I am cooked.

 August 9th - (or the one from the air fryer into the ice bath)

Another great sleep on the pillowtop mattress, but when you are tired out from so much heat exposure, you are bound to have a good sleep regardless of the conditions. Well, maybe not outside, where it is another hot, sweltering day...

Mario and I enjoy another simple yet satisfying hotel room breakfast, yogurt with granola, the last of the box of strawberries, plums and bananas, bottled Starbucks Cold brew, which is *way* better than any of that watery hotel coffee they leave for you to brew. We'll definitely keep this option in mind for the next trip - with the microwave and fridge in the room, self-catering suddenly becomes a lot more of a possibility! We pack up, clean up, check out and lug everything to the car, which I think is thanking us for parking it in the shade for the past 3 days. Then we grab our day packs and head back around the corner, past the "secret villain headquarters" we've asked questions about every day, and to the bus stop for the 192/199, our ride into town. We examine a curious couple of moths on the electrical pole while we wait, grey and black wings that open to reveal a bright orange back hidden underneath - another bus rider tell us they are beautiful bugs, but are known to decimate the vegetation. Oh.

The ride into NYC is uneventful, and we spot no ugly grey rain clouds on the horizon, which is both good and bad. Good because there will be no freak rain storms interrupting our day, but bad because there will also be no shade, and no reprieve from the unrelenting heat. But we take it in stride, heading first to 42nd street, then underground to the subway, and ride across town to Lexington and the Roosevelt Island Tram. It's a big beautiful red car that slowly flies you up and over the water, right next to the Edward Koch/Queensborough bridge, which is also quite beautiful to look at from this high up. Then 3 minutes later, it deposits you down onto the island, to explore at your leisure. It's quite a nice experience, but this is where the fun peters out, sadly. 

Roosevelt island has a lot of history and perhaps we saw the wrong side of it, but island is now mostly dense residential, with apartment and condominium building rising up from the street, in shades of grey on grey on brown, and in brutalist cement architecture that, though maybe strong and resilient, is nothing much to look at. It reminds me of the ugly boxy buildings at home. There are a few shops, a few restaurants, a few parks that are similar to those we've passed in many a neighbourhood in Manhattan. Yes, there are the ruins of a smallpox hospital, perhaps a cat sanctuary, a park at the end of the island, but it is sadly closed on Tuesday, and guess what today is? On the opposite end of the island is a lighthouse, but we never make it - we walk back and forth through the center of Main street, first in search of a post office, then for food, then for a ramen restaurant we thought we had seen, but might've been a mirage we saw in the road shimmer from all this heat... We settle for flatbread sandwiches and Korean shaved ice at a catch-all butcher shop, which thankfully was very good and exactly what my hangry state of mind needed. 

At this point, with both of us feeling hot and tired and oh-so-sweaty, we decided to cut our losses and begin the trek home. No reason to ruin our impression of Roosevelt island further on this trip, and I will remember for next time that this first visit was marred by heat and hunger. I will definitely want to give it a better chance to impress me on the next go, which I am sure it will do. But next time. This trip we've had our fill of being steamed, and we are ready to commence the drive home.

Again we luck out with the bus, and make back to Clifton Commons in no time, but with one last hurdle - we get off at the opposite end of the mall and have to navigate our way through the 38 degree C parking lot to our car. It tries our patiences and wears on our nerves, and we make it to Target in perhaps worse shape, but in one piece, at least. I buy the largest jug of iced tea I can find. It helps. I also buy snacks for the 6-hour drive home. And when we make it back to the car and drink a quarter of the iced tea jug, it helps. So does the air-con, and a change of clothing, and bare feet in the car while we drive through New Jersey, up the 17, to the 287, and to the 87 N all the way to Canada. And when we reach the Adirondack Park Welcome Centre, we are both feeling more ourselves. We snack. We laugh. We question what the insides of the truck cabs look like. We appreciate the change in temperature, which has dropped a whole 10 degrees already.

At the border, we watch as a family of five makes the crossing on foot, rolling suitcases in tow, and wonder what that must feel like. We breeze through. And now, 6 hours later and 20 degrees cooler than when we left NYC, we are driving the last kilometers back home. As always, a trip to NYC is a challenge and an adventure, and a welcome change of pace to our normal everyday, but it always feel good to come back home again. 

Until next time.

