A Dark Night Out on the Solstice

Roar! Monday night was the eve of the winter solstice and also a night of a full lunar eclipse! It was a rare occurrence where the longest night of the year was also the darkest night! On a night like this I decided to revive the long forgotten role of lamplighter and help bring light to the darkness here in Brooklyn! Last year I celebrated Prometheus this year I was going to be him! It was going to be quite the challenge, so first I decided to head over to a couple of local eateries and fuel up for the night ahead of me!

Here I am in front of Chimi Mundo on Myrtle Ave by the corner of Wcykoff. Chimi Mundo is a Dominican hamburger joint that serves some really delicious burgers! I got a regular beef chimi  and it was absolutely delicious! The burger was ultra thin and had this amazing vinegar coleslaw on it. With food like this it's sure going to be easy to fight the cold!

Next, I headed over to Chimi Loco which is on Wyckoff Ave right by the corner of Myrtle. It sure is bright at this place! I guess they won't be needing my help around here! Their chimi was also awesome! Their bread is amazing and is definitely one of the things that makes a chimi a chimi!

After all that delicious food I got suited up in my lamplighter uniform and prepared to head out to bring light to NYC! Roar!

Here is my lamplighter torch! It's a pretty neat tool and is just like the ones the 19th century lamplighters used to light gas street lamps all over the city!

My first stop during my role as lamplighter was over in the neighborhood of Park Slope. A good number of people there have restored their old brownstones to the point where they have gas lamps out front again! They're definitely going to need my help tonight!

Oh no! It looks like this lamp is out! This is a job for... Lamplighter-Rex! Roar!

My torch seems to be doing the trick! Burn, baby, burn! Roar!

Now that's more like it! Looks like my work here in Park Slope is done! All the beautiful old gas lights are flickering away, adding to the curb appeal of the neighborhood, and spreading their warmth near and thin! From Park Slope I decided to head south through Brooklyn and help spread light throughout the rest of the borough. But it turns out some neighborhoods weren't going to need my help at all!

Here I am down at "Dyker Lights!" Every December all the houses in the neighborhood of Dyker Heights put on a series of elaborate Christmas light displays. There were so many lights I don't think anyone around here will be having trouble on the darkest night of the year!

The houses down at "Dyker Lights" were so crazy! There were all sorts of wacky animatronic displays! It was just like being on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan! Roar!

The homes down in Dyker Heights were also pretty crazy all by themselves! This one had a fancy fountain that was still running despite how cold the weather was! It had even completely frozen over! Maybe I can go ice skating with my claws! Roar!


There were so many neat things to see in "Dyker Lights" that I ended up taking a ton of photos! Here is a slide show of all of them!

A lot of the houses also had nativity scenes set up in their yards. In all the nativity scenes people were really strict about keeping baby Jesus out of the manger until the 25th of December. Yet in most of them the three wise men were set up and they didn't get there until January 6th! Roar!

Despite how serious people in Dyker Heights were about keeping baby Jesus out of the manger before Christmas, the St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church doesn't seem to have a problem with it! Roar!

A bunch of the shops in Dyker Heights were even getting in on the Christmas displays! Just get a look at the windows of Samurai Sushi! Talk about festive! Roar!


I had a lot of fun down in "Dyker Lights" and for a moment I even forgot about my job for the evening. But then around 2:30 the eclipse happened and I was abruptly reminded of the task before me! I decided to head down to the darkest place in the city and bring light to the darkness there!

Here I am at Floyd Bennett Field, the darkest place in the city. I'd been here once before on my one year anniversary. That was during the day, now I can barely see my claws in front of my face! I hope there isn't anything spooky around here!

Roar! What was that?!

I aint afraid of no ghosts! Roar!

Things got a little dodgy there towards the end of the night while I was at Floyd Bennett Field, but I was able to successfully vanquish the darkness! The moon came back out and before long the sun was rising over the field. It sure was a beautiful sight! There was a moment there when I was afraid I might never see it again! Roar!

My Summer Solstice Adventure: Evening

Roar! After leaving the concert I rode all the way down the rest of the West Side bike path to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Then I took the ferry across the harbor so I could continue on my way to my final destination on Staten Island.

I was feeling pretty dehydrated after all the riding I did all day. Luckily, I was passing by the old watering spot where early pioneers would stop to rest on their way across the island. What a perfect place for to hydrate! Roar!

After a cool, refreshing drink, I decided to take the Staten Island Railroad to very tip of the island to visit another Key to the City location.

Here I am in front of the Bayside Pavilion at Conference House Park. Situated at the very tip of Staten Island, it is both the southern and westernmost point in New York City.

It turned out my key opened this gate beneath the pavilion. I wonder what could be under there?

Underneath the pavilion there was a bunch of weird junk all over the place. There was also this box that I'm guessing was for people to leave messages in. It was empty except for some fishing line. I put a sticker up in it so people would know I had come by. Roar!

I also threw a sticker up on this column of the pavilion. Now I have the southern and westernmost graffiti in the city! Combined with my previous trips to Hillside Ave and 268th Street in Queens and College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, I now have graffiti at all of the corners of New York City! I may have been all over this city before this but now I've officially gone ALL CITY! Roar!

It had been a long day and I was pretty tired but sitting on a bench and watching the sun set from the bayside pavilion couldn't have been a better end to my summer solstice adventure. Roar!

