NYC trip recap: Sat & Sun

On Sat morning when Lisa asked us what we had planned for the day, Spouse said "I want to explore Christopher St and go to all those gay stores." My first thought was 'I didn't know stores had sex', but decided not to share that. Lisa suggested we walk to the end of Christopher St to the river where we'd find a nice park, so we did.

We got off the train at the Christopher St station and looked in some of the "gay stores". It was a beautiful day and we were content to stroll down the street peeking into many of the stores. In one of them I bought the bracelet and peace sign pendant I'm wearing in this photo:
Then we arrived at the park Lisa had mentioned at the end of Christopher St called Hudson River Park. It was beautiful! To the right of Spouse is a fountain, but I accidentally cut if off when I zoomed in.

There lots of shirtless joggers to provide us with hours of eye candy, plus there was a basketball game going on in the sport court. Shirts versus skins - my favorite match up!

As its name suggests, Hudson River Park borders the Hudson River, and you can see Hoboken NJ on the other side.

With the optical zoom at full strength we could see the Statue of Liberty!

The park contains several lovely gardens, kind of what I was expecting in Central Park. Here's a close up from a large bed of purple iris.

Here's Spouse in front of a bunch of beautiful shrub roses.

I'm standing in front of a bunch of burgundy iris. I didn't even know iris came in burgundy!

A closer look.

Some folks enjoying the beautiful weather and lovely park.

Then we walked up the other side of Christopher St and went into a few more "gay stores". As we finished up our Christopher St expedition, we also went into a non-gay store called Starbucks because I had a taste for an iced coffee with milk. Spouse got a mocha chocolate chip frappacino.

Then we walked up 6th Ave (heading north) and stopped at a few of the street vendors' booths. Spouse & I both got belts for $5. each!! We eventually found ourselves at 6th Ave and 23rd St where the Malibu Diner is located. Our friends Rick & Nick suggested we go there, so since we were ready to eat anyway, we had an early dinner there.

The food was okay, but very reasonably priced for NYC, which is why it was so notable to Rick & Nick. Afterward we hopped on the train back to Lisa's where Spouse took a nap and I chatted with Lisa. I'm telling you, if it were up to us, I think Lisa and I could solve most (if not all) of this country's problems.

After showers, Spouse & I headed back to Christopher St to meet up with the other bloggers for a 'West Village Gay Bar Tour', or 'Drunken Dust Bunny Pub Crawl', if you will. We met up with David Dust, Miss Ginger Grant, Howard, Mistress Maddie and her Boy-Toy, Marker and his husband, TrannyBeth, ZombieMom, and Kailyn at Pieces. Here's David Dust in one of the rare moments when he wasn't laughing, as TrannyBeth pays careful attention.

Mistress Maddie, Miss Ginger Grant, Howard, and Maddie's Boy-Toy.

Miss Ginger Grant, Maddie's Boy-Toy, Howard, Kailyn, and Marker who must have been getting ready to sneeze!

Me and TrannyBeth - I love this picture!

Then we moved onto Julius' bar. Howard, some random guy who followed us around part of the night, and David Dust.

Spouse, Maddie, Ginger, TrannyBeth, Howard, David, and Boy-Toy at Julius'.

Then it was onto the historic Stonewall Inn, the site of the June 1969 riots that started the gay rights movement. Howard and TrannyBeth.

The edge of Spouse, Boy-Toy, and Howard.

We could really feel a sense of history there! Although it was once a popular drag queen hangout, we saw no drag queens while we were there. Darn!!

Then we moved onto Marie's Crisis but I have no pictures there because I left the camera in our bag which we had to check at the door. Then it was onto Garage, which is famous for its jazz groups. The trio performing while we were there absolutely fantastic!

ZombieMom and Spouse at Garage.

If you love jazz and ever find yourself in NYC, go to Garage!

Then we moved onto Duplex, but it was so crowded we didn't stay long enough for me to snap any pictures. Since David Dust is such a Papi fan, the group headed to the subway that would take them to a Papi stripper bar. TrannyBeth, ZombieMom, and Spouse & I decided that food was a higher priority for us at the moment, so we headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant, the name of which escapes me. We talked, ate, laughed, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

These 2 lovely ladies were just delightful!

Then the 4 of us rode the 1 train together to 42nd St where TrannyBeth and ZombieMom got off and walked to their hotel, and Spouse & I switched to the 7 train heading back to Lisa's. We collapsed into bed at 3:30 am, which is really late for old farts like us! But it was worth it, since we had a BALL hanging out with all the Dust Bunnies who came to NYC. We made some GREAT friends whom we can hardly wait to see again. And, Darling David took such great care of everyone.

9:30 Sun morning seemed to come in the blink of an eye, but I drug myself out of bed and into the shower. I recounted to Lisa the past night's antics while Spouse showered. Then Lisa made us homemade biscuits and coffee for breakfast. Wasn't that sweet of her? Homemade crackers on Thurs and homemade biscuits on Sun. She really spoiled us with her Martha Stewart ways.

We packed our bags, tidied up our room, and at 11:30 we said our goodbyes to Lisa and took our last train ride of the weekend to 34th St where we got onto the BoltBus. I wanted nothing more than to sleep on the bus ride back to Cherry Hill NJ where our car was parked, but despite my near dilirium, I just couldn't fall asleep. I can never sleep in cars or on plains.

On the drive home we stopped at Meding & Sons seafood restaurant for dinner, which is exactly what we did on our way home from NYC last Oct. We both had the delicious Captain's Feast, a combo platter with a bit of all things seafood. Yum! A fitting end to a perfect trip.

Crush du Jour: Radoslav Vanko