So, I don't have any pictures of what we did later that night. It was dark, and we were mostly drunk for the rest of the day and into the wee...and the late hours of the morning. So I'll just tell you what we did.
John and I started by going to Pearl River, NY, to hang out at the bars. Our first stop was a little bar/microbrewery called
Defiant. He loves the places for its laid back, friendly environment and the good beer, of course. I tried three of them, and then we shared a bottle of their "Triple", which is a really neat 9% beer that feels and tastes slightly like champagne. We met up with John's not-girlfriend Heather, her boyfriend Kevin, and Heather's cousin, whatever her name was. Eventually they all left, and it was just John and I carousing the block.
We went to the Pearl River Hotel, where I had a double of Crown Royal, and a gin and tonic. John had another beer, and somehow decided a glass of sambuca was a good idea. You go, John. From there we went on down the block to another place I forget the name of, but it was way crowded so we just chilled outside and spoke about picking up girls and whatnot. Interesting how some came up to the window and invited us in to this third bar.
Now, by this time I was so drunk I could hardly talk to myself, much less anyone else, but I did what I could. John was mackin' on this fat chick, and I was talking to her friends, and drinking, and apparently I smoked a cigarette. I have no idea how much time passed here, but I do remember me having another double of Crown and a double of Hennessey. Mmm.
It turns out it was the fat girl's birthday party, and many of her friends and a few family members where there. Nice opportunity, we thought. It would have been nicer on my end if I wasn't absolutely slaughtered, but whatever, I was having fun. We eventually got invited to hang out at the girl's place with the gang, so that's where we headed. We took a cab, of course...and we got there in one piece. I don't have a clue what anyone was talking about at this point, but they were definitely talking. I had a shot of cherry vodka somewhere along the line. Eventually I fell asleep on the couch, hopelessly drunk, and beyond even considering putting the moves on that hot 30 year old, but of course I'd been this drunk for a while now I had pretty much given up on that quest. Anyways, I woke up in a strange place. I know I had fun the night before, so I'm happy with it. Good times, John.
So after a little rest and some Tylenol for the epic hangover I hadn't anticipated we decided to take a stroll into New York City. We were taking the Civic, of course...
All the buildings way off in the background? That's all Manhattan, from left to right.
We crossed into Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel, after a relatively cheap $8 toll. Somehow the Garmin kept getting a satellite signal while we were under a river and a layer of earth, and it didn't lose the signal until we exited the tunnel and were greeted with buildings like this, an average Manhattan apartment building...
And more typical buildings...
Your every day retired aircraft carrier and an SR-71 you might find at your local dealer...
They have parking garages, too. But on the top level, and sometimes even inside, they use lifts, and stack one car on top another.
We ended up reaching Times Square, as I wanted to drive through it. This was the wall of people...
This part really made my day. There had to have been thousands of people in this small little area. When the lights turned green I cruised up into the intersection and revved my engine really loud, and everyone turned to stare at me with their "WTF" faces. I guess they were expecting a Ferrari?
I'm sure more than a few people started up conversations about that ricer kid and his stupid Civic. That makes me feel good. Hello, New York, I have arrived.
And Tiger Woods's escapades over in L.A. were the big news of the day apparently.
We went driving around looking for the Empire State Building, and we were having some trouble. All the buildings look the same from the ground--big and square. Until you look up.
As it was getting dark we found a small parking lot that only charged us $33 for a few hours, and I let the Russian immigrant dude park my car. He did the Honda Rev to get the car moving, just like everyone who owns one of these. I was proud.
At this point I was feeling a bit touristy, so on the way to the EPB I stopped by a hot dog stand. I asked John, "So I just tell him I want a hot dog?" That's what I did. We kept walking and I kept eating, and some dude in a bright vest asked us if we wanted to go up to the observation deck. "Yeeaaaahhhhh", we said, as we shelled out $47 for tickets we thought would get us there quicker. That part is a gimmick, but at least we got to do some goofy ride with a super corny educational video about the city.
With ridiculously strong and cold winds buffeting my camera, this is what I managed from the 82nd floor:
That's looking south. I expected the ocean, but later I found out all we can see is Staten Island. Here's a neato mural thing inside the EPB on our way out:
That was fun, and the end of my touristy stuff that John was hating. After we got out of there and picked the car up we drove down into the SOHO, Little Italy, and Chinatown area for some eats, and to do some exploring that most tourists are scared to do. I'll post that stuff up later.
I guess I'm a bit spoiled with the large amount of hills and open roads around here.
