the grand adventure: day one.

it looks like i jinxed us. this morning, we woke up to a cold and rainy day. by the time we had gotten a midmorning snack, though, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. we started out near south street seaport and looped around the bottom of the island to battery park. i had forgotten/not realized how many trees and flowers there are down there. i actually felt like i was back in tennessee or something. it has been raining like crazy so it was green all over. we found a lot of public art pieces, including one called ape & cat (at dance). one of my favorite spots at the tip of the island is the irish hunger memorial (note: seventh picture down.) you almost forget you are in the city as you walk up the winding path to the top of the hill. the view is not bad either. as you can see in picture eight, and we didn't notice at the time, storm clouds were making their way in. it was around this time that the sun disappeared and our jackets went back on. we made it to the tom otterness instillation, the real world, before the sprinkles started. pretty soon it was pouring. we continued on but couldn't take pictures because it was like a serious downpour. we stopped at happy taco (i'm not sure what it is really called but it is on sullivan street off west 3rd street) and had some wonderful and very inexpensive guacamole tacos. $1.65 is not too bad in my opinion! for some reason the fountain was closed off...not quite sure what that is about. by the time we had finished eating, we were still without umbrellas and the rain was still coming down hard. mackenzie, having just arrived from west texas, only had her sandals. she was a trooper but we had to make a couple stops for her to dry her feet. the rain continued to come down heavier and heavier. by the time we got to chealsea market we were soaked. my boots even had water in them. in an attempt to dry off we got milkshakes at ronnybrook farm dairy. they are unbelievable, and have every kind of milk you can imagine. next time i want to get the steamed milk with lavender. how delightful does that sound? after the milkshakes, we went into the bathroom and attempted to dry out our socks and shoes with the hand dryer. after that i had to pick up the little one from daycare.  when i finished, we went to two bro's pizza to get a couple $1 slices. i'm pretty sure we spent a total of $5 each on lunch and dinner combined. not too bad if i do say so myself!

we are hoping the rain slows down for our adventures tomorrow but it won't stop us if it doesn't! mackenzie will have more pictures up from today sometime tomorrow.

ps. the last set of photos is from the waterfall in chealsea market.. it changes colors!