So Where Am I?

We've moved to NYC. More specifically, we live in Queens. The post office thinks we live in Flushing. The locals say that we live in Kew Garden Hills. I've never lived in such a geographically complex place. Did you know that New York City is made up of five counties? They are coextensive* of the five boroughs that make up the city, although the county and borough don't always share the same name.

We've been here three weeks now (!), so I think that we have our 'normal' routine established. I'm going to steal liberally from photos on the internet, because I lack the smart phone to take them on the go myself. And, if we want to be frank, I really couldn't take a better picture of most of these places...

In the morning, we wake up (Brian first and then me an hour later), and we go for our run. This is Sadie's favorite part of the day. Her second favorite part is sleeping, which SHE DOES THE ENTIRE REST OF THE DAY. I didn't know this before being unemployed, but it's true. She opens her eyes for a brief period of time in the evening to get fed supper, but it's lights out the rest of the time. No wonder she has so much energy for the run. It's the only freaking thing she does!

But I digress.

We go running in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is literally across one stoplight, and then it's park paths the whole way. I can't tell you how extremely rare this is in NYC, and of course, a major reason for our particular choice of where to live. Here's a map of a recent run so that you can see what I mean:

This run takes me past some places that maybe you'll recognize, but others that are new to me.

The Unisphere (in two Men In Black movies): This is Brian's favorite landmark. You can expect multiple pictures featuring him with this landmark in upcoming posts.

The Terrace On The Park: Unfortunately, you have to have a big to-do in order to go in here. I'm hoping to meet someone that is getting married here soon so that I can go.

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: Home of the US Open - which Brian has tickets to this Aug/Sep. AND, he can play on it anytime, it just takes $30/hr and a reservation. This is very exciting to a tennis player.

The Queens Zoo: I went from running around a park with one zoo (Tucson) to another. Pretty funny. I can't believe that Brian hasn't insisted we visit this place already, as the aviary is a geodesic dome, and he has an obsession with geodesic domes. It's a pretty small zoo, but still. I think it must have elephants, because I'm familiar with that smell from Tucson.

Queens Museum of Art: This is closed for construction until this fall, so I can't tell you much about it. Stay tuned.

New York Hall of Science: Turns out that NYC has only one science museum. Go figure. Brian's trying to figure out how he gets to make exhibits here.

On this run, I just stopped short of crossing the bridge to Citi Field: This is where the Mets play. It replaced Shea Stadium in 2008.

* I just learned this word today, and am super excited by it.