Tales from The Social Club: Great Views at Great Lengths Under Spectacular Skies!
Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, September 17, 2024 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Meeting Location Origin: Benjamin Franklin Statue Near Brooklyn Bridge, One Pace Plaza, New York, NY 10038
Meeting Location Destination: Shake Shack, 2 Water St., Brooklyn, NY 11201
Website Link(s): Brooklyn Bridge and Shake Shack
We could see for miles and miles. We could see for miles and miles. We could see for miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles.
Ok. I can infer you are probably wondering, Shane, what do the three sentences above (which happen to be the theme song for one of my favorite comedy TV series, Supernova, which by the way you can watch the first episode of season 1 by clicking here if you are interested) have to do with the event we did this week at The Social Club. Well, that is what you about about to find out.
For our latest adventure, we walked across the glorious Brooklyn Bridge under a NYC sky mixed with blue colors and white colored clouds. And, yes, we could literally see for miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles. Those white wispy clouds in the sky are called cirrus clouds and they are exist in temperate regions (which NYC is a part of) at altitudes ranging from 16,500 ft. to 45,000 ft. (or from 3.13 miles to 8.52 miles) above sea level according to World Meteorological Society (WMS). You can read more about cirrus clouds on WMS's website.
Our journey walking across the Brooklyn began at the Benjamin Franklin Statue in Manhattan (our group's origin meeting place). Benjamin Franklin is one of my role models because he is widely considered the greatest journalist during the colonial America era (which began in 1607 when the English settled in Jamestown, Virginia and ended in 1783 with the conclusion of The Revolutionary War) among biographers and historians. Benjamin Franklin and myself do share some striking similarities. We both have a strong passion for weather. Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod and measured water temperatures in the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean as a part of this passion. Also, when I attended Manhattan College (my Alma Mater), I wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Quadrangle. You can view their website here. Benjamin Franklin wrote and published the Pennsylvania Gazette.
After we met at the statue, we began our 1.3 mile journey from the statue across the bridge to Shake Shack. The Brooklyn Bridge is not flat. It has a slight arch shape. Therefore, our journey started with a slight uphill walk. This bridge was also crowded as you can see in the picture below.
One of the things I was interested in on this outing was the amazing views the Manhattan Skyline provided. Below is a picture of us with the Manhattan Skyline in the background. The tallest building in this photo is One World Trade Center which is the building on the right with the large antenna (which, by the way, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 ft.).
Upon reaching the first of the two bridge towers, we were met with these 2 plaques. The top plaque commemorates the year construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge (1869) as well as the chief engineers who worked on the project (John A. and Washington A. Roebling). The bridge was built from 1869 to 1883. The bottom plaque commemorates the year (1954) reconstruction work on the bridge ended. The work took place from 1944 to 1954. The reconstruction work included removing railroad and trolley tracks from the bridge, strengthening the inner and outer trusses, new horizontal stays being installed between the four main cables, roadways being widened from two lanes to three, and new approach ramps being built.
After we left the first tower, we headed towards the center of the span where we were greeted with spectacular views of the East River and the Manhattan Bridge. One of the major advantages to crossing the Brooklyn Bridge as opposed to an outing we did earlier this year where we went to the observation deck at the top of an 850 foot Manhattan building called 30 Rockefeller Plaza (you can view that blog entry here), is that for both locations you get great views of the NYC Skyline but crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is free while going to the observation deck costs between $34 and $61 depending on when you go and your age.
We also passed a plaque commemorating the Brooklyn Bridge as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Going across the Brooklyn Bridge was an enjoyable experience because of the great views the bridge provided of the NYC skyline and the exercise that walking over the bridge provided.
Once we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, we ordered food and drink from a Shake Shack in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) Neighborhood in Brooklyn. This location had a lot of background noise so I would recommend bringing noise cancelling headphones and/or earplugs to reduce the noise if you have ultra sensitive hearing like myself. At this location, I shared with the group my experience on my recent summer vacation in Maine. Specifically, I learned that my ultra sensitive hearing allowed me to hear outdoor crickets that other people could not hear (inside my family's vacation rental with the doors and windows closed). You can read about more about my Maine vacation experience in my blog post here.
After we finished eating and drinking, we left the Shake Shack and went our separate ways home to wrap up what was one of my favorite Social Club outings.
--
Sources
