Summer 2013 Adventure - Day 11

Today we went on the Circle Line tour of Manhattan Island.  We had done part of the tour in the past, but one of the bridges was under construction and we were not able to see around the entire island.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining.  We departed from pier 83 at 42nd street and started to go down toward the southern end of the island.  Right next to the pier occupied by Circle Line is the U.S.S. Intrepid, home of the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.  Currently they have a space shuttle display and exhibit on board the aircraft carrier.  As we headed south, we passed by the beginnings of downtown, including the Chelsea and the Financial District.  We saw the new One World Trade Center in its final stages of construction, then we made a turn at the southern tip of the island to see the Statue of Liberty on both sides of the boat.  Rounding the turn to see Staten Island in the distance, we took off up the East River.  We got some good views of Battery Park, the downtown skyline, and the Chrysler Building, just to name a few.  As we came up to midtown, we saw Roosevelt Island on our left, where we have been staying the last week.  We saw the park at the southern end of the island, the old smallpox hospital, and the Blackwell House (built in 1796 and home to some family of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician in the United States).  On the Manhattan side, we saw the UN building and lots of other cool sights in midtown, then we were past Roosevelt Island and headed toward the northern half of  Manhattan.  Two of the interesting things we saw were the sites where the Titanic would have docked and the Lusitania left from.  These two docks have been left as they were with old rotting posts.  Up into Harlem we got to see a lot of the new luxury apartments being built where New Yorkers are flocking into to get a better deal on a nice apartment in Manhattan.  On the other side of the river, The Bronx came into view, with sites such as the new Yankee Stadium and the old site of "The House that Ruth Built" nearby.  Another very interesting area was the site of Edgar Allen Poe's New York cottage, which was surrounded by heavily wooded areas.  Around the northern tip of the island, we saw where the Columbia sports complex was located, with a large blue "C" painted on the rocks across the river.  One neat fact was that the Marble Hill area along the northern side of the Harlem River, is actually a part of Manhattan and votes as such, and it only became geographically lost to the island when the Harlem River was diverted southward.  As we made the turn around the northern edge of Manhattan, we went through a turntable bridge called the Spuyten Duyvil bridge and turned southward.  The Inwood Park area on the northern end of Manhattan is the last natural landscape left on the island.  It is a woodland that was left just as it was when it was seen by European explorers.  We got a good view of the Cloisters, which we visited previously, up on a hill south of Inwood Park.  Further down the western side of the island, we saw Grant's tomb, the west side of Harlem, and finally down into westside midtown Manhattan.  On the New Jersey side, we saw the exploding housing developments of Hoboken and Jersey City, where more New Yorkers are trying to find better cost of living.  We pulled back into pier 83 a little sunburned, but with a new experience that was worth the time. 

When we got off the boat, it was sprinkling a bit, but we braved the weather and travelled over to Assault and Battery, a fish and chips place that we had eaten at once before the first time we came to New York.  We sat in Jackson Park, right outside the restaurant, and had a nice, quiet meal.  Then we grabbed some Starbucks and went downtown to the Loopy Mango, a combination yarn store and knick-knack shop, where Katy picked up some bulky organic cotton yarn.  After this, we were getting tired, so we went  on back to Roosevelt Island, where we chilled out for the evening and had some Indian food with our friends.  Tomorrow we are planning on visiting the World Trade Center Memorial and the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

