I always seem to have a good time in NYC. The drive down was grueling. It took about 11 hours to get there in our rented Grand Prix, including a couple of hours waiting at the border, and a couple of hours for lunch, dinner and bathroom breaks. The border delay was the worst. Note to self: avoid Queenston Lewiston as a border crossing. Because of construction, every car entered on the far left lane that branched out to about six lanes eventually, but there was no way to know that until you were stuck in that far left lane going nowhere. It took us well over an hour to get through the border.

I think we had to stop about three times to pay tolls within about 20 minutes of the city. I found the placement of this sign just at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel toll gate somewhat ironic. If it was intentional, it’s brilliant.

Arriving in the city brings back memories from previous trips. The sights, sounds, and smells of the place aren’t always pretty, but they’re certainly unique.

At about 11, we checked into the Holiday Inn Express, between 7th and 8th Ave. on West 29th. It’s not a bad place. Pretty generic, with small rooms, small beds, and tiny pillows, but basically clean and a safe home base. A nice touch are the free apples and oranges available at the front desk at all hours. A few of us walked a few blocks to the UCB Theatre after checking in to pick up our performer passes and see some improv.

The next day I took a walk around the city. I was hunting for a place to buy the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L lens. B&H, where I normally buy equipment, is closed on Saturdays, so I couldn’t get it there. No one else seemed to be able to come even close to B&H’s price, so I decided to pick it up on Sunday morning instead, before we left for home. Later in the day I met up with Diny, and then with the rest of BiJ for lunch and warmup. We went on at 2:30pm. It’s always fun to perform at DCM, because you can bet that most of the people in the audience are hardcore improv fans, and they’re going to give you an honest reaction to your set. I think our set was decent. Our suggestion was “creme brulee” and we spun out a montage of scenes from that. We’d decided ahead of time to skip the opening and launch right into it. We’d also decided not to try to get too distracted by form and just have fun. I think the set was was balanced and connected, and we got some good laughs out of it.

After the set, I watched some of the other improv groups perform. Standouts included Them Do This and Rare Bird Show. Both of these teams were inspiring for their smart and funny play.

That night, I had dinner with Nick and some of the other folks I originally met at DSI in North Carolina a couple of years ago. A number of them, including Nick, have moved to NYC to pursue their artistic dreams and careers. That’s pretty cool. It’s certainly not an easy move, but when you’ve gotta do it, you’ve gotta do it. I admire that.

After dinner, I checked out a few more shows. The theatre, by this point, was packed to the point that you couldn’t move, and had a relative humidity of about 98%. Knowing that that humidity was 100% human sweat made it doubly uncomfortable. I made my way back to the hotel and crashed for the night, or at least until my BiJ mates came back at 4am. We stayed up until 7am reliving the day’s events, until we realized how depressing it was that the sun was already coming up and that we had a 10 hour drive ahead of us within a couple of hours.

I slept for a couple more hours and then headed out at 9 to visit B&H again. It so happens that this Sunday is the only Sunday all year that they’re closed. It’s a Jewish holiday. I could have gone to another store to get it, but I decided that fate was trying to tell me something about buying this lens. It was not meant to happen right now. I decided to try to find it in Canada instead.

I strolled back to the hotel, soaking in the morning ambiance of the city. It’ll probably be another year before I make it back again, and I wanted to enjoy it: the smells that wrinkle your nose, the sounds that deaden your ears, and the sights that boggle your mind. It fascinates me that within a couple of months of living in NYC, these things would seem normal, and suddenly anything less would seem bland and unexceptional. That is, unless you’re exceptional and can recognize that each moment is also exceptional, no matter where you are. I’m not sure what my point is.

The drive back was pretty easy, despite Mother Nature hammering us with alternating rain and hail storms. I think we got back in less than nine hours. Sweet.

We drove out to the coast again. After hours on Interstate 5 and then smaller highways weaving through the stubbly, clear-cut hills, it was a relief to see the Pacific again when we reached Newport. We quickly found a room at the Shilo Inn, which had a fabulous view overlooking Newport’s enormous beach. From our room, we could see a few people, tiny as ants, traversing the vast expanse of sand, bordered between a scrubby hill and the gentle surf. I completely failed to get a photo of this. So, I present, instead, some horses from the previous morning at the treehouse place.

After checking in, and settling in a bit, we went out in search of a restaurant with a view of the ocean, so we could watch the sun set as we ate dinner. You’d think it would be easy to find this, but you’d be wrong. There were few apparent restaurants in Newport with a nice view of the sea. We finally found the Best Western hotel’s on-site restaurant, which had a partially obstructed view. The atmosphere was dismal, and the food was forgettable. Driving around town later, eventually finding an all-night Safeway grocery store was actually much more fun.

Ok, I didn’t entirely fail to get a picture of Newport’s beach, but I did fail to get a picture I liked. After we went back to the hotel, I grabbed my camera to take some night shots of the beach, but I struggled because the hotels had huge flood lights aimed at the beach. These threw awkward and unnatural shadows of everything everywhere, and I just couldn’t find an angle that looked good and worked with these shadows.

Anyway, we decided that the next morning, instead of heading up the coast to another beach town, we’d make directly for Seattle. This would give us two nights in the city, and some time to enjoy and explore a little. We drove back inland, and got to Interstate 5 again, and plowed directly up the middle of Oregon, through Salem and Portland, and into Washington State. We got to our Holiday Inn in downtown Seattle around 5. After our usual settling-in routine, we selected a restaurant from among a zillion mouth-watering choices, and made a reservation online. Dinner was great. Laura and I both had wild salmon. It was served on a bed of whipped avocado and grapefruit, of all things. We also had a small dish of wild mushrooms, sauteed in garlic butter. Yum. Later on, we went for a dessert at an artsy cafe/bar.

Now it’s time to sleep. It’s our last full day of the trip tomorrow, and Seattle awaits exploration.

So far the secret trip has been a big success. We got up at 4:30am to go to the airport, and I didn’t say what we were doing until we got to Terminal 1 at Pearson. Then I explained that we were flying to San Francisco, spending the day there, and then driving up the Pacific coast to Seattle. Much of the trip’s content will be decided en route, so there’s lots of room for flexibility.

Arriving in San Francisco, we were greeted by warm and sunny weather, which is apparently not typical for this area. It was 25C all day, and bright and sunny. We checked into the brand new Intercontinental Hotel downtown, and set out to explore. We spent lots of time shopping, and then visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I only had my little camera with me, but the architecture in that place made me wish I’d brought the big one. Anyway, I did what I could.

Because of the time change, and our early start, our day seemed to last forever, which was a good thing. We had dinner at One Market, near the Ferry Building. I had an incredible Dungeness crab salad, and some perfectly-cooked bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. We walked back to the hotel and collapsed in exhaustion. Today, we’ll pick up our rental car and head up the coast. More to follow…