A view from the bridge, literally.

A little reminder of why I'm here

So I just walked across the George Washington Bridge. I've been across that bridge thousands of times but have never walked or ridden a bike. But now that's one thing off my nonexistent bucket list.

It's easy to get there from here. Walk north 10 blocks and turn left and you're led right to the path. Lots of signs. And a minute later you're up there. It wasn't busy on the path, but I never went more than a minute without seeing someone, even though it was really cold. One guy had his dog with him. My ramblings can't do justice to the view or the pictures, but I'll start with a few observations.

First of all, as most of you know, I'm going through some tough stuff right now, and to add to the fun, our friend and dogsitter just called to say that the heat is off at our house. But you get up into a place like this and unless you just can't think this way, you have to feel lucky to be alive and up in this incredible spot.

Second, there are lots of signs about not committing suicide. I understand this, and they're not all depressing, but still.

It should also be noted that there is no shelter and no place to go to the bathroom out there. Hey Port Authority! Get your act together! I guess pedestrians and bikers don't pay tolls, so who cares about them. I'm thinking, it's almost as if they want you to pee off the bridge. I mean, it's almost a mile long and a guy's gotta go, right?

Actually, if you were going to do that, the other side of the bridge would have been a better bet today, because the wind was steady and strong from the south. I couldn't even dictate into my phone unless I was under one of the towers.

But a food stand would be nice.

The bridge is quite beautiful in both structure and setting, something that's tough to think about when you're stuck in traffic. The way it disappears into the New Jersey Palisades is dramatic. When I was a kid, I worried about the Palisades because I'd heard they were eroding. Maybe it was like an inch a year or something. I wondered with would happen to everything that's up there. I didn't realize until I'd walked over here that there's a road on the Jersey side that runs right under the bridge. Bet there's a nice view from there too (if not as good as the view from the cliffs the Lincoln Tunnel go into- those are really worth a detour.

So anyway, here are some pictures.