I had originally planned to stay home for thanksgiving break to work on applications and feel bad for myself. But, at the last minute Tyler and I decided to make the treck to my aunt's house in New Jersey for the holiday! With neither of us driving it was quite the expedition. After a four hour bus ride to New York, we walked through a crazy, busy Times Square to Penn Station which was absolutely packed with people leaving the city. We caught the "New Jersey coastliner" commuter train and finally arrived eight hours (and four different kinds of transportation!) later.
Traveling on thanksgiving gets such a bad rap, but I really loved it. Everywhere there were people clutching flowers wrapped in paper, suitcases packed to head home. It's affirming to be surrounded by people doing the exact same thing you're doing. It's one of the few collective rituals we have left. I'll take the hustle and bustle and hours of travel over spending Thanksgiving solo. And standing in Penn Station, I couldn't have felt farther from being alone.
(photos) on iPhone from the return trip on the train, NJ to NYC.
(p.s) last thanksgiving: thankful for farmers | and maybe my favorite holiday dinner ever.
I used to travel through Penn Station daily when I used to live in NJ and commute into Manhattan for work. You will never feel lonely in that place! I had some of the best years of my life living in NJ - I hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving! And thanks for reminding me of my home away from home :)
ReplyDeleteLauren, I love hearing about shared places! it's like the collective ritual extends to the computer too.
Deletethe travel alone sounds like an adventure to me. i love observing people in the train station. it's a way for me to distract myself from the crowd. ha.
ReplyDeleteYour photos always relax me. And I love the spin you take on Thanksgiving traveling. It is about family and love, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Photos!
ReplyDelete"...standing in Penn Station, I couldn't have felt farther from being alone."
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty lovely to think that in observing the hustle and bustle - watching the beauty of a holiday based on giving thanks - taking part in a collective ritual - you were participating in someone else's experience too... maybe existing as a background character in someone else's story.
Layla, you put it so beautifully: "we're participating in someone else's experience too."
DeleteSam! I know this is probably a silly question, but how do you import two pictures side by side like that in blogger?
ReplyDeleteK xo
Katie, I use photoshop (I don't think there is a way to do it in blogger.) I used to use a really great and FREE program called Photoscape. It's only available for Windows but it makes side-by-side so easy!
DeleteLove the golden light in the third picture :)
ReplyDelete