O hi, Asia!

Yo, it’s Tara. Definitely having a tour guide makes things easier and more interesting, especially if her name is Susan. This place is…full. Of everything. Here’s a run of the day with a little help from nycgo and a thought on each:

Firehouse #10(adjacent to wtc)~busy as all get out and not good for a chat with the boys

911 memorial~difficult to see vastness of the space

Trinity Episcopal cemetery~oasis

Staten Island Ferry~free sight seeing of Liberty and south Manhattan, free I say

Subway~not as stinky as London tubes

Vanessa’s Dumplings~wish I had more to take home

Chinatown Firehouse~good for a chat with the guys

Donut Plant~takin some home!

6 mile Yellow Cab ride~easy way to see the city with a not so chatty driver

Central Park~ironic, smelly horse stuff in front of the fanciest places around

lyft to home~friendly drivers and we passed a fire which was exciting

Loved every mad minute.  Have to do it again sometime, but only with a friendly tour guide.  –Tara

Susan sez:

We had BIG plans for the day, starting with the Today Show at 6:30am. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Whoever said moving wasn’t the most tiring activity ever is someone who hired a moving company. 

We slept till 9 or so and after a few episodes of Girls Season 3, we headed down to the 9/11 Memorial, Battery Park and Staten Island Ferry.

Whatever. Tara probably ran down our entire day so I’ll just say that we got here in time for some GREAT weather. Sunny and 70 were the conditions. She loved the pork dumplings we got from Vanessa’s in Chinatown and she REALLY loved how friendly and talkative the dozen or so people were, who we met throughout the day.

See?! New York isn’t rude and Seattle doesn’t get a lot of rain (under 40 inches a year.)

I definitely picked the right travel partner! We shared a ton of laughs, caught up on pop culture (like this and this and this.) It’s such a relief to have moved everything without incident. (At least not any incident of any consequence.  I realize now that exercising your rights during a traffic stop is nice for people with a lot of time on their hands. For any hope of leaving in under half an hour, I say don’t exercise anything but unlocking that back door.)

So now it’s all over. Tara’s safely back in the California desert and now I get to go back and read everything she wrote! (This whole trip, I never took a peek.)

Here are Tara’s photos from her one day in New York City:  

East River view from my plaza.

Boston terrier on the F train.

Yuck!

Coming out of the subway at WTC.

One World Trade Center

Reflection in a window at 9/11 Memorial

Trinity Episcopal Church

Headstone at Trinity Episcopal Church cemetery

View from the Staten Island Ferry

Selfie madness as we pass the Statue of Liberty

Tablet photos are the best!

From the Staten Island Ferry

Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

Chinatown!

Taxi headed to Central Park. Do we look tired?

En route to Midtown.

Lyft rideshare back to my place. Hazy air from the fire we saw.