#11 Pridefest 2011 (6/26/11)

Every year, I give a tour the day of the Gay Pride Parade, and afterwords I get out of Greenwich Village as soon as possible because it is so crowded. I decided I wanted to experience the festivities since this year is so historic!

The Parade on 8th Street and 6th Avenue

Check out the amazing feather headdresses!

Vinyl Chelsea

Peter and Jimmy

My friend Jimmy and Me

Watermelon Margaritas on the rocks

We watched the fireworks from Chelsea Piers, downtown Jersey City is in the background. We were so close to the barge and the crowd was very light. The 4th of July has a tough act to follow next week.

Pretty!

Solstice in Times Square: Mind Over Madness webcast

timessquare on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

#10 Solstice in Times Square Mind Over Madness Yoga (6/21/11)

"On Tuesday, June 21st, [I joined other] yoga enthusiasts [to] celebrate the longest day of the year with an all day yoga fest. Attendees are challenged to find tranquility and transcendence in the midst of the world's most commercial and frenetic place, Times Square." They held three classes, I attended the 12:30 session with Patrick Lynch of Bikram Yoga NYC. Between the three classes they expected 8,000 people to attend, which is amazing! But what is even more amazing is when you consider that 17,000 people pass through Times Square in one hour, creating quite a challenge for us 8,000 to find balance and tranquility.

Me :)

My swan dive view.

My "savasana" (corpse pose) view. It's not every day you get to lay on the ground in the middle of Times Square.

An overhead view on the screen.

#9 Memorial Day at the Intrepid (5/30/11)

The USS Intrepid (CV-11): "Built in 1943, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and her crew served tours of duty spanning World War II through Vietnam, making seven trips around the globe and surviving five kamikaze attacks, several bomb attacks and one torpedo strike. Curing that time she also served as a NASA astronaut recovery vessel before being retired in 1974."

An active duty ship sat between the Intrepid and the Iwo Jima, they were letting people tour it, but I made my way over there too late and they had closed it for the day.

The USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7)- I didn't go on this ship because there was a three hour long line.

Soldiers listening to the Memorial Day Ceremony

The anchor chain in the Fo'c's'le.

Mercury Capsule replica

"Optical Landing System," which sits on the flight deck out to the side, and acts as a tool for the pilot of the planes to land their plane on the deck.

Martin-Baker, Mark V Ejection Seat

"Highline Seat," they would sit in these when they were pullied between ships. Can you imagine?!?

A-12 Blackbird

I didn't write each of these down, but the one on your left is a UH-1A Huey.

It was Fleet Week, so it was easy to find a sailor to take a picture with. :)

USS Growler SSG-577: "Our Nation's Fourth Guided Nuclear Missile Submarine 1958 - 1964"

Missile Hanger

Officers Stateroom inside the Growler Submarine. I'm going to try to remember this when I feel bad that my apartment is so small.

The Control Room and Attack Center

Goodbye for now!

#8 Highline to Riverside (4/30/11)

I have been back in New York two months today, and I am still struggling to get back into my "New York State of Mind." Billy Joel had it much easier because he was from Queens. I have been feeling very melancholy, balancing my machine-like momentum and my emotional struggle to make New York my home and have a real purpose in being here. Only back for two months, I already had to make a quick jet home for my Grandfather's funeral. Two days before my Grandfather passed away, I decided I needed to take a long walk. It was a nice day and I have always wanted to walk home from work, which is more than 150 blocks... here is my adventure "home"...

*This post is dedicated to John N. Provo (9/26/1940 - 5/2/2011)

View of the Statue of Liberty from the Highline (http://www.thehighline.org/)

Beautiful tulips on the Highline

The USS Intrepid - US Navy WWII aircraft carrier (http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/). My Grandfather was in the Navy during the War in Vietnam.

One of the Intrepid's propellers

"The World" cruise ship

Submarine

My favorite kind of Cherry Blossom Trees. This spring has been very mild but the flowers have been very pretty and have lasted longer than other years.

This is some sort of submarine, I like that it looks like a bottle of wine ;)

From the bottom... it is kind of hard to see but it was all set up with a toilet and a kitchen.

From the top

Geese! It's nice to see animals in the city other than rats and pigeons.

The New York Central Railroad 69th Street Transfer Bridge

Hudson River Park

The General Grant National Memorial (http://www.nps.gov/gegr/index.htm). I need to go see this for real...

Riverside Park

Different kind of Cherry Blossom Tree

The Riverside Church (http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/)

The George Washington Bridge