Back to Reality

Just got back from our New York road trip late Saturday night, and thought I'd share a few details of our trip. There's no way I'm going to pack all six days into this one post, so today I'll just tackle Day 1 here. It hasn't gone unnoticed, I am sure, that this is my first post since August 6th, so be sure to harrass me if this post isn't followed by more in the next few days.... the blogging bug hasn't been biting me as much lately.

Seized by temporary insanity back in January, we planned our trip to commence the morning after a weekend that I worked two 12-hour shifts. The week prior to leaving, I tried my best to shore up our travel plans and pack our bags. While I was at work over the weekend, Cory stepped up to the plate and took care of all of the last-minute details, especially picking up the rental car and dropping the dogs off at the "babysitter". I was exhausted but ready for our escape come Monday morning.

We pulled onto I-465 at 7:50 am, and began our trek east. It was an incredibly easy drive; Cory and I made a point to take turns driving to stay fresh. We rented a Pontiac G6 to escape the unreliability of my PT Cruiser, counting on Avis to rescue us should some unforeseen mechanical malfunction occur. Our GPS (the trusty TomTom, or so we thought.... more on that in a later post) estimated the drive to take 13 hours and we didn't want to wear ourselves out too early. We sailed through Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia (briefly, of course), stopping at a Quizno's for lunch just east of Wheeling. Once well into Pennsylvania, we noticed the terrain begin to change, and began admiring the rolling hills and mountains in the distance. I couldn't believe it when we finally made it into New Jersey - the time had literally flown by. We pulled into Newark Airport at about 7 pm. I was nervous, hoping my master plan to ride the train into Manhattan would be as simple as it looked on paper.

We parked in long-term parking, took an intra-airport AirTrain (that place is HUGE) to the Newark International Airport Train Station, and boarded a New Jersey transit train to NYC's Penn Station. It was pretty amazing to emerge out of the station, bleary-eyed from the road, and be overcome by the sights, smells, and sounds of New York City. Not having approached the city by car or plane, we were never treated to a vista of the city itself in preparation for arrival, but rather were thrust immediately into the heart of the city. It was a little surreal.

We staggered through the city streets toward Times Square and our hotel. Poor Cory was lugging a VERY HEAVY shoulder bag, while I had the little rolling suitcase (poor planning on my part). After a few wrong turns and some frustration for both of us, we found our hotel: the Night Hotel. It was an amazing boutique hotel with a gothic black-and-white theme. The room was tiny and cozy; the picture below is literallly of the whole room as taken from the door. What a respite from our crazy day!

After dining at Connolly's Pub across the street (I had the most delicious panini with curried turkey, apples, raisins, and cheddar cheese) and gawking for a bit at the gawdy neon of Times Square, we headed to bed to rest up for the big day ahead....