The Taft School, Watertown, CT

Driving through CT was beautiful. I had been excited for awhile, especially because being in the city made me realize how much of a big city girl I am NOT. (It sounds like a contradiction of my previous post, but I do want to experience the city as a resident New Yorker and not as a tourist... I just don't see myself living out my days in the city) Anyways... being in CT again for the first time in the fall since my senior year of high school made me nostalgic. I love the trees and the colours!!! Moosh loved the idyllic and picturesque towns with the church steeples peeking up above the trees. New England is absolutely beautiful! We drove up to Taft on a windy local road. Moosh's comment, "It's just like Harry Potter!!!" hehe. We surprised my sister in her dorm and then went on a tour to see all the new things Taft has added since I graduated. Moosh was so surprised at the number of personal belongings were left lying around: school books, clothing... "Isn't there any theft?" There probably is, but you live with these people... you learn to trust them. At one point we were coming out of the new dorm and Moosh saw a baby carriage and gasped, "THEY EVEN LEAVE THEIR BABIES LYING AROUND!?!?!" hehe

After our tour we drove up to Main Circle to wait for Rachu and others to head out to dinner. I met Carter, my sister's boyfriend, and he seemed nice enough.

Day Three and Connecticut

Our last day in NYC. We got up early and the air was brisk. Check that... it was freezing! Our first sunny day in the city and the rains had cooled the air and we shivered. We checked out of Chelsea Int'l and headed towards SoHo, our last stop before heading out to CT. We parked our car on Houston and Broadway and walked down Broadway, one of the main avenues of the SoHo district. All the stores were closed, as it was only 9:30am, so we stopped in to have breakfast in a cute deli. Moosh had her first buttery croissant.

I really wanted to check out a bonafide vintage store so we wandered from SoHo to Tribeca and up West Broadway. The vintage store was closed, but I got to peek in... I love vintage! We stopped by Canal Street vendors to purchase our "I love NY" shirts. Afterwards we wandered back up through SoHo to take a gander at all the art galleries. At one we purchased a wooden giraffe as our thank you present to Jon. We picked up our car, dropped the giraffe off, and made our way along FDR North towards CT. The city was fantastic, and Moosh and I hope to return to spend a year there after graduation. I definitely feel that the city can only truly be experienced by living there; there's too much to do and see that you can't really do it all...

Day Two

Let me begin day two first by describing the end of day one: wet. Very very wet. Since we started driving through Pennsylvania the rain hadn't stopped. We took a saturating stroll through Central Park and dried off for a couple of hours in the Met. I was supposed to meet up with my very favourite New Yorker Elie Gadlin, but when I got home to change into dry clothes I couldn't bear the thought of stepping out into the cold again. My toes had regained feeling and my skin was de-pruning. So Moosh and I stayed in, watched several episodes of Trading Spaces and also discovered how Jelly Beans and Gummy Bears are made. Whoo hoo! Our dinner consisted of raisinettes, Domino's Pizza, and dried mango slices. Yum.

Alright, Day Two... our day started out late, it was nice to sleep in on our last night at Jon's. Friday came home a few hours early and was quite surprised to walk in to our stuff strewn across his hall. Egad! Jon hadn't told him that we'd be around since he thought we'd be gone by the time he returned. It was all good, though... and kind of funny. Imagine coming home after a trip out of town and thinking "EGAD! I've been broken into! Except they didn't take anything... they just left bras and wet clothes all over the place! And they're sleeping in my roommate's bed!!!"

I spent the morning finding a hostel for us to spend our last night in NYC in. We decided on the Chelsea Int'l hostel, because it was cheap and not to far uptown for the things we wanted to do the next day. After packing up, we went for a walk around Battery Park, which is right by Jon's apartment. On our way a woman stopped and asked us, "May I take a picture of your feet?" You never know what people are going to say in NYC. The path curved up along the island and ended across the street from Ground Zero. It was amazing being there. We spent a good hour there absorbing the atmosphere and reflecting and remembering. Being there made the tragic events more personal and real. There were lots of people there, from all over, and I think they all felt the same way. In the crowds we heard a lot of stories about where people were on 9/11 and their previous visits to WTC before and after 9/11. I think the experience grounded the intangible horror in reality: this happened here. It was comforting to be around so many people who also needed comfort. I think that if whatever is built on this site doesn't stand as a memorial a lot of people will be angry and upset; they need a place to go to remember and mourn.

After Ground Zero we retreived our car from the carpark, which ended up costing us $65. Yipes! En route to our hostel we drove through Chinatown, got lost and ended up leaving New York City via Holland Tunnel. After finding our way back we checked into our hostel and dropped our stuff off in a room that fit a double bed and nothing more. It was quite a change from Jon's place. We walked through Chelsea to get to the subway. Stopped at a coffee shop to get coffee and we were the only females in there. Earlier we had asked Jon, "Do you think we'll be safe in Chelsea?" to which he replied, "It's a bunch of gay men! You'll be fine!" Walking around seemed safe enough. We took the subway to 14th Street and caught the L to 1st Avenue. We walked down towards Houston Street (which Elie taught me to pronounce correctly so as to not totally sound like a tourist: "HoWston") and stopped at a quaint Thai restaurant to eat. The village was nice... every couple of doors was a really cool looking bar or cafe. I called Elie and asked him to meet us, and we decided on Korova Milk Bar, which, for those Kubrik fans out there, is just out of the movie. "Freaky-deeky" according to Elie. Unfortunately the music was quite loud and I wanted to catch up on good times with Elie so we crossed the street to Alphabet Kitchen, a dimly lit bar/restaurant that was most definitely more my style. A little quieter, and more chill, and less freaky. It was great catching up with Elie... he's so cool! ;) (If you're reading this Elie, don't let it get to your head) hehe. I was glad that time and lack of communication (which was my fault, of course) hadn't diminished our connection and our ability to have a wonderful time together. I miss him already *sniffle*.

