The Annual Trip To Queens

Saturday I did my annual trek to Queens. The day began with a ride on the Water Taxi, where $10 cruises you around the tip of Mahattan from the Christopher St. Pier to the Water Taxi Beach in Hunter's Point L.IC. They add a few new features this year: a tour guide pointing out the sites and providing some history, as well as a ride out to Lady Liberty (the boat doesn't dock there, it's more of an up-close glance from the water). The whole thing takes about 1:2o and is SO worth it. I think this would be a great thing to take out of town guest on (for a bit more $ you can buy a "hop-on, hop-off pass" so you can get off the boat and his areas like Battery Park and South St. Seaport. One thing to keep in mind - by Coast Guard regulations they can only have a limited number of people (30, I think) on the roof deck at any given time, so when we boarded, we actually had to wait a bit to get upstairs. So if you're taking friends you may want to board at the first stop, Pier 84 @ W. 44th St.

Once we arrived at our destination, the Water Taxi beach, we grabbed a spot in the sand and ordered up some german beers and frozen strawberry daiquiris and cheeseburgers fresh off the grill. Ok, so the beach is totally ghetto, but totally fun. Sadly, they no longer had the $2 PBR's that they offered last year. A draft beer was $5, frozen drinks $7. There is shade under tents, lots of picnic tables and a DJ (who was spinning some great old classics). Supposedly the party there on Fri/Sat nights really gets going - and now the water taxi runs until midnight to get you back and forth.

The next and final stop on the journey was to PS1 for the Warm Up party. If you aren't familiar with PS1, it's a contemporary art museum owned by MOMA in an old school building. Every Saturday afternoon/evening in the summer they have a party in their courtyard complete with DJ's and lots of beer. This year I enjoyed it much more than last because the art installation in the courtyard was much more user-friendly. There were 2 good sized wading pools (when I say wading, i mean just up to your ankles) and a fair amount of shade.

I actually went in to the museum this time and saw some great pieces (I think my favorite was John Lurie: Works on Paper) . As usual DEC was an AMAZING tour guide!. Lots of beer and a good time was had by all.