Winter Breakage pt.1

Folks,

Here is a quick telling of my journey to New York City a few weeks ago in the post-Christmas blizzard.

I wish I had had any real way to take photos on the long drive up the New Jersey Turnpike, because it was amazing to see the roadways reduced to a barely driveable white-out, with people pulling off under every bridge to de-ice their windshield wipers and lights.  (I could see almost nothing out of my side of the car, due to regular ice build up.  Not that it mattered, because there was almost no visibility anyhow.)  The bridges weren’t much shelter with 40mph winds whipping snow in every direction.  It was the most wonderful thing, after hours of driving at 20mph in the snowy maelstrom, to find ourselves inside the Holland Tunnel.  It was eerie to come out the other end, greeted by empty streets in Manhattan.

After the hotel check-in and requisite New York pizza slices we walked to Times Square, only a few blocks from the hotel, to catch a movie, because surprisingly little was open due to the blizzard.  And it would be dumb to come all this way and then just sit in the hotel room. This was  a difficult undertaking, since halfway there we were almost, literally, knocked over by the insane gusts of wind.  We ducked into a 7-11 to regroup and re-evaluate whether we really wanted to be doing this.  You know it’s serious when you have to duck into a convenience store to merely decide whether walking two more blocks is worth it.  In the end I would say it was worth it, because almost never does one get to experience Times Square nearly empty.

The next day was equally bizarre with city buses, taxis and cars abandoned in the middle of Manhattan streets.  The wind was still howling, blowing wind off of building rooftops.  Large banks of snow flanked every street.  The streets were still pretty empty with many businesses closed.

The day after that there were a lot more people, but navigating the streets hadn’t gotten much easier, with the ice being replaced with deep, cold puddles.  It was a bizarre experience to be sure.  Had we known we were driving into a blizzard we would have stayed in Maryland.  Looking back, I’m glad we did go.  I experienced my first blizzard and was able to see NYC in a state it’s not often seen.

Oh, and here are some photos…

When I shot the following photo all I could think of was this Bob Dylan album cover.

And as usual, there will be more to come.  There was more snow in New York City and then there were some quiet, but cold times spent in Maryland.  Stay tuned.

~J

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