.NewYorkCity.

We hit the road this morning around 10a.m., and made wicked good time to NYC. I had been doing all of the driving up until today, so it was nice to sit back in the passenger seat and nap a little.

Pennsylvania is a really pretty state. So far all of the states I've driven through have been amazingly gorgeous. I'm not meaning to hate on California, because it's super diverse itself. I mean, California is the only state that I can think of that in a matter of 4 hours you can see desert, mountains, city, and coastline. But from being around it so much I guess it got a little boring. And these places that we've been driving through probably look boring to the locals too. But I love them.

We crossed the George Washington Bridge to get into the city. The G.W.B. is north of the city and crosses the Hudson River, and from there we took the Henry Hudson Freeway which parallels the river. As soon as we got onto the H.H.F. I rolled down the window and was hit with the stereotypical NYC smell: sewer and water front. It was exactly what I thought it would smell like. We drove into Manhattan, with me hanging out the window half the time snapping photos of the skyline. Stopped by Union Square for just a minute where we thought we were meeting Katie, but she ended up heading back out to Brooklyn. So we hopped back in the car and headed over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. We met up with Katie at her place, and that's where we will be crashing for the next two days. After dropping off our bags and hanging out for a minute we hit the streets to go get some food. Went into Williamsburg, which is considered the "hipster" area. And HOLY SHIT WAS IT. Stopped at Food Swings, which is a vegan "fast food" joint. Good times. Katie is in the process of looking for a new place to live, so we stopped by a building while we were out. Ended up going on the roof where a bunch of kids were hanging out, drinking beers, and playing music. It would be the perfect little show spot. But the selling point of the roof is the view of Manhattan, upper and lower. 'Twas breath-taking. After we checked out the apartment we got on the subway and headed towards Katie's place. Right by her apartment there's a killer pizza joint. I hadn't had a good slice of NY pie in quite some time, so it definitely hit the spot. Now we're relaxing, hanging out with 3 cool cats (literal cats, not people).

Amazingness of the day:
1) The New York skyline at sunset
2) The Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania
3) Katie setting up this little sleep area for me in her living room (such a sweetheart)
4) New York thin-crust pizza (plain, no b.s.)
5) Riding the train

Next up: Riding the train into the city, walking around, and the Yankees game tomorrow night

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson