So it’s been hot outside—I mean, really hot—but you’d like to get out.
Let’s go. New York’s High Line.
The first time I visited The High Line, I was on a dash-up-to-New-York-City kind of visit, and only part of the park was there.
I was in New York to meet up with friends. One moment we were walking down a street, two of us talking so much that we were pretty much oblivious to everything else. And then the next moment we were there: Up on an abandoned elevated rail line filled with plants.
I was struck, at that time, with how glamorous New Yorkers can look. Everyone had this kind of “I’m a model in my spare time” edge to them, and the park felt a little like a catwalk.
But the other thing that you could not ignore was the heat.
This was the summer, after all. In New York City. Blech. Hot. (Believe me, these were, and are, very good friends.) But even in that heat, it was immediately apparent that we were moving through some place extraordinary. We got through by buying popsicles at every chance there was, and ducking into the shade when we could. One of the kids was cranky (I get it). We eventually left for pizza, and I knew I wanted to come back again.
Several years later, I made it there in May.
I walked nine miles that day through the city.
Only part of that was The High Line, since finished. Just under one and a half miles. A corridor of green and flowers up in the sky.
Thanks for reading Botanical. If you’d like more NYC sketches, check out my last post, which featured The Met Cloisters—and peonies.
Fabulous plants in the sky and fancy people!
You got it in eight words!