Yes, I went to New York City on the weekend of the blackout! I’d been planning to go and had already bought my bus ticket (Greyhound has a $20 DC-to-NYC fare if you buy three days in advance) when the blackout happened, and I figured I’d go anyway. The bus ride took longer than the 4h20min the schedule promised - that time could only be valid if there were no traffic jams, which never happens on I-95. (Plus we stopped at a rest stop, which was odd because it was supposed to be an express bus. I didn’t mind, though, because I got to pick up a Subway sandwich before heading to the Land of No Open Delis or Restaurants.) Traffic was dreadful once we got into NYC; when we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel I noticed the traffic lights were working. We finally drew up adjacent to the bus terminal but then stayed put for a while; the driver got out and wandered around a bit. When he came back I asked if I could get out there - we were at West 40th and 9th Avenue, and I needed to walk down 9th to get to C’s place anyway. The driver let me go, and I began my stroll.

I found that power was on all the way to 30th Street, and was on after 14th Street as well. C, unfortunately, lives between those two, and I had to telephone him so he could come down and open his building’s door - the buzzer, of course, relies on electricity. We wandered around the Meatpacking District and the West Village for a while, stopping in at the restaurants that were open. A few of them told us they were out of food, and we ended up at the Village Den even though it only had a limited menu because of the blackout. As we walked back to C’s apartment in Chelsea, we realized the power was back - his digital clock revealed it had been on for a little over an hour.

On Saturday we decided to go to Coney Island. :R: came over to join us, and I put on plenty of sunblock only to find that it was cloudy outside. The subway ride seemed to take forever, but I was excited when we finally got there. I was really excited about going on the Cyclone, so we did that first. It was $5 to ride, but we didn’t feel like waiting for the first car. C and I ended up in the middle of the train, and :R: was in the very last seat - he reported a lot of airtime, which I hadn’t noticed. I did find it a fun ride, though - it’s been there since 1927 and it’s pretty rickety, with a lot of jerking around. It was a lot more intense than I was expecting! I would have loved to go again, but I kind of got the sense that C and :R: weren’t really interested in coughing up another $4 each to re-ride. After getting something to eat, C and I went on the Wonder Wheel (:R: is a bit afraid of heights), and then the three of us played around in the arcade a bit. We wandered out after that and got back on the subway; I never did get any cotton candy but we didn’t see anywhere that was making it fresh anyway.

I made failed attempts to get together with Chris and Aleja, and I feel awful that I didn’t get to see either of them. I’m feeling pretty bad in general tonight; I could have stayed over into tomorrow morning and I really wish I had.