After the bar closed and we got kicked out, I bid my farewell to Elie and Moosh and I left to catch the L back to Chelsea. Unfortunately we went down the wrong entrance and couldn't get into the correct one until 18 minutes after we had swiped our Metro cards. I needed to go to the bathroom badly so we walked over to Beth Israel Medical Center, which was closed, so we asked a passerby where we could find the closest bathroom. I only go into such detail so that I can relate how, on our way back after using a restroom down the street, we ran into the guy we questioned who asked, "Did it all come out all right?" Isn't that such a strange strange question??? We found our way back to Chelsea and slept for our early morning on Monday.

NYC Day One of Two-point-five

WHOO HOO, we made it!!! Moosh and I are nuts... this is probably the longest planned, yet most thrown together road trip ever designed and followed through.

The Drive Over. Friday, October 11, 2002

So, our adventures began at 2:45pm, Friday, October 11th... about an hour after we were supposed to be well on our way to the bright lights and the big city. With Moosh behind the wheel, and we pulled out and drove straight over to Borders... because we couldn't start our roadtrip without a copy of The Rough Guide to New York City. It's a necessity for anyone throwing together an itinerary at the last minute. We hit the highway screaming "New York or BUST!!!" and, of course, missed our exit and started heading down to Texas instead. Fortunately, however, we found our way back on the eastward road. Before exiting Ohio we made our first restroom stop... the reststops along the Turnpike our quite lovely as far as reststops go... clean... brightly lit... and abundantly stocked with food and other roadtrip essentials, including a two-dollar flashlight because my overhead interior light decided to stop working a few days ago. At the gas station the nice man behind the counter tried to help us out and save me seven dollars and we spent a good half hour checking the fuse boxes in my car and reading the manual... to no avail. Alas, I doled out the cash and we were on our way... but not before a trucker called my ass-crack "The prettiest sight" he'd seen all day. Whoo-hoo! First road trip compliment ;)

Pennsylvania... not much to say about that except that it is the longest, most boring state to drive across. I was behind the wheel... and I have to admit... I was cruising at 85-90 at some points. At one point we had our first roadtrip disaster... Moosh dropped her frozen yogurt in her backpack... unscheduled pitstop to clean up. We hit the rain in Pennsylvania, and haven't seen a dry minute since. I sang along to my sister's mixes, while Moosh pretend to sleep (I was quite embarrassed when I found that out!!! I was using my behind-the-door singing voice... the one you only belt out when you think you're home alone and you're dancing in your room naked ;) hehe.) Before we hit Stroudsbourg Moosh and I switched places. The gas station sold books about the Amish... Amish fiction, Amish poetry, Amish cooking... we were strangers in a strange land.

New Jersey! Whoo hoo!!! Every five minutes we saw a sign for New York and screamed "WHOO HOO!!! NEW YORK BABY!!!" You would think that would have gotten old... but it didn't. I made a small error and we ended up in a really sketchy New Jersey neighborhood. We're still not sure if we witnessed a drug deal. Found our way back onto the highway.

New York. Whoa... we're nuts. Driving into New York is an attack on the senses, the nerves, and the sanity. Yahoo Maps is more confusing then helpful. Moosh was wired on coffee and nervousness... and as soon as we hit the toll booths we were in trouble. The signs didn't make any sense, we couldn't see the lines, we mistook this overpass we went under for the Holland Tunnel. It was a miracle that we managed to get the car to Jon's place... we were driving at 5mph because we didn't know half the time where we were supposed to go and we were looking out for street signs because we didn't want to make a wrong turn lest it takes us where no Michigander darest go. We annoyed everyone behind us. We spent 45 minutes looking for parking. I ran into an apartment to ask "what's the fire hydrant rule?" There was all this space around fire hydrants and no one knew... because NO ONE DRIVES IN NEW YORK! We finally just decided to leave the car in a garage across the street from Jon's place for just $25 for 24 hours, which seems like a deal to me because it's much better than the possibility of a $109 parking ticket.

Day One. Saturday, October 12, 2002

We went to bed at 5am after exploring the sun deck and admiring the cold and wet view of our Lady Liberty and Staten Island. Jon's apartment also overlooks Ground Zero, and it's so utterly amazing to think that just a year ago... it's amazing how NYC has managed to pick itself up after so much tragedy. I didn't get up until 12:00. Our plans for the day: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have no qualms with playing tourist and I stop people every so often to ask how to get places. This is why I never get lost ;) hehe. We make our way to the subway and while being super silly and taking pictures I end up wearing a policeman's hat posing with Moosh and a Toronto cop. I love subways and I commandeer a map and soon Moosh and I are cruising the underground. Onward to the Met! And, how do you like that, we run into Zeman's at our stop! The 709 girls reunited.

At the Met we see Richard Avedon's portrait exhibit. Amazing. His portraits are really simple: white backdrop, no poses, just the person and their essence. I loved his portrait of Ezra Pound and Moosh loved Marilyn Monroe.

Walking tour commenced after dinner at the Met: Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building, Fifth Avenue, the Rockafeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, and, most important to Moosh, our resident MTV junkie... MTV Studios.

More to follow... stay tuned!