Exploring Eastern Queens Part 1: Royal Flushing

Roar! Today I decided to head out to eastern Queens to check out another of the Key to City sites. But first I rode over towards Flushing to see what was happening in one of my favorite neighborhoods.

My first stop was over in Flushing Meadows Corona Park at the copyright-infringement-free Jurassic Playground. Roar!

The Jurassic Playground was so cool! Here I am hanging out with a Brontosaurus friend of mine. This reminds me of when I was hanging out with the snake in Gerritsen Beach. Roar!

There were all sorts of great little touches in the Jurassic, like this Stegosaurus shaped jungle gym.

There were even little fossils worked into the stones around the playground!

The rib cage of this plesiosaur was even turned into a water fixture. Actually, that one is a little bit creepy. Roar!

Here I am hanging out with the memory of some of my ancestors. Though these guys are a little bigger than I remember them being...

I left a contextually appropriate tag on this slide and continued on my way. ROAR!

Next, I passed this cool new skate park they put in by the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows park. The skate park is apparently a collection of famous skateboarding spots from all over New York City.  Let's see if anyone can do some sweet tricks!

WHOA! That was really amazing! That guy totally slid down that rail! I've never seen anything like that before. Roar!

Next, I left the park and headed over to Flushing Main Street.

After all that action I was feeling pretty hungry so I went and got a big box of delicious pork steam buns!

MMM!!! Oh man, these Pork buns are delicious! ROAR!

Next, I headed down main street where a local committee was out promoting recycling in order to help keep Flushing my favorite color: Green!

Mr. Met was even there to let everyone know how important recycling is. He's like Queens royalty. It sure was awesome to meet him.

Here I am doing my part to help keep Flushing green. Roar!

For recycling they gave me this sweet bag. I'm not sure but I think it might be a little big!

A Long Night Out on the Solstice

Roar! Today was the winter solstice and last night was the longest night of the year. I decided it would be fun to spend the whole night wandering around New York to see what I can do in the city that never sleeps. It was a long night but it was also a lot of fun.

After watching the sunset on the roof of my apartment I decided to take a stroll around my neighborhood. Here I am relaxing in Maria Hernandez Park enjoying the last few moments of twilight. It was really interesting to watch the light change throughout the course of the evening as I explored the various stages of night. Roar!

As I walked through Bushwick I found this open lot full of undisturbed snow. It was illuminated by the window of a nearby apartment. I had a ton of fun stomping around in the snow, casting all sorts of wild shadows everywhere. If the people in that apartment looked out their window they would have been so surprised to see a T-Rex playing outside in the snow.

My neighborhood is so up and coming. Check out this restaurant, it's both "Tasty" and "Chic!" I love places that combine food and fashion! Yum!

Next, I headed over to the Bushwick Farmers Market Winter Solstice Feast. It was a great event and there was a ton of great food. Here I am enjoying some delicious rabbit shepherds pie while sipping a tasty beverage.

In one room they had a screen showing all these great images of planet earth. Roar! Watch out gazelles! This isn't a lion, IT'S A T-REX!

Here I am working the bar at the Solstice Feast. Anyone care for a glass of wine?

There was a lot of ambient lighting at the feast. Just look at all these candles. They were really getting into the spirit of the night. Maybe I'll take one of the candles with me for later.

T-Rex and the Shadowy Way made their debut at the solstice feast! Everyone was grooving to our post-apocalyptic sounds. Someone even told me I had a voice like Tom Waits. Roar!

After I ate my fill and helped out a bit, I left the feast and headed back outside into the cold. I passed this sign so I decided to look behind the fence to see what the man was up to. It was crazy -- he was juggling while riding a unicycle in the snow. If you can find this place I definitely recommend watching the man inside. Roar!


Next I headed up to the Kaufman Astoria movie theater in Queens to see a late night showing of Avatar. The effects were amazing but the story was so-so, it could have used more dinosaurs. Overall I had a great time and it was good way to fill part of the night.


After I left the theater I decided to walk to Jackson Heights from Astoria. I passes this 24 hour tanning salon. After seeing Avatar I considered going in for the late night special to make myself a bluer shade of green.

As I continued my walk to Jackson Heights I passed this great spot where the trees were casting some amazing shadows. Can you find me in this picture?

When I got to Jackson Heights I headed over to Sammy's Halal Cart. They won the Vendy Award for best street food in New York City in 2007. I got a big box of meat over rice! It sure hit the spot on a cold night.

Woah! Check out all the meat Sammy's is grilling! It all looks so warm and tasty! Roar!

Next I went over to Flushing Meadows park to see the big statue of Prometheus they built for the 1964 Worlds Fair. I decided to light a candle for Prometheus but it didn't give off much light so it's a little hard to see him in this picture. If you look carefully you can make out his shadow in the darkness.

Here I am in front of the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows park. It was really quiet in the park that late at night. No one else was around so it was nice to just hang out at the Unisphere and have the world all to myself. Roar!

Next I took the train into Manhattan and went up to Rockefeller Center to see the other statue of Prometheus here in New York.

I didn't need to light a candle for this Prometheus because it turned out they'd already lit a whole tree for him! Look at how pretty it is! Roar!

Next I walked down 5th ave to 14th street to take the L train back home. It was really fun to look at the window displays all the fancy stores have put up. Ooh, look at all the crazy animatronics. It's like in a big budget movie!

I got off the L train and headed up to the roof of my apartment just in time to watch the sunrise. Just look how beautiful it is! I was starting to wonder if it would ever come up.

Open NYC was today!

ROAR! Today was Open NYC, the day where all these crazy places around NYC have open houses and you can sign up for tours. The problem is all the tours are at the same time so you can only go to one. I signed up for the tour of the Jackson Heights garden apartments. It was pretty fun to walk around the historic garden community in Queens but also a little ridiculous because now the apartments all cost upwards of a million dollars an apartment. It was crazy!

Here I am in front of the Chateau, one of the fancier apartment buildings in Jackson Heights. Check out that slate roof! What is this the stone age?!

This the Towers apartment complex, apparently it was a financial failure. Sure looks nice though!

Where would New York be with out its keep off the grass signs? They really aren't too welcoming in this neck of the woods. I guess when you have a million dollar apartment you don't want to share the space.

One of the great things about Jackson Heights is it has a really diverse ethnic community. That means all kinds of exotic MEAT! Here is some delicious chilly chicken! ROAR! I love meat!

ROAR! Giant kebabs! Jackson Heights is so great! MEAT! MEAT! MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!

After eating a ton a awesome meat I left my mark on a street pole then rode on to my next destination, Flushing.


Afterwards I rode this crazy ride! Overall it was a pretty excellent day! ROAR!