bloviation extrordinaire
Cara and I love the NCMA Park and have walked it many times, but this last weekend we made a new discovery hidden within: the Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky. Basically a huge vertical camera, a pinhole in the roof lets the sun and stars shine through to the floor and walls of the small yurt-like stone hut. We went in the middle of a blazing sunny day, and were rewarded with brilliant laser-like sunbeams. Which we of course used to comic effect. So fun.
I finally got out for an Animal Show in NYC! Landed on Friday and found BKLYN House Hotel, our base of operations for the long weekend that included a Reiley move.
We met Al for lunch/dinner at Loving Hut, which I will always be grateful for. Hi Al! Great to meet you. :-)
First night, Reiley took me out to Bruno’s bar, Cape House, and he took far too good of us. His favorite, Fernet-Branca, a very complex tasty digestif, left me feeling far too happy and DJ’ing until 4am. I regret some song choices.
Saturday started out with recovery – sleeping and Champs breakfast in the afternoon – well worth the 30 minute wait for takeout of scrambled tofu, seitan strips, vegan sausage, hash browns, and coffee, which when combined made a miracle.
Al got a bass string replacement at Johhny Albino Music Center, and we picked up a tuner for Rei too.
We were ready to walk to the gig. Al said we are NOT getting an uber that is NOT Animal Show, awesome oops my bad, rofl… Reiley held out for Julian to skateboard up, and a ride with Dave that we heard rumble up from a couple blocks away. Dave’s southern charm had us all at ease and instantly smiling. This gang is beautiful and thick as thieves, I have to say.
The show was beyond high expectations, the videos speak for themselves. SO GOOD.
The Brooklyn Bazaar venue was crazy fun on multiple stories. Lower level was a barcade with pool and sweet potato fries that Eli and I had been obsessing over (and they payed off). Upstairs was the stage and dancehall. Highlights included the passing of the pink cowboy hat from stage to crowd and eventually landing on my head for most of the night. My first green room experience was full of friendly folks and free water (no drinking for me thank you!) and plenty of free second hand smoke, heh. Met Andy and Dale and Jonathan the MC, lots of band members including introducing myself to headliner Brianna who politely gave me a warm hello, spun on her heel, stepped up two steps to the stage, and crushed the audience within a moment. After the bands played, Jonathan and crew hosted a dance party, with Reiley and the other band members as judges. Reiley called me out to join the dance party! I again proved my cowardice. Next time I’m all in. Dave drove us home, what a gentleman, and I hit the sack at 2am while everyone else carried on.
Sunday started with vegan donuts at Dun-Well the vegan donut Mecca, as I watched the owner pour hand-brewed french presses one after the other into a huge tub from which we filled our silk-creamer-primed cups.
Monday morning allowed for another donut indulgence, you can never get enough and its a good thing I dont live close…. Then Reiley and I went shopping for some basics, and finished up with a game of Palace, before I headed to the airport. Wow!
Cara got a tattoo after I said let’s get tattoos and she said OK and I said WHAT REALLY? What a coward! Check it out, it’s beautiful…
Cara is so good at finding fantastic places to stay. She found us the top story of a cute house in the best neighborhood in DC, just east of the Mall in Lincoln Park, an area full of cute tight houses of various flavors. Ours was the second story of a fully appointed house – we had a stocked fridge and bikes to ride and everything else you could want. Bike riding was definitely a highlight, we biked all around the Smithsonian and Capitol and White House (with middle fingers out) and African Museum and all the incredible sights packed together.
We saw a magic dual in “parlour” style at The Mayflower, a famous Hotel, and ate at Iron Gate, a romantic little swanky restaurant with an outdoor patio covered in lights and vines that made a custom vegan gourmet meal that was divine – i’ve never eaten chickpeas in the shell before, wonderfully steamed and spiced.
Weekends are ALWAYS so perfect with you, baby. This one was somehow even better.
Didn’t think they went together did you? They sure as climate change did this weekend. Cara and I biked and walked all over the balmified windy city, doing yoga betwixt the skyscrapers on 100o F astroturf, getting my feet analyzed at Fleet Sports (and Cara’s new favorite footwear!), to Sweetgreens, through the Chicago Cubs fans exiting on a high (chanting “USA USA” suck it Trump), on to pure-lefty palsy-frisbee… Also: devouring Nepalese food and playing Roblox with Christian, and getting 100% down with Johnny Lang at the House of Blues. Whoo!
Of course I don’t talk about my birthday! No one my age would be so foolish. But this one was too good, I can’t help myself!
Watching Guy King play the blues at Buddy Guy was smooth and delicious, Cara and I agreed his happiness was outright contagious.
On Saturday we flew kites in the famous Chicago lakefront wind, with hundreds of others on Cricket Hill. Epic!
And on Sunday we ripped it up from downtown out to Northerly Island on the world’s most freewheeling Segway tour ever – our host was so cool and chill, the day was beautiful, and we covered miles jumping curbs and banking through fast turns. Whoo!
Thanks baby for the best weekend ever.
We had a fantastic weekend, taking a 4 hour drive over to our favorite town in NC (and beyond), Asheville. We started with a tour of UNC-Asheville, currently Reiley’s top university choice – for lots of good reasons, including a brand new science building, small 20-student class sizes that are more focused on discussion than lectures, a great price, and a well-rounded liberal arts focus. And lots of perks, like an on-campus branch of Rosetta’s Kitchen, free bus rides to Asheville, and quidditch. After the tour we headed to our old favorite Laughing Seed for a meal that included vegan dishes from around the world. There was a drum circle that night, the whole center of the town was filled with dozens of drummers keeping the night jumping. Then off to Urban Outfitters for some late-night shopping with all the hipsters. The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to layer on clothing for our whitewater rafting trip, even though it was 45 degrees outside. The name of the site was Blue Heron Whitewater – I definitely recommend them. We got to the site with plenty of time to gear up more, with really nice equipment including wetsuits and gloves and neoprene socks, and lots of help from the great staff. And a nice hot cup of coffee, mmmm… We got a couple hours of whitewater rafting under our belt and had a delicious hummus sandwich lunch sitting on hot rocks. Then a few more rapids and we headed back to the site to shower, dry off and warm up. Back to downtown for more great adventures, including shopping, coffee… and Wrenny climbing three stories high on the rock wall across from Laughing Seed! Everyone on the street was watching and clapped for her at the end, nice one Wrenny! We headed to Plant, a totally vegan restaurant, for dinner. It’s just north of the town center, towards UNCA. We were 5 minutes early and the place was deserted, so we drove to a nearby park. It was small so we just headed back to the restaurant, went in, and even though the doors had only been open for 5 or 10 minutes, the place was packed – and fully booked! Buuuuummer! So we headed back downtown to Rosetta’s Kitchen. Best recovery ever – it’s a self serve restaurant with the most amazing vegan friendly options served up in huge portions. We had Pad Thai and BBQ sandwiches and miso soup and etc and it was delicious. A new favorite! And we drove back that night, for quite a jam-packed couple of days!
marlin breaching, sea turtles, tarpins, reef fish…. barracuda, blue parrot fish, angel fish,
crowne pointe hotel de concha
dragonfly, $5 t-shirts
eco museum & movie
fort towers
the cafe – seadog blueberry ale, homemade seitan sandwich,
sugar apple cafe – choc rasp cake
sunset festival – fire eater/straightjacket escape, ring jumper, fire/axe/knife unicycle juggler, bush surprise man, cuban conga band, money-fetching dog
next time: secret garden, elec vehicle, keywesthunt.com; cypress house, casa cayo hueso, pilot house guest house or similar