The Squirrel Whisperer in NYC

Hang tight...this is going to be a long one. :)

So, this trip was a little different for me. Most of the times on my trips, I get up early, go and do as many things as I possibly can in the hours that you're supposed to be awake....go to bed late, and then do it all over again the next day. You can sleep when you get home. But, this time, I happily decided to do things Brett's way. We had talked before about a few things that we thought we'd like to do while in the city, but hadn't firmed up any solid plans.

After taking our time getting ready on Saturday, we headed out a little after 11am to grab a bite to eat. Virginia, besides being a great hostess, filled us in on the "local" things to do so we wouldn't stick out like tourists in the most toured city in the world (I have no idea if that's true, I made it up, but gotta believe that it's probably somewhat valid).

First stop - Ess-a-Bagel. We knew we were in for a treat when we walked to the back of at least a 10 person line. Luck for us that there was a little bit of a wait though, since we needed that long to figure out what we wanted to eat. I decided on a buttered Everything Bagel, while Brett ordered his with egg salad. We walked across the street to a spot in the other section of Stuy Town to enjoy our delights!

This is where I discovered an unknown talent of mine! Turns out that I am a Squirrel Whisperer. My bagel was huge, so I decided to share it with some furry friends. I started to make some clicking noises, and to my surprise, Terrance (yes, I named him) came right up to me. He took the food right out of my hand. Another buddy of his, I believe that this one was named Bert, came over to get some goodies too...and then Stout, the black squirrel, came to join us as well - it was a total squirrel party! I wasn't sure that my abilities were that special, until Brett tried to give them some, and they wanted nothing to do with him. So, I guess if I ever get to a point where I have nothing else to do in life, I can always use my skills to get a job hand feeding small rodents. The whole time I was there, I was saying how much Toni would be freaking out by all of this - she is terrified of these animals!!!


We then headed off towards The Met. I need to point out that I did nothing to help get us where we were going, at any time, besides swiping my Metro Card when it was time....and even Brett held on to that for me. He has the most amazing sense of direction, which I was very thankful for. Because I didn't have to, I still don't fully understand how to read those maps. So, anyways....we ventured over to wherever it was that we went to The Met for a few hours of fantastic art. My favorite parts were the American Wing with all the old, grand, furniture....the colors were so bold, mostly golden yellow and the deep red, with the richly detailed dark wood around the edges - loved it..........and this one crazy exhibit that was made entirely out of mylar tape. We spent a good 3 and a half hours walking almost every room in there. I only got pooped a little bit, but it was definitely worth the trip.


The Met is right near Central Park, so we walked over there, with a pretzel and icee popsicle thing for some additional energy, and watched some locals shoot hoops for a while. Meg, Brett's cousin, came to say hello to us on her day out and around the city doing some shopping, and we made plans to meet up a little bit later for dinner. Brett and I walked around some more, saw the view from the Reservoir, stumbled across Bridle Path, and then took some time to sit down near one of the jungle gyms for some R&R before meeting Meg for dinner.


Dinner was right in Meg's neighborhood at one of her favorite spots - Pio Pio - a Peruvian chicken restaurant. We ate a LOT of food....and all of it was so yummy. I especially liked the spicy green sauce while Meg couldn't get enough of the plantains. TCBY was right next to Meg's stoop entrance, so we got some of that too.....amazingly enough there was still a little bit of room in our stomachs! :)


You tired of reading about our day yet?? It's only mostly over....it's about 7pm when we bid adieu to Meg, and we took some new buses and subways back to Virginia's place. After a quick change, we decided to grab a cab to our nighttime activity. The cab picked us up at 20th between Avenue C and 1st street.....and dropped us off at 26th and 8th Avenue. How do I remember these things so well, you ask? Well, that's because I had to repeat them almost immediately after getting out of the cab to 3-1-1, otherwise known as the NY Taxi and Limousine Commission. So, as I was getting out of the cab, I heard something fall out of my purse, thought that I got it all, but as soon as cab 2T82 pulled away.....I realized that I hadn't gotten everything. My ID case...complete with my ID, American Express AND Debit Card was still sitting on the backseat of that taxi.

!!!!!

Yeah, well, what can you do. We called, told them all the details....and then decided that since there wasn't anything else we could do, went on to enjoy our plans. We had gotten tickets to the 9pm improv show at Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. We made it in just in time to find the last 3 seats together...and settled in for some hearty laughs. These guys were hysterical, and it honestly baffles me how they really do the whole improv thing....at one point they were all just sitting around, not saying anything, but they all knew what was going on, and when the first person spoke, it all went on smooth from there. Definitely took my mind off the mishap that just took place.


The show didn't last nearly long enough....when it was over, we walked across to wait for the right bus to take back to Virginia's place. Brett could hardly pay attention to anything that was being said because he was watching every taxi that went by......looking for 2T82. It was quite comical, but I was a little nervous that he'd see it and take off running after it. Since we were right outside a movie theater, I decided that we should go see a flick before the night was over to get his mind off the incident. :)


We laughed some more, my 2nd viewing of Pineapple Express, and then headed home after a really long day in and around the city. Even with nothing 'planned', we definitely experienced part of NY that I hadn't before, and enjoyed every bit of it!