My Summer Solstice Adventure: Afternoon

Roar! After I rode over in to Manhattan, I found myself up in Inwood at 207th street. Turns out there was some great graffiti up there!

Check out this sweet Pink Panther tag! Looks like inspector Clouseau is on the case! Roar!

I decided to ride down the West Side bike path to the George Washington bridge and do the Key to the City location there. The GW is such a BRUTAL looking bridge. In fact, the famous French architect Le Corbusier called it the only beautiful thing the U.S. ever created. Roar! That is just so French!

The map of the West Side bike path was poorly marked and I found myself on a trail that quickly turned into a dirt path that then ran into train tracks. I guess I was on the wrong trail, roar?

I could still see the GW in the distance so I pennied the tracks for good luck then climbed through the woods towards the bridge.

After passing through the woods I finally made it back to the West Side bike path. I then rode up and around to the entrance to the south path to check out the Key to the City location.

Roar?! Where did the lock my key opens go?! There I was at the 3rd gate and the lock was missing. I guess someone must have taken it.

Ahh... There was such a lovely view of the Hudson river from atop the George Washington Bridge. I could see all the way out the harbor. I'll be heading down there later.

Look down there! That's the little red lighthouse under the great gray bridge. The subject of a famous children's book. Let's go take a closer look.

Roar! It's the groovy green dinosaur in front of the little red lighthouse under the great gray bridge! I hope we can all be friends!

Next I continued my way down the West Side bike path until I hit 72nd Street, then decided to cut on over to the park for a Make Music New York performance. But first I needed to make a quick stop at the 72nd Street subway stop.

Ring! Ring! Wait, where did the phone go?! I was expecting a call from Simon! Roar!

I continued my ride over to Central Park to see a performance of Iannis Xenakis's Persephassa on the lake. Here I am playing in the fountain by the lake while I wait for the concert to start. Woah! What is that kid behind me up too?

The performance was really cool! All of the percussionist were set up on boats on the lake and the floated around while they performed Persephassa. The audience also got to float around the lake on rowboats to enjoy the concert. It was so neat!

The concert was a little late getting started so unfortunately I didn't have time to stay for the whole thing. Instead of riding the boats I hung out on the small bridge over the lake and enjoyed a nice view of the Upper West Side.

The concert was a really nice end to my afternoon but I still had a long way to go before my day was over. Roar!

My Summer Solstice Adventure: Morning

Roar! After breakfast I decided to ride north through Queens to see what I could find.

It had turned into a beautiful morning and I thought it would be nice to enjoy the day the way I used to back in the Victorian era. Luckily I was passing by Mt. Zion cemetery so I decided to take a nice stroll through the cemetery.

Back when the cemeteries were first established in the 19th century there was still a lot of open green space to enjoy. Since this was before public parks, people used to come to the cemeteries for picnics. However, unlike in the 19th century, things are now a bit more crowded. Roar!

Despite the lack of open space, all the rocks and English ivy growing everywhere were making a great habitat for some of my relatives!

Here I am relaxing on a bench in one of the few open areas left in Mt. Zion cemetery. Behind me you can see the Sanitation Department's waste processing center. It looks so ominous looming over the cemetery like that! Roar!

After my stroll through the cemetery I decided it might be fun to do some more of the key to city locations so I rode on over to Jackson Heights.

Roar! Here I am outside the office of New York City council member Daniel Dromm.

Turns out my key opens the display case with this flag in it. I wonder what will be behind the flag?

Why, it looks like a bunch of people have been leaving messages here! Maybe I'll put up a sticker... Roar! Get along little doggy, Sheriff T-Rex is town! 

Next, I rode east until I hit the river and one of my favorite parks in the city...

Roar! I just love the Socrates Sculpture Park. There are a bunch of new pieces on display since I was last here in the fall. This piece is called "Facade." One side is covered in beautiful images of nature and the other side with scenes of urban decay. If you ask me it all seems a bit heavy clawed.

Roar! I pushed this tree stump over only to find it had a bunch of tubes and wires for roots?! I wonder what these artists are going for? 

This was a cool piece where the boat and everything on it was found in Jamaica Bay. The sculpture was called "Deadhorse." It looks like this artist has a good sense of humor about what they are doing. Roar! 

Visiting the park was really fun. There are always so many great events happening. There was even going to be a concert later in the day. It was park of Make Music New York. Turns out there were concerts happening all over the city. Maybe I'll go and see one later in the day. 

Next, I headed up to northern Astoria to check out Build it Green, a really cool place that helps recycle more "unorthodox" material in order to held keep New York City my favorite color!

Wow! Look at some of the crazy stuff they have here. I could even start my very own Diner. I'll call it T-Rex's T-Ruck Stop! Maybe they'll even film a movie there! Roar!

Wow! I can even get my skin done here! Maybe I'll finally go for that bluer shade of green I was thinking about last solstice.

Woah! They even have this sweet, sweet mantle! It sure would be cool to have this in my place.

Check out this awesome sculpture! Maybe I should have brought Giraffe along with me today. She would have loved this! 

Yikes! There were even a number of creepy things at Build it Green like a bunch of coffins and even this weird mummified bear that used to be in the Smithsonian. I wonder how it ended up here? Roar!

It sure was a fun exploring Queens all morning. It's such a great borough and there is always so much to explore. I wonder what the Bronx will have to offer? Roar!