New York - Upstate and the City

When we hit the road from Boston we rang the two people who wanted to put us up in New York - my friend Kelly who we camped beside in Bonnaroo and Emer's friend Heather who visitied Ireland for St. Partick's Day a couple of years ago. Heather was going to be very busy with work for the week and Kelly had a pretty free week so we decided to head to Kelly first. Kelly lives in the mountains in Gardiner which is in upstate New York and they were having a get together so she invited us along. We stopped in Wal-Mart to get some beer and ice-cream as there was plenty of food. We put her address into the Sat Nav and followed the directions into the middle of nowhere through small towns and up their long driveway to the house. We were greeted by her friend Paulie who showed us where to park and then introduced us to all the people there. We chatted and got to know all of Kelly's friends who all know each other through skydiving at the local drop zone. Paulie went out and cooked various meats that he smoked himself and we had a great feed. The peaches from Chicago went down very well for dessert and we all sat on the couches and watched the thunderstorm that started behind the house move it's way across the Hudson valley through the massive windows in the sitting room. The storm cleared to show the orange moon rising from behind the mountains and then the lunar eclipse later in the night. People slowly left through the night and when Paulie was leaving he invited us to his bar in Manhattan when we were in town. We headed off to bed when everyone had left and the hosts were going to bed themselves.

The following morning we slept in until 2 in the afternoon due to the peace, quiet and cool temperatures which was something we hadn't done in a long time. We had a very laid back afternoon as we did online stuff and Kelly pottered around cleaning up and getting her house in shape which suited everyone. In the evening we headed down to the farm where Kelly's boyfriend Frankie is living and working at the moment. We picked some vegetables from the garden and went back to start preparing dinner. We had chicken, some ginger flavoured rice and salad which is something we don't usually have but all the food was so fresh it was incredibly delicious. We chatted and chilled out for the evening and headed off to bed sometime after midnight.

The next morning we set an alarm to ensure we didn't sleep in until the afternoon again. We did some computer stuff before heading into Gardiner with Kelly to see the local town. We then headed to the drop zone to see some people landing after jumping out of a plane. Now it's something I have always wanted to do and something Emer is terrified of. When we were there all of Kelly's jumping buddies were asking if we were jumping today and we were saying no due to the costs. Kevin, who is a tandem master, offered to take me up cost price and Eric offered to do my video for free. We went to the supermarket to get some food for dinner and bring back all the cans we had - 125 which got us $5.75. Free money!! Emer rang her Mam to wish her a Happy 21st Birthday and then I decided to do the jump. We headed back to the drop zone and I filled in a load of forms while watching a video about the jump. Kelly and Emer headed back to the house to get my camera and get Adam who had headed home when we went to the supermarket. I got some training with Kevin and suited up when the 20 minute warning was given. There was no sign of the girls at this stage so Kevin was on the phone to tell them to hurry up. He had to stall the plane a little but they made it just in time so Kelly and Eric got suited up quickly and got on the plane with us.

The plane took off and circled once before opening the door at 4,00 feet for some students to do a training jump. The door closed and we headed up to 13,500 feet. A few experienced jumpers left the plane and then we were up. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be walking up to the edge of the plane. I stood at the edge of the plane, feet at 45 degrees, went through the 1,2,3 count and we were out of the plane. The feeling when you are falling through the air at 110mph is incredible. It's not like a rollercoaster where you leave your stomach behind, it's much more of a thrill than that. You fall at about 1,000 feet every 6 seconds and are free falling for about a minute. Your brain is totally clear and you are completely in the moment. We fell through some cloud and pulled the chute at 5,500 feet just below the cloud. The flight back down was great as you have an amazing view around - you can see the curvature of the earth when you open first. Kevin allowed me control the parachute for a moment and showed by how to put it into a spiral which was fun. On approach I had to lift my legs up straight and we had a textbook landing where we slid in on our bums. It didn't go so well for Eric who couldn't land at the drop zone and had to be collected by Kevin down the road. I was still buzzing on the ground and chatted with people for a while while the video was being put on disc. Adam put the footage on a DVD for me and he received a 6-pack for this, Eric refused to take money so I covered his flight costs and I gave Kevin a tip as he didn't get paid for the jump. All in all the whole thing cost me half of what it would have usually which was a bonus. If anyone is even contemplating doing one I can't recommend it enough.

When Kelly had talked to everyone there we hit the road back to the house as we were getting very hungry at this stage. I fired up the BBQ and pretty soon the burgers were cooking. We had two each and then I put some hot dogs and chicken skewers on for afterwards. We were both stuffed but still had some space for grilled pineapple, which is amazing if you haven't had it before. We went inside when the bugs started winning and chatted about skydiving and other things, watched my DVD and then Kelly showed us her training jumps. One of their friends called over for a while but we were all in bed by midnight after all the excitement.

Kelly was doing yoga with a client the following morning so we had to sleep in until noon which wasn't too bad. The girls did some meditating and other things while I was updating the blog and doing other stuff online. In the afternoon we went for a hike up to Duck Pond and around the Hohawk Reserve for about 2 hours. It was really peaceful and there were stunning views of the valley, it really is hard to believe we are just an hour or two from one of the largest cities and concentrations of people in the world. When we got back to the house Kelly had to run off to work so we had a bite to eat and packed up before hitting the road towards the city and to Emer's friend Heather, who lives in Sleepy Hollow. We arrived there sometime after ten, parked the RV and went up to her apartment. We chatted for a while and when we went to go to bed she refused to let us sleep outside and gave us her bed while she slept in the spare room.

