New York State of Mind

I’ve timed this trip really well, weather-wise, as I’ve been fortunate to miss ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy and her follow-up act, Athena. There was some snow on the ground at JFK airport (courtesy of Athena), but it was neatly piled into frozen hills, rather than all over the runway. There are still people in New York without power (two weeks after the initial hit) and the nightly news shows heartbreaking pictures of a lot of homes and businesses damaged by flooding.

No real sign of it in the part of town that I’m in, though – the only real sign of the storms that I’ve seen so far has been the giant trees in Central Park that were uprooted and have been cut into pieces and cordoned off with police tape. It gives you an idea of how powerful the winds must have been – although, as a couple walked past behind me and looked at one huge upended tree, the lady said in a fairly nasty, disapproving voice, “Well, I can’t believe those roots were holding up that tree – look how shallow the roots are.” So maybe it was the trees’ fault, after all.

The weather has been beautiful – a nice chill in the air in the evenings, but sunny days that are perfect for walking around. Which is good, because I’ve discovered Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels. Here are some pics from my trip so far…