New York and Boston Trip

In my recently normal impromptu fashion I decided sometime between Wednesday and Thursday to take a trip up to NYC and Boston to visit friends and family. Friday evening after building a PC from parts I ordered, I set off north on I-95 for New York City, my first stop. I left somewhat late (1800) because of getting hung up with trying to get my PC up and somewhat running before I left. Normally, short drives like DC to NYC I try to save for the morning or early afternoon so I have a full evening to enjoy once arriving. Friday, for some reason, I was becoming extremely tired in the evening to the point where I was falling asleep just after Baltimore! I was hoping to push it to the NJ border but could feel I had to pull over. I pulled over somewhere near Aberdeen, MD. What I thought was going to be a 1/2 hour cat nap turned out to be a 2 almost 2 1/2 hour full on sleep in my reclined driver seat. It was a sad realitization on my part that it was now 2100 and I haven't even left the state of Maryland. I quickly got back on the road and made it through Delaware and onto the New Jersey Turnpike relatively quickly. While in New Jersey, I found out the hard way that, much like Oregon, it is illegal for me to pump my own gas. I found myself into a chest-swelling shouting match with a central-Asian gas station attendant with a really thick accent when I started pumping my own gas. It took the police getting called to understand that I had broken such a ridiculous law. Luckily, the police were more friendly than the guy I had almost got in a fight with. It goes to show that you explain your reasons in the first place (the attendant that is) you wouldn't end up in these altercations.

Luckily, my cousin lives right off the George Washington Bridge for I really didn't want to be driving around in the middle of Upper Manhattan at the 0130 in the morning I had showed up. One thing I really didn't take into account for both NYC and Boston was the parking situation. I ended up parking in a garage a few blocks away from my cousin's apartment: further than I really wanted to be from my car, but secure enough to put my mind at ease. The 18 hours I spent with my cousin were probably some of the best I've had in a while. My cousin and I are pretty close so it was good to spend some time with her and talk about the family and our lives. I left her place and headed down the FDR to my friend Betty's (Yes! Antarctica Betty!) apartment in Lower Manhattan. Hoping to spend a good deal of time with her, my wish was granted only because it took us nearly an hour and a half to find a parking spot. Granted, it was my fault thinking I'd find a parking spot in Lower Manhattan at 2100 on a Saturday. We walked around, ate dinner (Pizza of course), and talked. After a few hours with her, I went to my friend's birthday party a few blocks away only to hang out there with her for a few hours and crash at one of her friends' apartment so I could get up decently early and drive to Boston.

Driving to Boston the following morning was great...driving in Boston trying to find my friend's dorm was not. I've been lost before in big cities but not so much to the point where it took me almost two hours to back track and find a street remotely close to Boston University. It was this defining moment, however, where I broke down and made the decision to sometime buy a GPS unit to be used only in dire emergencies such as being stuck across a river with no way to get back on the bridge to get to where you need to go. With my friend, I got a long tour of Boston University (the campus is pretty damn big), a sushi dinner in the cafeteria, and a night of watching movies and reading emails. Since she wakes up to go running at 0530 (crazy, I know...) I took advantage of that early wake up and decided to hit the road at the same time which put me at home shortly before 1400 Monday afternoon.

I've noticed that no matter how many times I fly somewhere or drive somewhere, I always learn something new. This trip was fun yet was sort of a bummer at the same time. It was fun being able to visit 4 different people none of whom are connected in any way, shape, or form all over the course of a weekend. At the same time, it sort of sucked trying to cram the 4 said people into a single weekend. In the long end, though, it was good seeing them. I try to value the friendships I've forged over the years so anytime I can spend with people regardless of how short is well spent. Anyways, more short trips to be had before I head out west...