Walking the High Line

Jenny, Kenny, and I met at the High Line one afternoon.  The High Line is a park built on the abandoned railroad tracks along the west side of Manhattan and currently spans 24 blocks.  We started at the Beer Garden at W.30th Street and 10th Avenue.  Beer gardens have gotten increasingly popular in NYC and usually pop up during the summer months.  Some are in open spaces attached to a bar or on a rooftop with sweeping views of the city.  We need a beer garden in Honolulu!  It would be a great idea plus it would be open year round because the weather is perfect all year! 

Beer garden

The beer garden at High Line is situated in an open space underneath the railroad tracks.  There is a bar on one side and food trucks parked on the other side.

Enjoying a cold one

You have to purchase drink tickets from a booth and then you redeem them at the bar.  I got a nice cold wheat beer which was really refreshing since it was hot that day.

Korilla BBQ Taco Truck

Jenny and I both got the tacos from the Korean taco truck.  You can choose a plate of 3 tacos or single tacos.  They also had burritos on the menu.  We both chose the plate of 3 tacos.

3 taco sampler

I got one of each meat: beef, pork, and chicken.  As for toppings, I just let them add whatever toppings they had.  OMG, these were delicious!  These reminded me of the Korean pizza that my friend Pam and I concocted one afternoon.  The Korean flavors with the meat in a flour tortilla were super tasty.  One taco was a bit too spicy for me (the middle one in the picture above) so I couldn’t finish it, but it was still very good.

The Empire State building

After our “snack”, we went upstairs to the park since it is on the elevated railroad tracks.  We were on W.30th Street so we walked towards downtown.  The nice thing about High Line is that the park constantly changes and is never boring.  The landscaping is different throughout and was very pleasant.  It is a great place to relax, go on a date, have a picnic, take a leisurely stroll, take pictures…there is so much you can do here!

 

Interesting buildings

There were also a lot of new and interesting buildings.  I can imagine living in one of the apartment buildings overlooking the park.  It would have an amazing view since the park is lit up at night!

Ice cream sandwiches

Lucky for us, the Melt Bakery cart popped up along our walk.  The cart sold 3 different flavors of ice cream sandwich.  I think their flavors rotate.  Jenny and I shared the Cinnemax.  It was cinnamon ice cream between two snickerdoodle cookies.

Yum

It is a bit pricey at $4 a sandwich, since it was small enough to fit in your palm, but it was really good!

The Porch - another beer garden!

Further down our walk, there was another beer garden called The Porch.  It was really cute and seemed like a nice relaxing area to meet up with friends to enjoy a few cold ones after work.

Gelato stand

On the walkway next to the Porch, there were a few stands.  One served coffee, one had gelato, and the other one had ice pops and shave ice.  We went for the popsicles and shave ice.

Popsicle and shaved ice stand

The lady working the stand shaved ice from a huge ice block.  It was cool to watch since all the shave ice shops in Hawaii are done by a machine.

Shaving a block of ice

Since the ice was manually shaved, the shave ice was a lot coarser.  The flavor was red plum and it was very good.  It was not too tart or sweet and had a nice plum taste.

Red plum shave ice, roasted red plum tarragon and blueberry basil ice pops

Since the shave ice was so coarse, there were a lot of holes and the red plum syrup ended up at the bottom of the cup.  Getting through the top part of the ice was like eating plain crushed ice and as the sun set, it got colder and colder with each bite.  However, when I got to the bottom, it was like drinking a refreshing beverage!  The popsicles were delicious and flavorful.

KAWS sculpture at the Standard Hotel

At the end of the park was Standard Hotel at W.13th Street.  There was a sculpture Kenny wanted to check out which was on the street level next to the hotel.

Overall I enjoyed the walk through High Line.  I think they are continually expanding the park so it should be even longer next summer.  It is a nice walk during the weekdays since it is not as crowded but it can get packed on the weekends.  If you go, be prepared to walk since it is located on the west side and the closest subway station can be as far as three avenue blocks away.  This is definitely a place to check out in the summer when in NYC.