Blizzard!

What a welcome back to the states! Quite an experience though. NYC in a full blizzard. This is nuts!

I arrived at the hotel yesterday evening, and got to hang out with my parents. It was really good to see them after these last couple months. And 5-6 was free happy hour at the hotel, with really good wine and hot apple cider with whiskey. Delicious. Then we decided to head out a little and find a place for dinner and to hang out. Times Square was absolutely packed. You could barely move at all. Eventually we found a place that looked really good for food, but we had to wait a couple hours to get seats for sure. So we put in our names and headed to the bar just a couple spaces down.

While we were hanging out and chatting, the guy at the table next to us piped in with some suggestions of places to go and ways to get there. We ended up chatting with him for awhile. Turns out hes a stand up comedian here, and he told us e had a show Sunday night at Dangerfield's and suggested we come out.

After we all parted ways, we went and got our food. John got a steak, my mom the Spaghetti Bolognese, and I the veal. I think John's was the best, but I was also craving a good American steak and have been for quite some time. All the food was really good though.

When we woke up this morning, the blizzard forecasts had become more prominent on the news. So we decided to walk to Macy's first before and snow started. I bought a new pair of jeans and was therefore able to throw out my old pair. It was about time on that front. Then we walked down to the Empire State Building to get our City Passes, though we weren't climbing yet. We want to go up at sunset and the blizzard was going to hinder that today.

We did however go to the Museum of Natural History. Did the planetary, history of the stars show, saw the dinosaurs, the gemstones, and whatever else took our fancy. Once we left though, the snow had started and was already sticking, but it was pretty minimal. We weren't too impressed with this NY blizzard. The wind was pretty bad though, so we headed back to the hotel for happy hour and to bundle up for the evening. Then we headed out for dinner and the show.

We went to Jacksonhole Burgers and they were amazing burgers indeed. The taxi ride to get there was a bit more interesting though. Couldn't see out of a single window in the cab, not even the front windshield. And our taxi driver was chatting on his phone and still zipping around traffic. Not a drive I'd ever be comfortable making...

The comedy show was incredible. R.C. Smith was so funny! Only about 20 people were there though, due to the weather, so we all got picked on regularly. The best of all though, was the really drunk Australian gal that kept trying to heckle. She was such an easy target, and the guy she was with was not happy with her or the evening. Eventually he made her leave early, and we heard she'd refused to put on her coat and slipped straight into the snow outside the building.

After the show, R.C. came up to talk to us for awhile, and we found out he is on the Rachel Ray show. When ever she references talking to R.C. backstage, it is him. Very cool we though! Then we headed outdoors. The snow had picked up like mad while we were in there. Cars we stuck at every intersection, spinning out their tires, just in general trouble on that front. We waded through the snow for several blocks to get a subway back to the hotel, and by the time we got there were thoroughly wet and covered in snow. The worst part though is the wind. It would drive the snow like needles straight into your face, and the city is like a giant maze of wind tunnels. Quite an experience to be sure.

The news report has upped our snow forecast for overnight, and it should continue through tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow hold for us, and what we will be willing to walk through.