Travel Stories of Steve Goodyear

Photos: New York City - NYE 2010

stevegoodyear — Sun, 2 Jan 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Photos from my visit to New York City on New Year's Eve where I experienced the countdown in Times Square after spending the day in the Statue of Liberty.

New Year's Day in New York

stevegoodyear — Sat, 1 Jan 2011 23:00:00 GMT

New Year’s Day in Times Square, the first day of 2011, had the streets filled with tourists excited about being in Times Square. Some were reliving the night previous, remembering standing in crowds for hours waiting for that ultimate countdown they’ve been looking forward to for so long. Others were less lucky and didn’t manage to get in a queue in time to experience Times Square on New Year’s Eve. They were now down there getting a glimpse of the ball, imagining what it would have been like to do the countdown.

I spent the day with my camera walking around enjoying the crowds – crowds that felt much less crowded to me by then after my experience the night before. I got some good pictures with my fisheye lens, and enjoyed walking around reminiscing about the night before like so many other tourists. 2010 had been a fantastic year for me, and this had been a great way to send it off. Another once in a lifetime experience checked off!

Another thing we wanted to do while we were in New York was skate at Rockefeller Square. There is a line up, of course, but by then we were veterans at waiting. And even better: at least this line moved every so often! Plus there was a wedding proposal that happened on the ice right in front of us, and plenty of really novice skaters on the rink to amuse ourselves watching.

The ice was terrible, to be honest. It was skated-out something fierce. It was coming up to a Zamboni run, so needless to say it had plenty of ruts and lots of snow scrapped up out of the ice. Almost everyone on the rink was someone who couldn’t skate. There were a lot of hard falls and a lot of exhausted people, but everyone was enjoying their skate as much as we were. Despite the conditions and the crowds of novice skaters that provided a difficult obstacle course to navigate at times, it was still one of those fun experiences that we could enjoy before checking it off as something we’ve done.

Once the Zamboni came out, we were ready to move on. After a great skate, it was time to drop our skates off so we could go get dinner, followed by some drinks. We went to an Italian place for dinner, Il Cantinori in Greenwich Village. It was delicious! Thank goodness we were able to walk in without a reservation and snag one of the last tables for New Year’s Day dinner. They had live jazz that provided the perfect atmosphere to enjoy a delightful meal, and the perfect way to wind down the first day of 2011.

Another time visiting NYC I discovered McSorley’s Old Ale House – one of the oldest bars in America. A popular spot for NYU students and locals alike, we joined in to have a couple glasses of brew. The beer is pretty good, always served in two glasses because they’re too busy to wait for the foam to fill any one glass I suppose. Toasting a frosty beer at McSorley’s is a great way to wind down a fun-filled visit to New York. Cheers!

New Year's Eve in Times Square

stevegoodyear — Sat, 1 Jan 2011 00:02:00 GMT

Things get rolling pretty early in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. For a moment there, I was worried we were going to miss it: locked out of the area, forced to celebrate New Year’s Eve somewhere else, possibly somewhere depressing and lame like back at the hotel.

As I was making my way back to the hotel to get ready for New Year’s Eve, my taxi passed through Times Square where I saw there were people already staking out a place for the night. They were announcing that they were closing the streets to traffic at three to set up pens for people – people who were already queued to get in to spend the rest of the day waiting in a pen. This was only just after two!

My goodness, I wasn’t expecting people to be there so early. We freshened up quickly at the hotel and walked over to Times Square; thankfully the hotel was just a block away. Hoping to find a place, we were corralled right out of Times Square by the NYPD so they could sweep and secure the area before letting people back in. That’s when we noticed the thousands of people already queued to get back in.

I had this sinking feeling as we walked up a side street looking for a queue to get back in. It was a depressed feeling like we had come all the way to NYC just to spend New Year’s Eve in Times Square, and we missed our chance. And not only that, but we had no back up plans. There was a worry for a couple blocks as we waited to discover our fate.

Then we came upon our first side street that looked like it was going to let people queue. There was a huge crowd of people waiting at the end of the street outside a fence, so this looked to be our most promising prospect. We waited for what felt like forever, jammed in a serious crowd of people without really knowing if this was a line and we were getting in to Times Square, of if we were in the wrong place.

