As writers, almost anything can be considered research. Some things are a little more of a stretch than others (like the cruise my family went on last year… the accountant didn’t buy that one… :p).
But a couple weeks ago, I went to the Big Apple with my daughter’s school. Sixteen of us (two teachers, me, and thirteen students or recent graduates) traveled from Southwest Missouri to New Jersey and Manhattan for a few days. Really, from the time we disembarked the shuttle taking us from the airport to where our group waited for us to the time we got back on the shuttle bound for home, it was only about 96 hours.
We walked over 30 miles in 96 hours…
It was a Broadway and the Arts trip so that informed some of what we did.
And happens to tie in nicely with a planned book in the Serenity Landing Tuesdays of Grace series!
See? Research!
So what all did we do?
Our first night we visited the Empire State Building.
Our first full day was spent in Q&As and workshops. The kids got to talk with Katie Ladner, a member of the ensemble in the Broadway production of Wicked. (We were with two other groups for a total of 40ish people.) After that, our bus driver sideswiped a car… (everyone was fine – minimal damage to both and not really sure it was his fault). Then came lunch followed by an improv workshop with Lou Liberatore. Some of those kids were hysterical! Next up was a tour of Radio City Music Hall which was great fun! We had a fantastic guide – and saw Bruce Springsteen rehearsing for the Tonys! The rest of the group went to see Sponge Bob, the Musical, but I had no interest in that so I hopped a train back to Jersey (where our hotel was) and spent a couple of hours with Ronie Kendig instead.
The second full day was an emotional one. Our first stop was the Wall Street bull followed by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. We didn’t have nearly enough time in the museum but I’ll be back in November (my oldest kiddo gets to march in the Macy’s parade the next two years as part of Macy’s Great American Marching Band!!!), so I’ll take my time then. After lunch, we were off to see Lady Liberty and Ellis Island (also not enough time at either one of those…). Dinner was on our own. About half our group walked about a mile to Ellen’s Stardust Diner (including my kiddo). She said it was totally worth the price tag (at least once anyway!) – I was happy with my two slices of pizza and a soda for 2.75 ;). It was right around the corner! We found 15 postcards for $1 and I loaded up on them!
The first stop on day three was the Lincoln Center, where we toured three theaters – opera, ballet, concert. We meandered through Central Park for a bit then found a couple of cart food vendors for lunch. After lunch, we had about 90 minutes to spend at the Met. Also not NEARLY enough time. I think several days would be required to see it all! Then we headed to dinner followed by Beautiful, the Carole King Musical. The night we were there was Melissa Benoist’s second night as Carole King (she’s Supergirl on CW most of the time). It was fantastic – though my kiddo wasn’t feeling well for most of it, which detracted some for me.
On our last day, we headed to Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village. Yes, we saw the Friends apartment! (Seriously – one of the highlights ;).) American Airlines somehow managed to get all 16 of us rescheduled when our original flight was delayed. If we’d missed our connection, we would have spent the night in Chicago and getting 16 people on a new flight into Springfield wouldn’t have been easy – most of the planes only carry about 45 people to start with…
At some point in there, we saw a pro Palestinian rally and Trump Tower, complete with armed Secret Service*.
It was great research for two things: that book I mentioned and my two return trips over Thanksgiving the next two years. Some stuff I want to do again and take my time. Some things I want to make sure my kids get to do when they go in 2019 (even if just so they can say they did it). Of course, there just might be a Christmas novella (or two) centered around a fictional version of the parade – which makes those trips research too ;).
It wasn’t a vacation in the relaxing sense, but it was nice to get away for a few days. What’s your most recent get away? If you were (or are) a writer, how could you have counted it as research?
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*Please no politics. Simply reporting what I saw.
When she's not writing about her imaginary friends, Carol Moncado is hanging out with her husband and four kids in the big yard of their southwest Missouri home, teaching American Government at a community college, reading, or watching NCIS. She's a member of ACFW and RWA, President and founding member for the MozArks ACFW group, and a category coordinator for ACFW's First Impressions.
It sounds like you had a great time and enjoyed it to. My last getaway was to Key West with friends we when to Hemingway ‘s home Tour Its great .
Hi Carol, how exciting for you and your kiddo, very cool to get away together (even with loads of other kids!!) Bring on the stories!!
We are actually heading away this weekend- one of my best friends’ turns 40 next weekend and her husband has planned a surprise party this Saturday night. Then we will go cross country skiing on Sunday, then back ready for the last week of term starting Monday.
