Haven’t done a little recap in a while and since things are changing in NYC so quickly, I thought I’d look back on memorable activities from the last couple weeks.
I ended up bailing on the wedding I was going to attend in Minnesota over Labour Day weekend. It’s a real shame as I attended the bachelor party just six weeks earlier, but since that time, Covid cases increased quite a bit in Minnesota. Because New York cases have been steadily low for the last couple months, the NY government is very strict about states from which they’re allowing people to travel back.
Minnesota is now back on New York’s list meaning if I attended the wedding I would be forced to quarantine in my giant (400 sqft) apartment for 14 days. Given how work has the ability to cause me some stress, being prohibited from going out for a run around the city to clear my head seems like an awful experience.
Instead, I was able to still escape from the city and drove out to the Poconos (sounds made up) in Pennsylvania. I realized I’d only taken 7 days off in 2020 so a vacation was thoroughly needed.
Being immersed in nature was absolutely amazing. We rented an Airbnb in the woods, went on a few stunning hikes, ate delicious food (was really nice having a bbq when you don’t have one in NYC) and just relaxed. I built a fire and have certified myself as a full-blown outdoorsman as a result.
One hike we went on was in an area called Bushkill Falls – self-proclaimed as “The Niagara of Pennsylvania”. There were more than a dozen waterfalls to see throughout the ~2 hour hike, and the amount of tourists looking to check out the attraction was something else. The lineup for tickets (thank god we bought ours online ahead of time) was ~300 people long, and as we were leaving there was, no joke, a 2 mile lineup of cars to get into the park. Absolutely mind blowing.
One of the best parts of the getaway was still taking Tuesday off back in the city. In the 18 months since moving here I hadn’t taken a day off to just enjoy New York. I made the most of it by running up to a new spot on my list – the George Washington Bridge. It crosses high above the Hudson River and connects Manhattan at 178th st. with New Jersey. It also is a stretch of the famous I-95 interstate that runs from Boston to Miami all the way down the Eastern seaboard.
It’s a long way up from my place (I live on 3Rd St.) but the views were well worth it. The bridge is absolutely massive and offers a birds eye perspective of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline (on a clear day).
After a short, but busy week at work, Friday resulted in my first 9/11 in the city – seeing the light beams from the memorial definitely hit different, and trying to imagine the chaos that would have unfolded 19 years earlier was difficult.
Other than that – we’re keeping an eye on the quarantine rules, and I want to start watching for election speeches and rallies around the city as we approach November 3rd.
Hope you’re all doing well. Thanks for reading.
Mike