Climbing Manhattan Hill

So yesterday my buddy Matt came into town.  He's from Lincoln, so we don't get to hang out as often as we used to, but neither of us have class on Thursdays, so everything sort of worked out.  We didn't have any big plans, so it was a lot of video games, barbecue, and just hanging out.  We did go visit one of Manhattan's landmarks though, the giant "MANHATTAN" letters on the aptly-named Manhattan hill.

The letters are made of concrete and painted white (and are more than visible on google maps) but have recently been covered in purple cloth for some reason.  I've heard it's part of a fundraiser, but I don't know any details.  I originally thought the letters were only reachable from the bottom of the hill, so we ended up climbing up some short but pretty steep trails.  Once we got to the letters, however, we found that you can get to them from the parking lot / picnic area at the top of the hill really easily.  Whoops.

There were some other really interesting areas, like what appears to the foundation of an old building (a large, smooth concrete surface) which is now covered in paintballs and broken glass.  It's inaccessible by road, so I imagine it's been a while since it was used for anything legitimate.  It did have a neat devil face painted on a concrete post though.

All in all, it was fun to see Matt again and visit the huge letters in person.  I may have to start exploring more places around Manhattan — it's a really nice time of year for it.