Last weekend I went Greensboro, NC, to visit my girls. This was the first time I visited my girls in their new hometown. I got there on Saturday early afternoon — it's a quick 1.5 hour direct flight from Philadelphia to Greensboro.

When I arrived, I went straight to my rental car, programmed my GPS, and drove off to the apartment where my girls now live with my ex. Up until this point it felt almost like any other business trip to some city where I had never been before.

My girls moved with my ex to Greensboro about a month ago, and it felt strange to meet them in place that was new to me, but familiar to them. For the first time in their life, I live, at least in relative terms, far away from them. Sure, a 1.5-hour flight doesn't take you to the other side of the world, but it's also not exactly "around the corner". It's close enough to visit fairly often, but every trip does require air travel, hotel, rental car, and so on.

Once I got to the apartment complex I had to circle it for a short while until I found the right building — it's in a newly built complex with a large swimming pool which is perfect since my daughters just love to swim. I parked the car, walked into the building, and knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again, a bit louder this time, and waited.

After the third knock, my ex opened the door. Tension. I couldn't come in. The girls were getting ready. And just then my youngest daughter came to the door. She was crying a little, and I didn't immediately understand why. My older daughter was trying to comfort her. It seems they both were a bit nervous.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Not too long ago we all lived in the same house in Connecticut. And since I worked out of my home office, we saw each other every day. This seems so long ago now — a lifetime ago.

This was just another really warm July weekend Greensboro on July. I had hoped that we could go to the pool, but it became immediately clear that was not an option. Alternatives included attractions such as The Children's Museum and the Science Museum. Not exactly "summer fun". I had done some research on the Internet before I went to Greensboro, but as far as I can tell, there just isn't that much to do there.

They hadn't had lunch yet when I picked them up, so I suggested we'd eat lunch, then go to my hotel so that I could change into more appropriate attire (shorts!), and then maybe check out the Science Museum.

We had lunch at a nearby open Panera Bread — I saw nothing chain restaurants while I was there, and almost every building appeared to be brand new. It felt a bit strange to be guided around by my oldest daughter. For the first time she new her way around better than myself. It turned out she even knew the hotel (they had stayed there before when they were waiting for the furniture to arrive.

My first impression of the parts of Greensboro that I saw is that it looks like any newly built suburbia: highways, open air malls, more highways, almost everything is brand new, and every possible chain store and restaurant is here. Some of the roads are so new that the GPS doesn't know about them.

We drove over to the Science Museum, but it was already fairly late in the afternoon and the museum would only stay open for another hour. We decided that it'd be better to come back the next day, and quite frankly, I didn't feel like going to a museum right then. It was too hot and I wanted to sit and relax someplace with the girls. Of course, that was much easier said then done — we decided to look for some ice cream.

We found a "Coldstone" not too far away and ordered a huge serving of their "Strawberry Blonde" combo. We used to eat this back in Connecticut. It's not exactly healthfood, but who cares? It's really good! After ice cream the girls showed me the local library — a small, but very nice satellite branch of the main Greensboro library. We spent some time at the library reading, playing, and just being silly. Sometimes it's great to just "be" and not to have any particular plans.

For dinner we chose another some Italian "themed" chain restaurant (that's all they seem to have around there). The food was ok:ish, but more importantly, the girls liked it. With dinner, the first day of the visit came to a close. It was still early evening, but we were all fairly tired. We made some preliminary plans for the next day, drove the girls home, and I went back to the hotel.

The next day started a lot smoother. I picked up the girls, and we had a late breakfast at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. As a side note, the girls chose this place for breakfast, and I have to admit that I didn't nothing to dissuade them. So much for carefully honed parenting skills.

We spent most of the day at the Science Museum. It's not a huge museum, but it has enough different exhibits (and even a small zoo) to keep kids busy for quite a while. The afternoon went by fast, and the tension from the previous day was gone. We again had dinner and ice cream, talked about the visit, and made some preliminary plans for my next visit.

The hardest part was to say goodbye. I don't think my younger daughter quite understand that I was actually flying back to Philadelphia, and that I wouldn't be able to see her the next day. She is only five and the concept of time is still somewhat nebulous. I guess the only thing one can really do is to live the moment — when I visit with them, I spend all my time with them and they are the only ones that matter.

After dropping them them at their home, I went straight to the airport. Bad weather on the East Coast caused massive delays and I ended up spending almost 6 hours at the airport. It was just one of those summer travel days when nothing goes according to plan.

I wish I could have spent more time with my girls this time around, but I also think the visit was just enough for a first visit. Next visit will be a lot easier, and I am so looking forward to seeing them again.

-martin.