Day 7: Jah.....RASTAFARI!!!

Platforms still smell, but the cars are clean

Statue of Liberty in the distance

It's always especially fun going to NYC if you don't visit frequently (or live there of course).  The energy of the city, its millions of people in all colors, style and languages, some friendly and engaging while others reserved and cold, the endless avenues of towering buildings where oligarchs wheel and deal on the top floors but down below race with bikes, taxis and delivery trucks,  and of course the pizza.

Yoshinoya, Japanese fast food which
is also popular in Taiwan 

After whipping up a hearty batch of granola, I set off by bike to Fairfield station and arrived at Grand Central by 3:30.  Courtney had helped me find a reggae show in the city since good live music is one of the things I missed most while living abroad.  Before I lived abroad I really took for granted the abundance of live music in America and on this trip I hope to see as many shows as I can.  To be honest my afternoon and evening can be summed up quite simply: I walked and walked and ate some delicious pizza and walked to a few stores and walked to a few parks and finally around 8:00, I decided to use the Metro card Courtney gave me for the subway to return to 42nd Street where the reggae show was gonna start.  In the past 7 years, I've been to NYC 3 times and each time I notice the subway cars are cleaner and cleaner, so good on them for that.

Times Square

Grand Central 1am

In Times Square at BB King Blues Bar Capleton, a major contributor to dancehall reggae and a few other smaller groups from Jamaica, were playing a show.  I was curious about what the crowd would be like and optimistic because most people who like reggae have good vibes.  I hung out with this Israeli guy I met and we danced and jammed with everybody on the dance floor.  We drank expensive beers (not special, just expensive) and with some healing of a nation going around and the energy Capleton brought to the stage the show was tons of fun.  I caught the 1:12 am train from Grand Central and pedaled my bike up to Courtney's place by 2:45.  I'm not sure how to quantify what I took away from this NYC trip or how it compares to what NYC took away from me; sleep and money.

Day Six: Back to 2nd Grade (for a day)

Courtney in action

I woke up early yesterday, as teachers in America must do, because I was following my little sister Courtney for a day in her second grade class at Samuel Staples Elementary.  She had a fun and colorful room with a smart board which lets you display your computer on a big board that doubles as the user interface.  Her kids were really cute and excited about learning and their good behavior testifies to Courtney's excellence in classroom control and direction.  We said the Pledge of Allegiance, which since leaving school has struck me as interesting albeit rote way to reinforce patriotism on our youth, and then did some worksheets followed by a spelling quiz I administered.  The day went very smoothly and I had fun reading aloud from a Roald Dahl book, doing a presentation slideshow of Taiwan and making paper lanterns.  After school, Courtney showed me around town and for dinner Ryan made some incredible Gyros.  Thanks to Courtney and Ryan for all that and the room they let me stay in at their place.

Here are the lanterns we made

Day 5: Jersey and the Fishers

My New Jersey adventures actually began in the evening of day 4 with a wonderful dinner prepared by Robin in her and Kevin's beautiful new house.  Kevin and I stayed up late enjoying Scotch and cigars while catching up on old times.

The Fisher family and their new home

On Sunday morning I woke to find Sophi and Luca playing with their daddy in their well stocked playroom.  Sophi was quite the talker and Luca was really happy and cute.  Kevin and I took the kids to the park and for ice cream.  We did some things around the house, made dinner and then I headed up to Connecticut to see Courtney and Ryan.

Day 3 and 4: The Gunks' Rocks Rock!

Alex and I stoked after a climb

I set off from the farm on a perfect fall day and headed towards New Paltz, NY; home of the Gunks.  Driving through the Catskill mountains, the smell of fall was a great reminder of a season that I'd lived without for the past seven years.  One of the best climbing destinations on the East coast, the Gunks offers thousands of trad routes, easy access, and even free camping (well kind of free, just to climb there is 15 bucks a day!).   I was a bit apprehensive about meeting partners there, but actually had no problems at all.