Seeking shade

August 8th - (or as I like to call it, an exercise in how to keep cool) 

Such a comfortable sleep in that bed last night, with its down duvet and pillowtop mattress. So wonderful - too bad I got woken up at 3 am by some random alarm on Mario's old phone! Blah. Our in-room self-catered breakfast works great too, allowing us the time to take it easy and relax until we head out to our bus around 11 am. After all, we are on vacation, we don't need to wake up at 6 am to maximize our days. We have nowhere to be before Broadway tonight at 7 pm, and we have no plans laid, either.

The heat hits like a wall of bricks as we exit the bus station in town - hot and heavy and lung-crushing. There's little in the way of a breeze, but we make sure to keep to the shady side of the street as we walk, making our way, slowly, to the Hudson River and the High Line. If for no other reason, we head here for the shade we know it offers, and the idea that all that vegetation might offer some freshness that we so desperately need today. 

Past the Hudson Yards, the Vessel is official closed for construction(which is surprising as it was only build in 2018!), but the base is open for a free visit, so we take advantage of this fact to get a look at it from the inside. Along the High Line, some of the art displays have changed, though the city views have not, so we take them in while attempting to eat a rapidly-melting Indian-inspired saffron milk pop before it drips all the way down my arm. So sticky.

We descend from the raised walkway into the Chelsea Market to pick up some snacks for a picnic lunch, and find it significantly changed since our last visit. Once more of a market for foodstuffs, there are now so many restaurants and take-out shops, taking the place of the self-catering options. Gone is the soup shop where we had hoped to buy cooling cups of tangy tomato gazpacho. The cheesemonger is still hiding in a far corner of the basement, and there we find an assortment of small offcuts being sold at reduced prices. We blindly choose 4, knowing that really, any cheese is tasty cheese, and that this right here is the start of a tasty picnic. We add to it a bag of grapes, and some fresh bread from Amy's Bakery upstairs. We also stop in at a CVS pharmacy hiding in a columned, neo-classical bank building for much cheaper drink options.

On the Hudson River is this new place called Little Island - part sculpture, part floating park - the park is perched on a cluster of what looks like cement funnels, with differing heights, pathways and curated vegetation. At its center, a large plaza filled with tables, covered with shade canopies, so we grab a spot and spread our lunch fixings, tasting all the delicious cheeses while listening to another park visitor tickling the keys of a public piano, and rather well, too. A family next to us lays out squares of paper towels and makes a loaf's worth of sandwiches, while the kids splash each other with bottles of water refilled endless at the nearby fountain.

After our slow, drawn-out lunch break,  we wander the pathways of the island, taking in the views of the city as well as the hyper-clean washrooms(never miss a chance to use a washroom in NYC!), and then we head inland to the shady streets of Greenwich Village. Here, quintessential New York streets, or at least the ones you see in the movies, tree-lined and dotted with stairs leading up to beautiful doorways, lie around every corner. There are less crowded sidewalk, and LOTS of beautiful little shops and boutiques, quaint window displays and entrances framed by flowers. We pop into one or two of them, but this is a higher-end neighbourhood, and that is clearly reflected in the pricing. But the reprieve from the oppressive heat outside is nice, if only for a few minutes at a time.

We work our way, eventually, to Washington Square Park, in the middle of the NYU campus. The fountain at the centre of the park begs to be played in, if it wasn't sitting out in the glaring sun. It it also surrounded by what seems like all the pot vendors in the city, with their tables set up like a craft fair. I suppose marijuana has been legalized here too since our last visit in 2019, either that or people are less interested in hiding their sale and consumption of it! There is so much being smoked in this park, I am surprised I am not sitting in a cloud, to be perfectly honest. It's almost overwhelming. 

Not for the same reason, we decide to sit in the shade, on the grass, to cool down for a bit. It's just too hot to keep moving. An hour later, we reluctantly get up, brushing off the grass, and begin the trek back to Broadway. We stop for some iced Thai tea at Surreal Creamery, hidden in a low basement, walls painted a clean white but doing nothing to brighten the place up. The tea, however,  is refreshing and just what we need to keep us going.

We hop on the subway to 42nd street. We briefly tour Times Square, the M&M store and the I <3 N Y souvenir shop, where we buy nothing, then join the queue for the Ambassador Theatre for this evening's showing of Chicago.

