Spring Break in the Somewhat Warmer Big Apple, Volume II

This morning, Davis enjoyed his eggs and grits, mixing them up in his bowl, just like he's always done at home. Nothing like a big breakfast to start the day. It's a good think we ate hearty because we didn't eat anything else until supper. We were too busy enjoying the beautiful weather.

We started the day with a trip to Woodlawn Cemetery. I've been wanting to go there since August because for the last several months I've been reading Moby Dick, and when I read up on Herman Melville's biography, I learned he is buried there. My last trip to New York was filled with making sure Davis got enrolled in college, so I was unable to amble among the headstones. So this trip, I put Woodlawn on my must-see list.

Using the GPS device in my iPhone, Davis and I drove over to the cemetery, but when we arrived, we discovered the gate the phone took us to was locked. Our next strategy was to drive around the exterior of the cemetery until we found an open gate. There had to be one somewhere. But it was kind of hard to see because ahead of us was this big white van running its flashers, and it was obscuring our view.We couldn't understand the purpose of the flashers, and they were quite distracting in our search for the open gate.But a few minutes later, we realized that the car behind us had on flashers too. We were in the middle of a funeral! What luck! We just continued on, looking somber as we drove, until we followed the line of cars into the back gate of Woodlawn. From there, we followed the dotted line on the main road to the cemetery office, where we picked up a map.

We drove right to Herman Melville's grave, and I must say that although the numerous rocks on the head stone indicated an abundance of visitors, the size of the marker among the many elaborate monuments made poor Herman look pretty insignificant. Still, I posed for a photo of it. But Herman Melville's grave was Mount Rushmore next to the head stone of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen. He didn't even have a headstone to himself. He had to share one with his adopted father. And Davis and I had to search among the rows and rows of headstones to find him. But we finally did.

We also took some photos of some of the more attractive monuments. Note to Stephen:  When I die, a mini parthenon would be nice, but I especially like the nice domed monument. Note to Lawson: Make sure you outlive Davis because when he buys the farm, he wants you to buy him a granite edifice to preserve his memory. Any of the below models will suffice.

But that was just phase one of the day's activities. The next item on the itinerary was a trip to SUNY Maritime College, this time in the daylight. Davis and I strolled the campus in the bright, fifty-degree sunshine. He showed me the campus library,

The maritime museum,

in which were several of Davis's classrooms.

He also showed me the campus Canada geese. Geese are everywhere around here.

And then he gave me a tour of the Empire State, the college's training ship. Davis showed me where he slept and ate during indoctrination. He also took me to bow of the ship and showed me the bridge. He explained how the big orange life boats worked, and he explained how they will open up the holds and lower in the food and supplies when they go on their summer cruise. Impressive. This summer, Davis will cruise to New Orleans, New Foundland, and Dublin, Ireland.

After the tour of the campus, we drove out to the Hamptons so I could see where Davis rode out Hurricane Sandy. He stayed with his friend David Dronzek in Hampton Bays, and afterward, while classes were canceled, Davis and David cleaned up the neighborhood and helped get the local  marina back in order. We drove out to the beach, where Davis told me how the dunes had been damaged from Sandy. He also showed me where he and David had gone fishing and caught some sizable striped bass.

Because of a recent winter storm and the high tides, water covered the road to the beach, so we parked in a nearby lot and hoofed it over the dunes and onto the beach. I picked up several moon snails while the waves crashed onto the sand. I hadn't realized the waves were so big in the Hamptons. Now I know why Montauk is a favorite place to surf.

At the end of our walk, we realized we had not had lunch, and it was already five o'clock. So we drove back to the Bronx and found a nice local restaurant in Pelham, where we discussed what we might want to do on Sunday. We still haven't figured it out yet, but we have a feeling there are some other fun things to do in New York. Stay tuned...