Visit With Friends in Stamford, CT

Remember Lindsay, who flew out to Seattle to go to British Columbia with us? Well, Ms. Lindsay permanently resides on the East Coast, just outside of New York City in the fine state of Connecticut. We had a week left on our rental car, and we were only 3 hours away, so we decided to drive down and visit Lindsay at her place in Stamford. Lindsay had recently moved to Stamford from Norwalk, and now had a brand new roommate that we were excited to meet. Kailee, the roommate, had also invited a friend of hers to town, and we had a sizable group for the night.

We arrived just after 5 on Friday afternoon, and after picking up Lindsay from work on the way in, we caught up with Kailee and Chris and made our way to the train station. We had plans to take the local train from Stamford to Grand Central Station in New York City, and from there to meet up with more friends from high school for dinner and drinks on the town. Before boarding the train we stopped at a liquor store and stocked up on pre-dinner drinks (yes, amazingly it’s ok to drink while riding the train!). An hour later we arrived at Grand Central. The main terminal was abuzz with Friday evening foot traffic.  We stood for a while and watched people go about their plans as they weaved through the crowds.

Chris, Kailee and Sky waiting for the train to Grand Central Station 

Grand Central Station in New York City

When we walked out of Grand Central we could see the glow of Times Square in the distance. Since we had some time left before we were to meet the rest of our party, we decided to make a mad dash to the square. Chris had never been to the city before, so we were hoping to show him as much as possible. We only made it to the very edge, but still had a decent view of all the lights. After the square we caught the subway to the Lower East Side and met up with Zach and Ren, our friends from back home. Both are somewhat recent transplants to the city, but they seem to be making the most of their time there.

The glow of Times Square in the distance

Lindsay, Ren, Zach and Skyler outside the pizza joint 

The seven of us went to a crowded and happening pizza joint and split appetizers, pitchers of beer and steaming pizzas. Following that we made our way to an upscale cocktail bar named Elsa, where we all ordered a unique drink from the menu and then each sampled all the drinks. Chris ordered some kind of very spicy concoction made with habanero peppers, and the poor guy was sweating after eating the pepper. We still had some spunk left in us after the cocktails, so we made our way to the Beauty Bar dance club and spent the rest of the evening there dancing to old groovy tunes. Unfortunately for us, the last train back to Stamford was just before 2am, so we had to leave the party early. Either way, it was a great night on the town!

Our cocktails and beer at Elsa Bar

Inside the Beauty Bar

The next morning most of us woke up with a bit of a headache. I say most of us because I am one of the lucky few folks in the world that doesn’t get hangovers. Instead, I usually wake up with a huge hunger the next morning, and am famished enough to consume unordinary huge amounts of food (I think I got the better end of the deal). So after a few moans and groans, we gathered ourselves and went walking around Stamford in search for breakfast. Lindsay and Kailee live right downtown, so all we had to do was walk out of their apartment and we were presented with lots of great options on where to eat. We strolled by the farmer’s market and then made our way to the Sundance Café. If you are ever in Stamford, and are at a loss on where to eat breakfast, I would highly recommend the Sundance Café! They serve up strong Columbian coffee, overstuffed omelets, and have a very reasonably priced bagel with cream cheese and lox on their menu. Num!

After breakfast we stopped back by the farmer’s market and bought up enough vegetables and olives for the evening’s cookout. Then we packed ourselves up in two cars and went to a local beach in Norwalk. We spent most of the afternoon goofing around on the beach, practicing handstands, throwing the Frisbee and playing Bago in the sand. When we got back to the apartment we ran into the two car/one parking spot dilemma. But no problem! Since we had such a tiny car, we parked our Fiat sideways at the top of the parking spot, and then Lindsay was able to pull her car next to us, and we all still fit within the lines! The Fiat rocks!

Hello! Our group on the beach in Norwalk

Chris had the best handstand of the bunch. This is him tossing
the bean bag with his feet while doing the hand stand!

Kailee and Lindsay perfecting the handstand

That evening Lindsay and Kailee called up two more friends to join us for a cookout on their rooftop patio. We bought a variety of meat and then grilled it along with the farmer’s market vegetables for dinner. Lindsay served up handmade cocktails made out of freshly squeezed lemons, and for dessert we had champagne and cupcakes (for an early celebration of Skyler and I’s birthday!!). Kailee taught us a game (something along the lines of Taboo, but everyone makes up their own key words) and we played for hours on the rooftop. When it got too chilly, we moved downstairs to the living room, turned on some music and pulled out the Twister mat. After bout after bout of Twister, Skyler was deemed the reigning champion and then we all made our way to bed. Chris had brought along his HD Hero2 camera on the visit and recorded most of our day. I’m not sure we did anything Hero-worthy, but it will be quite amusing to see the finished footage. Another epic night with friends!

The bunch of us on the rooftop patio

Chris and Kailee enjoying champagne and cupcakes

Tom, Rob and Lindsay enjoying a game of Twister

To see more pictures of our visit with Lindsay, click here.

Happy visiting with friends in the city!!

M.