Blessings:)
Glad you enjoyed your time in my neck of the woods. My family and I take NYC for granted, it’s true. We can drive or take the train in for a special exhibit at the MET or MET Cloisters or AMNH or MOMA without thinking about it too much.
I have been to New York City several times but only traveling through it.
Thanks for sharing your trip with me.
What a fun trip! Congratulations to your daughter too for getting to march in the upcoming parade. Very exciting for all of you.
I think the last trip I took that was for research was to Seattle, although I didn’t write off even a penny of that trip–I probably should have.
I am currently at a writer’s conference in SoCal. so this will for sure get written off. :)
I look forward to reading the stories that develop out of your research. Someday I hope to get to NY city.
I had the opportunity to visit NYC a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I hope to make a return trip some day.
So glad you had such a good trip! I got home this past Tuesday from being away 10 days, but it was not a “get-away” :-) First we were at a church family camp, and I was the registrar, so I was focused on everything involved in keeping track of 219 people, what they paid, and who owed what :-) When the camp was over, we got to go to a family wedding, stayed with good friends I’ve known most of my life, had supper with a cousin in his “new” house (built in 1901!), and visited a niece’s art gallery. So it was fun even if it wasn’t relaxing.
Hi Carol,
Lucky you for getting to spend time with Ronie and her husband. I’m glad it worked out okay even though it was a bit crazy.
The last real trip I took was with my husband last summer. We went to Alaska for a week and totally enjoyed the time. The weather wasn’t what we wanted, but we got to see lots of places and visit with a dear friend. I was told moose walked around and you could see them everywhere, but……We Didn’t See One Moose The Whole Time We Were There!! We did see many other fun things. We would love to go back again someday.
Thanks for you fun post!
Sounds like a whirlwind trip. But glad you had fun! If you are near Springfield….. I’m in Lebanon! My Daughter- in – law used to teach for Ozark Tech! Small world! Looking forward to seeing your “ research” pop up in a book!
Sounds like fun, Carol. Since I’ve been writing, we usually incorporate research into our family vacations. My family enjoys it since we end up going to new places.
Hi Carol. Thanks for sharing your travel adventures. As a retiree my travels are either car day trips or arm chair travel. While teaching American Lit, I did several research trips. My favorite was Hannibal, Missouri – Mark Twain’s boyhood home and museum with two steamboat cruises on the Mississippi River. As a German teacher, I made 5 trips to German speaking countries.
Hope everyone is keeping dry. Lots of flooding in Michigan. We received over 5 inches of rain yesterday. It has been raining for a week. Ready to build an ark!
Hi there,
Your “research” sounds fun! I recently went on a bike ride with my Dad in the woods where he grew up playing as a child. We took the path around the old WWII airplane runway, a cleared gravel strip in the middle of spruce trees. Every now and then Dad stopped and explained a bit more about the offset gravel pads the planes would park on, the concrete bunker ruins, the quansit huts the troops used, or something from his childhood. Alas, I am not a writer, and there was nothing to write off on my taxes. But one of my sons was there too, and to have three generations together on our outing was priceless.
That’s awesome! I’d love to do that!
That’s awesome! I’ve never been skiing… Unless Wii U counts ;).
That’s fantastic! I would love have transporters be a thing so I could too :D.
It’s worth it for a longer visit! I did enjoy myself but would have preferred to cram it all into 5 full days instead of four ;).
You definitely should have! (Caveat: I’m not an accountant, nor do I play one on TV – and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night ;).)
Have a great time at the conference!
I hope you can too! There’s so many options and I know we didn’t hit NEARLY all of them!
That’s great! I’m so glad you had a good time!
My in-laws are in Alaska right now! I happen to know they saw two bears and at least one caribou (because they’re with a group organized by a local TV station so we got to see it on the news ;)). It’s on my bucket list! But right now… two more trips to NYC are my priority… :p
Hey Paula! I have a couple writer friends in Lebanon! I’m just outside Springfield – and taught at OTC for about 15 years ;).
How fun! Our family vacations tend to be weekends – though we did the cruise last year, our last family vacay was Disney in 2013. We are hoping to take the whole fam to NYC for the parade in 2019 though – we’ll do all the stuff my oldest already did, etc. then hopefully stay a couple extra days to do the rest (like see Santa and the zoo)! We won’t actually see her from Saturday when we arrive to Friday after the parade…
I’d love to visit Hannibal but it’s not quite close to my corner of the state!
Stay dry!
That’s almost better (okay – it is better, except in April) than having something to write off on your taxes! That sounds amazing!!!!