Eventually, the gate opened, and with a crowd of people pushing and shoving, rushing to get through the gate, we were in. Not in Times Square, but in what turned out to be a queue: a fenced off area on a side street leading into Times Square. It seemed like progress, but nobody was telling us anything, so there was no actual confirmation this queue was actually a queue, or that we would actually get in to Times Square.

There were so many people squeezed together in this crowd, pressed up against each other, trying to endure this uncomfortable situation for hopefully not much longer. We were in this queue, fenced in this packed crowd for a couple of hours as it turned out. There were some funny people in the crowd though, like one girl who, after the crowd shifted a little with a few people brushing up against her, she turns to her friend to report “I think I’ve just been impregnated.” A guy looked like he was not enjoying himself at all while his girlfriend looked up looking as sweet as she could look, assuring him that it’s once in a lifetime.

Thoughts ran through our heads, like what if the NYPD were containing us here because this was an overflow area for Times Square for people who weren’t early enough to actually get in the square but still wanted to be close. What if this was where we were going to spend New Year’s Eve? Crammed in, squished by strangers invading our personal space; uncomfortable, already tired, and with no view of anything!

Thankfully, the fence eventually opened and the crowd made a dash, pushing and throwing elbows, heading to Times Square. Police yelled for people to slow down, but most people ran anyways. When we came out from the side street and rounded the corner, we were corralled into another pen: our final destination for the night. Another pen in a long series of pens fencing people in all the way down Seventh Avenue to the famous ball, pens that continued for blocks north of our sport as well.

As we were stuck in the middle of the crowd in the pen, squished as people pushed to get closer, we tried to maintain what were referred to as our bubble: a small area of space in the middle of us that we stood in a circle around to protect. This was the only personal space we could get. For a while, anytime the crowd shifted, we’d remind each other to “maintain the bubble.” Any slack given, and the space was gone for good. We fought to hold our space, thinking we’d need it to keep from losing our mind in the crowd.

Then, there was a countdown, a warm-up of sorts. The crowd got into it, there were brief fireworks. On the hour, every hour, they’d count down to the hour, and then announce how many more hours to go until midnight. Wow, at this point there were still seven hours to go! We were still committed to seeing this through, but it sure set in just how much time there was to go. I also realized that I skipped breakfast on my way to go see the Statue of Liberty that morning, and in our rush to get from the hotel to Times Square we skipped lunch.

Things were looking dim: we were hungry, growing tired, losing our battle to maintain a bubble of personal space, and already grown sick of the crowds of people. Then we spotted how empty it was at the back of the pen, just a hundred feet back. With everyone pushing, trying futilely to get closer to the ball that was well beyond our pen anyways, they left a huge gap at the back of the pen. Finally some comfortable space!

After a few hours, we finally managed to flag down one of the guys selling pizza up and down the sidewalk to people in the pens. We got a small pizza each, and scarfed it down in just a couple bites. We didn’t get any coffee or any other drinks they were selling, because there are no washrooms in our pen. You can leave the pen to go to the washroom, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be allowed back in. In fact, it seemed like only one in three actually made it back. We saw one couple where the guy was ringing in the New Year on the phone with his girlfriend who had left to use the washroom and didn’t make it back.

As the hours passed, we amused ourselves people watching. I’m pretty imaginative, and started coming up with backstories for some people. Particularly for one guy who was pretty active mingling in the crowd, I eventually came up with the idea that he was probably from Homeland Security and was undercover in the crowd to feel everyone out. There were other interesting characters too, and people who resembled TV characters. There were also interesting police personalities as they patrolled around the pen. All mildly amusing enough to keep us slightly entertained while the hours passed.

Then the moment we waited for: the ultimate countdown. After hours of warm-up countdowns that taunted us with how many hours were left, it was not time. We made it to the countdown to midnight in Times Square on New Year’s Eve! Thousands and thousands of people yelling out the countdown, watching the clock, seeing the ball drop, seeing the fireworks, and finally yelling out with the crowd in Times Square, “Happy New Year!”

It was 2011, we had done it. We experienced New Year’s Eve in Times Square. And after keeping the crowd contained in pens for hours that day, within a minute into 2011 people were going every direction, jumping rails, going everywhere to get out of there. After the police keep everyone so contained all day, at 12:01 it didn’t matter where you went as long as you got the hell out of Times Square. And we did.

