HAYSEEDS & HASIDS
By HEIDI SINGER
September 1, 2004 -- Forget the subway's stifling heat — this family's biggest problem yesterday was figuring out how to get through the turnstile.
Meet the McMinns of Hempstead, Texas — population: 4,981.
The farm-lovin' family took their first trip to the Big Apple this week for the GOP convention, where 55-year-old Tom is a state delegate. Yesterday, there was only one thing to say about their experience so far: Is there a translator in the house?
"I've heard some people that I've thought were from other countries . . . but then you realize they're from New York," said Tommy McMinn, 14, who is more used to riding his tractor to the local gas station than hopping on a subway.
The family — which lives about 60 miles from Houston — arrived at the Hilton in Midtown on Monday, full of ideas about what Gotham would be like.
"To tell you the truth, we always ruled New York out for a family vacation because it was a little intimidating," Tom McMinn said. "We always wanted to come, but we weren't brave enough."
Tom, a petroleum engineer, said his knowledge of Gotham basically came from reading the local tabloids' sports pages. "New York baseball fans are pretty nasty," he added.
But don't blame the family for its misconceptions, considering what they're used to.
Tom and Dianne, 54, are home-schooling their three youngest kids — Tommy, Peter, 12, and Molly, 9 — and raising 100 head of cattle and two dozen chickens on a 500-acre farm about four miles from the center of tiny Hempstead. The couple's four oldest daughters are married.
Yesterday, the family took the 1/9 subway to South Ferry to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They shrugged off the humidity as they clambered down the subway stairs, saying they're used to worse.
After a few minutes toiling at a MetroCard machine and more time struggling to figure out the card-swiping at the turnstiles, they piled aboard the train, surprised at the lack of graffiti.
Once on Ellis Island, the family quietly discussed the tragedy of 9/11 and asked an onlooker where the Twin Towers had once stood. The kids also marveled at their first-ever sighting of a bomb-sniffing dog.
In Williamsburg by late afternoon, the family toured the Hasidic neighborhood — and quickly deemed it their favorite part of the trip so far.
"It looks like a group of home-schoolers!" Dianne exclaimed at the sight of a group of Hasidic women pushing strollers at the corner of Lee and Roebling avenues.
Sitting down to eat at the Landau's restaurant on Lee Avenue, they also got a true New York experience. A fight broke out between two workers, with one of them calling the other a gay slur. The family appeared stunned.
But moments later, they went back to happily eating gefilte fish, cabbage rolls and matzo-ball soup.
"Yummy!" Dianne said.
"You couldn't get that in Hempstead," Tommy added.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27887.htm