The first guy I met, Alex, was working on a bouldering project and when I asked him if he wanted to climb he told me he didn't have a harness.  "Not a problem!" I said as I had an extra harness in the car.  He only had time for one climb and he apparently had had his eye on a 5.10 route called Retribution that was nearby.  Usually that would be more than a warm up climb for me, but since he was ready to lead it, how could I complain.  He was a totally stoked dude and great to climb with, so thanks for the climb Alex.

Horsemen 5.5

Retribution 5.10

Later in the afternoon, I meet another group of boulderers and worked on some of the projects with them.  Still wanted to rope up and climb some more I asked if anyone was interested.  A girl named Elisa took me up and we climbed a really aesthetic crack line called Horseman.

With dusk quickly approaching after the last climb, I quickly set up my tent near the ranger's office at the bare bones climbers sites and worked on dinner.  I made an excellent pesto, tomato, and cheese sandwich and pesto potatoes.  Thanks Elaine and Robert for the pesto and potatoes.  

Super exposed hundreds of feet off the deck on CCK 5.7+

When I woke up the weather was just as perfect as the previous day.  As I made my way up the Trapps trail, I met Bruce, a Gunks local with over 20 years of climbing the area.  We started with a wicked 3 pitch climb called Shockley's Ceiling.  After that, we headed down to do a great, very exposed climb called Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope (CCK).  I was awesome to hang out with a local like Bruce and get all the inside info on the Gunks and have a chance to climb some of the classics at this world class crag.  To get to the Gunks I drove 316 miles.

Thanks Bruce!

Day 2: Family and fresh food on the farm



 

After joining Mark for breakfast and taking a quick walk around the Ithaca College campus I headed over to SUNY Courtland to catch lunch with cousin Rachel.  We hit up a new brick oven restaurant on Main St and although our meeting was brief, it was awesome to see Rachel again.  Next, I stopped by cousin Matt's place and from there it was onto the farm. 

Uncle Robert has been organic farming for years now and he's pretty good at it.

The weather was great all day and lucky for me uncle Robert got out of work early and was kind enough to show me around the fields.  Needless to say, I got my hands dirty and was rewarded with at least a months supply of some of the world's finest potatoes, carrots, beets, beans, and garlic. 




Diggin' for taters.

   

I had recently read an article about the how this season's apples were supposed to be some of the best in a while and I was keen on the idea of going to get some for my trip.  Aunt Cheryl and uncle Dave were generous enough to take me down the road to an orchard where you can pick your won apples and eat as many as you want while doing so.   

We picked a few varieties and had to sample each.

 

Apple pickin'!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the pay off for a fun day's work was dinner at Elaine and Roberts with the Perrys.  The food and conversations were excellent as always.  Also, it was nice that I only had to drive 37 miles.

 

 

 

Matt, Dave, Robert, Cheryl and Elaine - Thanks!!!

 

Day 1 - This is gonna be a great trip!

Yesterday I set off for Ithaca to visit my cousin Mark, who is an Ithaca College student, and to attend a Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) presentation featuring anti-war activist Ann Wright.  After nearly destroying my bike and roof rack entering a parking garage, Mark and I bought some things in Ithaca commons and headed over the Unitarian Universalists church for the MFSO talk.  It was great to see Marylin and Bill there and seeing them in action made me really appreciate all the effort they put in to ending these wars.  It was aslo great to see Cheryl and Dave. 
Mark and I left a little early to grab a bite to eat at a restaurant called Taste of Thai.  It was good Thai food at ten times the Thai price; welcome to America.  After dinner we hit a couple of bars in College Town (near Cornell) and chatted it up with lots of other students.  I even got to speak Chinese with some Cornell students I overheard on the street.  It was great to be in a university environment again and to be able to express myself so freely with strangers.  Later, we headed back to his dorm apartment that overlooks Cayuga lake for some more partying with his roommates and classmates.  It was a late night and a great way to start this trip.  Hopefully I'll remember my clearance is 9'6" in the future to avoid anymore close calls with my bike.  I drove a total of 88 miles.