2015-08-22 40 -73

Location

Sidewalk in South Valley Stream (just into Long Island from Queens)

Participants

OtherJack

Plans

I planned to arrive around 4, in keeping with Saturday geohash tradition... but actually I didn't even leave until 4. Sitting around the house is so great.

Expedition

This was spontaneous - it was really nice outside and I was kinda restless, so decided to go use geohashing as an excuse to explore the outer boroughs again. Had bad subway timing and was uncomfortably close to missing the hourly LIRR train at Penn Station, but everything worked out in the end and I reached Rosedale station in far southeast Queens around 5:30 pm, later than advertised due to construction delays. Started walking southeast on Francis Lewis Boulevard (a much smaller street than its name would imply) through Rosedale toward the hash.

I'd expected a much more run-down, lower-income area based on the general location, but it was actually quite middle class and well-kept, though not wealthy like the neighborhoods from 2015-07-11 40 -73. Population was mostly Jamaican, Dominican and black American as far as I could tell. Plenty of people walking places, driving places, having backyard barbeque parties (on their quite substantial lawns), etc. A couple young girls stopped me to ask something, but then seemed too bashful to follow through on the question. I wondered if white people were something of a novelty around here (if so, I had traveled very far out indeed.)

After twenty minutes or so I turned left out of NYC and into Long Island! First time ever in LI; the border was marked by a forlorn, fenced-in creek or canal. The character of the neighborhood changed very quickly though - the housing stock became newer, the lawns became manicured, the population became more diverse, the road became wider, and there were national banks and big supermarkets. I turned left into the subdivision of the hash, which was called Mill Brook according to the sign. Readily found the hash house and got my proof on the sidewalk in front.

To change things up I was going to walk back to the Valley Stream station rather than Rosedale, but then realized my round-trip ticket wasn't valid from there because it was in the next fare-zone out. So I ended up just retracing my steps through quiet Rosedale. On reaching the station I still had lots of time, so kept going under the tracks and even further north, and found a Jamaican Chinese restaurant and a beautiful church. Thought about getting Popeye's chicken near the station before boarding, but finally decided the timing was too close.

The ride back was much faster and smoother than the ride down, the subway connection was perfect, and I got my Popeye's in Harlem instead (what a contrast!) before returning home to play some music with an old friend.

Soon (tomorrow) I will write up three more New York area expeditions from several weeks ago that I neglected to post... will put links here.