A Day of Adventures in Cold Weather that was REALLY Cold

From the recommendation of my good friend Eric I headed out on a day to hit up a foray of different sites. Here is the list of items I was going to hit up in one day. I would see the Hudson river, Columbia Univesity, Grants Tombs, the Chelsea Market, Highline Park, walk over to Madison Square, eat at Shakey Shack, then head down to the Brooklyn Bridge… All between the hours of 11 am and 6pm.

How did it all turn out? Well, to my shock, it worked out virtually flawlessly except for one flaw, which almost lead to my complete demise…

I explored the Columbia campus for a little bit with Eric where he showed me a massively large building which was the former library. Apparently this massive building had become too small to house all of the books at Columbia. He then pointed out the excessively super massive building in the other direction and informed me that was one (of the many) locations where the books were moved to.

This is the Massive building that was too small to house all the books.

Eric and I soon parted ways and I made my way to Grants Tomb. I read somethings that were interesting that would probably be boring to write on this blog.

I then got onto the 1 subway and headed downtown. I got off at 14^th street and slowly made my way to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is an interesting intertwining of an indoor mall/food court/really fresh good food/interesting little shops/other stuff. At the same time I struggle to give it any one of those labels because it has pieces of each of those but there are pieces to each of those labels that do the Market a total injustice. Just let it be said it was very unique.

From there I went to Highline park. Highline Park is basically an above ground park/walkway. It isn’t wide in the sense of most parks. It was about as wide as a large sidewalk. In the middle of it was a paved walkway for people to walk on while on the side of it were spots for plants. I want to emphasize that because it is still rather cold there were very few plants at Highline park though the signs were adamant in demanding that people stay on the paved areas to prevent any damage to plants.

A shot of Highline Park. It is above the city. 

From there I made my way to the Shake Shack (check out my blog on New York Foods to get more details about this). Let me just say, the shake shack was awesome and I hope that I have the opportunity to go there once more (before I leave New York).

This is the Shake Shack. It is outdoors. 

Eventually I found my way on the 6 subway towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Here is where nearly all was lost. As I exited the subway I became extremely aware of two things: 1. The biting cold and 2. My totally inappropriate dress for cold weather. I had a thin jacket and some pants. Ideally in this weather, multiple long sleeved layers plus some type of headwarming gear is critical. Being from California and having spent most of my life under the false guise of “I am immune to cold” I was severely underdressed for the occasion. I spent the next 30 minutes wandering around the area in hopes of purchasing a beanie…

How could I solve this problem? Easy, I’ll just text my friends for some advice. Well, this would require I have a fully working phone. Around this exact time my phones batter decided to become severely low. I was forced to turn my phone off.

I’m a man who loves himself a good picture. I also don’t have a great memory. Therefore, I knew if I could find a way to get across the bridge with some good pictures my memory would eventually reformulate the Brooklyn Bridge crossing experience into a “funny story” rather than “The coldest I have ever been IN MY LIFE”. After a few encouraging lies from my own inner voice I ventured across the bridge.

Well, let me tell you I am glad I did it! My mind was constantly alternating between these two basic thoughts “What a cool view” and “Mother F$@! It is cold!”. But eventually I did make it across and I did in fact live. All said and done, I wouldn’t change a thing. But in my future experiences I will change A LOT OF THINGS!

I got to the other side of the bridge and needed to contact Eric because I was going to meet up with him.  Here was my conundrum: 1. My phone may die at anytime and 2. I had no idea where Eric and I were to meet.  I turned on my phone called Eric and started the conversation with “my phone is low on battery email me directions if I lose you, I will find an internet café if need  be.”. I got to give Eric mad props! Eric quickly responded with immediate directions. Even more to his credit he intentionally said nothing else about anything (so I didn’t get anything confused and to save battery life). I hung up the phone and then turned it off. We met up at 14^th street and 7^th avenue back in Manhattan and all was well

They want us to protect which plants...