What a fantastic show! We are sitting in row B, at the very front left side of the stage, so when the performers look out and interact with the audience, which they do a lot in this show, they are seeing and interacting with us! And from this vantage point, we can see all the small winks and gestures between performers that are lost to viewers sitting further back, including the goings-on in the wings and back-stage - it truly is a whole different theatre experience. I was personally blown away by the actress playing Roxy Hart, she was phenomenal. More than that, I spied a knee brace underneath her fishnet stockings, which made all her dancing, high kicks and split even more impressive. 

After too much applause, though never enough, and a quick exit through an open service door, we pour out onto the street in the steamy night air and walk down 8th to Shake Shack for our favorite NYC food. I love me a good 'shroom burger, and Mario is always a sucker for the Shack burger, so with a little time to spare before our bus, we head in for a quick late-night snack. It was so hot today that food seemed more like an afterthought, but now we are hungry, and basically have to hold back to avoid inhaling the burgers whole! So good. And we make it back to Port Authority with 10 minutes to spare before the bus back to New Jersey, too. 

No Plan B

 Well, you get what you pay for, I suppose. Our cheap room for the night was overly cold, but the bed was big and cozy, at least. But our sleep is constantly interrupted by the banging of doors, stomping of feet, loud car horns honking and the occasional guest yelling obscenities outside...7:30 am comes way too fast, and we snooze a bit before rolling out of bed and heading, rather bleary-eyed, down to breakfast. Pre-crushed cereal and milk, burnt bagels with jam(who does that?!) and the watery American coffee that leaves a bad taste in your mouth are our food options, along with absolutely perfect-looking Little Debbie doughnuts that may have been sitting under the display dome for longer that we care to think about...

Back in the car, we keep spinning in circles around the radio dial, attempting to find a radio station that isn't country music, Sunday morning worship, or 75% commercials and that lasts for more than one song before getting overtaken by static. There is entirely too much AC/DC playing for me, too. I am sad when we lose 97.7 around Albany, as they are playing a showcase on Louisiana Zydeco, complete with stories of its birth, as well as live performances by artist Cedrick Watson in creole French. I will have to take a deeper dive into it when I get home.

We seek out the nearest Starbucks, reluctantly, to renew our belief that there is still good coffee in the world. This leads to observations in human behaviour while waiting in line: Starbucks has a mobile ordering app advertised at the queue to order food & drinks, so people too impatient to wait in line immediately whip out their phones. But the in-person orders and mobile orders are processed differently, as we observed, and though we stand in line and ordered at the cash register, people who arrived and ordered through their devices were still served in the same amount of time as if they had been in line with us the whole time. I am not sure if they realize it though, as most of that line of people show much less patience while waiting and ultimately receiving their orders.

11 am - already 32 degrees C. It's gonna be a hot one.

We arrive too early at the La Quinta in Clifton to check in, but we already knew that. We park the car in the shade, dump the rest of our watery coffees in the grass and venture past the hotel into Clifton Commons, one of those great big shopping complexes where you still need you car to get in between the stores. But there is a Target, which is good for a bathroom break, stocking up on gum and sunscreen, and using the free wi-fi to find the next bus into the city. I make a mental note to come back later for our breakfast.

Twenty minutes later and we are sitting on NJ Transit bus #192. Out the window, the bright blue sky is dotted with big, puffy clouds, with the occasional dark one floating by, heavy with rain and ready to open up. As we watch the NYC skyline come into view, on long dark cloud proceeds to dump its contents all over Mid-town. Well, best to do it now - by the time we get there, everything will have dried up!

We rush into town to rush to the subway to rush to Momofuku Noodle Bar for take-out lunch, so we can then rush through Central Park to Rumsey Playfield, where the doors are just opening for the free SummerStage concert this evening. But pocket storms keep popping up, heavier and darker with each downpour. We miss one while in Columbus Circle getting our take-out; we duck into a tunnel in the park for a second, cozying up on a low bench and digging into our steamed shrimp buns and Yuzu lemonade. In the distance, we hear not the thundering of storms, but of drums and soundchecks coming from the playfield. Just as the sky clears up again, and we venture out of the tunnel into the steamy park, everything gets eerily quiet.

