My Weekend at the US Open

Other than the seven hour trip north (stupid Delaware), The Future Mrs. Leaf and I had a blast in NYC last weekend. We arrived in Brooklyn around 6 p.m. or so on Saturday and quickly made our way to our friend's apartment in Fort Greene. After decompressing a bit, we headed across Flatbush Ave. to 5th Avenue in Park Slope where I bored the crap out of everyone by pointing at all the shiny, new boutiques and saying "That used to be a laundromat, that used to be a bodega," on and on. Man, 5th Ave. is totally different than when I lived there. But it felt good to be back. Hanging out in The Slope made me realize I miss my old neighborhood more than I thought I did. It's so nice to be able to walk everywhere and have everything you need within a few blocks.

We had a short wait for a table at Bonnie's, but it wasn't long before I was tearing into my favorite cheeseburger on the planet. It's nice to know that some things haven't changed at all. That same can't be said for the beer list at The Gate, however. It was all crappy microbrews so we went up the street to Lighthouse Tavern, which had just opened around the time that I moved away. We had a few there and eventually headed home to catch the end of the Mardy Fish v. James Blake match on TV.

Sunday was our big day at the US Open. We watched about 8 hours of tennis and got to see Jelena Jankovic, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick play on Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was really hot in our seats though, so we ended up walking around and moving from court to court all day. We saw a few matches in Louis Armstrong Stadium as well as a few junior matches on the outside courts. Around 7 o'clock, our stomach's starting grumbling, so we headed out to the 7 train after a very full day. Oh, and I took the G train for the first time ever. I was probably more excited about that than I should be. We ended the night with a yummy sushi dinner. On Monday we got on the road early in an effort to beat the traffic and made it home in time to see the last two sets of the Nadal v. Querrey match. Bonus!

I brought my camera with me on Sunday and took a few pics. I decided just to take my wide lens and sit back and enjoy the day, which turned out to be a wise decision. But I still got a bunch of great photos from the day.

[Photo Gallery]
US Open Trip / Labor Day Weekend 2008