Sitting in my apartment today, I reflected on its New York-ness. Not just the obvious such as the cramped quarters (my lofted bed and that two people live in what is ostensibly a one-bedroom), but more the smaller things: that the only "direct" sunlight I get in my room is actually a reflection off of a window in a building across from me (the sunlight is remarkably bright nonetheless), that the pigeons seem to be molting as every day at least one feather drifts through my open window into my room (once, into my shoe, which I did not discover until I took it off at the end of the day and a feather floated out). Then there is also the fact that my window looks out onto a courtyard for either crazies or heroin addicts (no one I talk to can ever remember which group it is for).
Call me biased, but I must maintain after my road trip of the northwest, New York is still the greatest place in America (at least for me, now). I must admit that I do have more to see. I have yet to visit the cities of California, nor have I ever visited the cities of Arizona, although I have a desire to do so. I have for a couple of years had an interest in the cities of Arizona (mainly Phoenix and Tucson). And my interest in San Francisco has been aroused by some positive endorsements I have heard, along with my favorable impression of rural northern California (very beautiful, and really not developed). Still. I can't imagine that any of these could compare with the excitement of the Big Apple. I'm sure eventually, down the road, I'll be ready for something a little tamer.
Anyway, I am sure your attention is wandering now at my slipped-in mention of the "road trip" with no foreshadowing or explanation so here we go. Three girls, inseparable through four years of college and still keeping in touch post-college (sorry, no pillow fights or nudity.. well, maybe a little bit of nudity). All disputes solved via rock-paper-scissors.
First my friend who is living upstate where we went to college (did I just say upstate? I meant upstate from NYC) comes down to the city. We go to the German bar that serves very strong LITERS of beer, and a couple other places. Get drunk.
Next day I go to work, but I leave work early so that we can catch our 8pm flight out of JFK (we decided to take the subway as opposed to a cab... god, carting luggage around the subway sucks). We arrived 10pm local time in Denver, where my other friend's Americorp program is based. We go to the car rental agency at the airport. I have reserved a compact car. The car rental company informs me they are running low on compacts and asks if I would mind taking a minivan for the same price. We get a minivan for hundreds less than we would have paid if we had reserved one. Score.
Day 1: Drive from Denver, CO to Missoula, MT. This is probably our longest day of driving; I think we go for about 13 hours. Drove through Wyoming which was desolate but with immensely impressive landscapes. There are doubts as to whether we should go all the way to Missoula tonight or stop sooner (take a look at a map, Missoula is nearly on the Montana-Idaho border), so I step up to the plate and offer to take 'er the two hours through the home stretch. The last two hours end up being hellish on a very dark curvy highway (note: this will be a pattern in our trip, me volunteering for the worst driving assignments). Arrive in Missoula too tired to seek cheap accommodation. Park minivan a few blocks from bars. Get drunk on delicious northwestern microbrews. Sleep in minivan. Pee under tree behind church more than once during night.
Day 2: Wake up at 7 am and eat at diner. Listen to old men talk about how they don't like Bush but they simply can't vote Kerry because abortion is against their religion. Start driving. Drive through the very top sliver of Idaho (surprisingly enough, pretty good scenery there too) and into Washington State. Arrive in Seattle realizing that we know absolutely nothing about the city or where to find a cheap hotel. Park in a parking garage and walk around until we find a Borders. Look through guidebooks until we find a good hotel, call and make reservations. Walk around downtown Seattle which is a very strange mixture of tourists and bums. Drink a pitcher of beer. Walk around more. Go back to hotel, showers. On a whim, I call an old friend/flame who I was not even sure was still in Seattle. Miraculously, he answered his phone and was. We were all going to meet for beer but the girls fell asleep. Met him by myself. Found out that people who live in Seattle don't actually hang out downtown. He showed me the University District, where he lives. I liked it better than downtown.
Day 3: Go up in the Space Needle and take pictures. Cool but not as cool as you would think. Drive halfway around Olympic National Park. Camp overlooking the ocean.
Day 4: Drive the rest of the way around Olympic National Park. Explore beach with great big rock-formations and also a small rainforest. Drive along the coast to Portland, OR. Stay in cheap hotel on the opposite side of the river from downtown. Learn from a book in our hotel room where the hip and up-and-coming areas are. Go there and have dinner and drinks. Back to hotel, sleep.
Day 5: Walk around downtown briefly. I buy a pair of bright aqua-blue cowboy boots. Walk around the up-and-coming artsy district which to me is a joke but the girls really like it. The girls want to move to Portland now. I told them they would have liked Seattle more than Portland if they'd seen more than downtown Seattle. But they like Portland because it is smaller. I think we have the opposite tastes in living environment. Drive along the coast and camp somewhere in Southern Oregon.
Day 6: Wake up frozen!! Drive along the coast into Northern California. Miss an opportunity to see Sea Lion caves and are sad. See Redwood Forests and are happy. Drive through mountainous semi-side-road to reach main highway 5 South. Are going to camp out but instead I volunteer to take us through the outskirts of Sacramento, to the highway we need to take east, and we agree to get a cheap hotel on the outskirts of Sacramento. Driving in the vicinity of Sacramento, even at 10:30pm is terrify. Eight lanes of traffic going in one direction with a speed limit of 70 and cars weaving through lanes every which way. Make it through Sacramento but miss the outskirt hotels. Stay in not-too-cheap hotel in the middle of nowhere.
Day 7: Drive to Salt Lake City, Utah. Stay in a cheap outskirts hotel. Eat at a diner. I ordered a Patty-Melt, which I never ordered before and I was not sure exactly what it was. The waitress accidentally brought be chicken-fried steak instead, and didn't realize it until I had already eaten the whole thing. She told me she had given me a chicken-friend steak, not a patty melt. I explained to her I'd never had a patty-melt so I didn't know what to expect. She offered to get me the meal that I'd ordered, but since I'd already eaten the meal she had given me, I declined. One of my girls and I took public transportation to downtown Salt Lake City. Were going to drink but discovered that all the bars charge "membership fees." Didn't want to pay them so walked around a bit then back to hotel.
Day 8: Drove back to Denver, CO (I happened to be driving when we were going up the steepest part of the Rockies and it was pouring rain). Saw some of Denver and got drunk.
Day 9: Got tattoos of hearts with each other's names/initials on our asses. Took all day. Tattoo parlor was also town hangout. Tattoo artist's brother was really talkative and stupid. Had a couple drinks.
Day 10: Goodbye to Denver girl and back to NYC. Riding subway with luggage. Eating at Peruvian restaurant. Goodbye to upstate girl. Hello to boyfriend and the big city.
