Monkey Bar: The Empire Strikes Back

Reading about Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter’s new Midtown venture, Monkey Bar, situated in the Elysee Hotel, I was enticed. By some accounts, it’s his tour de force in Manhattan scene (if not cuisine?); by others, it seemed like a voyage to turn-of-the-century Bombay, an intriguing move, if of questionable taste. Ultimately, Ruth gave it the nod. And I love an adventure.

December 2006: Marblehead, MA

Go back to the night before my flight to San Francisco. I was sitting in my kitchen when I suddenly heard a gunshot. Given where I live, this is not out of the question at all. When I left the house to go out for drinks later in the night, I discovered that it wasn’t a gunshot but a rock through glass. Specifically, the glass of my car’s driver side window. I got Grinched! USAA took great care of me and repaired the glass while I was in San Francisco. A word to the wise: if you can qualify for USAA, switch to USAA! A great friend drove me to a rental car office so I could get to Richmond for my flight. (USAA paid for the rental, ahem.) So when I got back to Richmond, I didn’t have a car. I had to rent one. Again. It was two days after Christmas, I was lonely, and there were still hundreds of tiny chards of glass in the pockets and folds of my car interior.

November 2006: Denver, CO and Bend, OR

My boss stopped by my desk and said, “You want to go to a conference in Denver?”

 Yes!

She additionally suggested that, because Denver is a cool city and the conference would take place all day Thursday and Friday morning, that I should consider taking a day or two to myself to enjoy the west.  I did.