Catskill to NYC

This morning I drove South to NYC. I had to pass through New Jersey one more time and experienced a bit of PTSD going through the toll stations.

I’m grateful to be hosted by my friend T. She lives in Hudson Height, just one neighborhood North of Washington Heights. On your first walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, she pointed out the building in which Lin Manuel Miranda lives. Apparently the neighborhood is popular with up and coming Broadway types as it is relatively affordable, safe, and an easy subway stop from Times Square.

I used up all of my parking karma for the year by scoring a street spot on the corner right by her building. Tomorrow is street cleaning, which means that, in theory, everyone has to move their car for two hours 11:30-1:30. Apparently one solution to this problem is to literally sit in your car for two house and only move it to the other side of the street if and when the street cleaners come by. One of many NYC mysteries that I’m sure I will learn this week.

As I’ve already mentioned the first thing we did was to take a walk around the neighborhood. We walked over to a new pedestrian overpass with a view of the George Washington Bridge. We also strolled through Bennett Park, the highest natural place in Manhattan. Other than a plaque marking a piece of granite left sticking up in the middle of the park, you would otherwise not know that factoid.

Before dinner, we took another walk down to the banks of the Hudson, under the GW bridge. T pointed out the Little Red Lighthouse and some rock cairns that people had built next to the water.

We had dinner at a neighborhood restaurant.

Tomorrow will be a low-key day, centered around keeping my parking spot, getting laundry done, and walking around the neighboring boroughs.