I had no plans entering today because of all the festivities the day before and the fact that I left it open to do whatever all the other guys wanted. Well the early morning wake-up sucked and I knew everyone else would be out cold until at least noon, so I decided to go explore the north half of Central Park.
I went straight for the North Woods and once I got there, I wondered why I didn't do so sooner. There were all kinds of trails and paths that weren't paved and the cool thing was is that the North Woods is so dense that all the annoying city noise can't penetrate it. I now regret not taking a picture and asking people to guess where I was just to see their reactions when I would reveal that was central Manhattan. Those woods held a lot of cool secrets too. The highest point in CP was here and located at the very top was a small, old fort. Known as Blockhouse No 1 or The Blockhouse. It was built in the early 1800s and was done so in case of a British invasion during the war of 1812. But this fort never saw battle and today would be a child's dream to play in. It's too bad the gate was locked otherwise I would've explored it more.
After letting loose my inner child, I made my way through the rest of the north and passed by a rock with a face carved into it. I wandered through more of CP's gardens and straight to a pond with a beautiful view. The wind was blowing nicely and the breeze felt good. After admiring the view and getting lost in my thoughts, I was going to leave CP, but realized I had one more stop to make. I walked and walked and walked until my destination skewed the sun. The massive obelisk was transported to NYC from Alexandria, Egypt. It's littered in hieroglyphics and amazing to see something that was constructed in ancient Egypt right before my eyes.
My hunger got the better of me and I was really craving a smoothie (it was in the upper 80s). I ventured about five blocks until I found a smoothie place. They were tiny, but their selection looked good. I went for the one with Hawaiian in the name. It was a good choice at first...but once I tasted it, I realized there was ginger in it. Big mistake. I can't stand ginger in smoothies especially on a hot day. I finished half of it then pitched it because I couldn't take anymore. I saw a McDonald's nearby and my sweet tea craving kicked in. I ordered one and some food. Unfortunately, the sweet tea was awful because it was loaded with so much sugar I tasted more of that then the tea.
Finally Tim Chai texted me and I decided to meet him for lunch at Ippudo. I beat him there and nearly missed it because this one you had to step down into to enter it. When Tim arrived, Carol came with him. I knew she looked familiar and had seen her before. She was originally from Ann Arbor and came to Mountain Top back in the day. Sam Lee also joined us. We downed the food then decided to do some exploring. We made our way over to Korea Town and got some bubble tea (a must). Then we went to a hotel with a rooftop bar. The weather was fantastic so when we got to the top, I was more than happy to relax on a cushioned couch with the sun beaming on me hundreds of feet above the city. To be honest, I could've stayed here the rest of the evening...
...but we had more people to meet up with so we left and made our way to a coffee house. Tim caught up with some more friends and we were joined by David Luu, Isaac, and Vincent. Somehow, everyone else got hungry, but since I had been practically eating all day, I decided to go hang with Sean and Jenny for a bit while everyone else had dinner.
Back in lower Manhattan, we enjoyed the view of the setting sun and the statue of liberty in battery park. Sean and I made a lot of noise stepping on musical tiles acting like children. We then headed to a pub called Ulysses and our server had what I'm pretty sure was a Scottish accent. The best part was the place was nearly empty inside, which is a rarity because even in the lesser places of NYC, there were still people everywhere. We finished enjoying our food and then the three of us went up to mid Manhattan where we met up with the guys to play some pool at this neat little place called Space Billiards. The others were content with playing darts while Sean, Jenny and I played a few rounds of cutthroat, each of us winning a game. That wraps up day five and the last day was a joy in itself. Until next time.
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