Huppdates: Vacation!

Wheels up to wheels down, the flight east from the nation's "friendliest airport" to, Newark New Jersey was about 3 and a half hours. Not quite as long as my college commutes home to California, but still the longest flight I've been on in quite some time. We experienced an hour long delay before take off thanks to the "sequestration", which the airline made very clear was the cause of our tarmac sitting, but overall our trip to the armpit went well. Our trip was 6 days long, split between Jersey and Pennsylvania and we were quite excited to take full advantage of rail lines and subway/metros instead of a rental car.

Our train trip from Newark to New Brunswick included treats for the eyes in the form of plentiful, diverse, and complex graffiti. Sure, you can find the occasional art tag here or there in Phoenix, but nothing compares to what we saw traveling from Newark to New Brunswick, all the way to Philly.

Having managed to catch a cold the night before, which steadily built during our travel day, I stayed in on Thursday night while Jonathan caught up with some friends. Friday, we hopped back on the train and headed to the Guggenheim museum in the swanky upper east side. I can't say this museum is on my top 10 list, but the building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and was impressive in and of itself. I took a few pics, was scolded over one, but overall can't say the art was really my bailiwick. We walked through the throng of nannies to find a quick snack before heading to the MOMA store. We had expectations of finding something entertaining to purchase, but left empty handed.

It had been almost 5 years since the last time I'd set foot in New Jersey/New York and as much as I enjoy the diversity and sites to see, I certainly do not miss the massive, and often completely oblivious crowds of people everywhere. This said, instead of fighting through time square and walking our legs clean off, we hopped in a cab to Penn Station and just so happened to catch an express train back to New Brunswick.

Friday evening we met up with some Rutgers buddies, whom I personally have not seen in far too long. We walked from the hotel to Stuff Yer Face and enjoyed some scrumptious strombolis, and just a few libations. There have been several changes in New Brunswick since our last visit, such as new buildings, a few changes to the college book stores, but overall, most of our favorites, including tasty east coast pizza, thankfully still exist.

Saturday, was the day of our friend's wedding, so we opted to stay local and wander about the campus. Turned out Rutgers was essentially having a "get to know your University" event that included all sorts of Rutgers booths including free mini cupcakes that you got to decorate yourself, RU alumni pins and magnets, and various games and crafting sections for kids. It was refreshing to see Rutgers so festive and outgoing. At one point we came across the RU Knight and I used my Jersey, know-when-to-step-up-faster-than-the-guy-next-to-you moves, to snag a great pic. GO RU!