For the first time since I arrived in New York, the tear that slides down my cheek is one of happiness.

* * *

I’m still glowing the next day, Saturday, because Jude’s favorite place in all of New York is close to my apartment, only ten blocks away! The High Line apparently runs along the Hudson River, the area I’d made a mental note to explore after my taxi went past it on the way to Porchlight the other week. With a “companion” guiding me, this’ll be a snap.

It’s seven a.m. and I’m dressed in yoga pants, a sports bra, and a tank top, the unofficial uniform of LA. I’m pumped. I’m elated.

I’m out of shape.

I learned from listening to Jude last night that the High Line park opens right now, and it’s invigorating to know I’ll be one of the early risers taking advantage of it. After exiting my apartment, I stretch my arms and legs out, and head toward Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District. Jude claims that’s the best entrance from which to experience the High Line.

Eventually, it dawns on me I’ve gotten turned around. In fact, I’ve walked in the complete wrong direction and now I’m on Avenue B. The place I’m supposed to be is now eleven blocks away, not ten, and it’s eleven avenues, not blocks. Turns out avenues are not the same as blocks. Turns out avenues are about the size of five blocks. I’ll have to walk an hour just to get to the beginning of the tour!

I curse at myself, then take a deep breath and remember it’s my first time actively exploring the neighborhood, and that anything I see today is more than I’ve seen since I came here, which can only be good. I grit my teeth and march up to Fourteenth Street. I pass Union Square Park and the New School, and I’m glad I take a moment there to stop and catch my breath because the windows look like rippling liquid. I snap a photo—my first tourist photo!—take a big swig of water, and continue on my way, renewed.

At last I’m at the “proper” entrance to the High Line, and Jude’s voice is waiting for me there, like armor protecting me. I pop my earbuds in, fire up the recording, and tune out the noises and chaos. Jude regales me with a brief history of the elevated railway, and the effort to “save” it in 2000 and turn it into a public space in 2009. The history fascinates me. From its beginnings as a train line to an elevated promenade, this place speaks highly of the locals and their desire to preserve a worthy piece of history by renovating the industrial area into a mixed-use park.