½ Tank #24

The drive down to Pennsylvania to visit Hannah’s friends Adam and Christina was also a beautiful one. We stopped along the way to get a better look and were surprised to discover tons of (Kristin, cover your eyes) ladybugs!! It was incredible! I’ve never seen so many in my life. We started to wonder if perhaps that’s what had been pelting our windshield as we drove.

We arrived at A&C’s in the afternoon, and were greeted by Christina and her almost-one-year-old daughter, Remy. And Remy is adorable. She’s so happy, especially when her Aunt Diana is around. It’s hilarious.

I wasn’t feeling very good the first couple days, so I spent quite a bit of time alone that night and the next day. That second day Christina, Remy, Diana, Hannah and I went to a trail in the Delaware Water Gap National Rec Area. Apparently the land was bought by the government for this big development, but they ran out of money so they sold it back to farmers for about $1 per acre for the next several years. Now they are working on a trail that will go all the way through it, but there are still fields of corn set against a backdrop of tree-covered mountains on one side and the Delaware River on the other. It was fantastic. Diana and Hannah ran while Christina, Remy and I walked. On the way back to the house they pointed out a Thai restaurant and Hannah and I couldn’t believe we had finally found a Thai place outside of Bellingham. And it ended up tasting pretty good, too.

That night a bunch of people were supposed to come over, which I was a little nervous about since I didn’t know any of them. I was afraid that I would just end up sitting silently by myself while they all reminisced about shared memories. But it actually ended up being a lot of fun. Adam and Christina’s friends Jeff and AJ were there, along with Diana. And the special guests of the night were Meghan, Lauren and Louise. Meghan used to work at the same day camp as Hannah, Christina and Adam, and she had no idea Hannah would be there while she was visiting. So that was a fun surprise. Lauren is Meghan’s good friend, and Louise is Lauren’s sister. Except I don’t know if her name was actually Louise. I don’t think it was, but I don’t remember her real name. :S Oops. Anyways, most of the night was spent eating and talking and playing with Remy. We also watched some of a Phillies’ baseball game because Lauren loves them but AJ feels the opposite for them. We also tried to play 65, but it didn’t really catch on.

The next morning did not start well. Once again our alarms failed us, so we got a late start heading to NYC. But eventually we made it to where our fairy was supposed to leave from, only to find out that it only travels in the morning until 10 a.m. (it was around 11:30) and wouldn’t start up again until 3 p.m. So we set off to find a different fairy, not having any idea where to go except near water. We drove aimlessly around New Jersey and eventually found another ferry, but it wasn’t running either. By this point we were both very hungry and therefore kinda stressed, so there was a lot of tension in the car. We ended up trying to ask a woman walking her dog for help, but she didn’t speak English. Instead we interrupted a cop’s phone call and he was kind enough to point us in the right direction. However, when we got to the transit station he told us about, we had a lot of trouble finding parking. That led to even more tension. We finally gave in and decided to pay for parking in a lot. Quite possibly the sketchiest-seeming lot ever. There were a few Hispanic guys, all pretty young, attending the lot, and they kept talking to each other in Spanish so we couldn’t tell what they were saying. The system there was to hand over your keys so that they can move your car and let others out when people leave mid-day. I had never heard of anything like this, but decided to be trusting and give it a shot. So we paid, said “goodbye” to Pete (for possibly the last time), and headed to the PATH train that would take us to Manhattan.

Hannah and I cleared the air while we were on the train, and agreed to get food as soon as we could.

We arrived next to the site of the WTC construction and looked around there for a bit. Next we walked to Chinatown and Little Italy, got some pizza (and “Don’t Stop Believing” came on while we were in the pizza place) and gelato, then hopped on a Subway train that took us up to Times Square. That place is amazing. Everything is SO BIG. I really wish we could have seen it at night, but we didn’t have the chance this time around. While we strolled along Broadway, a guy asked us if we were interested in going to this taping of a comedy show that night. Me, being the skeptic I am, was curious to find out details and what the catch was. It turned out to be stand up comedy from some SNL cast members and was being taped for Comedy Central. We already had plans that night, though, so we declined, only to overhear later that you had to buy at least two drinks while there. Pshaw.

