Vacation wrap up, part 2

The second week of my vacation was a little more low-key. Most summers I have to use up some vacation time, so I usually take a few days to spend here in the city and I usually have a long list of things I want to do. Sometimes there is an exhibit I want to see or some shopping I need to do. Sometimes I get together with friends I haven't seen for a while with my crazy late-night work schedule. Sometimes I want to paint my apartment or do other projects. This year, I wasn't looking forward to the time here. I didn't make a list and I didn't do anything very exciting. I did laundry, cleaned my apartment, got stuff ready for Cape May and caught up with shows on my DVR. I also went to four movies.

Towards the end of the week, my mom arrived and we did do one fun thing. There has been talk about making something out of the old rail road tracks that run along the west side of Manhattan since I moved to NY (10 years ago this month!). It is finally open. It's called The Highline and it is awesome! (I recommend reading about the history, if you are interested.) My mom and I met up with LT, took a stroll and ate a pretzel croissant from the Birdbath vendor.

Here's a picture of LT and me with a view of beautiful NJ behind us.

view of Chelsea market

and some of the plants

After that, we stopped at Billy's Bakery, then walked over to the Shake Shack and waited in their ridiculously long line. (This picture was NOT taken by me! I've never seen it that short.) As soon as we got to the front of the line, it started raining. We had invested so much time, however, we deluded ourselves into thinking it was just a passing shower. As soon as we placed our order, the skies literally opened up and my mom, LT and I all gathered under my one umbrella. The fact that I even had an umbrella was a fluke since I generally don't like them. Although we got drenched (my backside, mom's right side, LT a little all over), we had a nice lunch. When it stopped raining we sat in that new area in front of the Flatiron with tables and chairs and dried out. A fun NYC day!