Isle of Printing (Bryce and I) packed up shop and drove to Brooklyn this last weekend for Prints Gone Wild! It's about a 14 hour drive or so, but we made it in one piece. We were slinging posters, making friends, eating bagels, drinking warm beverages, and walking long distances for three days, until we got into our rented gangster car (a chevy HHR) and drove back to Nashville in time to sleep a minute and then (in bryce's case) go vote. We did well at the show.
Right before we hit the road, however, we went into Manhattan to see such sites as The Burger Joint, Central Park, and FAO Schwartz's muppet factory. Okay, so it's not exactly a factory, BUT...I think it's almost as exciting to know you can order and design your very own personal muppet. You just pick from all the different eyes, noses, hair options, and colors...then pick out some clothes...and voila! a muppet to call your own.
One of the undisputed facts about New York is that it has good pizza. It's just true. However, though I agree, I hadn't yet had pizza that was mind-numbingly great, and would cause my tastebuds to mentally googlemap it's location to remember now and forevermore...until now. here we have Gromaldi's...(lets hope I'm spelling it right). They just do everything right, plus they have this great poster. I love it. That is all.

Continuing on the food tour: Bryce and I ate at the smallest (and perhaps best) hamburger joint...aptly titled: Burger Joint. It's behind a red velvet curtain, within a fancy hotel (Le Parke Meridian) in Manhattan. Right off the Avenue of the Americas. All the while, you're waiting in line, with this tiny mystery growing closer and closer around the bend. Once in the door, the menu is simple: burgers. You get your choice of the normal toppings, what temperature you want it..and then the fry option...and if you're feeling extravagant (and if they haven't run out of icecream)--milkshakes! While you're slinking in, everyone's keeping their eyes peeled for open tables...the restaurant is no bigger than one of those gas stations that just has gas and a coke machine...tiny, right? So, when a table gets up (and clears their own trash, at the risk of being heckled!) there are already 3 people swooping down on it. I feel like burger joint is a fair example of New York, in general. There's no room, yet people find a way to make room. Buildings and businesses are stacked and coupled together (sometimes awkwardly, but that's part of the charm. it's like, "Oh, you need a place? Okay, lemme scoot over. now there's room for the both of us.") There is no pretense of "personal space," and elbow room is an empty term. Being from West Virginia, where mountains are the only thing to bring about claustrophobia, it's an entirely different mindset. Even in Nashville, which is supposedly a "city," there are more parking lots than parking garages. Everything is (for the most part) still built on a level plane (three stories or less), aside from the condos and a couple downtown buildings.

All in all, the trip was a huge success. I just need to go back and buy this necklace I forgot to get...and still think about. We'll see if it's still there next time.