We finally made it back to the hotel, where we had champagne waiting. Thankfully I planned ahead enough to fill the bathroom sink full of ice and leave the bottles in that. This is my previous excessive travel experiences coming in handy. There they were, all chilled and ready for us to toast in the New Year! We had some premium champagne, and it was delicious. Happy New Year, indeed!

Celebrating New Year's Eve climbing to the crown in the Statue of Liberty

stevegoodyear — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:00:00 GMT

One major agenda item for me on this trip to New York was to climb up to the crown in the Statue of Liberty. I have been to Liberty Island before, but haven’t been up in Lady Liberty before, so this was a very exciting part of my trip and a great way to start New Year’s Eve!

I certainly underestimated how long it would take to climb to the crown and get back to Manhattan. There was a lot of security to get through, but thank goodness no real lines. My ticket with a reservation for crown access let me bypass all the security queues, so I suppose it could’ve taken longer if it wasn’t for that benefit.

I had to leave everything except my camera in a locker at the base. Mostly they’re worried about vandals scratching their name in the paint or damaging Lady Liberty on their climb up. I made the climb with only my camera. And what a long climb it was.

The stairs were those narrow circular, spiraling staircase types. The kind that would be common on a ship, or perhaps like some types of fire escapes. There wasn’t any extra room, and for a tall guy like me, there wasn’t much headspace either. But every so often, there’d be a ledge to step off the stairs and rest on.

After a long climb, there it was: I reached the crown where there were gorgeous views of Manhattan, New Jersey, and the water. The space was tight in the crown, as there was only enough room for a few people at a time. It is much smaller that I imagined, hence why the limit access to go up there. Looking out the windows, you can see her torch, people walking around on the island, the ships in the harbour, and of course, the skyline of Manhattan.

This skyline view was one thing I was after. I wanted to get a picture of Manhattan framed in by the window in Lady Liberty’s crown. The windows were much smaller than I expected, so finding the right perspective and getting the shot proved to be more difficult than I thought. Luckily, the far left window was a little bigger than the rest, and had the perfect perspective of the city.

After spending some time in the crown and having got the right shot I was hoping for, I made my way back down the stairs, coming down the other side. Actually, the next group of people were already making their way into the crown, so I also had the sense it was time to move along. Plus, time was of the essence, as I still had to get back to Times Square to queue for New Year’s Eve, and I wanted to snap some more photos on Liberty’s pedestal before I made my way back on the ferry.

It was a wonderful visit to Liberty Island. As I made a dash for the ferry back to Manhattan, I realized I spent a few hours on the island. Time sure flies when you’re hiking up narrow stairs to Lady Liberty’s crown!

Photos: Yellowknife, NWT, Canada

stevegoodyear — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Photos from Yellowknife, NWT, in Canada's arctic north

Marvelling at the Northern Lights

stevegoodyear — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:00:00 GMT

It had been cloudy for most of my trip; and the worry here was that the clouds would block the Northern Lights, and I would go home without seeing them and without capturing a picture of them.

On my second last night, the clouds were finally starting to clear. So I hiked out on Stave Lake around behind Jolliffe Island, where a local said she often watched the Northern Lights. According to her, the island was tall enough to block out the light pollution from Yellowknife that affected one’s ability to see the Northern Lights.

Being the middle of the night and really cold in the arctic, and after a bit of a hike around this island, my camera froze. I did get a bit of a view of the lights, but only managed to take a couple pictures before my camera froze and refused to take any more. This was a bit of a bust, because neither of the pictures were in focus either.

The next night, my final night in Yellowknife, I opted to join a tour that went out of town to their camp to view the Northern Lights. Again, it was cold, and were were in a poorly heated teepee trying to stay warm, hoping like crazy that the Northern Lights would make an appearance.

Sitting across from me, a girl with the same kind of camera as me struck up a conversation. She turned out to be one of the most incredible girls I’ve ever met! She was up there for a few weeks from Edmonton, and was also hoping to get some pictures of the Northern Lights.

