Can you see the other balloon?
This was such a cool experience. And we learned about how balloon operators and their ground crew have to be extremely flexible. Basically, you go where the wind wants you to go, and you land wherever is convenient (in our case, it was on the street in the middle of a neighborhood).
The neighbor balloon. We looked the same, but with a yellow midsection and a slightly smaller basket.
We got off the High Line, and wandered further south. We stopped by the Rusty Knot in the West Village to drink a Rusty Knot (a frozen mojito drink), and then wandered over to a tiny restaurant called ‘ino for the yummiest cheese plate, wine, and Italian sandwiches! We both LOVED this walk- it was super charming and a cute neighborhood.
‘ino:
After dinner, we continued east, passing Washington Square Park on our way to McSorley’s Ale House- supposedly the oldest bar in NYC, and full super old artifacts on the wall. We each ordered a dark and light beer.
Mom and I in Washington Square:
Beers at McSorley’s:
I hailed my first cab by myself (I studied up on the tricks: look for just the middle light to be lit!) and we drove up towards Times Square.
After a quick walk through (everyone’s got to see it once, right?), we headed back to Penn Station for the late train back to Princeton Junction.
All in all, it was an exhausting trip- I definitely worked as hard as I played- but so worth it. Mom and I had a blast. :)
I have been dying to walk on the High Line: an old railroad track converted into a green walkway/park/sculpture art. But first- I had to find a geocache at its base!
We took a walk all the way down to the end.
Here were some of the views:
See the little red tree painted near the roof?
My beautiful mom:
We ran into this mesmerizing parade of book people, most with huge puppets over their heads:
I love this city!
The part that I was the MOST excited about during this trip was that Princeton is just about an hour train ride to NYC- my favorite place ever! Mom has never been- she’s a 100% country girl- but I was determined to have her see only the best of Manhattan and fall a little in love with it like I have.
So, after work on Saturday, we raced to the train station, and after about an hour, emerged into Penn Station. Getting off the train and getting my bearings is my least favorite part of NYC, but after a few blocks, we eventually emerged in Chelsea. We walked down some lovely streets:
Saw some cool buildings:
Ducked into a few art galleries. This one featured Cindy Sherman’s latest work:
This one featured a lot of modern art. This little piggy was switched on so he was walking right into the corner of the door. He was pretty cute and I really wanted to pick him up and turn him around!
I had to work all day Friday, but as soon as we finished at 4:30, mom and I hopped in the car to visit New Hope, PA! The last time I was here, a group of the other consultants took a little jaunt to this village, and I have been wanting to visit ever since then.
We stopped for beers and fish tacos by the river:
We walked around town (it’s small!), found a couple geocaches, did a little shopping (including hot sauce and jalapeño chocolate tasting) and wine tasting.
We found this creepy display in the little alley beside an interesting (and sadly, closed for the evening) store:
And this mosaic on the sidewalk of the alley:
We saw the train tracks:
Found a bar for dogs:
Had sangria in the courtyard (at the other end of this alley) of the Wildflower Cafe:
And then we headed back to Princeton.
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Princeton, NJ again to do some work for ETS. I decided to drive, and my mom agreed to drive there with me for the weekend. I got a couple audiobooks, and we headed out Thursday after school.
Halfway there, we were on a little 2 lane road in PA, between the interstate and the turnpike, and we stopped for gas. We happened to be listening to an audiobook about someone who went back in time to the 1950’s, and the differences he was noticing… when we pulled up to this pump:
Talk about going back in time! But the pump worked, and the employees were SUPER friendly, and we were on our way.
On my last day in Austin, I attended my conference. I presented in a roundtable session, which was actually really fun, and I liked it so much better than a typical paper presentation. After the morning sessions, Steph picked me up and we went to get lunch and do a little more geocaching before I had to go to the airport.
Final view of Austin from the last geocache:
All in all, I loved the city, Matt and Steph were amazing hosts, and I can’t wait to go back again.
