Today was a great day for walking. Actually, it was just a great day all around... AND a great day for walking.
After days of rain and dreariness, this big yellow thing came out in the sky and it was like everyone in the city had been let out of prison!
I started off with a tour of the Conservatory Gardens in Central Park. I'm working on training to be a volunteer tour guide in the Park and one of the things I have to do is go on a bunch of the tours. I can't decide if this was a good one or bad one to start with. I was kind of overwhelmed by how much the guide knew, but, he also seemed pretty specialized... I think he actually worked in the Gardens as well. I was also relieved to see him say a couple of times that he didn't know the answer to something or kind of correct himself in the middle of a thought. It was cool... lasted about an hour. Tomorrow, I'm going to do the Amble in the Ramble tour, which I think is more what I'd be doing.
After the tour, I went back to my apartment to meet my friend Abby. We were planning on doing some walking and some stalking. Actually, I shouldn't call it that... it's for a good cause! Basically, I bought these stuffed bears from the Avon site and ordered these little cards that say "Thank you for your donation to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer!" The plan is to get different celebrities to sign the cards, which I'll attach to the bears and auction off to raise money for the walk. When possible, also take a picture of the signer with a bear. Voila!
So we set out with cards, Sharpie, bear and camera. Decided to walk by the Hudson River (after lunch at the Boat Basin Cafe) and went for about a mile and a half before jumping in a cab since we didn't want to be late to our first stagedoor stakeout--Hugh Jackman at The Boy From Oz!
We'd actually gone to see The Boy From Oz a couple weeks ago, so, we knew where to stand and when to get there. After a bit of stress and some angling for position, as you can see from the picture above, we were successful! He was very nice... signing the card and posing for the picture. We were high with victory! (Well, I think Abby was high from just being so close to him!)
Then we walked about a mile up to 66th Street, where we were seeing a movie. 13 Going on 30. Very cute!
After the movie, we wanted to fit dinner in before hitting the next stagedoor, so, we started walking the mile back to Times Square, stopped at a diner, ate outside on the sidewalk, and made it to the Barrymore with time to spare.
"Sly Fox" had a whole slew of good people in it... Richard Dreyfuss, Eric Stoltz, Peter Scolari, Elizabeth Berkeley, Rene Auberjonois, Bronson Pinchot...
Peter Scolari was one of the first to come out and was a total sweetheart. I held his soda while he signed other people's autographs and took pictures. He graciously signed the card and posed for the picture... he also told us that Wendy Jo Sperber runs a similar walk in California. Actually, he said, "Wendy Jo Sperber, who's one of my best friends, runs a walk in California" and then went on to clarify that she was on Bosom Buddies with him 25 years ago (25 YEARS AGO??!?). We kind of laughed and were like, duh, we know who she is!
Richard Dreyfuss came out, but, he was totally mobbed and then kind of rushed off, so, we didn't get him. We were pretty bummed... mostly because the adults here were worse about the whole thing than the teenage girls were with Hugh Jackman! We didn't blame him for running away. :( We'll go back for him, though. :)
We never did see Eric Stoltz, which was the one we *really* wanted to see... we think he snuck out a different door. But, we did also get Elizabeth Berkeley to sign a card and pose for a picture. She was *very* pretty in person and very sweet. It was very cool. :)
Once we finally gave up on Eric Stoltz, we headed back to my place and walked the 2 miles there. It was a gorgeous night and we took our time... stopped for Mister Softee on the way and picking up some flowers. My feet were definitely hurting by the end (I definitely need to pick up new shoes SOON), but, I was really psyched to add it all up and realize we'd walked 5 1/2 miles over the course of the day! It felt so good! :)
Comments