Manhattan by Sail

I am officially moved out of my apartment and am enjoying day two of freedom from work or any responsibility (and day four of no BlackBerry). It's a glorious feeling! I drive cross country on Saturday with my mom so stay tuned for me to bring you up to date with the final days of the T-90 Project and for the beginning of our journey from Connecticut to Los Angeles via the Oregon Trail. If you have any tips or recommendations for stops along the way (Conn. - Penn. - Ohio - Ind. - Ill. - Wis. - Minn. - S. Dak. - Wyo. - Mont. - Idaho - Nev. - Calif.), let me know!


Day 26 of the T-90 Project:

I hadn't seen my friend CloseEncounters in months and we'd been discussing trying to grab drinks before his wedding. Our schedules were just off and it never seemed like it was going to happen. Finally one night I received a text from him, "M- can you grab a beer tonight?" I was under the covers in pajamas at that point, but I suggested we get drinks later that week. He was a week and a half away from his big day and I knew if we waited until after it would never happen.

I met him and his fiance at Tap a Keg on the upper west and we had a great night of reminiscing about our old Fox News days and waxing poetic about the future. We were both equally happy for each other and the adventures we were about to embark on. I showed him a photo of MaineMan and I believe the reaction was "ruggedly handsome." I like to think so. CloseEncounters has two very good friends out in L.A., both former co-workers of ours, so I believe he will be out to visit. I look forward to that and keeping in touch with him and his adorable new wife.

Day 25:

I didn't do anything remarkable on this day except begin to pack and help a single friend with her Nerve profile. If you're skeptical of online dating, read this adorable story written by my roommate LarchmontLass' boyfriend (a former dating blogger for Glamour) and it'll change your perspective forever. Forget those e-Harmony and Match commercials, this should be on the cover of Nerve.com.

Days 24-23 (5/29-30):

MaineMan arrived for his last east coast tour before I join him in California and I spent those couple of days in Greenwich.

The view from MaineMan's boat:


Day 22:

MaineMan came into the city after I finished work on Memorial Day. He had a few stragglers to meet (i.e. there were a few stamps of approval I was waiting on) and we joined NovaCat and her man at The Frying Pan before meeting up with Winette and FoxyLady at Blaue Gans. I am sort of over The Frying Pan. The secret's out and the crowd seems to keep getting worse and worse. This recent sentiment aside, it still is a pretty remarkable place to take someone from out of town. Manhattan may not have fields of green and much landscape to speak of, but it's pretty hard to beat a barge-turned-bar in the Hudson. And as for Blaue Gans, it's my favorite German sausage joint in the city and I felt a return was necessary before I left. It's also the perfect spot to take any beer-guzzling/meat and potatoes man (or woman).

Day 21:

An old friend at Fox told me sailing with Shearwater (now Manhattan by Sail) was the best thing she'd ever done in the city. She wasn't exactly the happiest, most cheerful character so from her this was saying a lot.

I'd been dying to book my ticket, but I didn't really have anyone special to go with, and it seemed like the sort of thing you'd want to enjoy in the company of a boyfriend or girlfriend. Enter MaineMan, a sailor and former sail manufacturer.

I made it a surprise. He knew we had something planned for Tuesday and it wasn't until we were down in the North Cove Marina that he realized, "We're going on a boat!"

The signage is terrible for Manhattan by Sail. We barely found the boat, then when we did one of the crew waved us off rudely in "I'm not ready for you yet" fashion. Yet the website said to be there a half hour early. It appeared we weren't the only ones antsy to get on the boat. A pair of elderly women removed the safety rope from the dock ramp and this sent the small Argentinian into a frenzy.


We were finally welcomed onto the boat and I met our uber-friendly Captain Matt. Thank goodness it wasn't the other guy who we'd apparently pissed off (though by the end he was very friendly - just took some warming up to).

It was less a sail around Manhattan and more a sail in the water just south of Manhattan. We spent a lot of time by the Statue of Liberty -- which was awesome. Capt. Matt had two men helping him and the youngest was the most outspoken and friendly. You can buy beer or wine on board (the first one's on them) for a mere $5 or $6 and MaineMan and I enjoyed a couple of Coronas. Besides me and MaineMan, there were only four other people who signed up to sail that day. We had the whole vessel to ourselves and could walk around at our leisure.

I asked MaineMan about every action they were taking to change our course and it was pretty awesome having a private tutorial on the ins and outs of sailing.

Me: What's a bow?
Him: Wow. We have a long way to go...

If athletes turn you on, try having a sailor talk sailing. I look forward to spending more time with him on the ocean.




After our afternoon sail, we headed to Bubby's for some spicy bloody Marys and strawberry-rhubarb pie. We tried the quesadillas as a "snack" and they were the best gosh darn quesadillas I'd ever had. We discussed going to Walker's, but it had gotten too late and we were due in Connecticut for a parents meet the parents dinner in Greenwich. Lots to do!