I don't know if this has always been a "thing" in the City, but in early August, Robby and I enjoyed taking part in our first Summer Streets NYC. The main attraction to us was the Voice Tunnel. This was an art installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel. The City opened the tunnel to pedestrians for the first time since the 1930's and turned it into an interactive art show.
The tunnel would go dark and then from the middle the lights would turn on and make their way out to both ends of the tunnel at the same time. You could just stand and wait for the light to catch up to you and it would look and sound like a rush of wind coming toward you. The lights were linked to short voice recordings provided by those who wanted to participate. You could stand in line and wait to record your voice, then it would loop around tunnel at the same time as other voice recordings. All at once it just sounded like voices, but if you walked close to each light, you could hear what each person recorded. One little girl excitedly squealed, "I love Pokemon" into the recording!
Rob taking a picture as we left the tunnel
When we got out of the tunnel, we realized that it was not just this area of Park Avenue that had been shut down. The City shut down all of Park Ave, from Brooklyn Bridge up to the 70's. We took advantage and walked up Park for a bit until it started to drizzle.
The following day was the first day of the NFL Preseason, and it was a game between the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys! Rob and Rich came to church supporting their respective teams. We thought it was funny that Jessa and I were kind of on the same wave length too, in our maxi dresses and denim shirts.
Later that night we all made our way to East End Tavern to celebrate the start of Football Season.
Jessa, Erin, me
Rich, Andrew, Brandon, Barry, Brett, Ryan, Robby
And to continue the Sport's theme... we enjoyed a night cheering on the Detroit Tigers at Yankees Stadium.
Me, Lauren, Erin
Jessa, Katie, me
Erin, me, Katie, Jessa & Lauren. The guys were all there too, I promise! Just didn't get a good pic. The game went into extra innings, but sadly the Tigers lost.
The next morning I got to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project all the way in Staten Island. It was long day, especially after the late night at the game. I helped sweep the floors and then sanded and "polished" walls which I enjoyed.
After the long day, we went to dinner with a couple that just moved here from Colorado, Angie & Mike. We finished the evening at momfuku's Milk Bar, home of the famous Crack Pie and it was SO good!
If you live here and have never tried this, don't wait as long as we did! And if you don't live here, come visit us and we will take you there!