DAY 2. FEET DONT FAIL ME NOW.

I don’t have an Apple Watch or fitness tracker, but I’d bet we got some serious mileage in on day two. By midday, my dogs were barrrrrkin. We’ll get to that in a minute.

While planning this trip a while back, Ralph casually mentioned wanting to do a helicopter ride, and I pretended not to hear him. The thought of being that high up makes my stomach and heart crawl into my throat. So I just giggled and said “that’s a nice idea,” until it came up again and I had no option but to express my limitations. Luckily, he’s awesome and didn’t push me into it (cause he knows what happened on Guardians of the Galaxy that one time). He booked a solo journey for yesterday morning, which was awesome. I had time to sleep in, get a morning stretch in, drink my hot water, and hit the streets for some shopping.

Hitting the streets didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. I put so much pressure on myself to handle the situation like a local that I ended up panicking and sweating profusely. So much so, that I had to buy a shirt from a local vendor. It’s fine. I lived. The shirt is cute. Whatever.

Ralph called me after his helicopter ride to tell me that his shoes weren’t holding up their end of the bargain and needed to be replaced. The shopping continued and my tail wagged happily along.

Out of sheer coincidence, we stumbled upon the church where my grandparents got married in the late 50s/early 60s. Cue the water works. We went inside, I allowed myself to feel their presence, and felt super fulfilled and close to them. Probably one of my favorite parts of the day.

Chelsea Market was only a few blocks down, so we grabbed lunch at a spot called Miznon that had a mushroom pita for your girl and a meat loaded something or other for your boy. Pictures of meals will be included below. We love food. We ain’t ashamed to say it.

We used our lunch hour to plan next moves, and I stressed the importance of hitting a structure called “The Vessel” in Hudson Yards. My Nina recommended it and that lady was onto something! We strolled there via The High Line, which is a park/garden/pathway/art exhibit. Truly an incredible space. I felt like I was in the future. Would love for LA to create a similar space. The mayor probably reads my blog also. Get to it, sweetheart, ok?

“The Vessel” was pretty sick. I won’t describe it, but you can take a look at pictures below. There are stairs that go all the way to the top, but it’s currently closed because of a few suicides that called into question the safety of the structure. Maybe next time when they’ve installed all the mesh in between the levels.

Ralph led us to the Jazz at Lincoln Center. That’s what it’s called. I’m not just saying that weird. He was going to walk past it, but I said nah nah nah, we gotta go inside. Turned out that there were still tickets available for the Tito Puente & Tito Rodriguez Centennial Celebration. As a couple of Latin jazz loving fools, we don’t pass these kinds of opportunities up.

Okay, we’ve arrived at the part of the day where my dogs began to bark. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s a reference to my tired old feet who couldn’t walk another step without a toe wiggling session. We set up shop at Sheep Meadow in Central Park and I got a stretch in while Tia Ralph let me know what a grave mistake I had made by wearing the cute shoes instead of the comfortable shoes. We had to temporarily pause our exploration, return to the hotel, and retrieve my more comfortable shoes. Don’t look at me like that. I’m allowed to make poor choices in the name of vanity sometimes.

Changed into my old lady shoes, threw my hair into two buns to get a natural wave before the concert, and walked with Ralph to a bar called McSorely’s just a 20 minute walk from our hotel. On our way there I said “what’s the deal with this bar? What makes it so special?” Ralph said that Abe Lincoln used to drink beers there. I thought for sure this was inaccurate because good old Abe was from Illinois, but alas it was true! Quick stop to get Ralph some tacos because we don’t want him getting hangry. He said they were bomb. Talked about them for the rest of the night.

Arrived at McSorely’s. The place was covered in pictures of dead presidents and pages out of the constitution. Lots of sawdust on the floor in old saloon fashion. Guy at the door didn’t even check our IDs. He said “come on in, I believe you,” in a NY accent, which I love and use frequently but have had to stop on this trip because I don’t want to offend anyone.

After McSorely’s, I lead us to a vegan spot called Caravan of Dreams, which had mixed reviews on Yelp and rave reviews on Google. The googlers were correct. This was probably one of my best vegan dining experiences to date. Yum yum yum. Did I say yes to appetizers, entrees, and dessert? You bet your ass. Pictures of me shoveling food into my mouth will be included. You’re welcome.

Bruschetta with house made garlic aioli, organic tomatoes and basil. Seitan Nachos with house made cashew cheese and all the fixings that come on nachos. Lemon cashew pasta with asparagus, artichokes, and mushroom bacon. Carrot Cake. Banana Royale with house made Nutella. All. Of. It. So delicious. We ate like vegan royalty.

Back to the hotel for a quick change into sexy outfits made sexier by our grandma & grandpa shoes. We left the hotel with plenty of time to make the show, and two stops from the venue Ralph realized that he forgot the tickets. We could’ve fought here. There could’ve been a finger pointing competition. But we’re on vacation and life is good, baby. We contemplated going back to the hotel, but were convinced that the venue could reprint them and we’d be fine. We were right! Also – digital tickets are the best. Never take them for granted. We saw the back of Ed Sheeran on the way into the venue. We took a pic. Just trust us, it’s him.

The show was a fucking 10. I made this face the whole time 😮‍💨. If you can’t see it on your phone or browser, let me describe it to you. It’s the face you make when the music is so good that you can’t even hide how satisfied you are. Fire. Flames. Standing ovations. Upper body dancing in my chair. Old lady shoes hittin the moves under my seat. One two cha cha cha.

These feet took a beating, but my heart don’t even give a heck. She says five stars. Beautiful day. Great company. Great weather. Great music. Good luck, today. Try and top that!