An Unexpected Adventure

What started as a simple Sunday morning walk to get Underwest Donuts for breakfast, turned into a 14 mile walk. I love an adventure, and Richard knows that he has to wear me out so that I don't get home and begin to whine about not having done anything fun (like a dog--woof!). With that in mind, after we ate our donuts on a bench looking out at the Hudson River, he asked if I wanted to walk to Chelsea Piers. It's a nice, respectable walking distance for a little morning exercise, so I said, "Sure!" We saw some gorgeous private yachts and some not-so-gorgeous homeless men (yin/yang). There is a building across the street from Chelsea Piers that I wanted to see up close, to get the name of, because I noticed they have cool lofts with floor to ceiling windows and structural columns. I love that look! It reminds me of the loft that Tom Hanks' character rented in the movie Big. After we walked past the building, I noticed that Manhattan Motorcars, which sells Porsches and Lamborghinis, was ahead. I had seen it on a prior trip, when I was alone, and wanted to show it to Richard. We both love spotting exotic cars and sending pictures of them via text message to our son, Wes, who is obsessed with them! I took photos, but since the cars were behind glass, what showed up the most was my reflection. We started to head back toward our apartment when Richard noticed the stairs that lead to the Highline. He suggested walking there since it was early and not as many tourists with baby strollers would be there. Awesome! Look how empty it was!

When we got to the end of the Highline at Gansevoort and Washington St., Richard asked if there was anything else I wanted to see while we were this far. I could see the One World Trade Center tower in the distance, and asked if he'd be willing to walk there.

Richard agreed, and in fact, walked me to the building where he used to come for meetings back when he was still working in Charlotte. Behind the building was a nice river walkway. We could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I mentioned the fact that Alli never let me take her on a ferry ride, so we decided to do so now.

The Staten Island Ferry ride is free and offers a great view of the Statue of Liberty. If you ever take it, be sure to head to the right side of the boat for the best view of the statue. Since Richard and I have seen the Statue of Liberty before, we sat down and allowed the tourists to get near the rail for a closer view. Once we landed on Staten Island, all passengers were required to get off the ferry, since this boat wouldn't be making the return trip to Manhattan. The majority of the passengers, including the two of us, got off the boat and immediately got back on board another boat that was coming back to Manhattan right away. No tour of Staten Island today, but perhaps another time. Here's a pathetic picture of the city as we were coming back.

We ate lunch at a neat, open air market area with lots of food vendors. I  believe it was called Smorgasburg. We split a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and tater tots (my idea), and had gourmet popsicles afterward. I had a watermelon mint popsicle and Richard had a peach vanilla one. The entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge was only a couple of blocks away, so we knocked off another "bucket list" item of mine by walking across the bridge. It was gawd-awfully busy! I had to put on my New York attitude to dodge tourists, who have a truly annoying habit of stopping suddenly to take pictures (without concern of who or what is around them), causing me to crash into them! Geez, people! At the end of the bridge, you had to walk down a staircase to get to street level. The crowd in front of us ALL shifted suddenly to the left, opposing any pedestrian traffic that might be coming up onto the bridge. We wondered what was happening. And then I saw what the trouble was...there were blobs of poop on the stairs. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there was the largest pile of poop I had ever seen. It was the size of a pile of horse poop, but this was definitely human poop (trust me, the smell gave it away). GGGGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!!!

We were so sweaty that our clothes were completely soaked, and our hips were beginning to ache, so we decided to catch a subway home. The only problem was that neither of us had taken our Metro Cards (bus/subway passes) because we hadn't planned to go on this adventure. Thankfully, Richard had his wallet so he bought us two new cards at the nearest subway station. This time, we were the smelly people on the subway!

Here's our route. Count 'em...14 miles!!

How Can Anyone NOT Love New York?!

I love New York! Despite my occasional rants to Richard about the number of people on the sidewalks or the variety of unpleasant smells encountered between here and the subway entrance, I love it! I especially love the city as I sit on a bench, soaking up the sun and watching all the activity. I love walking everywhere, and often choose to walk instead of waiting for a bus. The bus has to wade through all the traffic and often takes longer than walking, anyway. I don't even mind riding the subway for longer trips. Yes, you sometimes encounter an "original" individual, but most of the time subway rides are uneventful. I welcome the chance to just sit and be "in my head." I love all the things to see and do for free, in addition to all the touristy places. I have enjoyed touring St. Patrick's Cathedral (free), riding the Staten Island Ferry (free), walking through Central Park (free) and discovering new places. For example, on a recent walk to retrieve some library books I had reserved, I took a new route and ended up in the garment district, where there were many wholesale stores open to the public. I bought 2 really cute blouses for $10 each! I love that kind of stuff! I am not a social butterfly, but I do enjoy being out and about. Sitting still for very long is difficult for me. Months of deep snow in Montana that kept most people cooped up at home would send me on an hour and a half drive to town just to walk around the mall. One time I accidentally drove on the interstate when it was open to emergency traffic only! I had no idea. I had a Toyota Land Cruiser, so snow was never an issue. Yes, I loved Montana and plan to retire there someday, but right now I love being in the city!

Last week our 21-year old daughter visited. You learn the meaning of close when you have a guest in your 400 square foot living space! She had never been to New York, so I had all kinds of things in mind for us to do together. Cheap things, since I haven't started working yet, but lots of fun opportunities to enjoy this beautiful city. Alli often asked how long it was going to take to get to the place I suggested. My response would be something like, "It's a short walk." That statement elicited a glare from Alli, because that's the same thing I said about getting to Central Park. Yes, we rode a bus to get from our apartment to 5th Ave., but then we walked the remaining 22 blocks, which only took about 15 minutes, to be fair. We went to Macy's because I wanted to show my little country girl the vast retail space, with its old wooden escalators and every brand she's ever heard of. She couldn't wait to get out of there! We did do a few touristy things, like visit Madame Tussauds and ride The Beast (the speed boat that takes you to the Statue of Liberty and back). Most of the time, however, we spent in the tiny apartment, watching TV shows or movies. Granted, this was Alli's short break between 2nd summer semester and Fall semester of college, but I had my girl here and I wanted a buddy to go on adventures with me. To be fair, I can see the sights any time I want, and I have to respect the fact that New York isn't for everyone. I don't think she'll ever move to New York, but I look forward to her next visit. Hopefully I can get her to a Broadway show next time.