NYC!

This rest stop has not been very restful.  Since I have never been to NYC, we have been hitting the pavement hard - with our feet.  We are giving our burnt shoulders and sore butts a much needed break.

Rolling into NYC, we biked 75 miles from our campsite Thursday.  As we entered the city via Queens, we were greeted with a DOUBLE RAINBOW.  SO COOL.  We biked a little into the city, and then jumped on the subway with our bikes to avoid traffic and me being unfamiliar with the street layout.  We carried our bikes up 4 flights of stairs to Taylor and Andrew's beautiful apartment.  A coincidence - they are back in Seattle, but are still letting us crash.  Thank you!

Yesterday, I woke up and walked a few blocks and found NY bagels to bring back for breakfast.  Yum!  After filling our tummies (eating has not been an issue on this trip), we headed out to Coney Island since neither of us had been. We put our toes in the water and then RODE A FERRIS WHEEL!  I love, Love, LOVE ferries wheels - on this trip I found out that Robyn does also and like me, she has a bit of a fear of amusement park rides (I hate, Hate, HATE rollercoasters).  

After the ferris wheel, we stopped at a photo booth (those of you who know Robyn, know that she is OBSESSED with photo booths), and then happened upon the 'world's smallest brewery.'  We share a beer, chatted, grabbed some stickers and were on our way.

We then took the subway to Manhattan, which apparently is where everything happens.  It's a little overwhelming, there are THOUSANDS of people everywhere.  I really like Brooklyn, where Taylor's apartment is located.  It is very quaint, not a plethora of people, and you can easily access Manhattan when you want to go mingle in the city.  I had a few (okay, maybe a long list) goals to accomplish in NYC.  One of them was to see Ground Zero and pay my respect to those who had their lives taken on 9/11. 

After pausing a moment there, we continued up Manhattan.  A quick stop at a bike shop, then Key Bank so Robyn could get a new bank card, we found Times Square:

Again, it was smattered with THOUSANDS of people.  I think we may go back tonight and see it when it is dark out with LIGHTS.  We walked through Rockefeller Center, took a moment to check in with our folks, and then I found out the MoMA has free admission on Friday's (score!).  

Stopping at the MoMA was something I wanted/needed to do.  My life's bucket list is not terribly long, or terribly thought out, but one thing on there was to see Van Gogh's 'Starry Night.'  It was incredible.  Bigger than I imagined.  Robyn tried to snag a picture of me with it, but I got to close and was shooed away by the 'guard.'  Still, SO COOL!

After MoMA, we headed back to Brooklyn.  We grabbed a slice of NY pizza and then stopped at the Brooklyn Brewery to try some of the local brews.  Things that I have noticed about beer since being out here: 1) PBR is everywhere (duh) but every place has their own local cheap, watery beer.  2) East Coast IPA is COMPLETELY different from West Coast IPA.  3) I really like hops.

The Brooklyn Brewery is just a tasting room - a big urban beer garden.  After chatting with some locals, another table invited us to play a dice game called, 'Left-Right-Center.'  It was fun, engaging, and though Robyn and I lost a few one dollar bills, we shared a lot of laughs.

Today is another 'rest' day. 

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

-M