New York City Recap, Day 1

Song Lyric of the Day:

When you get caught between the moon and New York City / I know it’s crazy, but it’s true

Christopher Cross / “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”

10:00PM.
So my first day of the New York City trip started at 1:33AM; I was congested and woke up because I couldn’t breathe. Then a storm hit, and between the sinus problems, lightning, and thunder, I wasn’t getting back to sleep. I got out of bed at 2:30AM when my cell phone alarm went off, got ready, and joined Mom to wait for Samantha to arrive at the house. We were officially on our way at 3:15AM in a torrential rain. As expected, Samantha and I were particularly snappish as we are not morning people. Once in Atlanta, my handy Google Maps directions promptly got us lost in the downtown area. We stopped and got directions, got to the airport in time, and then drove around and around looking for parking. We made it into the terminal at 6:30AM for our 8:15AM flight. Once on board, I passed out. I slept wonderfully up until our not-so-perfect landing at LaGuardia; I swear to God, the plane bounced. Not one of my better landings.

We got to Carmelita’s apartment in the city around 11:15AM. Samantha and I promptly took off to explore, and ended up getting lost and going in circles thanks to Mom’s poor directions. Regardless, we ended up finding Caesar’s Pizza nearby and eating the largest slices of pizza we’d ever encountered. We then headed to the Lincoln Center area, where I bought my souvenirs at Virgin Records Mega Store: Happy Hell Night and the original When a Stranger Calls on DVD.

Then it was on to Times Square, where we encountered the Naked Cowboy. Sure, Mom and my godmother, Flora, ran into Harrison Ford at the same time across town, but Samantha and I got pictures. We have proof we met the Naked Cowboy. He hams it up with every woman who asks to be photographed with him, and I was no exception. He actually placed my hand on his ass cheek for the second picture. After our pictures were taken, he kissed me on the temple and said, “Thank you, sweetie. Be careful. There’s a lot of nutjobs out there.” What a charmer. As you can imagine, Rich was less than thrilled to see the pics. I’ve promised to find the Naked Cowgirl and have his picture taken with her so we can call it even.

After running through Times Square, Samantha and I moved on to 34th Str eet and browsed in Macy’s (sooooo overpriced). Union Square was up next, where a political protest and an art project seemed to be going on at the same time. We then made our way home, or so we thought. Turns out we didn’t transfer trains when we should have, so we ended up in Queens; it was lovely that time of day. Very blue sky.

Once back at Carmelita’s apartment, our cousin, Cuqui, her husband, Ralph, and their daughter, Bianca, came over. A few of us, Flora included, walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant and picked up dinner to take back to the apartment. After eating, it was all Samantha and I could do to stay awake after having run around all day (5.32 miles per the pedometer). By the time everyone left for the night, it took all of three minutes for me to get in bed and pass out. The better to refuel for day two.