Day 4- Manhatten

.
I woke up at 6:15 and just knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. Dazzle didn't even stir till I put my shoes on even though he knew I was getting dressed. We took a walk around the block by the hotel and he handled the sights and sounds well: big buses going right by us, 747 airplanes flying right over us about to land at the Newark airport just behind the hotel, a jackhammer in the adjacent lot and several big rigs going by. I noticed there was a big mall within walking distance I somehow missed seeing on the drive in last night, but we didn't go over there. It was cold and windy, but we just kept going around the block.

I again kept him awake from 6:30 till 11:30 when I left. He had to stay at the hotel when I went to speak in Manhatten. The trip over was fine, I was amazed my GPS kept a signal through the holland tunnel under the river! But it was kind of spooky seeing my progress under the water. Finding a parking place was a 15 minute challenge. The trip home was a bit longer than planned because I had parking in a garage where the attendant parks and retrieves your car for you. So when he brought my van out, I HAD to get out of the way of the cars behind me. Of course there was no where to stop once I was out of the garage and my GPS was taking a long time to get a signal (go figure- it can keep the signal underground, but not get one when sky is visible?!)

I was near Wall Street and thought I knew which way was north, but I ended up at the point. So THEN I knew which way was north, or so I thought. The GPS wasn't much help because when it did have a signal, it would tell me to turn on streets that weren't there and it kept losing it's signal. I had some printed maps but they weren't much help either. I only got honked at once though and eventually saw a sign for the tunnel and got back on track.

Dazzle did great in the room. I left the loud fan, TV and a sound machine going so I was able to sneak in the room quietly and get my clothes changed before I let him know I was back. He was quietly talking to himself and playing with his toys. He was happy to see me and I carried him to the first floor since it had been just over 5 hours and he peed a river when I put him down on the grass.

I fed him dinner and had originally planned to go back to Manhatten with him. It was only a little over 10 miles, but the trip over there earlier took 30 minutes. Having already delt with the traffic, congestion, cacophony and stress of the big city and knowing it was cold and windy (so sitting at an outdoor cafe as planned wasn't going to be pleasant), I just didn't feel like going back.

So we went to the mall, walked around a bit, then found a place near the middle to sit and watch the foot traffic going by. It was a big, busy mall so there was plenty to watch. He watched for awhile, then lay down and relaxed. He was chewing and tugging on the leash a bit before he decided a nap would be a good idea. What I didn't realize was that he had almost completely chewed through the leash right at the snap! When we got back to the hotel, I let him drag his leash into the room. He immediatly lay down and chewed through it in two seconds while I was getting out of my coat and turning on the TV. I was able to tie it and make it work again though. He played in the room till 10pm.