Wednesday, October 19, 2016

NYC and Ragnar Cape Cod!

So back in April or so, friends Josh and Carly and Holly and Brandon were on a Ragnar team for Cape Cod that kept losing members. They'd had nearly 2x turn over since Josh started the team and were getting desperate. Holly reached out to me to see if I'd wanna go, and I said, sure, why not?! I'll almost always take an excuse to visit NYC and I'd never been to Cape Cod and I don't totally mind running so....yeah. I booked a flight, figured out stuff with work, and one Sunday I was hopping a plane to JFK.

LIRR from JFK is the only way, my friends.
The Upper West Side greeted me with a hustle, even at my late night weekday arrival. I was grateful for the juxtaposition from SLC, where everything is closed up at 8pm. Holly and Brandon welcomed me with open arms, and then I was off to work on Monday morning. 


Oculus was right next door! I had to go check it out, inside and out.

It wasn't completely open, so I had to guess my way around some construction doors and walkways, but eventually I made it through.

And here it is!


Then I was on the way to Jacob's Pickles to see Josh, Carly, and Angela.


Sausage gravy smothered chicken. Really, really good.



More work views.


Tuesday night - more friend meet ups! I always love seeing this building. I also loved stopping into Flying Tiger for some fun goodies.

And I grabbed some Dough as a pre-dinner snack. That hibiscus.

Nicki came! And tried Shake Shack for the first time


So did Jason and Angela.


Then we meandered over to Eataly and the Nutella store.


Tara and Cameron popped by to say hello.

On the way back to the train I said hello to my gym's NYC location. And a few months later, there'd be that thing that happened right outside of it.

Wednesday night - Salvation Burger night with Brigham and Bryndee! I couldn't wait and couldn't believe it was happening. And yes, it was that good. The classic burger is the way to go. Sadly, just a few days after I was there, the kitchen caught on fire and the restaurant still hasn't been able to re-open.

I'd now like to pit that burger against Au Cheval's burger in Chicago. Hmm....

After filling our bellies, Brigham had tickets to see La Sera in Brooklyn. Did you know he loves Katy? I learned of his devotion through his talking and his faces.

Such joy. Pure happiness right there.

She is pretty rad and the show was a lot of fun. So much so that I may have to go see them at Kilby Court in a couple weeks.

He's still so happy on the ride home.

Sad milk carton though. Also, I realize now that I did way too many Snaps on this trip.

Thursday -  magical Cronut day! Holly was smart and told us we should pre-order for when I'd be in town, so no line! We managed to make it through their clunky-ish website and place a pre-order for today. I was delighted. It was a brown sugar rhubarb with lemon thyme sugar. I really liked it. Would I stand in line for two hours? Eh....but I really liked it. And ate three that day.

I've never wanted to try the cronut knock-offs that sprung up, but now that I've had the real thing I think I might need to. But I don't know how that crispy sugared goodness on the outside and flaky inside can be reproduced!

Thursday afternoon I left work a little early. I almost went to Ample Hills Creamery, but spared my stomach instead and just took in some views. I took the train over and walked back across the bridge, which is the perfect beautiful day activity.


Pizza for dinner at the cheap place around the corner.

Had to video chat with this one. I missed him.

Holly and I stepped out for some ramen too. I really need to find some decent stuff in SLC.

Friday morning we were off to Ragnar! Our team finally came together at the last last minute. We got our van and running assignments, our costumes, and our rental car instructions. Holly, Brandon and I were in van 2, so we didn't have to head up the night before. Instead we got an early morning of trains to the rental car place and to meet up with the rest of our group.

If you ever need a place to eat in Bridgeport, CT, Galaxy Diner will do the trick.

We got word from van 1 that they were struggling with costumes and got off to a late start.

Finally made it to the starting line in Duxbury Beach.

The whole gang.

We started running. Brandon took the flag rule quite seriously when we popped out for runner support.

Since we were a little delayed, my first run would be in the dark. And it was raining. But the run actually felt good, despite the very, very little training I had done. Thanks, OrangeTheory for keeping me in decent shape. Five miles was no problem.

One leg down!

I'd never done a Ragnar where we got a hotel room, but Josh reserved a room for us to sleep for a few hours. We caught a few zzzzs then traded off with van 1. They got to sleep in our dirty beds.

Up early for round two.

Off I go.

It was lovely.

Handing off.

And then enjoying this at the end of leg two. How pretty is this little chapel?!

We all got finished with second legs. Time for food.

Yelp led us to Hole in One in Orleans, MA, and it was excellent.

Just what I needed after running.

We were pretty exhausted by this point, and Scott on our team offered to pay for us to get another motel room and sleep a bit longer. We called around and found a good deal and boom -  beds and chairs to rest in. I was grateful. And here's the view from the balcony!

Last leg. Here we go. We met up with Scott halfway to check in.

Getting close to the end.

Ready for three.

And done!

Final wrap party in Provincetown.


We struggled to walk while getting dinner.



And then we had a long drive back to the city and I'm glad we didn't fall asleep and maybe I drove for part of it? I don't remember if I drove up or drove back. Anyway.

One last day in the city. After morning church I popped through the park and to the Guggenheim. Thanks, work, for getting me in free.




Time to trek home. With one more shack run at the airport.

I had a silly connection in Boston, but whatever. East Coast, I love you.

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