A Boating Expedition

Row, Row, Row your boat, gently through central park!  That's what my sister and I did recently, and for the fair price of $12 per hour at Loeb Boat House you can to!  And trust me, it will take you that full hour to explore the huge lake that you have at your disposal.

It's beautiful on the water.  You get these amazing views of Central Park west apartments, cool rock formations, beautiful bridges, and well, generally you just feel like you are anywhere but crazy-hectic Midtown Manhattan.  It's peaceful.  And actually, a great workout.  Rowing for an hour?  You will feel it in your arms the next day, let me tell you.  But you are having so much fun while doing it, that you don't notice at all how tired your arms are getting.

The beginning is a bit like bumper boats, as it's hard to get the rhythm at first.  And you start right where a bunch of people are also getting the hang of it, so you'll constantly hear shouts of "Four", "Hey There", "Watch out" at the beginning.  But a combination of increased skill, plus a huge space to explore, makes it so you feel a little more isolated once you get going.  It's pretty romantic...or, I mean it could be.  Romance wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe my and my sisters trip, but fun definitely would be. 

Recommendations:

1) Get there early: It opens at 10am and we got there right when it opened.  It made it so it wasn't that hot, there was no line to rent and there weren't that many boats out yet.
2) Bring some champagne or other libations:  Drinking and snacking on the boat would have made the trip even better.
3) Bar Scene:  The bar overlooking the late doesn't open till noon, so maybe bring a book or some music so you can chill without being bored until the bar opens.