On Saturday morning, I was getting ready to head to the store when the phone rang. It was Arti, a friend of ours and a talented artist (if you are familiar with the artwork in Lake Placid Skate Shop, it is all his work). After a few minutes of chatting, Arti had some exciting news. "Guess what? I got a call from America's got Talent, and they want me to audition for them in New York City!" he announced excitedly over the phone. "That's great!" I replied; I was really excited for him. A few weeks ago, Arti had decided to apply for the popular reality show America's got Talent, as a singer. He can sing quite well, and even performed with "the Shipman Project" (a local band) in Lake Placid's Fourth of July Barbecue concert.
"So, when are you going to audition?" I asked. "Well, I am supposed to be there tomorrow", said Arti. "Would you guys be able to take me?"
Thus was the start of another Scrunchie and Mo (I am Scrunchie, my mother is Mo- don't ask) road trip. We were still recovering from our last cross country jaunt to Milwaukee, and now it looked like we were about to take another trip....luckily it was only 5 hours each way, instead of 24.
Life is funny that way; I had expected my Sunday to be like every other Sunday- go to the store, catch up on homework, and teach skating in Plattsburgh. As of 11 am that day, we were going to be commuting to the Big Apple.
Sunday morning at 2 am found us on the road- we woke up at 1 am (after only 1-2 hours of sleep) and were in the car by 2. After picking up Arti, we were winding our way through the dark road due south.
By around 7:30 am, we had arrived at the Clifton NJ train station, our normal commuting point. Usually when we came to Clifton to visit my grandparents, we took one day to go to the city, and commuted from the Clifton train station. From there we went to Seacaucus Junction, then the Penn Station.
From Penn, we walked toward 34th Street, where the Javitts Center was located. The auditions would be taking place there, and there were already crowds of people waiting to get in. Arti went to get in line, and my mom and I started walking in search of breakfast.
We finally found a cute little restaurant that was incredibly busy (like everywhere else in NY, even on a Sunday at 9 am) and after eating, went towards Rockefeller Center.
For me, no trip to NYC is complete without skating on Rockefeller Center. I skated for about an hour in the balmy 60 degree weather....then we were off to lunch.
After a couple of hours on the lower east side (the site of our two favorite places, Angelica's Kitchen and Babycakes) and getting lost a few times, we headed back to the Javitts Center. Luckily Arti was finished by five, which led to the long train ride back to NJ.
I did get to see my grandparents, if only for a few minutes. It was so random to be there so suddenly, when at that time yesterday I had been in Lake Placid! Hopefully I will get to visit them again soon- my grandfather is turning 80 this year.
The last thing we did in NJ was search for food- after finding a Whole Foods (for mom and I) and a Kentucky Fried Chicken (for Arti) we were going home. It had been a long and exhausting day.
That was the adventure of the week- there a probably plenty more to come.....but hopefully not until we fully recover from the last adventures ;)
LP SKATER
