30 x 30: #26 – Spend a weekend in NYC w/ Tara

After a long and exhausting, but fantastically wonderful weekend in New York City with Tara I am now done with 20% of my list! I did so much that this is only going to be a basic overview of what we did with a few amazing pictures and then when I do my Culture Corner post for this month you’ll get the rest of it!

Tara and I have known each other since second year of undergrad, where she knew me as chlorine boy (I came directly from swim instructor training) and I knew her as one of the other two sophomores in an upper level random history class! She’s been in New York for almost four years and I haven’t been down to see her yet even though she’s been up to Boston twice to see me. So when I started making my 30 x 30 list I knew NYC and a Tara visit would be included, especially as she is moving to Portland, OR at the end of the summer.

After a late and rainy start (up yours Megabus), I got to New York around 11pm and Tara met me at the stop thankfully and my long weekend began!

I won’t let the delay or even the rain get my review down. Needless to say I was super grumpy and Friday morning when I left the house (it wasn’t really raining) I ended up getting soaked and had to buy new socks and shorts while out, but that did NOT deter from my visits to Strand Books, the NYPL or the Leslie-Lohman Gallery. You’ll hear more about those in another post, but those were my solo trip in to Manhattan and they were great! I met Tara and her friend John after their workday at Barcade (a cool bar with retro arcade games) and we had a few drinks and wandered around for a few hours.

Saturday was even better!

It was a beautiful day, especially after the torrential downpours on Friday. We got up super early to take Rooney, her dog, to Prospect Park and it was a great walk and Rooney loved it. There were so many dogs running around I kept going look, look, and she was like I know I live here and know these dogs.

After that we headed to the High Line, to the right, where we read for a while, got ice cream and walked the paths. I could easily have spent all day there, but we wanted to make it to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and the Guggenheim by certain times so we didn’t stick around for too long.

When we left the High line we walked all the way to MoMA, a lot of blocks, and even passed Rockefeller Center and snapped a selfie (bottom left), and I bombed another persons. I’d only ever seen it in winter so it was cool to see it in summer.

The other two photos are from inside MoMa (top right) and waiting in line at the Guggenheim. Thankfully because Tara’s awesome and we did our research both were FREE (or pay what you can at the Gugg). I’m so glad we went I discovered an artist I’m sure I’ll become obsessed with, but again check back later.

After that, we HAD to go to Central Park, it was right across the street and I’d never been. This was my third visit to NYC and I’d NEVER once been. I’d ridden by it and even thought oh I should go, but I never went. So Tara, John (he joined us for the Gugg) and I walked through the park and I could not get over how massive it was.

I mean the Boston Common is big, but it has nothing on Central Park (or Prospect Park for that matter). It was incredibly beautiful and all we did was cut across the park and then get the subway home, as it was getting cold for them, but it was worth that little slice.

To cap the weekend off, Tara and I went to see Finding Vivian Maier (it was still playing!!!) and I loved it so much. It really deserves its own post, but I’ll talk a bit about it later too. And immediately after that we got pedicures which were much-needed after the 30+ miles I walked while in the city. I’ve only ever gotten two pedicures before and meh, but it was worth it for the brief foot massage.

I’m still digesting the trip, and am working on a post for Now Entering Adulthood in addition to my Culture Corner post, so keep an eye out for more. But with everything I did, the best part was hanging out with Tara at the end of the day and just catching up and hearing about her wedding coming up in January and experiencing her life in New York. I can’t wait to meet her fiance and to see friends I’ve not seen in ages in January! And I most definitely will not wait three years before I visit her in Portland, that’s for damn sure.