see my grown kids – and I miss them and the City terribly. 😊

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    • Mee Noodle is the best, Teagan. I remember riding a trolley like that with my mom when she would take us into the city. One good thing about living were we are is that I can get to the center of NYC, by train (which I love) in three hours flat. It makes for a long day trip, but I can get there around 9:00 am and I can stay until 7:00 pm, and my favorite bar is one block from the train station :)

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  10. The Javits Center photo is so pretty, but then the Pittsburgh at night photos….wow, Dan. My husband is fond of saying, “When this (meaning Covid) is all over, we’re gonna go to……” and we name the cities we want to get back to. Boy, that sounds almost depressing…

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    • It does sound sad, Lois, but I think we will enjoy those visits even more now that we no better than to take them for granted. I love the Javits Center, and I love being in both those cities at night.

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  11. Those are two pretty different burgs. I miss Shakespeare in the Park. Ubiquitous NY pizza. And seeing the Rockefeller tree lit. I’m afraid I only passed through Pittsburgh on my way to Youngstown, OH, so I don’t have a great feel for it. It certainly looks great from your photos.

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  14. I haven’t been to Honolulu, but I’d gladly spend time in all the others you mention. I hope the day comes when we can casually make a decision to visit one of them again.

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  15. Love the pics. I miss New York City….as part of the Management Team with Citibank, we’d fly there about 4 times a year for meetings, etc. I have never been to Pittsburgh….looks great!! We have family outside of Philly, so all of my PA trips have been on the eastern side of the state!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  16. I have been to New York, so much to see…I want to go again, it was truly a different experience. I try to visit a new place when my husband and I travel, but I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, will have to put that on my to-do-list.

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  18. For the biggest part of my life I was a city dweller, so for me cities are addictive and essential:):) Except for when there’s snow, then I prefer the country side …

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  19. I know how you feel about Pittsburgh, and didn’t realize you had spent that muh time in New York. I enjoyed both places when I was there, which turned out to be pretty often. There are times I miss Chicago, but I realize it’s a Chicago that existed 50-60 years ago and it’s gone now.

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  20. Ok, ok, first off…shouldn’t it logically be ‘Park ‘n Eat” as a matter of chronological logistics? Just sayin’..
    The only reasons I ever wanted to visit NYC would be the historical places, like the library, and the food. I hope you get to return sooner rather than later, Dan. Can you guess my favorite photo though? G’head, g’head, g’head…as Horshak would say. It’s beautiful. 🙂

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  22. Have to say I don’t really care about big cities that much. The food, however, looks right up my alley. The Phoenix area isn’t exactly a hotbed of Asian food, although Scottsdale is probably a good place to find some. Too far to go for dinner though. Visiting cities can be fun as long as I’m not in them too long.

    janet

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  27. and – two cities I also would visit again in a snap.

    and I suggest everyone visit Pittsburgh (with the h) because we know NY has some treasures but the Pittsburgh is special city in uniqueness of terrain, history and more

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  29. Hi Dan – I won’t start … but I do miss London … but great to see your photos – Faith’s butterfly photo is a delight … thanks for your memories which set me off on mine. Stay warm… Hilary

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  30. I love NYC and would enjoy a visit. I’ve scheduled two trips to NY that I’ve had to cancel and am missing out on time with my daughter, her husband and my grandson. I hate being 2,800 miles away.

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  32. Hi Dan, thanks for the glimpse of these two American classics. Surprisingly, I’ve never been to New York City. Just the other day one of my neighbors was saying we have to get together and go to New York when this is all over. After seeing your shots I’m even more determined to do so. Anxiously awaiting the day . . .

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