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.