The Open Road Project: The Big Apple

The last stop on our trip this past May was to NYC. This is what happened.

After our lovely time in Boston, we started the drive to New York City. We knew we would be arriving late (since we left after 10pm), but we were not expecting the challenges we experienced finding our way. One would think that the route between Boston and NYC would be would be smooth and simple, but our experience proved otherwise.

The roads heading into the city were atrocious, and it quickly became apparent that none of us were going to sleep along the way. We finally arrived in New Jersey, across from the city and slept in a church parking lot. We found the church through a travel directory called Mennonite Your Way. They are an organization that connects a large network of people throughout North America for home stays while travelling. The spot where we parked was less that 100 steps from a bus stop that took us into the city, so when we woke up in the morning we packed our satchels and made our way into The World's Most Exciting All Year Round Vacation Center (#98 in the list of 98 nicknames for NYC).

Since we only had one afternoon to rock The Bablyonian Bedlam (#5), we had a lot that we needed to get done. After a nice walk through Central Park, we decided that in order to see what we wanted to see, we would have to split up. In hindsight, dividing up in The Printing Capital of the World (#83) was likely not the best decision, especially because our Canadian phones don't love the extra service charges that America enjoys tossing our way.

Calvin and I hopped on the subway and headed south while Dylan and Jordan went off to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).

One of the highlights of The Cleanest Big City in the World (#35) was when we hung out with people who lived on the streets. We didn't leave until our packs were emptied of our extra clothes and we chatted with every homeless person we passed.

We ended off the day by attending a youth convention that was in town called the Misfit Conference. We once again experienced God's provision as an old friend of mine found a way to pay for all of our tickets so we could get in. The highlight for me was seeing ex-Underoath drummer, Aaron Gillepie, play a show. He is one of my favorite artists so it was sweet to get to see him rock.

We ended off our time in The City of Friendly People (#23) with a delicious trip to Chipotle.

With The Open Road Project East Coast winding to a close, we reminisced on all the awesome adventures we had and all the sweet people we had met.