We had to get up early to move the RV to a free space as where we parked turned into pay parking at 9am, even on a Saturday. Again, having inside knowledge on the area made finding a space very easy so when it was parked we headed off to get breakfast. Heather drove us to a place that does very good breakfast about 10/15 minutes from Sleepy Hollow. When we arrived they were full so we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table but it was worth the wait. We both got omelettes and I got home fries while Emer had fruit (imagine, choosing fruit over potatoes!!!). We were all stuffed afterwards so we went for a walk in the Rockefeller reserve, a park on the banks of the Hudson river owned by the Rockefellar family. We had a short stroll and a quick throw but the sun was out in force so we retreated to the car and turned up the A/C to full. Heather wanted to show us one more local touristy thing before we were done so she brought us to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. It is a fairly non descript church until you walk inside and see the stunning stain glass windows inside. They were comissioned by the Rockefeller family and were created by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. Unlike most of the stain glass windiws I have seen, the glass itself has been painted and dried in so the windows resemble paintings as well as being stain glass windows. Unfortunately photography is prohibited inside and the church is so small that you can't get away with it. We headed back to Heather's to chill out for the afternoon, the girls chatted and caught up while I had a power nap before the evenings festivities.

When we met Paulie up at Kelly's he told us about his bar he is part owner of, the only Kiwi bar in Manhattan. Since his home smoked meat was so good we planned to go to his bar for dinner. Heather's friend was having a few birthday drinks in Brooklyn so we were going to go there after before heading back to Manhattan and going to a bar where Rachael, one of the people we became friends with at Bonnaroo, bartends at the weekend. Heather offered to be the designated driver so early evening we drove into Manhattan, an experience in itself. Drivers in the city are crazy and don't give up any space so you really need to take it, not a hope we could have survived with Ita. We parked the car by our final destination and walked down to Seaport where Paulie's bar is. It was about a half hour walk but it was great to walk and see a part of the city off the tourist track. Loads of people were sitting outside their buildings enjoying their Saturday evenings and the city was alive. When we made it to the bar, called Nelson Blues, Paulie was very busy so we were looked after by Derek, an Irishman withan American mother who has been in and out of America since 1994. We ordered drinks and food and waited in anticipation. Nothing could have prepared us for how good the food was - we had lamb chops and chicken wings for starter. The meat was incredibly tender and juicy and so full fo flavour I could have eaten them all night. We both got burgers for main course which were one of the best burgers I have ever had, and I include the Kobe burger in Seattle in that list.

After we finished our food the bar had calmed down a bit so we sat at the bar and chatted with Paulie who made sure our glasses were never empty. The generosity and hospitality he showed us, who he had only met for a few hours earlier in the week, was unbelievable and we were sad to have to leave but we had plans. He wouldn't let us pay for any of the drinks we had while there and knocked a chunk off the food bill too. We got contact details for Paulie and we will certainly keep in contact with this full of life character. We hopped in a cab and headed over the Brooklyn bridge to meet up with Heather's friends for their birthday. We sat out in the smoking area with everyone and got to know a whole new group of people, who bought us drinks while we were there and wouldn't let us repay the favour. While there a storm moved over the city and we watched the lightning light up the sky from under the massive canopy. After a while we got another cab and headed back into Manhattan to Rivington Street where Rachael was working. She was delighted to see us and again wouldn't let us put our hands in our pockets. It was an underground bar where the barmen mix music behind the bar in between serving drinks and there was a very nice crowd there. Rachael managed to take a bit of time off to come and have a chat with us which was nice but the night got late very quickly so around half 2 we hit the road. It was great to have the car just there and Heather had us home in no time. It also helped that there was no traffic too.

Heather was up early the next morning but we allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep in. We got up before lunch and walked down to the train station and headed into Manhattan to be tourists for the day. The train brought us into Grand Central Station and we walked around that section of the city. Both of us have been to the city more than once so it was nice to be able to just take it eay and not have to go and see a load of things. When we came out of the station we stumbled upon a massive market running the length of Madison Avenue. We walked a bit of it and I got a wallot which is going ot be my deacoy while travelling through South America. Now I just have to get some fake credit cards and money to fill it up with. From there we walked to Times Square and were surprised to see that sections of it are now pedestrianised. Loads of people were out sitting on coloured deck chairs where traffic was racing by the last time I was in the city. I'm not sure if I like the changes, I really liked the chaos of all the traffic buzzing by all around. We headed to Rockefeller plaza after that and stumbled upon the filming of Harrison Ford's new film, Morning Glory. Harrison wasn't there at the time but the female lead was. It was quite surreal to walk past as all the extras were just standing still and then suddenly they explode into life. There were sections of the sidewalk that nobody was allowed onto and there was a massive number of personnel to ensure nobody got into a shot. We continued onto the plaza after we had a look around and I headed to Top of the Rock while Emer strolled along 5th Avenue a bit. Thankfully I had the wallot so she never got a chance to break the bank. The view from the top of the Rockefeller centre is stunning as you can see both downtown and central park, a view not possible from the top of the Empire State Building. We walked around for a bit longer and then got the train back out to Sleepy Hollow, had a chinese for dinner and then headed off to bed a bit later.

The next day Heather was in work so we said our goodbyes the evening before and in the afternoon we hit the road south towards Philadelphia and our next adventure. The last few days in New York and the people who showed us an amazing time are certainly going to live in the memory for a long long time.