Pride Parade 2014

This is another parade that I had never been to in over 10 years of living in NYC. I'm very happy I made it.
                                                                   

This is the map I used to get there courtesy of these guys 

And these are some of my favorite pics

 I consider circumcision barbaric so I was happy to see this float go by.

 This is the Housing Works float. You can't help but admire that all they do is fight AIDS and AIDS stigma.

 This guy has a Jamaican flag, which is interesting because Jamaican's are notoriously homophobic. I'm not sure if he was showing that there are gay men in Jamaica, or if he was protesting Jamaican's treatment of gay men since he had some fliers.

                                                                  A queen I presume.

 Some sexay mens :0

Here is a link to more pics

116th Street Festival and the Big Apple Barbeque Block Party June 7, 2014

I am in love with Puerto Rico, despite having only been to the San Juan area. Three times! And despite having been in New York for 11 years, I have never been to the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Yeh, I still haven't been. I went to Govenor's Ball on Friday and was dead tired on Saturday. I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything as strenuous as standing to watch a parade go by and fight to get between barricades and scream as floats go by and I found out that there would be no food. Fail. I needed some mofongo like a sunburn needs aloe vera.
So I did some light research and found out that the day before that is the 116th street festival which is really a street fair and food would be there. I opted for that experience. I took the 4 train to the 6 and got off at 116th Street. Then I needed a Capital One bank so I could buy a big ass piña colada. I had to walk 5 blocks down and across and back up only to find out they were selling the piña coladas in the pineapple for $20. WTH? No thank you said my money and I instead bought a watered down, no coconut milk included cousin to a piña colada piña colada. Disappointed I turned to food and was rewarded with a Canoas. Yum yum yum!

These dancers were great but more experimental and not traditional at all.

 

Street baricades

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 Later I moved on to the Big Apple Barbeque Block Party at Madison Square Park. From my research on Chow.com the best way to approach this is to get in line for the out of town BBQ spots, which makes sense. Why stand in line for something you can get any old day? I got there late but there was a band performing country tunes and people laying on the grass and people buying and drinking beer but there were only a few places that were still serving food -most were closed and you could see them cleaning up after themselves. Apparently they move on to another town the next day. Dinosaur BBQ was still serving but I am not a fan so I skipped the everlasting line.

                                                           
                                                            Man putting rub on pig

                                                             

A half pig being grilled. First time sight for me.

 

 Welcome sign

 

People lined up for finger lickin' BBQ

 

And that was the end of a Saturday well spent!Sunday I recovered and watched the Puerto Rican Day parade on TV.

Morgan Library, April 27, 2014

Today I went all out with cooking. I made stew peas, beef soup that really turned out to be pumpkin beef soup (slight fail), rice and peas, and curry chicken back. For money purposes I have decided to learn to cook a few items that I love to buy on the road as we say. I soaked the peas overnight and then pressured them and then split them into 3 portions and continued. 
Things to complain about-despite using some of the fat from the beef, the pumpkin overwhelmed the beef flavor in the soup. Upon further research it seems I should have used a piece of beef with bone in it. Oh well, next time.
Anywho, after this, I was dead beat but wanted to go see the Little Prince exhibit at the Morgan Library because my coworker' wife works there and she made costumes for the kids to act out the story. When we got there we saw the entrance fee was $18 but we were told that in 40 minutes it would be free to view Mr. Morgan's collection. We decided to walk around and come back at 4pm. 
Once inside we made our way to the Little Prince Exhibit by way of the section we were actually supposed to be in.

Very exciting exhibit. I'm not gonna lie, I never read the book but I sold hundreds over the 3 years I worked at Barnes and Noble. You don't expect booksellers to read every book they recommend, do you? I love seeing writer's work throughs. The stops and starts, and changes, and sometimes the huge differences between the original idea and the final boo. Loved, loved, loved it!

San Francisco June 2013

Savannah GA March 24-27 2013

This was my second time taking Amtrak and I was disappointed. It was slow. Turns out they expect delays for the next year.

 

One of the stations we passed.

We made it in to Savannah GA close to 11pm. We waited for cabs, which were scant and eventually I decided to call one as the cabs kept getting bomb rushed. Finally we got in and headed to the Marriott where we were staying. The drive was informative, we saw palm trees, sand and generally flat landscape. It made me happy that I was getting close to the ocean. The check in process was smooth and the next morning we had a really good breakfast. There were fresh fruits and single serve yogurts that we could take with us as well as a waffle maker, actual eggs and not that powdered mess most hotels inflict on you, a selection of teas and o much more food. Color me impressed. We decided to make our first stop the Savannah Visitor Center. 

 

With information in hand, we decided to take the free shuttle from the Visitor's Center to Tybee Island. Unfortunately I was wearing my cat in all my pictures because I had expected it to be warmer than New York but it wasn't warm enough to be without a coat. I felt silly in that long coat though because most people had on short light coats or hoodies.

