One of the many things I love about Glenn is that he loves to surprise me. He is so creative and comes up with the most fun dates. I love how Glenn puts so much effort into these surprises, and he thinks it’s absolutely hilarious how crazy it makes me not knowing. Truly though, I love it because I know Glenn’s surprise dates will not disappoint, it just makes it extra difficult to know how to dress. With a 1 YEAR wedding anniversary coming up I knew Glenn was planning something, and thus the waiting began. My trip to CA ended up being perfect because it would have been practically impossible to keep this secret. In fact while I was on route back to NY my Dad calls me and tells me how much I will love my anniversary date. That’s the other way Glenn likes to torture me, telling absolutely everyone but me what we’re doing. So in the car headed home Glenn tells me that he can’t really keep the secret until our actual anniversary and I’ll know as soon as I get home what it will be. So I walk inside to find a white and pink cruiser bike!! We have been wanting to go on more bike rides and I’m so excited to have my own bike! Our plan was to take our cruisers on the train into NYC and ride our bikes through Central Park and then down to the waterfront. We mapped out our ride and it was going to be about 17 miles. I made pasta salad, and we packed that along with some other goodies for a picnic in the park. We had our camelbaks filled with water, bikes, helmets, and we were set to go.
Anyone who knows me really well knows that I’m not the most flexible person. I am a planner. I am obsessed with having a plan and knowing exactly what we’re going to do. Being spontaneous is something I am constantly working on. When something doesn’t go exactly as planned it’s difficult for me to adjust.
That being said our date didn’t go exactly according to plan, but it was still a memorable day and I still had fun. Our kind friends the Hales let us borrow their van so we could transport our bikes to the train station. When we arrive at the train station we find out the train only comes every hour and five minutes on off-peak days and we had to wait about 45 minutes. Traveling with bikes on the train is much easier in theory than execution. The wide handlebars made it hard to maneuver through the aisles and we just had to stand with our bikes near the doors the whole ride. When we finally reached Grand Central it was just over a mile to Central Park. We start riding on the sidewalk because I was positive I would die if I rode in the street with all the crazy NYC drivers. We were told by the police that riding on the sidewalk isn’t allowed and we had to walk our bikes to Central Park. Central Park has hills! Oh my goodness, I was not expecting that to be so challenging and I had to stop and walk up a few hills. We bought a map inside the park and picked out a scenic little waterfall we stopped at to eat our delicious picnic. It was incredibly hot this day, and it was making me a little cranky. I was feeling so bad because I was worried Glenn thought I wasn’t having fun, when I really just was so exhausted from the heat. I was hoping to stumble across a children’s water park to cool down and like two minutes after I said this, Glenn spots one. This was my favorite moment all day. We just let ourselves get drenched in this little water fountain. No care at all to my nice straightened hair, just letting the water rinse through my head and down my shirt was so refreshing and made for a much happier girl. I felt so rejuvenated after this water break, I even managed to bike all the way up a couple hills without walking at all.
After circling around all of Central Park we rode down to the waterfront where there is a nice long bike path. This was nice and flat, and just what cruiser bikes are made for. Fleet Week was going on and there were lots of people. We’re riding along when Glenn gets stopped by a park ranger and told he missed a sign saying he needed to dismount his bicycle. Glenn hops off and the woman continues to ask for his I.D. which he hands over without complaint, and she proceeds to write him a ticket! I was pissed!!!! A. Glenn maybe rode two feet past the sign. B. It was so crowded and therefore very easy to miss. C. So many people rode past without ever dismounting. D. The other park ranger there was just telling people to dismount and letting them go no problem, and we get the woman with a major power trip. I felt like yelling and screaming at her because it was so unfair. She then took her sweet time and took like twenty minutes to write up an environmental summons. Really now, what’s better for the environment than riding a bike. I was so proud of Glenn when he crumpled up the ticket and called her a joke! We rode all the way down to the 9/11 Memorial and then found out we needed to lock up our bikes like three blocks away. I was worried about them being stolen and we decided to just skip it. By this point in the day I was so tired and sunburned and just wanted to go home. I think we biked close to 20 miles, which doesn’t sound like much, but keep in mind we’re on one speed cruisers. We decided to skip our fancy dinner plans, hit up a Jamba Juice, and go home.
I love and appreciate Glenn so much! He knows how to handle me through my ups and downs in emotions, and just never stops loving me. Thank You for planning such a wonderful First Wedding Anniversary date! I look forward to sharing an eternity more with you!
These pictures we took at West Point on our actual anniversary, and the next day was our bike ride. I’m pretty sure my picture obsession makes Glenn crazy, but he is such a good sport.