Then, without any warning, they began to appear. Directly over top of us, in vivid colour - first green, and then later, a combination of red and green - the lights appeared! I was left with such a sense of awe standing under them: a magical, enchanting feeling as I marvelled at their sight and the shapes they made.

It was one of those nights I never wanted to end. I was hanging out with this amazing girl, having fun snapping pictures of these magnificent, majestic Northern Lights. I went from worrying that I would have to go home disappointed without really experiencing the Northern Lights to this moment that was so exquisite and sensational, I will always cherish and remember it fondly.

Wandering Sights of Yellowknife

stevegoodyear — Wed, 8 Dec 2010 22:00:00 GMT

For such a bleak place, or so one would expect in an arctic town in winter, it is actually quite visual with vibrant colours and spirit. The houseboats lining the lake offer a rainbow of colour and character on the horizon; the decorations on the sheds or the ice sculptures all add visual interest; or the old sheds preserved from when early settlers flocked to the town during earlier gold rushes that give a rustic cosy feeling.

I spent each day exploring the town, all on foot, and learning some important lessons for a photographer: when a flake of snow lands on my lens in the arctic, accept that it’s there now and don’t try to blow it off, or else my lens will frost up and I’ll be done shooting for the day.

Ravens, lots of ravens: the town is full of them. They look like over-sized crows, so on my first trip wandering through the town, I wondered why the crows were so fat here. Later I learned, these were actually ravens, a cousin to crows. Another unusual bird (for me) I saw on my wanders was the Ptarmigan. It is this white bird that you might pass unnoticed, as it blends in with the white snow surroundings. A particularly neat feature I found on this bird is their furry feet.

By far, one of the most interesting scenes during the day along the lake is seeing a dogsled racing by. You can hear the dogs coming as you notice a barking off in the distance. Suddenly, they come around a bend in the lake towing a sled. A marvellous sight where dogs and rider alike seem to be having a wonderful time.

A more popular sight on the frozen lake is a skidoo sledding around, as locals enjoy their arctic playground. But the most bizarre sight on the frozen lake is cars and trucks driving up to their houseboat or taking a shortcut to a neighbouring village, or even just doing a loupe around so the passengers can say they’ve driven on top of a frozen lake.

The best view of the lake with all its houseboats frozen in place is from the top of “The Rock” in Old Town Yellowknife. This is the highest point in Old Town, accessible from a short climb up the stairs there, and provides a gorgeous view in every direction.

Welcome to Yellowknife

stevegoodyear — Mon, 6 Dec 2010 20:00:00 GMT

It was an ironic twist: I picked a trip to Yellowknife over relaxing in the sun in Mexico because I felt like a few days to myself rather than amongst a bunch of party-going tourists; yet the two proved to be very welcoming, friendly, and incredibly easy to meet people.

As soon as I arrived, people welcomed me, offered a “hello” to greet me as I passed, and were just genuinely friendly. I walked around looking to explore this little town in the arctic north and met several locals in my wanders, all of whom displayed a refreshing hospitality. They were interested in where I was from and what brought me to Yellowknife. It pleased them to learn I came strictly for a different vacation, to somewhere I haven’t been, hopefully to photograph the northern lights.

The place was cold - it was December in the Canadian north arctic, after all - but the people were not. I met some who were always from there, and others who moved there from somewhere else. This was a curious bunch, for I was intrigued what would bring someone to move to a small town, isolated in the north. Jobs were a popular answer; relationships were another. Whatever the reason, everyone loved their town, and all the town offered.

Their pride shined through as different people recommended different places to eat, different things to see, and different things to do while I was in town. Some of them loved telling me stories about the history of the place, what makes it thrive, and what it would be like if I returned (which, they encouraged) in a different season.

Another pleasant surprise in Yellowknife was the food. For some of the best fish, Bullock’s Bistro in Old Town Yellowknife is a must. They have a fun tradition of allowing guests to sign their name or some other message where ever they can find room: on one of the walls, ceiling, tables, chairs, anywhere. Even though the place is covered with these little notes, I still felt a little naughty adding one myself.

I also ate a couple times at a nice French restaurant there called Le Frolic Bistro. Dinner here was also a delicious treat. Up the street from this bistro is The Black Knight Pub, a British pub which seems quite popular most nights. It has tasty pub food, and was a fun place to relax with a brew while meeting some locals.