#31DDD: Best story about New York City

Bleaching and dying brush bottle trees, today's DIY project 

I first moved to the DC area in June 1998, about a month after I graduated from college. My friend Michael and I loaded all of our possessions into his car and, roughly 36 hours later, landed just north of Baltimore. Some of my fondest memories of those early days were our Sundays spent in New York.

We were young and having so many major cities within a four-hour radius felt like an amazing gift to two kids from West Texas. A quick roadtrip to the city shortly after we moved was all it took. We were hooked; she had her claws in us. Shortly thereafter, we started driving to New York almost every Sunday. Did I mention we would drive back later that same night?

Our days didn't even involve anything all that exciting. Many, many evenings were spent simply hanging out in a couple of different cafes in Greenwich Village, people watching and pretending this was our city. New York pizza and browsing the Strand. Jazz in a dark cafe. Our weekly tithe was the sleep we never claimed for ourselves.