We had some recent visitors to the Rego Point Diner, first was Erik, who was here in late May. While he was here we went to the NYC Transit Museum which I had always heard was great but was a big disappointment! The best part was the old ads in the old timey subway cars they had but the museum was lacking in secret subway info.
To make up for it we snuck into the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park at 125th Street. This tunnel was unused for a long time and was one of the main tunnels that the "mole people" were living in until the early 90's when Amtrak started running trains through again. Because of this and the tunnel's wide area on each side of the track it became a graffiti hotspot. The tunnel has lots of skylights that let light shine down onto the walls to create natural graffiti canvases like the ones behind Erik here. We only walked to 100th street (each street is marked with a sign in the tunnel) but the tunnel goes all the way to 72nd.
If we had gotten to the end of the tunnel we would have come out right where Andrea and I went to go see the transit of Venus on June 5th! When she took this picture at around 7PM we weren't sure if we would see the transit at all because the sun would be setting around 8 and it had been cloudy all day. We walked to the end of the pier and then back to the telescopes and right then the sun came out from behind a cloud and we saw Venus for about 30 seconds, perfect timing!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Spring Visitors
Monday, December 19, 2011
Adventure Club #1: Flatbush
A couple weeks ago my friend Allison and I went out to Flatbush to check out the houses where my grandparents grew up and try to find some graves at Holy Cross Cemetary. We found the houses pretty easily, on the left is my Grandma's house on Beverly Road and on the right is the building my Grandpa lived in on New York Avenue.
Next we went down the street to the cemetery. When we told them we were looking for somebody with an Irish name from the 30's or 40's they said we might be there a while but we were able to find some likely candidates pretty quickly. However! When we got to the grave-spot there was nothing there but a tree. The person who was supposed to be buried there is John Drum my great-great-great(?) grandfather.
The neighborhood has changed a lot since the 40's, it's mostly West Indian now, we went to a local supermarket and I got some hot sauce for my hot sauce collection. Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures from my adventure last week to Staten Island!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Staten Island Adventure
Erik was visiting last week and we decided to try to get out of the city but it turns out we didn't even have to! We grabbed some samosas and ginger-mango chutney in Jackson Heights on the way down to the Staten Island Ferry and were quickly rolling along the Staten Island Railroad to the New Dorp Station. After eventually figuring out which direction we were facing we made it to High Rock Park which ran right into Latourette Park. We found a series of winding trails marked by painted squares on trees. It was probably one of the last warm days of the year so I even got to wear sandals.
The middle of Latourette Park is supposedly one of the most isolated spots in New York City, a mile from any building! I'd believe it because we didn't even get all the way through before we had to turn back because of the daylight. On the way back we saw the Scooby Doo Van!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Rhode Island
I went to Rhode Island two weekends ago with my friend Eric. His uncle has a big party every year where they make a whole bunch of apple cider. It was great but even better was the cider! It was really cool to get out of the city by car since I never did that when I lived here before. We also got a chance to go to the beach and throw some rocks.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Mt. St. Helens Lava Tubes
Last weekend Zelda, Rosie, Tommy and I went to Mt. St. Helens to climb through the Ape Cave lava tube and to run around in the sun. We left on Saturday afternoon so we could beat the crowds at the lava tubes. We camped on the side of the road in the National Forest and then in the morning I ran up a quarter mile to the base camp for people who are summiting St. Helens. We ate breakfast, went to the lava tubes and climbed through only meeting a few people along the way but when we came out the parking lot was packed, it seems like everyone was just behind us. After that we split a watermelon, went on walk through a lava forest and then found a lake to swim in. I climbed on a log and paddled it pretty far into the lake. Coming home we got stuck in traffic but it was still great. Here's some pictures:
The view of the top of St. Helens, and everyone eating breakfast.
In the cave!
Coming out of the cave.
Afterwards at the lake.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday Night Hike
