Well we are officially empty nesters. We packed up the car Friday night and left early Saturday morning arriving at Pratt at about 9:30AM. We unloaded the car and got everything into the room in about an hour.
The dorm rooms are quite nice. There are two rooms to a suite with a bathroom in between that is shared by four people. There are both boy and girl suites on the floor. Connor’s roommate seems nice, but we didn’t really see much of the boys in the other room as they came later. 
We had lunch in the dining hall, then went to several Orientation activities designed for parents while Connor went to the student ones. Then we met up again for dinner on the lawn. After dinner they kick the parents out so we headed to the hotel. Despite the on-line directions we had a heck of a time finding the hotel, and at one point could see it but couldn’t get to it. Typical NYC. After 45 minutes we finally got there, and I checked in while Ed parked the car. I ended up cooling my heels in the lobby for another 15 minutes while Ed figured out where to park and how to get back to the lobby.
We dumped our bags in the room and decided to do a little exploring before it got dark. The Concierge pointed us to Montague St. which turned out to be a nice little street full of shops and restaurants. We walked to the end of the street where there was a Promenade that ran along the river. We were almost directly across from South Street Seaport and had a great view of lower Manhattan, the skyline and the Statue of Liberty. I was sorry I had left my camera in the hotel as we walked along for a while then made our way back towards the brownstones of Brooklyn Heights. We walked back up Montague St. and stopped for a drink at a little pub before heading for the hotel and bed.
Sunday morning we decided to get up early take the camera and grab coffee and a bagel and walk back to the Promenade. It was cloudy but we were rewarded with a view of two cruise ships coming into port. We didn’t stay long, though as the pigeons decided to join us for breakfast.
We packed up and headed back to Pratt which turned out to be a less than 5 minute drive when we went the right way! We called Connor and got a grocery list and stopped at the market just off campus.
He seemed to enjoy his first night as a college student and had already made some friends. We went to a couple more organized activities, then lined up again for lunch on the lawn. Once lunch was over Connor seemed anxious to get rid of us so we obliged and headed back to the Thruway.
We got home around dinner time and rattled around the house thinking how empty and quiet it was going to seem without kids and the noise, music and mess that goes with them!
Friends who have already experienced this say it doesn’t take long to get used to. We’ll see!