We approach the gates to SummerStage as an attendant is closing them up... even though the concert is said to be held "rain or shine", nothing can stand up to the wrath of Thor, and no one wants to tempt fate with the threat of lighting and lots of electrical equipment, so the organizers have cancelled the night's concert. There's nothing we can do about it, so we plunk down in the grass under a big tree, hedging our bets against the rain, and take out our picnic.

The spicy cold noodles are topped with chunks of sausage and sweet roasted peanuts, and it is so delicious and spicy - it's at the caliber I fully expected from a David Chang restaurant, excellent quality and reasonably-priced for takeout. And although the lemonade doesn't pair so well with the noodles, it does work perfectly as a palate-cleanser in between bites, cooling the spiciness that coats my tongue and my lips. 

With no back-up plans for the day, we just wander, heading through the Upper East Side, strolling along Lexington and gazing into a whole myriad of shops. Discovering our proximity, we stop for big chewy cookies at Levain bakery, known for their deliciousness worldwide. We sit on a planter nearby to enjoy them, and become involuntary witnesses to a car accident at the neighbouring intersection. We watched with amazement and a little disgust as onlookers pull out their phones and cameras to capture the moment, then walk on and continue with their day, without more than a thought to the people involved. Yuck. 

One man in a grey t-shirt and baseball cap did stop, get on his phone to call emergency services, and stayed at the scene, checking in on the occupants of both vehicles while waiting, and a woman who worked in the medical field(she wore scrubs) also stopped to check on the people in the cars. Once the ambulances arrived, and the cops took over surveying the scene, we watch as the man in the t-shirt slowly made his way across the street, grocery bag in hand, looking almost a little dejected at not being of use anymore, and then he just disappeared into the crowd of onlookers and was gone. 

And the cookies were absolutely out of this world, which was a fact that may have gotten lost in all of that excitement. Gooey and warm, melted chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts pairing well with the sweet dough, perfectly balanced in flavours. The dark chocolate peanut butter chip one was a little more on the sweet side, maybe even a little too much. I would love to try the oatmeal-raisin, but we'll have to save that for another time.

A quick ride on the subway gets us back to Port Authority, as by now, we are both feeling tired from the late departure, the long drive and the lack of sleep. We pick up some cold drinks and slices of cheese pizza from 2 Bros. Pizza for dinner, and lug it all back on the bus. We also pick up some breakfast fixings from the Target behind the hotel, as we don't have breakfast included, but we do have a fridge. Win! 

After checking in, we shower and chill out with the tasty pizza and a movie in our hotel room. And we fall asleep way too early.

Late night departure

August 6th (but barely...)

As much as I had hoped and wished to finish work early today, to be able to get on the road as soon as possible, of course it was not to be. Too many people arriving and ordering too late meant I was rushing home late, and still with the idea to get on the road and begin driving tonight. I must be crazy.

And so after a cooling shower to wash off the heat and humidity of the day, and packing a snack to sustain us until whatever our destination might be tonight, Mario and I packed our overnight bags into my freshly-cleaned car and hit the road at 11 pm. It is still so hot out there, and as we cruise down autoroute 15 on our way to the border, a hazy half-moon hangs low in the sky, overseeing our trip. 

At the border, the guard asks our reason for travelling to NYC. What you actually answer and what you want to answer to that question are often two very different things! Because I need to get away from the repetitiveness of my daily life? Because I feel like experiencing walking the sidewalks and feeling the buzz of the big city? Because I crave $1 slices of pizza? Nope. We are travelling for vacation, and with that, we breeze through the questioning and the border crossing. But wait - how do you two know each other? 

Heh. Gotta love the questions sometimes!

===================

We decide to not drive through Moriah. For...reasons.

Nope. Definitely not.

========================

We stop at all the tourist service areas, in search of the elusive hotel discount books. We finally find one at the High Peaks rest area, where the hot night air is heavy with the scent of pine forests, and a handful of cars are stopped for the night. Though tempting, we move on, in search of a town with inexpensive accommodations. The highway rolls under the car in darkness, the road markers reflecting the light of the high beams back at us, whizzing by like constellations , guiding my way towards Albany. Karaoke music blares from the speakers, and I croon along with the tunes, the music keeping my alert and awake until we reach Schenectady, and the cheap but adequate Econolodge hotel. There's a bed for us to collapse into, and even breakfast included in the morning - it's not luxurious, but yes, this will do nicely.

First sleep - 

Tomorrow, 

NEW YORK CITY!