I know everyone is waiting, so here it is.

I went to New York on Friday! Hooray for me!

The weekend got off to a rather bad start, however, when I didn't get out of work early enough. Mind you, the airport is an hour and a half away, and I needed to park my car at one of those shuttle places, so I should have left at 1:30 or so for my 5:00 flight. Well, that didn't happen. I pulled out of the G'ville gas station at 2:30 and started to panic. And of course, there was traffic. In G'ville! When is there traffic here? And at 2:30?? Come on, people! I felt as though I was being punished for my late start. The traffic gods laughed at me the entire way to JAX, actually, as everyone thought it would be fun to block me in while driving under the speed limit. I'm normally a patient driver, but the Bacilos concert was in jeopardy! So I got a little too close to some cars to remind them that the left lane is for people in a hurry, namely me. So I pull into the fantastic valet car park/shuttle place (for $4.00/day!!) at 4:25... I've never missed a flight before, and I was pretty sure that was what might happen. Alas, we took off 1 minute later (thank you, King parking!) and I arrived at the check-in desk, looking rather sheepish, at 4:35. The woman at the counter held back her reproach and told me I should probably head right to security (ya think?). Anyway - I made it! Thank you for the 10 minute delay, JetBlue, thank you.

On an aside - I love JetBlue. If only they traveled to more of the destinations I frequent. Free TV in every seat? Who wouldn't love that? And normal sized snacks! And the entire can of soda! I mean, come on American/Delta - you really can't swing for the entire can? The little plastic cups hold about 3 swallows of liquid once they pile in the ice. Combined with the four pretzels you're offered, it's a choking hazard in the making. But not JetBlue - no choking on their flights. Well done.

So JFK has a sweet lightrail system that hooks up to the LIRR - it's relatively new and very nice. Almost worth the $5 fee each way. $5 - really? I miss Portland. I digress. AirTrain + LIRR = Penn Station for $10, and takes only 45 minutes or so, which I thought was pretty good. One cab ride later I was looking at the ridiculously large lit-up tree in Rockefeller Center (One more digression - is anyone else sad about them cutting down these beautiful, 100 year old trees every year? I couldn't help being a little peeved as I looked at it).

So my crazy friend V and I meet up under the tree (which would have been very romantic if she'd been a boy) and make off for Time's Square. A slice of pizza and one large beer later, we're waiting in the VIP line at BB King. What kind of concert starts at midnight? Crazy Bacilos. We're ushered inside at 12:15 (SO, SO cold outside) and the show starts an hour later - ahhh, hora latino. But you know what? It was so worth the wait. I rank it #2 on my "best concerts I've ever been to" list, right behind.... Bacilos (2002 - Guayaquil).

Two hours and one picture with the drummer later, we head off on the next leg of the adventure: last call, of course. Who knew that there's not a lot to do at 4:15am in NYC? The 20 degree weather also put a damper on things, so we made our way to a 24 hour diner, to the delight of the wait staff. Around 6:00 we went to V's friend's to crash on her [super cold, hardwood] floor for an hour.

V and her friend were heading home for a few days, so I was on my own and headed back to Time's Square for a bit. About this time I was feeling a little yucky, having been wearing the same clothes for to many hours and without access to a toothbrush. Still fun though :) I walked from Time's Square to Penn Station/Madison Square Garden and caught the LIRR back to JFK. It was FANTASTIC.

One fun fact about the trip was that I took absolutely no bags. No backpack, no purse, nothing. I felt very liberated by this accomplishment. Mittens, hat, phone, money - it was great! I definitely recommend it for all travelers.