Those who know me well know that I am passionate about hiking. I love, love, LOVE walking in the wilderness for, truth be told, absolutely no good reason. I'll be honest, natural sciences bore me, I care about the environment but it isn't one of those social justice movements that really gets me going. If I'm being frank, nothing about nature really jazzes me until I'm actually there, walking through it feeling its presence and losing myself in the vastness of the wilderness.
Those who know me well also know that I fell in love this past fall (something that definitely WASN'T in my five year plan, in case you were wondering Mark and Thom) and last week the columbus based goofball came to visit me in the big apple! He too shares my love for being outdoors, in fact two years ago he thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. (It was actually our shared love of the AT that brought us together)
So, naturally, we had to take a visit to NYC's largest outdoor space, Central Park! It had snowed the day before we visited and, while the snow was almost completely gone from the city streets, it was still a winter wonderland in the park. We spent hours walking around the park looking at the little ponds and admiring the beautiful architecture of the bridges that crisscrossed the landscape. It may not be the vast wilderness that the two of us have grown accustomed to wandering around rural appalachia, but it was still a nice way to return to nature. We finally made it to the huge reservoir in the center of the park and we had a great time laughing at the ducks and people watching. I may or may not have been a little anxious as I have an irrational fear of birds, but all in all it was really an awesome little adventure. The beauty of the park set in front of the city skyline was really breath taking and it was so nice to take time out of my busy schedule to do something relaxing with someone that I care for deeply.
After the reservoir we came across what I believe was the Guggenheim museum and the crazy obelisk that lives right outside of it. By the time we left we had spent hours aimlessly wandering around the park, but we hadn't even covered half of it! We might have stayed and explored longer if we weren't so incredibly hungry!
Spending time with Daniel in Central Park is one of my favorite memories from his trip and I'm so lucky that I could take a day or two off from my internship to spend time with him. (Oh my god... am I... am I learning how to successfully create a work/life balance? Probably not, but only time will tell...) Stay tuned to this blog for more stories about his visit!
I mean.... LOOK AT THAT SKYLINE! AT THE WATER!
These views are what I miss from Virginia!
"What a couple of quacks!" -Daniel every time he saw ducks