Ever since I moved to New York I've heard about the Astoria Beer Garden. I finally made it on Friday. Aaron (my neighbor of Aaron and Erica), Michelle and Drew were all done teaching for the school year, and we were celebrating. Aaron and Michelle got out there at 4 p.m. and started the party off. I actually got off work at noon, but I took a nap and took my time getting out there. To get out to Astoria, it's a straight shot for me on the M60. When I got to the bus stop though, where there should have been three buses lined up ready to go, there were none. After 15 minutes, there were still none. I knew this was not a good sign; so I headed for the train. Drew confirmed later that he waited 45 minutes for a bus, and that it was jam packed. I got on the train, went to 42nd St. to transfer and got on the train to Queens. Once the train got to Queens I knew things weren't looking right. Finally I realized that I got on the R train instead of the N or W. So I had to take the train back towards Manhattan, then I walked a block and a half to the right train line. However, right as I came out of the station is when the heavens opened up with one of the bigger storms I've seen here. Tons of lightning, thunder and RAIN. I made it onto the train though a little wet, honestly like an umbrella helps when it's that bad. Almost two hours I left Manhattan, I finally made it to the beer garden. It was well worth the traveling though. We played games, talked and just in general had fun with the crowd around us. The tables there are really long picnic tables, and we were in a group of about four tables. Anytime someone new showed up to anyone's table, regardless of if we knew them or not, we all cheered. It was like Cheers X 100, and so hilarious to watch people's faces as they came in. This is a poor attempt at trying to capture it. I didn't want to keep my camera out the whole time waiting for someone to show up, so this is the end of the cheering when someone arrived. It's also at the end of the night so there's not as many people.

I drank my first beer that I was able to finish. It had a funny aftertaste, but it wasn't bad. However, Josh and Aaron were playing quarters beside me, and somehow because the quarter ended up in my cup, I had to chug. So for all the world to see, here is my first chugging of beer.

We stayed at until 1 a.m.-ish. As we were leaving Josh gave me a piggy back ride, which was funny enough, but then I gave him one. He asked me if he turned my head if I would change directions like a horse, and I made the mistake of saying "yeah, and if you kick me in the sides, I go faster." Whoops. Still it was a hilarious way to end the night.

I'm not sure if the beer garden will ever be as much fun as it was on Friday. There seemed to be a lot of teachers there celebrating, but it was a great night.