This past weekend was spent making acronyms, doing barracuda impressions, bronzing ourselves on the beach, eating, drinking and taking way too many pictures to document it all.
Our weekend started in Hoboken where Sarah, Matt (aka Fink), Adam and I drove to meet Kendra and take the PATH into the city.
We had dinner at a tasty little italian restaurant on the upper westside and then headed around the block to Blondies, which was Sarah and Matt's first visit to the bar associated with our Alma Mater, Michigan State. Our friend Skippy who was in the city for the weekend was able to PR his friends into meeting us at Hard Rock in Times Square instead of the super trendy (i.e. expensive bar) they were going to go to. After a very bizzare subway ride downtown (i.e. a drunken bum singing and another man that squeezed into the seat next to me to eat an entire bucket of fried chicken in the 10 minute ride), we finally made it to Hard Rock, however, later than anticipated.
We had planned on not staying out too late as all of us had worked a full day and had gotten up early but we all suprised ourselves when we didn't get back to my apartment until 5:00am!
On Saturday, despite not getting to bed until 5:30am, we woke up at 10:00am to head out to Long Island to spend the day at the beach near her house and the night hitting the Port Jeff bars.
We ended up at the beach around 1:00pm, which gave us enough time to get some sun. The beach was not as sandy as I expected, although much more low-key and quiet than the usual Jersey Shore scene. After the beach we all headed back to Kendra's to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. We went to a small brick over pizzaria down the street from her apartment where we kicked off the night with pizza and salad before stopping for ice cream on the way home. After popping in a movie and relaxing for a bit it was obvious that Fink, Sarah and Adam were not going to make it out that night as they were already falling asleep at 10:00pm. It ended that just Kendra and I went out, which worked out well so I could be her "wing man." We we unsuccessful at finding any quality specimens for Kendra but ended up being extremely successful at not being sober. I don't know how namy people we drunk dialed that night, but it sure helped with the long walk home.
On Sunday morning we got up and headed to another beach near Kendra's apartment. I'm super jealous because we learned this weekend that Kendra has 3 beaches within 10 minutes of her house. The 2nd beach we went to wasn't very crowded at first but became more crowded once the weather started to shape up. Adam and I went in the water and threw the football around with Matt. The water was probably only 50 degrees or so, but you only had to go thigh deep before it became shallow again and you had were on a huge sandbar. People were playing volleyball and just wading in the water hundreds of feet off shore.
After the beach we went back to Kendra's apartment to shower and get ready for dinner. This night we choose a small local Mexican restaurant. The food was good and they had tasty refried beans, however the service had a lot to be desired. After dinner we headed back to Kendra's and enjoyed some drinks and music on her patio before heading out to the bar. Tonight everyone made it out and was a great final night to our vacation weekend.
On Monday we left Kendra's apartment around noon, worried that we would hit tons of traffic from the Hampton's on the return trip to New Jersey. We actually made it home in record timing and I spent the remainder of the day in my nice air conditioned apartment recovering from a great weekend.
The whole weekend felt like vacation complete with great food, great drinks, gorgeous beaches, and great friends. It's so crazy how life works out and that 5 people that were friends in college would all live near each other on the East Coast. It's so nice to have friends out here to do fun stuff with or do nothing with. We make our own fun and don't need more than a camera and a fan to have a great time.
Kendra Jean and I Saturday night