We walked up to Central Park and were blown away by this huge park and vast amount of greenery that happened to be in the center of a large, bustling city. And bustling around the entrance were hot dog vendors, so we indulged in a couple of sausage dogs. While we were up that way, we also found the Plaza Hotel (as seen in Home Alone) which Hannah was very excited about. By the time we exited the park, my feet hurt really bad. I guess I didn’t wear the best walking shoes, and we walked a bunch. Hannah’s feet were hurting too, so we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History and then find some dinner.

The Museum had some cool stuff in it, but it wasn’t quite as exciting as we thought it would be. Maybe if we hadn’t been as tired, or if we were kids, it would have been more interesting. Funny story, though: Before entering the museum there’s a sign listing items that are prohibited inside. On that list is mace. I had our bear mace in my bag (in case anyone happened to try to attack us). We decided to go in anyways and just ask if perhaps they could hold it for us while we walked around. I was a little nervous though. A guy started checking Hannah’s bag while a woman started going through mine, but I let her know. They both looked at me like I was nuts. The guy asked, “Why in the world do you have bear mace?” We laughed and told them about our trip, and how we figured it would be handy if we came across a bear or a bad person. The woman signaled for me to just put it back in my bag and not worry about it, and the guy advised us to just stay away from bears because mace wouldn’t do much good. They were really nice and funny.

After the museum we boarded another train back down to where we were going to see Donald Miller talk that night. We found a little pub to eat at (my burger wasn’t very good) then headed to the church. The talks by Susan Isaacs and Donald Miller were both great. DM was very inspiring as he discussed what makes for a good story and challenged us to live out things that scare us. I hope I am able to do so. That night ended up being a really good one for Hannah, since she ended up being able to go backstage to meet DM afterwards, and she was the winner of autographed copies of all the books being sold that night. She also met a lady named Vicky who was very impressed by this trip we were taking. Vicky was super nice and friendly and offered to help us in any way she could. Funny story from here: At the end everyone got in line to get signatures and chat with Susan and DM. Vicky somehow ended up at the front of this line, and thus Hannah and I were at the front since we were talking to her. Susan got to the table before DM did, so I ended up talking to her a little. I have a friend who will be (hear that, Kenny? WILL BE) moving to NYC sometime soonish, and since Susan, like my friend, was into stand up comedy and writing, I decided to ask her for any advice she could give. Eventually it was brought up that I was from Bellingham, and she said she had a friend who lived there. I asked who, she said Dave W. and I was shocked that she and I had a mutual friend. Such a small world, who would've thought.

We headed back to the subway and let a few trains pass by us before we finally asked a couple of girls if the ones going by would take us to the right place. They were really helpful and let us know which trains were safe and what we should avoid. They ended up boarding the same train as us, and pointed us in the right direction when we got to our stop, too. While on the train we also talked to two other girls who had been shopping at Whole Foods, one of Hannah’s fav stores. So it turned out to be true that New Yorkers are actually incredibly kind when you talk to them, they just tend to live in their own bubbles until you pop in. When we got onto the PATH train back to Jersey, we chatted with a man who lived in Hoboken, NJ (where the station was) and worked in NY. We found out he had friends coming to visit that weekend, so we gave him our leftover vouchers for transit rides. I don’t remember his name either. I’ll name him Gene. Gene from New Jersey. Yup.

At first when we walked back to the parking lot, we didn’t see Pete. Then we spotted him hidden behind a newsstand. And then it turned out that the key was in the ignition AND the front window was rolled down all the way. Hm... But everything was still there, so our trust paid off. We drove by the water to see a night view of the city lights, then headed back to PA, hoping to find the White Castle we had seen a sign for that morning, but no luck there. I slept very well that night.


God bless, over and out.
~Marissa

Oh, and for more pics, go here.