Summer Adventure 2013- Day 10

Today, we had breakfast with our friends in their apartment and even played a board game over breakfast, called Tsuro.  It was a quick and relatively simple game that was new to us, but was lots of fun.  We decided to give The Lion Brand store a second chance and loaded up and set out for Manhattan. I love Lion Brand's window currently. The Under the Sea theme is just fantastic and I had to take a few photos of it on our first trek to the store (yesterday). Today we got to go in and look around. Their diagonal boxes of yarn sorted by color is a visual treat. My knitting friend and I both spied the Bonbon packages that Lion Brand started carrying, which are basically small samples of several different colorway of a particular yarn type. I picked out  pastel set of cotton and a jewel tone set of cotton, while she got a jewel tone set of cotton and a set of Christmas colors in acrylic. These are perfect for toys or accessories when you don't need a whole skein of yarn, but need lots of colors. They had Cotton Ease (a cotton, acrylic blend- great for toys and dish clothes) on sale so we both got a couple of skeins of that. Dean helped our friend with their beautiful babies while we shopped.
We soon left and attempted to make it to the Circle Line at Pier 83 for their 2 pm full island tour. We just missed a completely sold out boat (oh well it would have been crowded anyway!) and instead headed back toward their apartment. Dean helped make dinner and we were able to spend some time talking with our friends. We played Pandemic! after dinner which was lots of fun! I really enjoyed playing a cooperative game and being able to knit at the same time. Finally we continued our Psych watching  and headed for bed. What an excellent day!!

Summer Adventure 2013- Day 9

Today we slept in a little later than usual and got some relaxation time in.  We all ordered in some sushi for lunch before we left on an adventure.  Since it was Saturday, our friends were able to leave with us as we went out to visit a couple of yarn stores in Manhattan.  We rode the Roosevelt Island Tram for the first time, which had some really nice views as you rode upward alongside the Queensboro Bridge.  We went all the way to the Lion Brand Yarn store before we figured out they were closed all day, then we headed to a second yarn store which had also closed for the day.  To soothe broken spirits we all stopped by Jamba Juice in the sweltering heat to grab some ice cold smoothies.  Afterwards we were a little happier, and decided to go to a local game store called The Complete Strategist.  They had all sorts of games and game accessories, we all picked up some new games and expansion sets while we were there.  When we left the game store, our friends headed back home, while we met up with another friend who was working at a summer program in New York.  He was exploring Brooklyn, so we decided to meet up at the famous Grimaldi's Pizza near the Brooklyn Bridge Park.  We had eaten at Grimaldi's once before, and the line outside their door is almost as famous as their pizza.  When we arrived, we found that they had moved down the street into a larger building with more seating.  We met our friend while standing in line, and wound up getting rained on a little bit before getting a seat inside.  We had a great meal and spent a couple of hours catching up with our friend before leaving for Roosevelt Island.  It was a good day, despite missing a couple of our destinations and we are looking forward to tomorrow!

Summer Adventure 2013- Day 6

Today was Dean's STEP 2 CS in Philadelphia so I got to hang out in the city by myself for the day. I spent a ton of time in Starbucks enjoying some delicious treats and knitting. I finally got brave around 10 and decided to take the subway to a local yarn shop. It was a small trek of a few blocks from the subway stop in the heat wave to Loop, but it was definitely worth it. The shop was a perfect mix a friendly staff (native Arkansan!) and excellent yarn selection. They had a variety of high end yarn that was beautiful to look at and touch. I ended up getting some local hand dyed for myself and Amanda (who we are staying with in NYC in a few days). The colors and the quality of the yarn were just to die for. The yarn was definitely calling to me! The shop worker (from Arkansas) recommended a local spot for lunch called Honey's Sit 'n Eat just a block or 2 up from the store. I had the triple decker Grilled Cheese with tomato. It was fantastic! They said their brunch is one of the best in the city. Someday we'll have to give it a try.
After lunch I walked several more blocks to another yarn shop, Rosie's Yarn Cellar. This was a cute little store with a great selection of yarn. I found a couple of skeins of Savannah DK from The Fibre Company which is quite yummy and not something I have seen in Arkansas. I really liked the store and enjoyed visiting. After that it was almost time for Dean to be finished with his test so I headed back to the subway by walking through Rittenhouse square and then up to Independence Hall (the lawn was all torn up so there wasn't much to see without going into the actual building and around the other side from the subway). So I went back to Starbucks near Drexel and waited for Dean. When he finished and met up with me we went to eat at Baby Blue's BBQ where Dean had the Razorback lunch special. A great day in Philly!