Tybee Island also has a lighthouse that we did not know about until we were driving past it on our way back. It did have a nice little street with food, we ate Subway for lunch, and what looked like little inns leading down to the beach.

Tybee Island

The beach itself was damp and had hard packed sand, none of that powdery stuff.  The beach seemed about a 1/4 mile wide to me and we were below sea level which creeped (seriously spell check just said 'creeped' is not a word! That's crazy! Further research on the subject here) me out as I felt like Tsunami bait. We hung out for  while and then went back into Savannah.

Savannah was beautiful. The old architecture, the trees, the graveyard, the history, the fact that the old town was completely walkable, and the fact that they have an open container law. We did the Savannah Belle walking tour that I bought a Groupon for. The tour leader is a third generation historian and s was perfect. Mostly history but also a few jokes to keep us interested. It was such an easy walk and we saw places such as the house of the founder of the Girl Scouts and the Girl Scouts headquarters. I think a family would have so much fun here.

There are almost too many things to cover here. We had lunch at an amazing spot called Fire Street Food which we just happened to be walking by. My friend visited a few months later, and without us talking about it tried it as well and loved it.
We also ate at Lady and Sons one day.We were disappointed with the food as my chicken pot pie did not taste homey.
I tried a mint julep for the first time-I always imagined myself on a porch sipping one-and I hated it but I don't blame the bartender, I just didn't like it.
We went into SCAD's gift shop (Savannah College of Arts and Design) and I bought a handmade postcard from a student there.
We went into a cute fabric store and a cute bookstore, we rode the boat over to the Westin but then got scared that armed guards wold ask for proof that we were staying there, s we just stayed n the ferry back to RiverStreet. I think the aim was to see the lights at night from the river-oh well, next time.
We took a tour of the fist African American church built in that area by slaves who built at night and was a part of the Underground Railroad. We saw holes in the ground made so that the slaves hiding down there could get air. We learned how the holes were made in the shapes of arrows which had specific meaning in their African ancestry. That was moving.
We did not do a ghost tour but we did walk through this cemetery on our own.

Our last night we ate at 17Hundred90. The food was absolutely delicious. The service was impeccable. The room was a bit dark but I suppose age is to blame. I just checked their website and they have definitely upgraded things. I imagine it must be sublime now.
Then we stumbled on Royal pains being filmed in City Market where we had done some shopping and some pecan tasting which was yum yum yum. Savannah has been featured in so many films. Of course I also have a few pictures of the famous Forrest Gump bench and diner.
Popular TV show Royal Pains being filmed. Paulo Costanzo is in the white jacket.

City Market

 

Railroad Museum

First Cruise November 2012

This was a whirlwind adventure, and I was the worst travel companion. I tried to do everything. I mean, if I heard that pots were banging I would be there on my eyelid. Apparently you are supposed to stay on the ship and relax. I did the opposite. I ran myself tired, and hated the experience. The first stop was St. Thomas. One of the most beautiful islands I have ever seen, and as of the cruise, I've seen a few. The taxis are open buses called safaris. This picture is not mine-I can't find mine so I went to the Virgin Islands This Week magazine for a pic. If there is an accident, your goose cook. I felt safe because they weren't going as fast as Jamaican taxis but still God forbid, if something happens, you chances of survival must be pretty low.

This was the beginning of the best one day trip ever. We spent good money going to the Amber museum, and up steps to the Inn at Blackbeard's Castle. The pool, the waterfall, the bar, the tour and rum tasting, the view, perfection. I could go back right now.

Myrtle Beach, SC

Just came back from Myrtle Beach and it was soooo relaxing! I've been talking about moving somewhere warm for a while and SC appeals to me except for the tornado/hurricane issues. We stayed at Compass Cove hotel, and their condos were great. Oceanfront balcony and the master bedroom faced the ocean as well and had it's own bathroom. We even had a washing machine and drier but the drier did not work. The clothes got warm but stayed wet, not damp, but wet! Needless to say, the laundry room had super hot driers that you had to PAY to use. We tried making pasta one night and the water never got to boiling point! It was ridiculous. Other than that, the place was clean and well kept. I fell in love with the covered pools, lazy river and Jacuzzi which we used the first few days when the weather was bad. The beach was also kept clean. We would see dead jelly fish on our early morning walks but they would be cleaned up by mid morning. Everyone was searching for sea glass, I'm not sure if that is a new fad but I had never heard of it. The last person I mentioned it to suggested this book for my reading pleasure
 ,

 actually now I don't even know if this is the book 




 ,
 ugh, I hate when people write books with the same titles! Now I'm going to have to do some research...
But back to Myrtle Beach, it was like Atlantic City and Coney Island but with clean water. The beach went on for miles but they would charge you $2 and up to walk a pier.Meh. I had some great food at this really top notch restaurant called Golden Corral hehehe. Ok I jest, but I do love that place. The Sea Captains House with oceanfront dining, and Captain George's restaurant were delightful. I would go back in a hearbeat!