Summer Adventure 2013-Day 4

This morning we left Altoona after talking with a local real estate agent about the housing market in the area. Traveling up toward State College, we had some fantastic vistas. In State College,we decided we needed a driving break before meeting my friend in a nearby community so we found an excellent antique mall, Apple Hill Antiques. One of the best selections i think I've seen since we started going to these. I found some adorable vintage buttons and Dean added two more items to his elements collection: boric acid and phosphoric something. We chatted with the cashier about being originally from the Oklahoma area. His wife is attending State College and receiving her Master's in Ceramics. It was nice to talk to someone who really got how far we are from home.
Leaving State College, we headed out on some two lane roads in Penn Valley. It was the most picturesque scenery we have seen in a while. Lots of corn and potatoes were growing in the fields with no fences (so weird). We were in the middle of Amish country and were able to see several farmers with their work teams cutting hay and a couple of buggies on the road. Its Monday,wash day, so there was colorful laundry stretched from house to barn all over the country side.  
We ended up in tiny community called Rebersburg where my friend Kim owns a beautiful yarn store and book shop with her husband. I met Kim through a Ravelry Starbucks Yarn Swap. This was the first time we have spoken in person! It was so much fun to meet someone who I already felt is such a great friend. She knows tons about the area and was able to  talk to us about our observations of the local residency programs in Altoona and Williamsport. Kim and I continued our swapping started on Ravelry. I finished up a pair of arm warmers and knitted her a Calorimetry ear warmer while on the trip. She also got first dibs on new headbands from DeNatyArts and chose a grey and maroon braided band with a neat stripe. She was super generous with me and I now have a beautiful hand thrown yarn bowl, a gorgeous skein of hand dyed fingering weight, and some Ciao Goo size 3 40" cable needles! Main Street Yarn is absolutely adorable! If you are interested in learning more or ordering from  Kim follow the link to her shop site. Tell her I sent you! Dean explored Forefather Bookshop in the front of the building and found 4 Robin Cook books (one of his favorite authors)  and had to get them. We had a lovely visit but we had to get back on the road. We drove over some mountains and and through another valley or two til we reached Williamsport.
Williamsport,PA is home to one of the residency programs we are considering. The town had a great feel and the downtown area reminded us of Fayetteville. We drove by the hospital and Dean called to set up a meeting the program coordinator for tomorrow! We are so excited to learn more about the program and the area.
We had an early dinner at a downtown restaurant called Ozzie and Mae's Hacienda. Super yum! I got asked if I wanted my chimichanga fried or baked (this southern girl has never heard of a baked chimichaga before !)
We drove about 20miles to stay in New Columbia in the Susquehanna River Valley. Tomorrow will be an exciting day!

Summer 2013 Adventure- A research gathering expedition

We are off! This morning we departed Little Rock headed east to visit some new place and some old favorites. In the next year Dean will be applying to residency programs around the country and this summer is the chance for us to visit some of those choices together before submitting that application and attending interviews.
We left early and stopped at Starbucks first thing! (I gotta have my coffee) We were in Memphis by 9 with Tucker once again crossing the Mississippi River catching a picture with the Tennessee sign. Traffic was pretty easy and nothing very exciting happened for the whole trip. We did stop at Crafty Hands Yarn Shop in Bowling Green on our way through. This shop is one of my favorites. A couple of years ago, during a spring break trip, Dean and I visited this store when we were exploring Mammoth Caves nearby. I bought the Malabrigo yarn for my very first sweater here and today I was able to share the photo of my creation with the shop owner. What a great experience!
Onward to Lexington, KY from Bowling Green... We ate dinner at this fabulous hole in the wall Oriental restaurant called the Golden Wok. Super impressed with the food and the service. If you are ever in Lexington and craving some noodles, look them up.
Totals for Day 1
595.4 miles
31 license plates (We saw license plates from 31 different states, districts, or provinces while on the road- This was an awesome number for the road we travelled today!)
Overall a great day and looking forward to tomorrow!
--Katy